Elder Isaac Blake: Divide and Conquer

Hey fam,

This week has been good and tiring, like a good week should be. Right about the time I signed off last week, we had to head to the church to fill the baptismal font! There was a water shortage, probably the exact same thing that HAPPened with Brigham and Manuel's baptism in SF. We filled the font with a good old fashioned bucket brigade for a bout 2 hours!!

Raquel's baptism was AWESOME! Tons of member support, including a fantastic talk by her neighbor that has helped her learn and live the gospel.

Sunday, we had a few surprise investigators show up to Church so that was awesome. We're arming a good pool of people who wanna follow Christ and strengthen their families as they prepare to be baptized and live the Gospel.

Monday we spent the day verifying with the Zones and organizing our Leadership Council, which we delivered on Tuesday. I gave one of my favorite trainings (?) (not sure what the word would be in English -- capacitación) on the subject of speaking with everyone and teaching as we find. Spoke and testified of the importance of opening our mouths and sharing the Gospel at all times, and then we practiced using inspired Qs in contacts to spark and discover interests and needs.

From Tuesday till today, I've done splits every day (and actually Monday as well because E Slighting and I had to organize everything here, so we went out together in my area and worked, which is apparently very rare, that both APs get to work together. We both decided it was great, and he very sincerely and lovingly told me at the end of the day that he really enjoyed working with me. I concur) (Is concur a word in English?)

Tuesday I worked with Elder Threet (see pics). We hit it off immediately. He was comps with Elder Miño (shout out to my son Elder MIIIIÑÑÑÑÑOOOOO). He played Outside Linebacker in HS and is a beast. During lunch, he asked me what my secret to a successful mission has been. I couldnt think of anything to say so I said, "how about we work together today?" -- an attempt to better show than tell. Not sure if it worked too well because the only plans we had were to contact referralls and we ended up just contacting all day (I was dead tired at night.) It all paid off at the end though - taught Camila, a teenage girl we are trying to help get back to church. Camila's little sister isn't a member but we invited her to sit down and she ended up accepting a baptismal date. Woooo! It was cool working with E Threet because it felt like I was working with Brigham a bit.

Wed - worked with a young (5 months) Colombian Elder (from Bogotá) named Elder Cruz. Also hit it off immediately with him. Another slow day contacting and teaching with him, but found a few good families.

Thurs - worked with Elder Thompson from Highland UT - a great guy, great friend. He was my homeboy Elder Philpot's ZL in Oran and we spent the day in his area also contacting and teaching. He's gonna be heading to BYU and starting freshman year along with me and Elder Slighting. I loved his sincerity in testifying and he speaks impeccable Spanish.

The highlight of each split was the inventory - something we're trying to emphasize as leaders. We sit down together, pray, and then analize the day. I personally take it as a time to point out every good thing I can see in my new comp. Shower him with sincere compliments. (Hahaha that means throughout the whole day I'm constantly looking for the good in him - a GREAT exercise that I recommend to all, especially those of you who are married). Anyways, with each Elder, I felt soo good as I sincerely expressed my love and appreciation for what they do. Each one of my companions is a boss. I especially connected with Elder Thompson - there's power in say and mean good things about other people. Another thing I loved is that each one of my companions asked me, "what can I do to improve?" I asked the same thing. That opens the door for loving, constructive suggestions.

All in all, this week has opened my eyes and changed my perspective on the missionaries in the mission. They're incredible. I can feel the love they have for our Savior and for the people around them. I can tell that there is a general desire to do good and be obedient. Love it out here.

Elder Isaac Blake

Elder Tello has pics that are way better, but here are 2 from Raquel's baptism.