ad3951df8193--letter-16-4-2012.txt

4/16/2012 Semana Santa is what they call Easter here. It is a whole week. Most take off work and go to the beach. Almost all take off on Wednesday through Sunday, so all the stores are closed except the pulperias which are family owned stores. I took the young men to the beach and they had a great time. One non member that may have been 11 but he said he was 13. Not a lot of honesty with people here. I took the snorkel equipment that our owner of our house had. David lost his mask about 5 times. He kept giving it to someone else to use and then I would see him and ask him where is your mask. He would say I don’t know. I would say well go find out. He would leave and somehow would find the mask. I found out that part of his family went to the same beach we were at. He would loan the mask to one of his family members but somehow it was loan to whoever that was around them. Some really don’t understand. It wasn’t my mask and I had figure I would buy the owner a new one. The fifth time I took it and put it away so he would not lose it again. It kind of drove me nuts. Oliver a 12 year old member brought a volley ball and it was a hit of the party. Every one like playing with the ball and it brought all the young men together. There was this pier that was two stories and people would jump off into the water when the boat were not docked. Joshua was 12 and he sat beneath the pier and stayed there for a long time because he was afraid to jump. It reminded me about Luis waiting for hours to jump rock in Kawai. Well I gave him a nudge and he went in and seemed to be happy that he finally did it. He actually went back and jumped in again several times after that. I was struck when Daniel Garay (16) ask me to go beneath the pier and catch him when he jumped because he cannot swim. He came up fighting and swinging his arms and I just said take it easy and I will get you to safety. What trust he had in me. I sometimes cannot keep away the tears of knowing how much they need leadership and how much they yearn for someone to love them. It because of young men like him that I do what I do by making some type of young men’s program for them. They bug me all the time to go places or do something. Hermana Roper keeps telling that these are the ones that can make a difference. The youth. The parents have to many hang ups and the youth will stay strong then maybe this branch may have a chance. So I continue to do things with the youth. At first we had two, then 5 and now ten. It grows to faster than any program that I have been in. I wrote this last week and got busy and didn’t send it. This week was different and we did the primary swim party at the church. We fixed two pools that was trash and I got some duck tape and got them to hold air for a little while. We also brought a pool. That was the girls pools and the other they claimed as the boys. The third one was for the little kids. We had over 40 kids in three pools plus some of the moms decided to be kids and get in the pool. Moms deploy worked. After about an hour or two in the pools we had them get out of the pool to eat. When they left I took the water out of the pools and put the pools inside the church. We wanted the kids to be dry when they went home. It worked but a lot of them stay for a baptismal. Anthony 9 year old got baptized. All if not all came to his baptismal. It was a good end of the day deal. Last Saturday we had a elders quorum service project. WE went to Hermana Garays and she wanted us to move her outside wall of her house three feet to the balcony. I explain that if we do that then her house will fall down because it was a load bearing wall. She literally lives on a cliff with these round wood pillars holding up the house. She has a view that you would die for but she never cuts her trees to see the view. She says it will be hotter if she cuts down the trees. We eventually didn’t move her wall but had to put everything back together. Today we went exploring the inland. We found or stop at the pirates of the Caribbean Canopy. Which is a zip line around the jungle with pirates stuff all around. They had these monkeys that were on leashes but they could walk up to you if you were close enough. We took some pictures and went to two other resorts. One that looks just like the states but cost a lot of money for a day pass and the other didn’t cost anything but suggested us to buy some food at the restaurant. They had a man-made lagoons. They have these full size beds with sheets you can drape the sides sitting on the beach. Like you can come and sleep there. Never saw that before. In our exploring we just take a dirt road and see where it goes. Something to do on p day. Life is prettie much the same here. A lot of members but very few show up to church. Always different ones at diferrent times. Consistency is a thing of the past and you get whatever you get. So we have learn to do our best and not be discourage. Positive and encouragement is the best answer to allowing someone to change and do something with their lives. I have been feeling a little tired lately, more so than usual and I don’t know if it is the stress of trying so hard to help these people do what the lord wants from them or I am just getting old. Today is good day to rest and get back to it tomorrow. I love you guys with all my heart and want each of you to know that I am proud of you. Lv alwys Dad

4/16/2012 Semana Santa is what they call Easter here. It is a whole week. Most take off work and go to the beach. Almost all take off on Wednesday through Sunday, so all the stores are closed except the pulperias which are family owned stores. I took the young men to the beach and they had a great time. One non member that may have been 11 but he said he was 13. Not a lot of honesty with people here. I took the snorkel equipment that our owner of our house had. David lost his mask about 5 times. He kept giving it to someone else to use and then I would see him and ask him where is your mask. He would say I don’t know. I would say well go find out. He would leave and somehow would find the mask. I found out that part of his family went to the same beach we were at. He would loan the mask to one of his family members but somehow it was loan to whoever that was around them. Some really don’t understand. It wasn’t my mask and I had figure I would buy the owner a new one. The fifth time I took it and put it away so he would not lose it again. It kind of drove me nuts. Oliver a 12 year old member brought a volley ball and it was a hit of the party. Every one like playing with the ball and it brought all the young men together. There was this pier that was two stories and people would jump off into the water when the boat were not docked. Joshua was 12 and he sat beneath the pier and stayed there for a long time because he was afraid to jump. It reminded me about Luis waiting for hours to jump rock in Kawai. Well I gave him a nudge and he went in and seemed to be happy that he finally did it. He actually went back and jumped in again several times after that. I was struck when Daniel Garay (16) ask me to go beneath the pier and catch him when he jumped because he cannot swim. He came up fighting and swinging his arms and I just said take it easy and I will get you to safety. What trust he had in me. I sometimes cannot keep away the tears of knowing how much they need leadership and how much they yearn for someone to love them. It because of young men like him that I do what I do by making some type of young men’s program for them. They bug me all the time to go places or do something. Hermana Roper keeps telling that these are the ones that can make a difference. The youth. The parents have to many hang ups and the youth will stay strong then maybe this branch may have a chance. So I continue to do things with the youth. At first we had two, then 5 and now ten. It grows to faster than any program that I have been in. I wrote this last week and got busy and didn’t send it. This week was different and we did the primary swim party at the church. We fixed two pools that was trash and I got some duck tape and got them to hold air for a little while. We also brought a pool. That was the girls pools and the other they claimed as the boys. The third one was for the little kids. We had over 40 kids in three pools plus some of the moms decided to be kids and get in the pool. Moms deploy worked. After about an hour or two in the pools we had them get out of the pool to eat. When they left I took the water out of the pools and put the pools inside the church. We wanted the kids to be dry when they went home. It worked but a lot of them stay for a baptismal. Anthony 9 year old got baptized. All if not all came to his baptismal. It was a good end of the day deal. Last Saturday we had a elders quorum service project. WE went to Hermana Garays and she wanted us to move her outside wall of her house three feet to the balcony. I explain that if we do that then her house will fall down because it was a load bearing wall. She literally lives on a cliff with these round wood pillars holding up the house. She has a view that you would die for but she never cuts her trees to see the view. She says it will be hotter if she cuts down the trees. We eventually didn’t move her wall but had to put everything back together. Today we went exploring the inland. We found or stop at the pirates of the Caribbean Canopy. Which is a zip line around the jungle with pirates stuff all around. They had these monkeys that were on leashes but they could walk up to you if you were close enough. We took some pictures and went to two other resorts. One that looks just like the states but cost a lot of money for a day pass and the other didn’t cost anything but suggested us to buy some food at the restaurant. They had a man-made lagoons. They have these full size beds with sheets you can drape the sides sitting on the beach. Like you can come and sleep there. Never saw that before. In our exploring we just take a dirt road and see where it goes. Something to do on p day. Life is prettie much the same here. A lot of members but very few show up to church. Always different ones at diferrent times. Consistency is a thing of the past and you get whatever you get. So we have learn to do our best and not be discourage. Positive and encouragement is the best answer to allowing someone to change and do something with their lives. I have been feeling a little tired lately, more so than usual and I don’t know if it is the stress of trying so hard to help these people do what the lord wants from them or I am just getting old. Today is good day to rest and get back to it tomorrow. I love you guys with all my heart and want each of you to know that I am proud of you. Lv alwys Dad