Well we have made it to the 22 month mark! How crazy does that sound? My companion also completed 9 months today. We are once again amazed by how quickly time goes by! I have been asked by many people lately how I feel now that the time is quickly winding down. I have answered, ''Well, normal''. Haha I still feel like I am just a normal missionary with the same expectation in the work. I feel very blessed that the Lord continues to bless me with the encouragement to continue focused on what I came to do here.
This last week was a pretty good one. It was rough in some ways but overall looking over the week we were truly blessed. We were not able to find many people at home this week. The great part was that we received many references from the members. A couple turned out to be a bit crazy or a bit weird but we are going to see what we can do to help them receive and live the restored gospel. One of those references, Rafael, went to church yesterday so he is looking a bit more promising! We hope all will go well so he can continue to progress. Liliane, our recent convert, gave us two references also. One family was not able to meet with us this week but they seem interested in listening! We also talked to her neighbor who just got out of jail two weeks ago. He is a really good guy and has great desires to follow Christ. He accepted baptism but not a date yet. He also found a job and had to work Sunday. That was a downer but we will go with them again this week to help them out a bit.
Also two references came to us from SLC. We were able to find one yesterday. She lives all the way at the end of the area, about 45 minutes on the bus from Chapala. She is a 25 year old single mom. She also works Sunday (another downer haha) but showed great desires to come to know the truth as we talked with her yesterday! We still have yet to get in contact with the other reference because he lives all the way at the OTHER end of the area, 1 hour from Chapala on the bus! (Notice we get to pass a lot of time on buses). In the reference it says that the person just moved back to Mexico and wants someone to go baptize him. We will be getting over there as soon as we can for sure to take advantage of that :)
This week we also got to do divisions with the Assistants. They were good. I missed my area though for sure. It was nice though to get back to Guadalajara for a while.
Once again leadership counsel has come! We are excited what changes we will be seeing as a mission! This will sadly be my last one so I decided I will have to find a way to make it count.
I have received a request to mention how the converts are doing here in the area. I am very happy to report that the branch is retaining 100% of its converts for this year! Nearly all now have callings! Liliane was called this week to be the Relief Society Secretary! She seems very excited and we are really excited for her. She will be in charge of who gives us lunch so we will for sure have lots of contact with her! Ivan is doing really well also. It appears that the branch president will be giving him the priesthood next week and he will be receiving a calling also! We are very excited for everyone! Many less active members are now reported as active so we know that we are seeing much progress as a branch here in Chapala.
We put a couple more baptism dates on the calendar this past week and we hope to be able to put even more this week! The work continues to progress and that is what excites me. We already know that this work will continue to progress and progress until the Lord comes again. The adversary tries and tries to impede it but it is not possible. We know who will win this battle and we can be part of the victory as we remain true to Him. It is a privilege to be a part of this work. I know we don't need to be full time missionaries to be a part of it. We are all part of the same work, we work to bring souls unto Christ that they might partake of His salvation. In whatever service we are called to give, as we work with all diligence, we are building the kingdom of God upon the earth. It is my prayer that we may all look for more ways to give even more in the assignments and callings we have. The Lord expects more of us and we must not fail Him.
I hope you all have a really great week! Remember I love you all and continue in fervent prayer daily for you all! Continue in the same one for another! :)
Love,
Elder O'Brien
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