I am happy and hot!

¡Hola!

I´ve really enjoyed my first week in Formosa, though I´m still getting used to everything new here. We have lunch every day with members and a member that washes our clothes. We are working in the largest ward in the mission and there are a lot of members that are ready to help us. Because we have so much area to cover, and for all the work previous missionaries have done, the work here is very different. We are working with several parcial member families, including several couples that are waiting to get married. They have to wait until the middle of February because everyone is on vacation. Their names are Maria (investigator), Raul (member) and Lorena (investigator) and Jose (also investigator). They are really great families. We are also working with Pricila (8). She is from a less active family and wants to be baptized but never makes it to church and we are having a tough time being able to teach her. Diana (9) is in a similar situation, except that it is harder for her because her dad isn´t a member and seems to be convincing her that she shouldn´t get baptized. Please pray for them!

Elder Sears and I got to try cover a wall of a house with cement. It was a lot harder than it looks. First you have to throw the cement at the wall with just enough force that it sticks without falling, then you have to spread it with enough force that it doesn´t stick to the trowel.

I have really enjoyed being a zone leader so far. We got to go to a zone leader meeting with President Franco and he taught us more about our purpose: to "preach repentance and baptize converts." We discused how we need to focus on teaching people how to repent and put it in practice in our own lives. When peaple understand repentance, they will want to accept invitations, especially the invitation to be baptized. We also got to practice iniviting people to come to church by helping people feel the spirit of sacrament meeting. President Franco helped us to see that the sacrament is one of the most sacred ordinaces outside of the temple. When we talk about the sacrament, we can help those we teach feel a little bit of the temple as we teach them. I enjoyed relaying what we learned in a zone meeting the following day.

Elder Sears and I in a zone leader meeting. He is a pretty silly guy, but he is really good at making friends and helping missionaries and investigators feel loved.

That´s a pretty good summary of what my area is like so far. We walk a lot and the sun is hotter than I have ever felt the sun be before. This next week the high for three days straight is 106, which is plesant here. It´s going to be hotter in February, they say.

Our zone.

My companion is awesome and I am learning a lot form him. He´s from Georga, and has 18 months in the mission. We are good at teaching together and I feel the spirit in the lessons more than I have in a long time. I am happy and hot!

Have a happy week!

Elder Cloward

Home sweet home. We have a large pension with 2 bathrooms, our bedroom, and two storage rooms. It gets really hot inside!

Our pension is the storage area for the zone. There used to be 16 missionaries that cover out area, but now there are just 4.