GREAT NEWS!!!

To the Best Fam Ever,

Thank you so much for your prayers and your fast. I am now healed, thinking straight, and picking my nose like before. My nose is now doing a whole lot better and it doesn't hurt at all now to touch it. As you know, I went to the doctor last week. My nose wasn't doing at all any better, and I was in a lot of pain, so I went to the mission office and received a blessing from President Ochoa. He gave me a special blessing. After the blessing, I went to the doctor again. He stuck some cool little tools up my nose and took out some infected stuff with some puss. Since that doctor's visit, my nose has been getting better and now I am feeling great. Sorry, I didn't write too much last week. My whole head was literally killing me. I hope you got the photos I sent today because something strange happened as I was sending them. Oh and to let you know, I took out some money to invite a couple out to eat after their baptism and to invite Elder Reyes, my old companion, who is going home today, out to eat also. These last few days have been some crazy ones. The town fair has been this whole last week and there have been drunk guys walking and sleeping all over the place. Last baptisms we had were very spiritual and the member support was great. We had people flowing into the hallway because there wasn't anymore room. I baptized Suyapa and Martha. Martha is 9 months pregnant. She was really nervous for her baptism. Everything turned out great. After the baptisms Suyapa (Teodor's -the fat guy's- wife) looked at me all sad and said she wanted to get baptized again. She said she felt something really special when she was in the baptismal font. Well we also have a family of 4 that are going to get married and baptized. The couple's names are Leonell and Juana. The first day we went to their house, we taught them the first lesson. They loved it! We also talked about baptism. I testified of baptism and invited them to do it. The wife Juana just looked at us and said "I would love to" and the husband said, "Me too" We also have a 28-year-old lady, her 22-year-old sister, and her little boy that is 10 that are going to get baptized. The 28- year-old lady, Arasely, was going to get baptized last week with her son but she had some work problems. But now she is going to do it together with her little sister Karen. So that is all the good news that will be coming up soon. The bad news is I have a change on Wednesday. I am already leaving Santa Cruz after just 6 little weeks. I am just starting to love the people here also. We just found out the changes today in the morning. I was so pumped to help this branch become a ward. It is so close too. I guess the Lord has other plans for me. I did what the Lord wanted me to do here, and now I am off to another place. This last Sunday, the branch had a conference and they released the old president and called a new one. They released the councilors and a lot of other leaders in the branch. The president had been president for 8 years. They called a really humble man who has to walk an hour to church every Sunday carrying two little kids on his back with his family. He was so happy and had the biggest smile on his face. Him and his family are a true example of how the gospel makes a family happy. They don't have much in their lives, but he has his family and the gospel and he is one of the happiest men alive! This past Sunday, the stake president set apart a 19-year-old kid after church named Carlos who leaves to his mission on Wednesday. All the members stayed around to watch. The Stake President talked for a little bit. As he was talking, he took off my name badge from my chest and told Carlos that he will be representing his Our Father in Heaven , Jesus Christ and His church, and his family. He told him to always do things on his mission that will give respect to these 3. Only for 2 years you will wear this badge! After his little talk, the Stake President set him apart. It brought tears to my eyes, as I felt the spirit so strong. I had the same feelings and thoughts a year and a half ago when our Stake President set me apart, with Priesthood holders from our family all around me. It was a great little reminder, and a little kick in the butt, to get going and work harder, because my precious time is running out. This last Saturday night, I had a really spiritual experience on our porch with our Japanese neighbor. It was about 9:45 at night and I was talking with "Hiro". We started talking about our beliefs. He told me that his family is Buddhist in Japan and that he doesn't know much about God. He said he grew up Buddhist, but now doesn't believe in that religion, he just believes in God. He read a little of the Bible for the first time a while back and really liked it. He doesn't speak very much Spanish or English, but he knows a little of both. As we talked, I got up and went into the house (our house is just one room) and I got a picture of Jesus Christ getting baptized. I brought the picture out and asked him if he knew who that was. He told me Jesus Christ. I asked him if he knew WHO he was. He just looked at the picture and at me then at the picture and said, "Our Savior" I asked him if he knew what that meant. He told me no, not really. I asked him if he had ever heard of baptism. He told me no. I taught him what Christ was doing in the picture. I also taught him that Christ is Our Savior. I taught him as if he was a 10 year old in the Primary. I taught that through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and with a true baptism into the gospel of Jesus Christ, we can return to live back with God, Our Father. I then went into the first lesson and taught him in Spanish and some parts in English that were hard for him to understand. Overall though, he completely understood. As I was teaching the first vision and how God the Father and Jesus Christ came down to visit Joseph Smith, he cut me off, and just looked at me in the eyes and said "interesting". He looked so amazed and I could just see it in his eyes that he believed every word I was saying. I know for a fact that he was feeling the same spirit that I was feeling. As we got done talking he looked at me and said "thank you, Lee'sn" (Mr. Lee in Japanese) That night as I prayed in my bed, I thanked the Lord for helping me teach that man. It was an experience I will never forget. Right now he might not get baptized, but I know when the gospel arrives on his porch next time in Japan, he will accept it and be very thankful for having known us before. That is what's great about sharing the gospel. Even though you don't baptize everyone, you can plant a good seed, and the next time the water comes around, it will be really thirsty. That is one thing I have tried to do my whole mission is always plant a seed. Sometimes there are people that are just horrible and hate you, but you always have to invite them to do something. Instead of fighting with people that don't want anything, or trying to show them that they are wrong, I always try to invite every person to receive the missionaries the next time they show up on their porch. I tell them that in the future maybe they will feel something different. I love being a missionary. I want to teach and baptize the world!  Well my little time is running out. I have to go take my clothes to the laundry women and eat some lunch right now. Thanks again for your prayers and fasts. I am now feeling a lot better. Keep up the great work at home. Teach everyone you know something about the gospel. There will be families and people eternally grateful. I love you all. Thanks again for everything. Love, Elder Lee
Here are some photos:  1. No, this is not a booger. I pulled this out from beneath my skin in my nose. This was just part of it. It hurt really really bad. This green thing is really hard like a rock. 2. These are some of our baptisms that we just recently had. Martha is next to me...her husband is already a member...we married them; next is Suyapa...we also married her ...her husband is a member also; next is Fanny...we ran out of white shirts, so she used a wet one after Suyapa got baptized. Donaldo Torro is the one on the end. 3. A photo with some members that attended the baptism. 4.These are the families that got married and baptized. We celebrated with a little cake. 
5-6.  Hugo and Martha after their baptism. I invited them out to eat. 6. My best friend Ashtey and me taking a cruise 7. My best friend again 8. My companion, Omsaro, and me taking a ride on some bikes.