Help Build the Kingdom of God

We had such a crazy week here. Last Thursday we got a call that we needed to go down to the hospital and do some translating. There was a group of North Americans down here doing service and a dentist from Utah who was a member. None of them spoke Spanish so we had to translate for them. Anyways my companion and I thought that we would be translating for the dentist. But him and I were put in the surgical section of things. So let's just say that we have witnessed a live hip replacement and translated the Spanish for the nurses. Wow. We had to change into doctors clothes and everything. My comp has learned English through his mission and he was really taken back at how unfriendly all of the North Americans were to him. They were all hard core Christians from Georgia. We taught two of them the restoration. They were actually really good and I was the senior comp because I speak English a little better. It was a crazy experience. We also had a baptism this week. It was a 17 year-old girl and she was really happy to be baptized. Her mom believes but will not get married so she couldn't get baptized. We have been working really hard with the recent converts lately because the retention is not as good as it needs to be. It needs to be 100 percent. Sometimes I get kind of scared because we are so focused on baptizing. And I think that the real purpose is to bring others closer unto Christ. Part of that process is baptism, but there is a lot more for members and for missionaries. We can always do more to help build the Kingdom of God where ever we are. The culture here is really funny. My favorite part is how honest people are. My face has been destroyed since I got here because of the humidity and people are always asking what happened to my face. Its so funny. Also we had a really interesting experience on Sunday. We were with a less active mom and dad and their kids that come to church. The parents started fighting and we learned that they were going to separate and the husband has been having an affair. But the spirit helped us know what to say. My comp is really powerful and the bishop is helping them because we don't have that kind of authority. I am grateful that I never had to worry about that kind of stuff growing up. Love you all, have a great week.

Elder Wilkes