This mission is awesome!

Ya'at'eeh!! Sorry for last week. The Library computers are lame and like to crash a lot so last week I ran out of time. I'll try to make this weekly report a good one and I might add some stuff from last week if I can remember what we did. I didn't have time to explain the picture. A member family called us in a panic and said there was a snake in their house so we went over to help them out. (Natives hate snakes) and so we were the ones to get it out of their house. We tried to find this thing in their back room for 15 minutes and had no luck. The oldest son was helping us and finally we heard him start flipping out and yelling like crazy! we rushed over and lifted up a bed frame on the floor and there it was! we hit it with a stick and dragged it outside. Elder Acaylar went super commando and cut its head off and threw the head far away. Turns out it wasn't a deadly snake, but hey! we did give service in a way that you wouldn't even think about giving anywhere else! This mission is awesome!

Last week we  painted parking lines in the school parking lot for service..  you probably already know, but Elder Acaylar and I are still companions in Chilchinbito and stuff so I'll move on to the big stuff now. Last Saturday an investigator got baptized in Kayenta (Chilchinbito doesn't have a font.) He is 10 and has been meeting with the missionaries for 4 months now. He is very converted, and he knows more than your average kid. In the interview to be baptized he was asking our District leader a ton of questions and was interviewing him almost. In two years he will be ready for the Priesthood and can pass the sacrament for the branch, which has not had a deacon in over 5 years!! 

This area is growing faster than it has in the past, which shows me that it has been waiting for missionaries for a while. Elder Acaylar and I are the second set of missionaries they have put here so it is very new! We have 3 more people who are getting close to baptism as well and there are two less active families who have started to come back to the church. Lately we have been relying on the members to tell us what to do for the branch and it has helped a lot. Two member families have been on board with missionary work and have shown us people that are interested but just haven't had anyone there to show them how to join the church. It has been more less active members that they are referring us to but it is great because then we can invite the members who referred us to go with. We are going to ask a newly activated member to go teaching with us this week so I'll have to let you know how it goes. If we can get all of the members active then this branch would easily become a ward. Last Monday we ate dinner with the Branch president in Dennehotso and we were able to get something going there too. The Senior couple there appreciates our help every tuesday. We have been providing the service work so they can concentrate on the teaching the rest of the week which has really gotten Dennehotso going. Their attendance in sacrament meeting is going up each Sunday. Wednesday we went on exchanges and I had to take over the area again, which is scary because I'm new. and we were able to see every recent convert in Chilchinbito which was really good. We tried stopping by a ton of other people but Wednesdays are when everyone goes to Kayenta to sell stuff at the Flee market so not a whole lot happened other than the three lessons. Thursday we took our truck to Farmington because it was having problems (chevy Colorado = piece of junk). And the driving coordinator for the mission found out it was problems with the hub and transmission so he had to give us a new truck. We ended up with a used Nissan Frontier which is a good truck but this one was secretly broken too. The people who had it before us used the e-brake while the car was moving and it snapped the cable so it didn't have an emergency brake. The mission knew this but said it would be safe for us to drive for now as long as we came in and had it fixed in a few weeks. While taking it home from Farmington the whole inside of the brake pad ripped to pieces and the whole E-break system shattered into little chunks that jammed and locked up the wheels. Elder Shrum the Mission truck coordinator said that it was his mistake and that we could have gotten in a wreck on the freeway. 

We then got another truck to replace the replacement so it's been a little crazy. The truck we have now is another Chevy Colorado (an old one) which we aren't to happy about but at least we can drive to appointments. While driving to Kayenta this morning the right signal light on our truck rattled loose and fell out. The Colorado's are cheep. This is why tithing is so important, so that the mission can buy more Nissans haha. The Colorado's are being taken out of the mission and they are buying more Frontiers because the driving coordinator hates the old trucks so the mission will be swapping out the truck we have now with a new one within the next two months. That will be exiting! The Nissans are super tough and Elder Shrum says there have not been any problems with them since they got their first group last year. So that took up pretty much the rest of the week. Saturday was the Baptism, Sunday was the confirmation of the Holy Ghost. Despite all the trials the missionary work is continuing to grow here in Chilchinbito and it is great! I love it here and it is going to be a great week. Talk to you next Monday! Hagonee'!