Church Attendance Church Attendace!

Hello everybody! This week has been fun. It definitely had its own challenges though. Funny thing is, I've noticed about all the emails of the other missionaries from the CCM are getting shorter. I can't help but wonder if I'm following that pattern.

Tuesday was Multizone Conference. It was pretty good. President and Sister Ostler both gave wonderful devotionals. We didn't do interviews sadly, but we did get flu shots! I had a nice talk with an elder who's got only 4 months left. He's planning on going to BYUI too, so that's exciting!

Wednesday we had district council, lunch, and a meeting (with the Rosanos) all in the church. We left for La Cumbre at about 2:00-3:00. We had some really cool teaching experiences that day.

Thursday was crazy hot! Then that night it rained, which made the power go out. This place has absolutely no infrastructure. I'm working on making some kind of portable power supply, and José Benites has been a huge help with that! He's giving me a microwave transformer that I want to turn into a battery charger by changing it into a step-down transformer.

Friday we had "Noche de Hogar," or Family Home Evening. The highlight of that is that the family we were with (they're recent converts) has a cat that is very friendly, at least once you get a hold of it. Also, earlier that day we visited the mother of José Benites and his nieces (they live together). I think that they have really good potential to grow their testimonies! They ask really good questions.

Saturday was a struggle. Of course it gets incredibly hot and sunny while we're fasting! And then of course it also rained that night. We had a meeting with Hermano Oliva for mission coordination that night, but he was nowhere to be found. We went to the church to wait with Hermano Rosano while he had his own zoom meeting. Eventually we got it all worked out.

Yesterday was whacky! Fast and Testimony meeting is when people come from the San Juan area in person on a bus. Apparently they're all members of the same ward. I thought before that it was only that they didn't have a chapel. The meeting finished a little late, by like 20 minutes. It was all good though, especially because Fabiola finally came to church! She's the one we had to cancel her original date with because she kept not being able (or wanting?) to come. I'm glad she did!

Lunch yesterday was one of the worst things that has ever happened to me. I was so excited when I saw what it looked like! But the meat was tougher than the vast majority of beef jerky that I've ever had. I'm not sure how much dirt is supposed to be in your rice normally, but I think that this was too much. It had so so much! Luckily, when we went to visit Hermana Sonia (that's the name of José's mom), we had some crab soup. It was definitely the best I've had since I've gotten here. I also like how they give us water instead of soda. I can only take so much soda!

My spiritual thought this week is brought to you from Wednesday! When we were in La Cumbre and Hermana Rosana was bearing her testimony, I felt the Spirit clearly and distinctly tell me "This is exactly where you are supposed to be." I needed to hear that. Lots of times I've wished that I was a service missionary, or at a historical site. Sometimes I wish I wasn't on a mission at all. God does not need us, He can do this work without us. But oh, how we need Him! Sooner or later we will see that this is for our good and development. It's not as soon as I'd like, but I cannot deny that God's timing has always been perfect.

Whelp. That's all I've got. I hope you all are doing well and taking care of yourselves. Always do what you can that is in your power. That's helped me a lot. Take care, and may God bless you.

Sincerely,

Elder Cobian

My Comp and I in La Cumbre. He's on the left, the lady in the middle is Hermana Rosana, the man in the back is Hermano Rosano, the rest are the people we were visiting (I don't know their names yet, sorry), and I am on the far right.

Produce section at the supermarket in San Juan. You'd think that with this climate they could grow some decent tomatoes!

One of the worst meals I've ever had. I can't tell how tough the meat is by just looking at it; maybe you can. But I can SEE the specks of dirt in the rice in the photo. Best part of the meal was by far the onion; and only because it's one of the only vegetables I've been given here!