November 22, 2011, Caguas

Hey,

It's still hot here, even on the day before Thanksgiving. Today we're emailing last because we had a turkey bowl with all the elders in the zone. It was a lot of fun. We have a few appointments for tomorrow. We're going somewhere for lunch, and we have an appointment with both the Gonzalez family and the Rosarios (they are in Aguas Buenas, a different zone, but he's the mission leader for their branch and he invited all of us over). So we should be taken care of. It's still weird to be wearing short sleeves though. 

Things were pretty good this week. We had Zone Conference on Friday and that was awesome. President was there, and we learned a lot of really good things to help our area and zone. He told us about when the area was dedicated for the preaching of the gospel that it happened in the Caguas chapel, where we meet. The general authority who was giving the prayer (I can't remember who it was) said in the prayer that government officials would take notice of what was happening with the Church and they'd have an interest in it. That was over 30 years ago and just recently that has happened. There was a conference or something on peace, and the stake president was invited to talk and to share about the church. There is also an activity put on by the church throughout the island, in all the stake centers called the Christmas extravaganza. It's going to be a kind of concert with choirs and soloists and all kinds of stuff, but the Caguas city government heard about it and decided to help put it on, so instead of being held in the Caguas stake center, they're having it at a giant city pavilion that holds up to 10,000 people, and the city is going to be announcing it all week. It's pretty exciting to hear, and it will be an awesome opportunity to share the gospel with a lot of people here in Caguas.Braylin's baptism was really good. I have some pictures, but I might not get a chance to upload them today. We went by Irelsi's house and had another good lesson on faith, and how important faith is in gaining a testimony. We used Alma 32, where it compares faith to a seed, and we told her we could tell she'd planted the seed but that it was up to her to keep the commitments we invete her to make so she can have a perfect knowledge that this is the church of Jesus Christ on the earth. It was good. 

Anyway, I hope Thanksgiving is good, know that we're being taken care of over here. I love you 

Elder Duclos

November 15, 2011 Caguas

Hello,

Wow, it seems like yesterday was P day, the weeks go by so fast out here. But there is also so much going on. We had to stop going to Alex's house. He just hasn't been keeping any commitments. It was hard because he loves it when we come over and we always have spiritual lessons, but he's just not willing to do what's necessary to gain his own testimony. We'll keep stopping by every once in awhile though. Sister Gonzalez's dad has been good. We go over every Monday for Family home evening and teach him. This Monday was the day his son left for the MTC in Utah, so he was kind of sad but I really think that's where his interest is coming from. We taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ -  faith repentance baptism receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. It was a really good lesson and we could tell he had a strong testimony of Jesus Christ. Brailyn's baptism was moved from today to tomorrow because the youth are having an activity tonight that they want him to go to with his brother. So tomorrow he'll be baptized and so will Eugenia, whose husband was baptized a few weeks ago on the same day as Randy, Brailyn's brother. The zone leaders have been teaching Eugenia and yesterday one of them, Elder Wardell, went out with us so we passed by her house. It was a good lesson, we just finished up teaching all of the commandments, she was a little unsure about being baptized on Thursday, and wanted to move it to Saturday or next week so we said we could change the date but we invited her to pray about it. Later that night she called and said she'd gotten her answer and that Thursday was the day. That was awesome. So they'll be baptized tomorrow. Elder Griffin and I also have another investigator, I don't think I've mentioned her before. Her name is Irelsi, we found her knocking on doors. Right after we met her, we were talking about how much the Plan of Salvation would help her. Right before we went by again, we were planning what to teach and we decided just to teach the restoration. So we got there and got to know her a little bit and started the lesson and every question she had had to do with the plan of salvation, so we switched and taught her the plan of salvation. It was really good, she always has a lot of questions, and understands everything really well, and she's read everything we've left her to read. She says she still doesn't know that this is the one true church of Jesus Christ but she is also on her way to find that out. We've gone by three times now, with three different members of the ward and four different missionaries (because of exchanges). Yesterday we went by and talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was probably the best lesson I've had on the mission. We started out and she'd read from the beginning of the Book of Mormon, she had a bunch of questions about the testimony of Joseph Smith in there and about Nephi and Lehi. Then we taught about Jesus Christ and we testified that He knows her personally and that He has felt everything she has ever gone through in her life and that it's by coming to Him that we can be completely clean from our sins. It was really powerful and she's coming to the baptism tomorrow night and church on Sunday. The member who was with us yesterday offered to give her a ride and everything. Members help so much with missionary work. When we have members at lessons to share their testimonies and to get to know the investigators, it makes them so much better. So do everything you can to be involved in missionary work. 

So even though it feels like P day was yesterday there has been a lot going on. People still keep telling me I look like their relatives. Last night a family said I look like their cousin's husband, and the other day we were at Randy and Brailyn's house and they were looking up pictures of Harry Potter on Google, because they said I look like him. Elders are moving in and out of our apartment, they're reopening an area nearby so some elders were living here and are now leaving, so that's been kind of crazy. Also, it's really cool that Steve served in Caguas. I've asked a few people about Miri Flores, but nobody has recognized the name, and they do always use straws to drink from cans here. I've always been sure to use one, thanks Bekah. 

Anyways, that's what's been happening around here. Everything is good and we're doing well. The church is still true.

I love you

Elder Duclos