HOLA FAM

Dear Family,

Wow, this was another great week. Sorry it sounds and feels like I have had great weeks the last couple of weeks. But it's true. Thanks for all the letters. You guys are great. So now you are all leaving for the Oregon Coast, huh?  Do you guys ever take a rest from vacations? Well, this last week was full of fun surprises and great experiences. This last Thursday, we had a Multi-Zone Conference, where 7 zones all met together to have a conference. To start off the conference, they showed every Zone's numbers for the past month. Our Zone baptized 39 the month of July. That is the most a Zone has ever baptized in a very long time. So, after the numbers, the AP got up like he usually does, and named off 3 elders to come up and bear their testimony. He then called up 2 elders to give talks. Usually, they call Zone Leaders to give talks, anyway that’s all I have seen since I have been here for 7 months in Honduras. Well, I was a little nervous when the AP called out my name to give a talk. For a second, I thought he had called someone else. I was making myself try to think he didn’t call Elder Lee. But yes, it ended up being me. You know, giving a random talk in church isn’t hard, but when you have to get up in front of elders from 7 zones, the AP, the President, his wife, and President Peterson who was there...yeah, I can say I was a little nervous, and had no clue what I should talk on. So, I had about 5 minutes to prepare. And no, I got nothing prepared in those 5 minutes. So, I got up there, said some things that made the Elders and Sisters laugh, and relied on the Spirit the rest of the way. I talked about relying on the Lord for everything and the importance of goal setting. I am not going to say it was super, super awesome, but it went really great. When I was up there talking, it was really weird, I didn’t get nervous at all...didn’t even sweat. I felt really calm and confident. It was a great experience. At the lunch break, when we ate lunch, Sister Ochoa told me, "Thank you, for your talk". I told her I was really nervous before I spoke, and that I wasn’t prepared for that. She then told me nobody could tell. So that was nice to get a compliment from Sister Ochoa. Anyways, the Conference ended up being really great. This last Friday, our Zone Leader, Elder Cornelison came to my area to interview the Familia Enamorado for their baptisms. That was a fun division. We ate Baleadas, drank 2 liters of pop, stayed up all night talking in our beds, and woke up to a flooded house. The night before, E. Cornelison wanted to take a shower, so he went in to the shower and turned on the water,but there wasn’t any water. So anyways, he forgot to turn the knob thingy off. So during the night, the shower turned on and kept overflowing until about 5:15, when he woke up and found the house was flooded and turned off the water. The highlight of the week was the baptism Saturday. I wish you all could have been there. It was one of the best moments of my mission. Carlos quit smoking last week. In one day, he just stopped smoking. Last Saturday he made a promise to the Lord he would stop smoking. So this whole last week he was full of headaches and body aches from not smoking. I gave him a picture of Christ praying in Gethsemane, and told him to put it in his wallet, and whenever he felt like smoking or buying a pack of cigarettes to look at the picture, and remember all the pain Christ went through for us. He has been smoking since he was 11, and smoking more then a pack a day, but with the Lord's help, he was able to quit in one day. It is a miracle! But I am still praying for him everyday, so he won't have any more temptations. At the baptism Saturday, I baptized Carlos' daughter and wife, and my companion baptized Carlos and Jason. Carlos (the dad) was baptized first, and when he came out of the water, he gave Elder Mejia a huge hug. It was great. After he was baptized, he got out and went to the back of the baptismal room, and watched the rest of his family get baptized in his soaking wet clothes. Jason got baptized next, then I baptized Jordana, and then the mother, Maria. After Maria came out of the water, she gave me this huge hug, which I was not expecting, but couldn’t push her away. I didn’t hug her back. But anyways, the best part of it all was when Maria was getting out of the water, her whole family was waiting for her outside the font in their wet clothes, and when she got out, they all started hugging each other. It is a moment I will never forget. I got tingles all up and down my spine. It was so awesome. After that, we watched a couple of segments of "Together Forever" and then sang “Come Follow Me”. It was a really spiritual baptism and we had a lot of support from the members. All of the members in the ward are really excited right now with the success we are having. The Lord is blessing us with almost too many blessing right now. Well, so that was the week summed up into a little page. I have to get running. Don’t have much time. Love you all and hope you enjoy the Coast, and everything else everyone else is doing. Thank you for all your letters and love. Love, Elder Lee

P.S. Here are some pictures of our recent baptism. It was a really great spiritual experience. Wish you could have been there. The picture of just a guy (Hno. Cruz with my Comp and Me)...this man and his wife will be our next baptisms this upcoming Sunday.