July 9, 2012

It's been great! Elder Raymundo is a really good elder, and he's learning really fast. The mission is focusing a lot on having the Latino elders learn English and we've been practicing a lot - he's already memorized the missionary purpose. The 12 week program has helped a lot in the training, it's the study program that prepares a missionary to be a trainer in 12 weeks, but President Alvarado has asked that we finish it in 8 weeks. It's all focused on the application, it lists things the new missionary should be able to lead out on each week (like teaching each lesson, teaching about the Book of Mormon, things like that), then it gives the parts of preach my gospel to study to prepare him to be able to do it. So I can see what he needs to know and we study that part of Preach my Gospel so he can take the lead that week. It has been a lot of fun to be able to do it and it's helped me a lot to go back to the basics and see things that I can improve. The mission is focusing a lot on training, and on using the 12 week program because there are going to be a lot of changes. At the end of this transfer, two groups of missionaries are going home and President Alvarado finishes his mission in a year so the mission will be really young.

 

Things have been going well with the work too. They took away our car because other missionaries needed it, but we hardly used it anyway. Elder Raymundo was in Caguas the first three weeks he was here, where there are hardly any hills but he's getting used to it here. On Thursday we rode our bikes all the way from Juncos to Las Piedras, the city next to us. It's been great. We have been working really hard to find new investigators and to help our investigators progress. We have one new family whose names are Margarita and Junior (his name is actually Raymundo) who have been reading in the Book of Mormon so we're excited about that.

 

Anyway, everything has been awesome. It's been cool to see a new missionary just starting out, and to think of what he has ahead. It's made me think a lot about the reason I'm out here, to remind Heavenly Father's children of what they once knew. To remind them of the plan that was taught to them before they were born and show them how to follow it. I love this gospel and I know it's true. I know our Heavenly Father loves us and His plan is perfect.

 

Elder Duclos