Continuous Conversion and Pining for Carpet

 Life here in the wonderful pueblo of Barbosa is great. I feel more and more like this is my home every day. When I walk down the streets, I just like to soak it all in. These people are my people, and I love them.

 Andres is great. No real news with him. His mom, who is a less active, is experiencing some problems. We have been visiting and working with her a lot. She has reached the point where she is ready to be active in the church again.  I enjoy working with her. I have heard, and am witnessing, that helping people return to church activity is almost always more difficult and requires more work than helping people get baptized. People think that after they are baptized they are done. Wrong. They forget the fifth part of the doctrine of Christ, enduring to the end. Getting people to rekindle their faith is very difficult.

 Valentina is doing well. We didn't have an opportunity to meet with her this week because she was super busy and had to cancel two of our appointments. However, she did attend sacrament meeting and was surprisingly engaged during our class for investigators and recent converts during second hour. Thank you for the prayers.

One thing that I miss: Carpet. Sounds silly but I really do miss it. Haven´t seen carpet once since I have been in the CCM or Barbosa. I doubt I will see it for 21 more months. Haha.

 In other news about drugs, so far I haven´t seen much. You smell weed often, but it doesn´t seem to be a problem with the cops. They smell like it to. Daily you will see people pack a bowl in the middle of the street. Plus, I have only been offered it once. We were talking with a person that has lived in Barbosa their whole life and they said that literally everyone that is rich in Barbosa has some affiliation with the drug trade. They said that if you see a BMW driving done the street, you can bet money that they are somehow connected. The drugs are grown/made in the small pueblos and then transferred to bigger cities for sale. Barbosa is one of those small pueblos.

We have been working with this guy named Luis recently. He wants to be baptized, but due to his work schedule, he cannot attend Sacrament Meeting. We went to an appointment with him only to find him with a huge black eye, missing teeth, and three almost completely severed fingers. Apparently when you do not pay your electricity bill, they send "enforcers." I felt really bad because he is by far the poorest person we are teaching. He is on the lower part of town, which is the most poor, and lives in a 15 by 15 foot shack made of that cheap sheet metal stuff. He has one light bulb. When we left we shook hands. His fingers were still fresh and a decent amount of blood was transferred from his hand to mine. Don´t worry mom, I washed my hands with soap.