week 10: third times the charm

Manuel's baptism day!

This week was a little hectic. Tuesday one of the Elders in the other companionship was sick, and they had a lot of appointments so we went on splits and I stayed with Elder Hawkins. That was pretty chill. Then we started teaching these 2 new people, David and Elena. It was cool because last week they came to church because they were curious. No one invited them and they had never spoken with missionaries. Sadly when we went and taught them we found out they aren't married, so we can't baptize them yet. We'll be meeting with them again this week to teach them more, and talk to them about marriage. 

We also had splits with the district leader and his companion. I went with Elder Hansen, who is from PG, and we went to his area. That was pretty fun, but not too much happened. 

Saturday was a big day, I bought my own soap for the first time . . . and Manuel got baptized! It was awesome, but was definitely an adventure. Since he only has one leg, we had to put a chair in the font, and help him get in it. Me and Elder Arroyo both were in the font and I performed the ordinance, and he helped Manuel lean back. The problem was his leg popped up so we did it again. This time Elder Arroyo held his leg down, but his elbow didn't make it under. Third times the charm, and with a fair amount of pushing we got him under. We confirmed him a member on Sunday and it was super awesome.

Hope you all are doing great.

--Elder Thompson

bits and pieces from family phone calls:

They say it's supposed to start cooling down, but I honestly can tell at all.

Our area is massive... probably 20 or 30 miles top to bottom and just as wide. We mostly stay in the center area where most of the people are. 

The language is still a struggle, but getting a little better each week.

Best day on the mission so far!

Literally, just a bunch of cows grazing in someone's front yard