February 1, 2011 - Letter Home

Hey Fam!

It's so late, have you given up yet on my e-mail home?  Why am I so late? Because I destroyed a house today. Luckily this time it wasn't because of stomach problems, yes, someone actually WANTED their house destroyed.

Jokes aside. This woman is a friend of an inactive member we're trying to reactivate who's son has slowly and steadily stolen EVERYTHING she has to keep his drug habit going, causing her husband to abandon her. Way sad story, and a proof of how crazy and how horrible these substances are. Man, drugs don't destroy just people, they destroy families and homes. So we tore down a wooden house she had in the front of her other concrete house so that her son wouldn't be able to break in and have a place to stay with his buddies. She's also going to sell the wood and tile from the roof to keep food on the table while she looks for work (which may be hard because she was just a normal stay-at-home mom and has no work experience). Man... such a poor lady and such a great opportunity to serve her. She's going to go to church this Sunday, is reading the Book of Mormon, and since we've been there, she is already starting to talk and smile and look forward to the future. 
Poor people...

This week has actually been a hard first week for Elder Carroll, who's from North Carolina and has 6 months on the mish. His second day here we spent the hold day helping a family move across the city, which included a couple of large and unwieldy furniture peices, just me and my comp and 2 other guys, and we were rushing because the moving guy was charging by the hour and the family didn't have enough to pay him for more than an hour. Speed moving! It should be a sport! Good thing I got experience... :) But Jorge and Julia are now living comfortably in a new little home with a lot of big furniture. They really appreciated the help.

Elder Carroll is so awesome. So nice to have someone who sees onto my level and is willing to share the burden of the work. Maybe it's not that: Someone who gets and enjoys my jokes really is a big deal. Getting movie references is also a big plus. I'm happy he's here.

Remember Josias, the firefighter who fell off a roof and broke his head and we gave him a blessing? He miraculously healed, and puzzled all the doctors. His skull was broken in two places, and his eye came out of his socket, but he came home two weeks ago walking and talking and completely normal. He came to Sacrament Meeting two sundays ago and told the story to everyone and thanked us in front of everyone. How awesome is that! It made me so happy, but it is also a strange situation to be in. I reminded everyone that it wasn't the missionaries that healed him, but God. But the ward was needing a miracle to help everyone be renewed in their testimonies, and this really shook stuff up. 
So awesome!

Sister Nadir and Pamela visited me this Sunday from Elizabeth, and we went on a walk around Esteio and ate pastels with them afterwards. So cool. I love them so much, even though it's hard to see them because it's hard to leave them (they always cry when I leave :) ). I actually teared up when I saw them leave too. Here is my home.

I LOVE you my family so much. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for so many photos and the sweet words from home every single week. They mean so much to me! Have a good week, trust in the Lord to give you directions on what to do and how to do it, and trust Him that everything will go out right in the end as you follow through those directions. That really works! Let us do what it takes now so that we can all get to our celestial home together! That's where I want to be, and who I want to be with there, even if I have to stay away from my earthly home for many more years yet! It is all very worth it. Let us remember that. :)

Love you so much! Have a good week, my sweet family!

Elder Connor