Another Week in the Coast

Dear All,

It's been a pretty good week here in Saint Joseph's Port (Puerto San José). My companion and I are getting along better than ever before, and we had 5 investigators in church this Sunday. One of them had to leave early, but said that she'll be staying all 3 hours next Sunday! I was so excited to see that, because the challenge here is getting people to church. The area is really big, and the culture isn't really conducive to scheduling, mostly because many people are fishers, and we have to try and find them at home when they're not at sea. So, basically, it was fantastic to be able to have 5 investigators in church!

Also, President Brough called me last night. He said "Elder Banks, your Heavenly Father has called you to be a trainer again." So, next week I will be receiving a brand new missionary to train! I love new missionaries, because their faith is awesome. For a new missionary, every person you contact is going to be baptized. For a new missionary, once you get used to the climate, you don't get tired, you just want to work and work and work. It wears the trainer out a bit, but that's alright, because new missionaries are fantastic. President Brough reminded me that the assignment to train is the most important assignment in the mission, and he told me some more details. I, of course, told him that I would accept the assignment.

I will also be having divisions with the Zone Leaders, starting tomorrow and ending on Friday. Sometimes they do it for a little longer, and I'm excited because I'll be with Elder Acosta, who is absolutely awesome. I already went in divisions with him once, but in HIS area. Now, he'll be coming to MY area, and for a longer period of time, which will be cool.

I'm finding even more love for the work here, and for the people. Our branch president, President Barrera, made a funny joke about me. Since I'm a gringo and my name is "Banks," everyone likes to say that I'm rich. President Barrera emphasized that yesterday while playing with some clay. He made 3 little lines in the clay, and said "I can sculpt Elder Banks with just this little bit of clay here." He then turned the clay into a dollar sign. He's a big jokester, isn't he?

Today we had a zone meeting, which was really good. We learned about faith, and the things we need to do to reach the goals the Lord has set for us this month. We are going to be baptizing 50 families in November as a mission!

Well, I don't really have much else to say today. Just that I love the Lord, I love you, and thank you for your prayers.

Never lose the faith, no matter what happens in life. Yes, it may be hard, but I promise you that it will be worse without the faith.

Sincerely,

Elder Banks