What happened this time is that today, we're receiving a married missionary couple here in Pinotepa! They're only going to be here for 2 months, but that's ok, we'll take them as long as we can get them. They're going to be humanitarian service missionaries to help repair damages from the earthquake. There still are many people who are sleeping in the street or in their yard because the earth still shakes a couple times everyday, and their houses could fall at any moment. But the good news is Elder and Hermana Galan are coming to the rescue TODAY! Who Hoo!
A couple weeks ago, there was a small security scare with the elders in a town called Jamiltepec. They're fine, everything's fine, no worries. However, we ended up with 3 different versions of the story. Two versions from one elder; one "we shouldn't be alive" version, one "ok, maybe it wasn't so bad" version, and another " I don't even see the problem" version from the other elder. Of course, when we hear a "we shouldn't be alive" version of the story, we don't take chances and we get them out of there.
Long story short, the elders in Jami, weren't in their area for a week, Presidente Avila sent me to go find them a new house, companionship problems, rumors in the zone, all kinds of stupid drama.
So we had to figure out how to fix this because if all the missionaries hate us nothing gets done. So we were thinking, and we decided that service was the answer. So we called the elders in Jami and offered to help them move into their new house. They gladly accepted, because their members weren't going to help them. So we went, and the four of us moved everything, then all of a sudden the elders were happy in their new house, and they didn't hate us anymore. Any act of service, as small as it may be, is always the answer.
Saturday was a day of lots of little baby miracles that just reminded us that this is the Lord's work and He is worried about the details. We had scheduled 2 baptisms for Saturday. One was postponed because Aurelio failed the interview ): But Raciel had passed the the interview, so we went to prepare the baptismal font. We got it all clean and filled, then realized that the room where the font was was locked. We tried to get a hold of a key, but the only person who has the key is the district president, and he was off in some village doing who knows what. So we had to tell Raciel that he couldn't be baptized on Saturday, he would have to wait until Sunday. He was a little disappointed, but he was more excited that his dad was going to be able to go to his baptism. We didn't know that his dad couldn't go on Saturday, but the Lord knew, and worked His magic.
The next thing that happened was that all week, were were searching like madmen for a furnished apartment for these missionaries that are coming. Furnished apartments don't exist in Pino. So were were kind of just wasting our time. but on Saturday, our quest for the furnished apartment ended. We found what could possibly be the only furnished apartment in Pinotepa. Everything fell perfectly into place and the crisis was resolved (and our prayers were answered).
The next thing was that everything worked out so that Presidente Melchor, 1st counselor in the mission presidency, was able to come from Acapulco to Pinotepa to do the interview for Aurelio. We begged the branch president to drive us to Yutandayo, and he gave in (haha, his wife told him he had to). So we went and Presidente Melchor interviewed Aurelio and found him worthy to be baptized! Had Pte. Melchor's bus gotten in just an hour later, it wouldn't have given us time to go, but the Lord knew that Aurelio needed his interview that day.
Saturday ended with my piano class. I started teaching a piano class. It's super fun, even though these people are musical boneheads (that was rude, I'm sorry).
The sun rose on Sunday morning and the dang door on the baptismal was still locked ! Fortunately, my ability to "break and enter" has improved drastically during my mission and were were able to have the baptismal service. (Another story for another day.) It was a beautiful sight to see Raciel and his family (papa Angel included) together, enjoying such a noteworthy occasion together. In just a matter of weeks, Angel and Rosario, the parents, will be able to married and baptized. I can just imagine in a year, when the Herrera family is kneeling together in the temple and is sealed for time and all eternity. What a wonderful sight it will be for sure.
As for Aurelio, I don't know that I've ever met a man so sure of his decision to follow Christ and be baptized. He's an older man who doesn't speak much Spanish and doesn't understand everything. However, what he does know is that he's never been able to free himself from the guilt of his past life until now. Aurelio is a pioneer in Yutandayo, and now we just have to keep working on his family and friends.
I'm so thankful that I've been able to meet all these wonderful people and serve in Pinotepa. I've come to love these people so much. I love all y'all! Have a great week!
-Elder Aldrich
1) Raciel and Aurelio's baptism. I baptized Raciel and Elder Garcia baptized Aurelio.
2) We found a dead snake in the road and Elder Garcia made me take a picture with it. That would be my "this is stupid" face.
3) Mr. Krabs was so rude as to take a bath in my soup. (I hate eating seafood, not because it tastes bad, but because it takes so much work just to get to the meat, and you get done eating and you're still hungry.)
4) The Pinotepa Nacional, Oaxaca Temple. (Is that apostacy?)
