This week was crazy.  We walked a ton and we talked to a lot of people.  This week we worked really hard and did have a ton more success.  We received an assignment from President Ramirez to look for, teach and then baptize a family in August and the good news is that we found two promising families this week.  One of them is the Cifuentes Family. We stopped when we saw them outside and when we said "Good morning" they actually invited us in and asked us to tell them what we do.  They gave us lemonade and we had a good 15 minute talk.  For those of you that have even the faintest idea of missionary work in Mexico in the 21st century you know that this is not normal.  We talked about the Family Proclamation and prophets and they invited us to come back today at 7:00.  They couldn't come to church because while we were there their guests (family) arrived and are going to be there for a few days, but they do want to talk to us.  hopefully we can extend a baptismal date and they will be willing to accept it.  It is a family of 5, but only 4 of them are old enough to get baptized.

The other family is a little less promising, but I still have a lot of hope for them.  It is the family of a man called Jesus (that name is ridiculously common). He has his wife and 2 kids that live with him.  We hope to be able to find them all together this week and to be able to share a very spiritual lesson with them. 

Yesterday a man by the name of Daniel finally came to church.  He has about 6 months in teaching but has not gone to church in about 2 months.  We haven't been working a lot with him.  We have pretty much just been waiting for all of his health problems to go away so that he could come to church.  Now that he came we also put a baptismal date with him.  He already knows everything but we both thought it would be good if he could go to church 2 more times before getting baptized. He is checking to make sure that he is not going to go to a conference for Herbalife first, but if not then he will get baptized the 19th of August.

We are hoping to have a few more baptismal dates in August next week including these families.  We have been working really hard and our bodies are feeling it.  We hope not to get too tired but we are going to give it our all.  We are getting a long better and I would say that as a companionship we have a lot of trust and confidence.  Hopefully we can get a lot of work done that way.

I had a really cool experience yesterday.  The other day we contacted a man that is about 50 years old.  He works as an albañil (pretty much a construction worker, gardener, yard remodler, or what ever other type of work that you can think of). He told us in the contact that he can't even read and he really didn't show much interest.  We got there yesterday to the appointment and we started talking about him and his hopes and dreams, his family and his work.  Trying to get to know him and figure out why he needs the gospel.  We were really not all that much in the conversation.  I asked a question about his grand kids and he started to tell us about them.  In that moment I had a very interesting impression or revelation from the spirit.  It reminded me a lot of the talk that president Eyring gave in the priesthood session.  He said that one day while he was bishop the police called him and said that they had just arrested one of his members.  It was a recent convert that had crashed his car into the bank while he was drunk.  When the security guards pointed their guns at him all he said was "Don`t shoot! I`m Mormon!"  He said he was going to give him what he deserved  but when he sat down in front of him he heard the spirit say, "I`m going to let you see him how I see him."  Then he saw him as a son of God that had decided to change his life and join the church.  Well when we were there in front of him and he was talking about his grand kids I saw him as a son of God, as someone that had decided to follow Christ and come to Earth, I saw him as someone who has problems but I knew that the atonement could help him, and then I realized that if I never invited him to get baptized he would never receive the blessings of the atonement in his life.  He would never receive peace that comes only through repentance and forgiveness, he would never receive the fullness of the blessings of heaven if he were not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and I knew that I had to offer it to him.  So as we talked I moved the subject to baptism and then I invited him, he energetically accepted, and then after a little more explaining he accepted a baptismal date for September 3rd.  And the change that I then saw in his eyes made it all worth it.  it seemed to me like if a light had turned on inside and then I think that he felt the Spirit, only when we exercise agency correctly can we feel the spirit, and I think that he felt it and it changed him.  He accepted to try to read and we are going to go back to visit him on Wednesday.  It was a moment that marked me and I hope to try to see the other people that we teach in the same way.

I'm excited for what's ahead.  I'm glad to hear that you are all having such great experiences.  Don't forget to do Family History work and to go to the temple the most you can these weeks before school starts.  Read the scriptures everyday.  The prophet told you that you have to do it.  I love you and I'm excited to see what the next 13 months have to bring.  I love you and pray for you everyday.  And it was a relief to hear that Grandpa Hash is doing well.  I have prayed a lot for him.

I love you and am so glad to know that we are an eternal Family.

Elder Brady Allred