March 15, 2010

Heeellooo.... Good morning. This week as you can guess...is going to be a bit better than last week. It's given me more days to figure out the area and feel more comfortable. I've been able to meet more and more of the members and build that relationship. And was even able to go to church for the first time yesterday since the previous week was stake conference. The branch is good for the most part. It's a functioning branch, more so than some of the other branches i've been in. As for the week, we've been able to see Mara, one who does have a baptismal date. She's the foreign exchange student living with a member family. She's doing excellent. She'll be ready on the 28th of March, which she as well as we, are excited for. She's progressing so fast. She's now in Helaman in her reading and just cruises through the BOM. We also have Marcel, the other guy with a baptismal date. When we met him on Saturday we spoke about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and what what, he's doing alright just facing some Word of Wisdom issues that he's trying to overcome. He's doing alright tho. We expressed how we're going to have to move his date back a few weeks, probably for sometime in April, and it's for his best. When we first told him that he was a bit bummed, but by the time we explained everything he understood and agreed with it. He knows he wouldn't be ready for baptism on the 28th of this month, and if he did, then he might go back to his old ways which we definitely dont want. So we're setting a new goal that he can work toward which is fine with him. Other than that we have a pretty big teaching pool of a few different families. We might be giving two more baptismal dates this coming week to a mother and daughter. Gine and tiffany. But we'll see how things go... During and after lunches i've been teaching the elders in my district to ride my skateboard. haha. They love the challenge but Elder Onen, how's a kinda big guy, who probably is the best at riding it, fell two times right on his butt, got up, but later on realized he could hardly walk. It was way funny. We had to fetch him early last night because he's in the walking area..Anyway, it brings for some good laughs. They wanna be good at riding it before the transfer is over... But on that note, i did see two skaters at one point in my area when we had a few mintues before an appointment. The first ones i've seen. They were skating in the road so i couldnt help but stop the car and go talk to them. One of them was actually pretty good. There were just two, and the one that was better is sponsered by Element SA and also Billabong. So using the other kids' skate and his shoes, i challenged him to a game of SKATE for fun. (Like PIG) it went for a little while, and he actually ended up beating me. just barely tho. I put up a good fight for not having anything i was used to and being in my whites. But i got their names and stuff and who konws, maybe it'll turn into teaching opportunities right! ;) That's what i'll hope for. But next time i skate with them, i'll have my own stuff and i'll be able to skate better...haha. Nah it was just for fun. So things here in Cleary are good tho. Elder Ochanda is alright. I wont tell you things that bug me, but for the most part we're getting along. My district is chill and they're a load of fun. We enjoy ourselves. We're working hard and focusing on working with our ward and branch leaders especially our branch mission leader. That's a focus for the mission. Since we also had Zone Conference and had Elder Kaliker of the Seventy here with us, that's what he wants us to do. It's something we're already doing...but just a refocus. It was a good zone conference and talked as well a lot about prayer and why not more investigators are joining the church, it's because they truly do not pray even when they say they do....So we're going to try to work on that. But yeah, i've seen some great humility being shown throughout the district, and we're working for unity as well. There's great things ahead for Cleary. And even our stats were tons higher than it has been in this area for a long time. So that is showing that we're not only getting high numbers, but also working smart in doing so. Yeah...that's really about it i'd say. The week is just busy busy with teaching and testifying. Haha. That's all we do. Still learning the area but adapting quickly to the new situation as i always seem to do. There's really no issues...I hope your'e all safe, happy, and enjoying life. Thanks for everything! Much love, Elder Devenney pics are my district now, by the ocean with a dude in speedo in EL, and a chopped up whaleshark in EL