Blessed

Dear friends and family:

Charles, Nislande, Erlanda, Ketty, and Lornise were all confirmed successfully this week. Brother Ramos confirmed Charles, but Elder Van Wagenen and I traded off for the other four. Also, Fadens and Stravensky were baptized. It was a good service; all of their baptized family members were there to support, but we were still unable to get their parents to come, because of work. It was another case where the parents were glad that it was happening, but they still don't realize how important it is enough to act and come to church and the baptism.

God has really blessed us these last few weeks. Before the Petion family, Ed, and Charles, I had only baptized one person in about three months (Lucy P., from when I was with Elder Winslow). I have been more than a little discouraged, especially in this mission where standards are to baptize two a month and we are encouraged to baptize weekly. I have been relieved to be baptizing again these last few weeks, but looking back there's nothing really that we did to have these baptisms. They are all miracles from God. We found them all miraculously, and most of them are the type of people who only had to be introduced to the church and invited to come. They would have done the rest themselves.

This transfer is going by really fast for me. There are only three weeks left. A few things that we are going to focus on for the rest of the transfer, and this week in particular, are:

Inviting people to the temple open house

Getting the parents from the Petion family to come to church and support their kids more

Learning to recognize the promptings of the Holy Ghost better

Finding!!! This has always been a weak point for me, and I would like to go to God and let him make it strong. Especially finding through members and recent converts, not just our own efforts

Elder Van Wagenen and I still get along great. We don't always agree on the best way to do missionary work, but we usually don't let that get in the way.

Fact of the day: everyone calls the Ward Coordination meeting "Correlation". There is no reason to do that. It is the wrong word. It means something completely different. Preach My Gospel never says "Correlation" at all. Nothing does. So why do we use that word? I don't know. Don't ask me.

I just realized I might not have ever told all of you: in this area, there is a member who is a franchiser for a bunch of McDonalds. He gives it to missionaries for free. It is really nice of him. Us missionaries are very grateful.

The Florida Fort Lauderdale Temple open house starts this Saturday, the 29th. It goes until the 19th of next month. Then, the cultural celebration will be on the 4th of May. The prophet will be attending. Then, the actual dedication will be on the 5th. It will be amazing. I can't wait.

Thanks,

Elder Slade