Staying in LaCienaga!

Saludos!

Things are going great here in La Cienaga! We are working now with three families, (all who are related to each other) that are ready to get married and baptized, but we are still waiting on money. Junior got paid this week, but he couldn't´t give the 1000 pesos because the people at his work are still charging him for something that got stolen from his work. He works as a guard of a rich house, and some lamps got stolen from the house, so now they are charging his paychecks for them. The thing is, he wasn´t even working the day that they got stolen. But they really want to get married, and he was talking about working 36 straight hours in a row to earn more money, but he hasn´t done it yet, and I hope that he doesn´t, that´s not good for his health!

Kenya and Kartel are still doing great, but we´re still waiting for money for them too. The Aunt and Uncle of Kenya and Juana are named Miguel and Rubia, and they have told us too that they are ready to get married and baptized. We are going to get the birth certificate of Miguel tomorrow, then we will have all of their papers and just be waiting on money from them too. We are blessed beyond measure here in La Cienaga!

Today we played basketball with Elder McBride and a couple of the other elders here and then we ate at a place in Elder McBride’s area that had bacon cheese burgers! It was sweet, and it´s actually on the edge of the mission!

So, the Suns aren´t going to make it into the playoffs? Ah, man, they´re not going to fire the coach, are they? Go D backs, that´s what I´m talking about! Is ASU Baseball still doing good? (Henry gave Jeff an update on the AZ teams.)

We had transfer calls last night, and me and Elder Clase are staying together, and Elder McBride is staying here too, so we will be in the same district for one more transfer, how sweet!

Things are going great with money, the only thing is that many times, I don´t have mission money on my mission card because it is all taken with package charges, so I have to pull out my own money alot, and that´s why I have all of those charges on my card. (We saw several charges in a row on Jeff's personal debit card over the last few weeks so we checked with him to make sure he recognized them and to be sure that someone was not fraudulently charging on his account. Sounds like he recognizes them - that's a blessing!)

I am so grateful to have had so many righteous ancestors. In a journal from Grandma Brown I read the story that you told me about Mom. One day Grandma Brown got up and only had some flour to feed the kids, and they were very poor after Grandpa had died, so she didn´t have money to get the family more food. So, she sent the boys out to milk the cows and then she made some oatmeal for the kids and sent them to school. They didn´t have any more money. So, Grandma prayed. Grandma told Heavenly Father that she had tried to pay her tithing and keep the commandments the best that she could. Then, in faith, she got up and went on with the day, with nothing to feed the kids when they came home from school. Then, a man came knocking at the door and wanted to buy one of her cows! Wow, what faith she had, and how many people she never thought of in the Dominican Republic that have been affected by her faith. I am so grateful for her and hope that I can leave a legacy behind like that!

Love, Elder DeSpain