Changes!

Happy Birthday Elder Gilman!! My companion hit 21 today, and to help him out I decided to make pancakes. Normally he makes them, so I made them this morning. Too bad he ate cereal instead, but I am sure that he is enjoying his day, and will not stop trying to keep that going. It is a mountain surrounded paradise here in Valle Viejo. I am coming back here for sure at some point in my life. Winter doesn´t really exist in Catamarca. I´m pretty sure that yesterday we hit about 95 degrees or more, and having to wear a suit to church whilst riding a bike-- it a party in such conditions. If you wondered how my backside felt during this week due to three or four hours of biking a day, you are wrong, because it didn´t feel anything. At first the seat had no cushion on it left over from the previous owner, but there are very few things that duct tape and/or an old t-shirt can´t fix. I have pictures of it, don´t worry. Bikes really help to move the work along much faster. We can go about three or four miles in twenty minutes if we have to get there fast. Our branch is super small, we had about thirty people, and the room was stuffed to the rafters. We have this awesome new idea to work with the members this month, and I think it will be a good goal for wards back home as well. We want to have a branch of Zion. The goal for our mission is to be a mission of Zion, meaning that every companionship baptizes in the month. The application for the unit would be that every member helps us to teach a lesson at least once during the month. In larger units, and in Utah, that is slightly hard to push, but here it is completely reasonable and has potential to help us work better with the members. Some people this week were extraordinarily rude in not wanting to listen to us. Definitely the worst that I have had in my life. It just makes me sad that they are so close to receiving eternal life, but their pride gets in the way and prevents progress. The end of John 12 talks about the Savior´s attitude towards these people where he says that "he didn´t come to judge the world, rather to save it". If he isn´t going to judge those that don´t receive Him, how can we judge those that don´t receive two gringos riding bikes? Thanks to God, we had some miracle finds here, like a man whose brother in Buenos Aires is a bishop, the uncle and aunt of our newest convert, and a lady who felt the Spirit recognizably during a prayer and who is ready to soak in all we can throw at her. There are rarely street names here, and even less frequently numbers on the houses. We pretty much go by sight and how good our memories are. I feel a very strong responsibility to work my tail off to bring others to Christ. Being imperfect, that can present a seemingly impossible task, but I know that the Lord will guide our actions towards His pre-prepared children and the things that we need to do to help them. I love this work with all my soul. Be good, and take care of business Elder Lindsey