This weekend we did have a successful baptism.  Karen got baptized Saturday and yesterday I got to confirm her a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints.  It was a pretty unique experience one that I hope that neither she nor I will ever forget.  We have a lot of hope for her and I think that she will be a good loyal member.

This weekend nobody came to church and really all of our plans fell apart.  We had a lot of hope for these next few weeks but really all of that just fell apart yesterday.  Daniel couldn't come to church because he was babysitting his mom.  Francisco flat out didn't show up.  And all of the other investigators  that we had had a little bit of hope didn't show up either.  So we have no baptismal dates.  Several people told us that they aren't interested any more and we couldn't help them to change their minds.

We also got to do another service project on Saturday.  We cleaned up a lot (a lot as in a piece of land) and cut down a ton of really tall grass.  I'd say that I'm starting to get the hang of using the machete, and I put on band-aids this time so I didn't get a single blister.  A young man named Alan helped us and he almost cut off his finger with the machete, I had much better luck than that.

Yesterday we started talking to a less active sister and we were planning on baptizing her younger daughter Fernanda because they had told us that she had just turned nine.  The bad news for us is that she just turned 8.  The good news is that we are still going to help her mom to keep coming to church and we are still going to be partially involved in the baptism.

We also got to go to Tampico on Tuesday.  I'll just say that it was a horrible experience.  We got up at 5:00 am and ran to the bus station.  Took a 3 and a half hour bus ride and got  to Tampico at 10:17 (leaving Victoria at 7:00, so we did get there a little fast) and then I went and  signed 3 papers to renew my visa and then we ran to the bus station (this time in the literal sense) and at 10:50 we were on our way back.  We were in the offices for about 15 minutes and then 3 and a half hours later we were back in Victoria.  We had cancelled lunch and then we had to reschedule it when we got back on the bus.  It was a crazy day.

We also contacted a reference that reminds me a ton of Uncle Ed.  I will say that he has the same face, the same teeth, the same way of talking.  The only difference is that Luciano is just a little bit shorter, a little bit older, and speaks Spanish.  He was talking and I was thinking, I swear that I've talked to someone who talks like that and that looks like that and then I realized that it was Ed.  We talked to him twice and we aren't going to go back much more because it seems that he has a mental illness that impedes his learning and his memory.  For example he told us the same information about 7 times in 15 minutes about his job and his life story.  It was word for word the same.  And then he asked us on Thursday "What are you going to do tomorrow for Sunday of the Holy Week?" we told him that Friday was not Easter and I have never seen anyone so confused in my life.

We are going to work hard this week and we hope to have a lot more success.  we are going to enjoy all of the heat for these next few weeks.  You don't stop sweating here, but It makes me appreciate more the AC every night and the thought of snowmen in the back yard.  But we keep going.

I love you all and hope that you have a great week.

Elder Brady Allred