Micah's 3rd Week in Ciudad Frontera

Before I share Micah's letter I'd want to share a couple things he doesn't say in his letter. While on our phone call with him yesterday, there were things that were heard that to be honest make me a little concerned for his safety. Micah called us from the church building because he gets better reception there. Just outside the church, close enough for it to be heard were multiple rounds of gunshots followed by sirens, and then more gunshots and sirens. He told us that he hears this kind of stuff all the time. In fact, the other day as he was teaching a lady, she was concerned about the missionaries and asked which way they would be walking home. They told her and she said, "Good, because if you were going through this other part of town, I'd say stay away, it is extremely dangerous there, it's not safe to walk through." 

Another part he doesn't share in this letter is a district or zone leader making fun of the Mission President for emphasizing numbers.👇😂 

Nothing really happened this week because I've been feeling sick for the past 4-5 days, but I got tested today and all the tests came back negative, so I guess I'm fine?

We met a super awesome lady though. Her name is Magdalena, and we've only taught two lessons, but they've both gone super well. During the first lesson, we gave Magdalena un Libro de Mormón to read. She promised us she would, and we set an appointment to come back. When we did, she told us about her son. Apparently her son never reads, but one day, she came into the room and saw him reading a book. At first she said she thought it was a children's book, because, again, he never reads. As it turns out, he had picked up the Book of Mormon off her shelf and started reading. The Spirit during this lesson was so strong, and Magdalena basically bore her testimony, so my companion and I are super grateful for her, and hope our future lessons go well.

Something I thought was interesting;

the ward here is super small. 7 row pew, and maybe half of those seats are filled each week, but this last Sunday, during Fast and Testimony meeting, I was shocked at how many people got up to bear their testimony. Almost everyone in the chapel got up, to the point where one of the ward presidency members had to request people stop so we could start our second hour of church on time. What struck me most about that is that my home ward is more than 10 times the size of the Frontera ward, yet every Fast and Testimony meeting, there's quiet lulls where no one is speaking. I guess that just goes to show the difference culture makes in the church. If you grow up surrounded by something, you tend to take it for granted.

I know this is the true Church, I've loved seeing the Spirit work in other people's lives, and look forward to seeing more of that. En el nombre de Jesucristo, amén.

Here's a few pictures. Christmas decorations in Central, 

some delicious tilapia I ate, 

my bishop's dog, (We live behind my bishop's house, so we see her a lot) 

and a lizard regrowing his tail.