Monday 29 December 2014

Christmas in Mexico

Hello Everyone,

     This past week has been good. We didn't have much success though, because everyone was busy doing other things. However we did eat a lot of food! Haha which is always good. 
     On Christmas Eve, we got invited to eat in a member's house with some other missionaries in our zone. 

 
     It was awesome! We ate "pizole"(pee-soul-lay). It's one of my favorites! That and empanadas! So good haha. Mexican food is amazing. Just so you know. Anyway, this Christmas was pretty sweet!   
     I got to talk to my family and also to my twin bro, who's serving his mission in Salt Lake! It was awesome. We talked a bit in Spanish, until Derek couldn't anymore haha. That's right Derek, I know more Spanish than you!! Haha. But let's no get competitive or anything... The customs here for christmas are actually very similar to what we do. They have Christmas trees, presents, lots of food, candy and everything. Also, they buy or make pinatas. Which is awesome haha! Who doesn't like a pinata? They eat turkey, ham, chocolate, and lots of other food. Overall, this Christmas was pretty good. Except I miss the snow...it's still not the same without snow!! 
      Things are starting to get exciting here in my area. We have some investigators that we could baptize within this next few weeks! We have 7 dates for baptisms. And a few of these people have been investigating the church for a while. For 2 of them, we need help from President to interview them because they have some mental issues. So all we need is the go ahead from President. We are going to talk to him today to see if we can baptize them. This other investigator that we have been teaching is awesome. His name is Carlos. He was gay, but he has changed his life completely. He was a smoker, drinker, and did a lot of bad stuff. Now he doesn't do any of these things. And he is praying for the power to resist all these temptations. Including the temptation to be gay. He is awesome. I think he is going to be baptized within this next week. 
     Well, thank everyone for being awesome! Love you all and keep me in your prayers please!
Love,
Dawson
 
For Sarah and Bree-
I love you both so much!! It was wonderful to see you on Christmas day! Sounds like you two are improving your skills in many different ways! Which is great, keep it up!! WE HAVE NETFLIX NOW!? I'm jealous haha. At least now when I return I can watch all the TV that I'm missing haha. Love you both to the moon and back!
 
 

Friday 26 December 2014

Christmas Day

This is mom and dad after the Skype call.

     Today we got to visit with Elder Strate, it was wonderful. Besides seeing his face again, we were able to hear his voice and the change in his maturity. His testimony is so wonderful, he has such a stronger understanding of the gospel now and has the wonderful experience of sharing it multiple times a day with others.
    

     Dawson was able to talk to us for an hour and then called back for a few minutes later to visit with Derek. What a beautiful thing to listen to your sons gab away in another language. Derek, who still teaches some in English in Utah, said Dawson's Spanish is perfect. Derek's companion, who is from Argentina, got on and they had a great conversation. He said Dawson is fluent. He truly has the gift of tongues.
    Here today to visit with him were - Kristine and I, Miranda, Sarah, Bree, Grandpa Rick & Reva, Great Grandma Strate, Grandpa Ed & Faye, Bryce's family- Cindy, Karsen, Cannon and #3 on the way, Rhonda's family- Uncle Scott and Ali.
   It was wonderful for them to see the boys too and feel of their love. Today was what we needed and also what they needed. All is well. Carry on, carry on, carry on boys. We love you, miss you, but know you are doing what you're supposed to be at this time in your lives.
   Love mom and dad







Monday 22 December 2014

Christmas Party

Hello Everyone,

     This past week has been wonderful!! We had our ward Christmas party this past Thursday. It was so awesome!! We had a lot of members, less actives, and investigators show up! There was lots of food, drinks, and it was a great time! 


     The young kids performed the Nativity, which was wonderful! And the young men and young women each prepared a dance and it was pretty cool. The young men's was better haha. The young women didn't even really plan theirs, they just kinda walked around doing whatever lol. And then a few of the young men did a special dance that was really cool. They started rapping and break dancing and they were really good at it. It was a fun night and everyone enjoyed it!!

     Then last night, we had a Christmas Devotional with all the missionaries in our zone. I think there is about 20 of us, not sure exactly lol. 

     That was awesome too! Some of the missionaries gave talks, and played some special musical numbers. It was awesome!! And I lead the music. At first I didn't really want to, but I did it anyways. It turnded out to be great! I'm grateful that I learned how to lead music, because I am actually using it now!! Everything is going great! 



                                                                  Elder Zambrano
     Please, remember my companion and I in your prayers!! 
      Thanks everyone for being awesome!!
       Love Elder Dawson Strate

Email

Thursday we get to Skype! Hope we can get them both at the same time, that would be awesome. Their P Day is today, so if anyone wants to drop them a line, I'm sure they'd love it. Just in time for Christmas.
Email them at-
dawson.strate@myldsmail.net
derek.strate@myldsmail.net

Monday 15 December 2014

Ocean Baptism

Hello Everyone,

     This week has been crazy!! I will try to remember it all. This past Wednesday, Elder Estrada was really sick. He was saying that his entire body was hurting. So Wednesday we just stayed inside all day...and it was soooo boring!! I have never been so bored in my life hah. So I just studied and read scriptures for most of the day. And usually we eat at members houses, but we couldnt leave the house. So the member family brought us food to our house. They bought us a chicken with some tortillas and a large drink. But the moment that we opened the container that had the chicken, oh man it smelt soooo bad!! 
 
     We checked it out and it was so rotten haha. We didn't eat any of it. We threw it out in our back yard and some cats enjoyed it. So we ordered pizza instead. It was pretty good actually! The pizza place is called Mario Bros. Pizza. Which is awesome haha! I'm sending a picture of the fridge magnet that came with the pizza lol.
 
      This past Saturday we had a baptism!! And because the church is being renovated right now, we had the baptism on the beach!! It was so cool!! As missionaries we are generally not allowed to go to the beach. But for baptisms, yes! So I took a good amount of photos and I will try to send them all! The man we baptized is 94 years old!! His name is Felipe Campos. He is so awesome! I'm so happy that he decided to get baptized! He has a wonderful testimony of he gospel! His example shows that anyone can change! No matter how old you are, or how out of reach you feel, you can always return to the right path with our Heavenly Father's help!! 
 



 
     My spanish is coming along really well. It helps when I have a spanish speaking companion! I really like it here in Playa del Carmen. Its beautiful and the members here are awesome!! They have a ton of food for us always. I actually think I'm starting to gain a bit of weight now...yikes!! I hope not! 
The way that we contact people is a bit different here in Mexico. We don't go around knocking on doors unless there is a specific person that we are looking for. Like a reference from a member or something. And right now we have a few so we are searching for their houses. There are always people walking in the street so we just talk to everyone. This is how we do most of our contacting. Its good. However, the majority of our sucess(in terms of baptisms) comes from references from the members. All of my baptisms that I have(which is now 6) have been references. But thats great, as long as the work is progressing, I'm happy!! There are a lot of less active members too. So we spend a lot of our time trying to re-activate them too. This is something really important. President Hinckley said that missionary work is not worth doing if we don't hold on to the fruits of that effort. We have a responsibility of members of the church to share the gospel with everyone and to help thos that are in need. Especially our brothers and sisters who have fallen off the path. We can help them in many ways! One of the most important of these ways is setting a good example for them. How we need to be strong faithful members of the church. And to look for ways to share our joy of living the gospel with those that need it!
     I love you all so much!! Keep writing and sending prayers!! 









     Love,

     Elder Strate

Friday 12 December 2014

Pillow pics

Dawson sent these the other day. No details, hopefully I can tell you more about them later.......... UPDATE
Okay, I will try to explain all the pillows haha. So, in the MTC they have what's called the pillow room. And It is where they store all the pillows in the MTC. And you cannot go in unless you are a staff member. And no one knows where this room is. Until me and my district were in the MTC haha. We found the pillow room and its awesome!! It's about the size of my bedroom back at home, but filld with pillows. And I mean filled!! like 5 feet tall filled with pillows! Its so awesome! You can literally swim in the pillows! Its amazing. Yes, we went in even though we were not suppposed to. So don't tell anyone...lol.


Monday 8 December 2014

Transferred!

Hello Everyone,

     Just so you know, this past week has been kinda crazy! So I´m going to try to remember all that happened and write it! 
     Okay, so this past week, I found out that I have an infection in my stomach. Yikes! These past few days have been really painful for me. But I have medicine now so hopefully everything will be okay! So please keep me in your prayers, because I need them!! 
     Sounds like everything is going good back home! It´s good to here from some family members. 
Well, today I´m officially done my training! And also, we had transfers this morning! And I´m in a different area. Playa del Carmen!! My new companion is Elder Estrada. He is Mexican, and he´s great! We have a baptism lined up for Saturday which is awesome! This man that we are going to baptize is 94 years old!! And we are going to baptize him in the ocean!! I´m so excited!! I will take pictures of the baptism for next week so you all can see. Oh, and the beach too! Haha. I´m going to try to send a bunch of photos today, to make up for the last few weeks. 
     Anyways, I am doing okay here!! Yes mom, I have received the Christmas package!!! But now I have to wait like 2 and a half more weeks until I can open the presents...lol. I think I can wait... I should be okay haha. I have learned to have a lot of patience here in the mission so I will be fine. As of two days ago, I completed 4 months as a missionary!! Wow time flies. Only 20 more to go...haha.   
     Also, I did receive the pants mom. They are a bit tight, but they should be okay. I saw my father (Elder Webb) today. Today is his last day here in the mission. My father is dying...lol. That´s what we say when a missionary is leaving, he or she is dying. And when they are gone, well, ya they´re dead. And Elder Webb is my ¨father¨ because he trained me. And Elder Tito was my step-father because he finished my training. But anyways, everything is going great!! We have more baptisms lined up for this month too, so I´m super excited! 
District pic with Elder tito and I
 
     I think on Christmas day, we can talk on Skype. So Dad, if you don´t have an account on skype already you should make one. You can through facebook. It´s easy. Then maybe you could send me the info and your address so I can find you. I think we are going to use the computer of a member. And I don´t know exactly what time on Christmas day, but I can let you know when I do!
Thanks for everything!! Love you all tons!! 
New place in Playa del Carmen and Elder Estrada.





Love

Tuesday 2 December 2014

update

Hello Everyone,

     Sorry for not writing yesterday. None of the computers had internet yesterday, so I couldn't write. But now yes, so I'm writing today. Mom, we have a portable DVD player in our house to watch videos of the district so I think I don't need a CD player, but it would be nice to have enough money just in case! 
     So, everything here is going good. My health is getting better. Sometimes its hard to focus on the work when im hurting. But I'm doing my best!! And with the help of the Lord, that's all we can ask for!! Well, I don't have much time to write. But thanks everyone for being so awesome! I'm doing okay here. But these computers are not working...so I'm having a hard time trying to send photos. 
got to go, mucho amor!!
Love,

Elder Strate

Monday 24 November 2014

New calling today - District Leader!

Hello Everyone,

     This week has been pretty interesting! For me and it sounds like for Magrath High School! Congrats to the Pandas and Zeniths for winning Provincials!! That's really exciting!! As for me, my week has been a bit hectic. 
     I had two more of my toenails cut out because they were infected and ingrown. But now, they are okay and I am taking some antibiotics to help with the infection. And also, on Saturday was not a good day for me. After we finished eating at a member's house, my eye started to itch really bad. It felt like there was something inside. So I tried to wash it out with water but that didn't do anything. Then I bought some eye drops to put in, but that didn't do anything either. Then eventually we went to the emergency because it was hurting so bad and we didn't know how to stop it. When we got there the doctor said that I have a little grain in my eye. But it is super small and he only saw it with his tools. He then prescribed me two different types of eye drops. One for is an anti-inflammatory, and the other is to get rid of this grain thing. But however, I am okay now!! 
     Now for the good news! Thursday night I received a call from one of the assistants to the Mission President. He extended a calling to me to be the new District Leader!! So now I'm senior companion and also a District Leader! I'm so excited! Even though I'm still in my training, I'm now senior companion and district leader. That's pretty cool. Well at least I think so haha. Also, I bought a copy of the book of Mormon in Mayan. So now I'm starting to learn Mayan along with Spanish!! Bix abel. Haha. Everything here is going great! The teaching here is great. We are activating a lot of less active members and also continueing to find new investigators!  The work is moving forward!! 
     Please continue to send your love and prayers!! This work is great, but it's not easy!! Especially when I'm trying fight to stay healthy at the same time. Thanks for all your love and support!!

Love
Dawson
 
Lunch time! Love my shades
 

Monday 17 November 2014

Nov 17 letter - need an interpretor

Hello Everyone,

      Another week here in Paradise!! Yes mom I did recieve the package! Thanks a lot for the pants! They were desperately needed haha! 
 
     That´s really sad to here about what happened to Jeff Ripley. Yes I remember him! I didn´t know him well personally but I always knew that he was a great young man!! In moments like this it can be really hard for everyone. Emotionally, physically and spiritually. But we need to remember something, that this life is only a small portion of Heavenly Father´s plan for us!! We are all going to see Jeff again! We may miss him now, but our time here on this earth is nothing compared to the eternities that await us. 
     As for me, this week has been interesting. I´m starting to get some ingrown toenails.  
 
I´m pretty sure it´s because of all the walking, and not cutting them very well. Oops. So on Friday I had one of mine yanked out by the Doctor. I sent a very pretty picture of it so you all can see. It´s just the bandage around it. But, my other two big toes are starting to hurt pretty bad too. So I´m going to see the doctor again tomorrow to get them checked out, and possibly ripped out too. Yikes! But, other than that everything is going great!! 
 
     The work is progressing nicely, tambien mi espanol es mucho mejor. Puedo hablar con personas y entiendo casi todo que estan diciendo!! Es un milagro! Yo siento que estoy recibiendo el don de lenguas!! Estoy muy agradedido por eso! Y por la oportunidad tengo ser un misionero. Hay tiempos donde este obra es muy duro para hacer. Pero, el Señor es constantemente conmigo. En tiempos de feliz, y tiempos de prueba. Siempre, necesitamos recordar que podemos pedir por la ayuda del Señor. En cualquier situación. Anyways, I am doing good. Please continue to send your love and prayers!! Mucho amor por todos! 

Love,

Elder Strate

Monday 10 November 2014

Nov 10 letter

Hello Everyone,

     It's wonderful to hear from all of you! Please, continue to write me and I will try to write back if I have time! Miranda, that's a nice buck you got there! Bien hecho hermana! Sounds like basketball season has started! What a wonderful time of the year! And the Giants won the world series, I don't know what to think about that haha. I'm still trying to figure out how Kansas even made it to the finals. 
     Anyways, things here are great!! I'm learning Spanish really fast howver, I still have a lot to learn! As of right now, I can have a normal conversation with someone and I can understand pretty much everything they are saying. Sometimes haha. And Derek is off to Salt Lake eh? That's exciting!! I'm really happy for him and he's going to have a great time! So, every month we get a newsletter from President Kirkham. It's called "La Hoz". I'll let you figure out what that means haha. 
     Anyways, in the letter for this month there was a spiritual thought given by another missionary. A sister missionary that I was in the MTC with, Hermana Newman. When I read this it made me think a lot. So I'm going to share it with all of you porque esta potente!! 
     "What if we treated our Book of Mormon like our cell phone? What if we carried it in a pocket or a pack? What if we turned back when we forgot it? What if we flipped it open several times a day? What if we spent an hour using it? What if we used it consistently to recieve messages? What if we treated it like we could not live without it? What if we searched for new applications? What if we used it while travelling? What if we used it in case of an emergency? What if we treated the Book of Mormon like our cell phone?" Some questions to think about. I really think that if we applied this into our lives we would be a lot happier. And we would be more receptive to the spirit and personal revelation. If there is one thing that I have learned here in my mission, it's that personal revelation is real! It is something that everyone needs and everyone can benefit from too. As missionaries, we need as much as we can get! In our lives, we need to be continually seeking for personal revelation. God wants to help and bless us, and we need to be intune and receptive to the spirit so we can accomplish this. 
     I'm so grateful for the Book of Mormon!! Before my mission I took it for granted, and I am never going to do that ever again. I know that if we treat our Book of Mormon's like our cell phones, then we can grow closer to God and Jesus Christ and eventually become like Jesus Christ. Perfect. Thanks everyone for being such good examples to me! I know I wouldn't be here serving a mission without everyone's love and support! Continue to go forth with faith!!
Love Elder Strate








Monday 3 November 2014

New letter - more baptisms!


Hello everyone,                                                                                        November 2, 2014

     Happy Halloween!! Hope everyone had a good weekend full of fun! Because I did too! We had a baptism on Tuesday. A boy named Ezequiel. He was the only member of his family that wasn't baptized, and now he is! He is the boy on the left. I don't know why he looks sad in the picture haha. I baptized his friend Jamber too. Everything went great! And I'm super happy for him and his family! 



     Elder Tito is awesome!! I'm learning Spanish really fast now. And he's learning English too haha. We are teaching each other.
     I read in one of my emails that Sarah wanted to know what I wanted for Christmas? Well, this is what I want for Christmas haha. I would like 2 CD's. One with Christmas hymns and music. And the other with normal hymns/church music. But everything has to be Church approved. Mom, if you do send me music, please make sure to send the song "The Army of Helaman". You know what I like haha! And this is my favorite song! I'd love to listen to it. I have the sheet music for it, from the MTC. And Elder Tito plays it on his guitar. But I would like my own copy so I can listen to it when I don't have someone to play it for me haha Please and thank you!! Hmm...what else do I want? Well, that's all I want for materialistic things. I would greatly appreciate your thoughts, prayers, and love.
     The people here are amazing!! I love them so much!! And I am so grateful for this opportunity I have so share the Gospel with them!! And my companion Elder Tito, well he is awesome!! We work well together. We have had some good laughs trying to learn Spanish and English haha! That's right, I feel like I'm learning a bit of english.Also, I feel like I'm forgetting english. Just a little bit. And it feels weird to talk in english to be honest. I'm just used to talking in Spanish with Elder Tito and everyone else haha. However, I still have lots to learn. LOTS haha. Well, that's all I have for this week. Thanks everyone for all your love and support! I miss you all so much!! But I know I am doing the right thing by serving a mission!! Have a good, fun and safe week everyone!!

Love,
Dawson 


Monday 27 October 2014

Transfers!

Hello Everyone,

    I heard about what happened in Ottawa. That´s really sad. It´s never good to hear things like that. Today we had transfers!! I am still here in the same area. But Elder Webb went to Cozumel and is now companions with Elder Judd. And my new companion is Elder Tito!! He´s from Bolivia! I am sending a picture of me with him.
     

     I am also sending pitcures of how skinny I am now haha. I feel like I´m just wearing a bag for a shirt now haha because there is so much extra space. You can probably see it somewhat in the picture of me standing up. Also one last picture with Elder Webb.
                                         

 I´m going to miss him! But I know Elder Tito and I are going to have some great adventures ahead!! Elder Tito´s first language is Spanish, so I´m going to learn a lot faster now haha! Which is great, because that´s what I need!
     Everything is going great! I´m really starting to feel like a Mexican haha. I love it!! We have a baptism tomorrow, and about 4 or 5 more planned for this next month. I´m so excited! The work here is progressing muy rapido! Well, I don´t really have much else to say. Nothing big or exciting has happened this past week. But that´s okay. I want all of you to know that I am so grateful for this opportunity I have to serve! Take care everyone!! Hasta este proxima lunes!                                      
 Getting Skinny pic-


 Zone pics


                                                                                                                                     Love, Elder Strate

Sunday 26 October 2014

TREK VIDEO

At our Stake Conference session on Saturday evening, they showed this video of Trek from this past summer. It was wonderful to see the boys in it, bad hard at the same time. Shed a few tears as we miss them, but know they are doing the Lord's work.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=791644410893530&set=vb.558231247568182&type=2&theater

Monday 20 October 2014

Letter- spiritual experience



Hola todos,                                                                                          October 19, 2014

       This week has been pretty awesome!! Lots of good things have happened. Mom, I did get the package, thanks! I appreciate the candy haha!! So, I'm going to update a little about myself. When I was in the MTC I caught a bad cold. And when I got to Mexico, it only got worse. So I talked to the Doc last week and she gave me some medicine for bronchitis. However, I am feeling a lot better now! So don't worry about my health. As of right now, I am great!!
       Also, another thing that's super awesome. Since I've been here in Mexico, I have lost about 15 pounds!! I'm skinny now haha. Which is great because I gained some unwanted weight in the MTC haha. Mom, I am exercising besides walking all day haha. I do my knee exercises in the mornings, or pushups. Whatever I feel like doing. My knee is fine, haven't had too much trouble with it. Been sore a few times, but other than that it's good. 
       Okay, I had a really neat experience this week that I want to share with all of you. Okay, so this happened on Thursday this past week. Elder Webb and I were eating at a member's house, when we got a phone call from the sister missionaries in our district. They needed us to give someone a blessing. So we got permission to leave our area then we took a taxi to where the sisters were. As we get to the house, I'm just expecting this to be totally normal. You know, like someone who is sick and just want a blessing. Well, this was not the case. This was something much more. So we walk into the house, into the room to where this person was. There was a boy there laying on the bed, eyes wide open, breathing heavily in and out, and he was just staring at the ceiling. He is about 15 years old if I remember right and his name is Kevin. Also, he couldn't speak at all. But he was trying to, we could see that. Also, there were two women on each side of the bed holding his hands because he was cold. Then, he started twitching out like crazy and flailing all over the place. It was pretty freaky to be honest. You probably know what's going on with this boy, but I will still say it. He was possessed. Yep, possessed. By Satan and his evil spirits. So Elder Webb and I gave him a blessing, and we casted Satan and his evil spirits out of this boy. And actually, during the blessing, there was like 5 people involved. Me and Elder Webb giving the blessing, and three other people holding the boy still so we could actually do it. It was pretty crazy. Even during the blessing, Kevin's head started moving down and all over the place. Yep, Satan was trying to get our hands off of his head to stop the blessing. But we managed to keep our hands on and we finished the blessing. Then we stayed with him afterwards for about an hour to make sure he was okay, which he was. 
       So, what can we learn from this? Well, I definitely learned something. I learned that the priesthood is awesome!! I am so grateful for the power of the priesthood and how it blesses us in so many different ways in our lives. Also, we need to keep our bodies clean and pure. Because the Spirit cannot dwell in unholy temples. That's what happened to Kevin. He was involved in drugs and smoking and other bad things like that. Which probably gave Satan a prime opportunity to take over. At least, that's what I think. Anyways, I'm so grateful for the priesthood and that I'm worthy to exercise it. I love you all so much!! Please continue to write and send more love haha! I don't have enough time to reply to everyone, but I will do my best!!         
      
       We have 7 baptismal dates for next month!!! Which is AWESOME!!

       Mom- I did receive the package, thanks a lot!! I'm very happy with what was inside!! However, I need another one haha. I have two pairs of pants that are ripped now. Both the kaki (probably didn't spell that right) pairs are both ripped in the crotch- lol. And are unfixable lol. So I only have two pairs now. I need at least one new pair, but two would be nice. Thanks!!

       Grandma- Happy Birthday Grandma!! I hope everything goes great!! Hope the party is fun, and also that the cake tastes good haha! Thanks for being such an awesome example to me. I love you so much!! And can't wait to see you and grandpa again! 

Until next week!!

Love,

Elder Dawson Strate

Monday 13 October 2014

Zone pic


Letter #11 - Pictures finally - 3 baptisms

Hello Everyone,

Washing my clothes.

   I am trying to upload the pictures that I have as we speak. Hopefully it works!! I found out that it really just depends on what computer I am using. Some of them work with my camera, and some don't. That's okay though, I now know which ones work and which ones don't. Anyways, this past week has been great!! We had three baptisms Saturday night!! Ya!! I am sending the pictures of the family that we baptized, and some more of the man we baptized last week. I also had another wonderful privelege yesterday. I confirmed the little girl named Sandra that we baptized!! It was such a wonderful experience! I was a bit nervous because my Spanish isn't that great yet. It's better, but I still have a lot to learn haha. But I was fine. I was guided by the spirit and everything was great.    
    Okay, so I haven't recieved the package that you sent me Mom and Dad. However, after I am done typing this we are going to the mission office to take the baptismal forms. So I will check again when we get there! Okay, so here is a bit more info about the things we do here. The only sport we are allowed to play here is basketball. And I haven't played it yet haha. When we email, we just go to a computer place. It's just a little building that has computers that we can use. We pay of course, but it's pretty cheap. Like 10 pesos for an hour. We are only allowed one hour to email anyways so it works out good. 
    Okay, so we met this lady about 2 weeks ago. She was really devastated because her husband left her and she was really depressed and all that stuff. So when we first visited her she was super happy. We taught her about the Atonement and Repentance. And how that Jesus Christ not only suffered for our sins, but for our pains, afflictions, sorrows, and all of that. She was so happy to know that and she wanted us to teach her everything about the Church right then haha. But obviously we can't do that. There are a lot of things to teach so we need a few more lessons. As of right now she is the golden investigator haha. Hopefully it stays that way! 
    Anyways, I am doing good. It's not easy though, I can tell you that right now. Walking around in the hot sun all day and doing missionary things actually is very tiring. I'm beat at the end of every day haha. That's okay though, I knew this was going to be hard. However, going forth with faith is the way to go! Thanks for all your love and support! I will continue to pray for all of you. Many of you have been great examples to me and I thank you for that. As for right now, I have to go. Until next week! Paz fuera!

Love,

Elder Strate
 
The man we baptized is named William. He was my first baptism. 
 



 
 
The Mother of the other family is Raquel, the son is Enrique, and the daughter is Sandra.