So this week has been awesome! But first off, congrats Dan and Amy for baby boy number 5!! I am so jealous I can’t be there to hold that little angel! I am so happy for you guys. I hope everything is going well! And second, to Aaron on his mission call to the San Pablo, Philippines mission! That is so awesome! You are going to be such a blessing to those people!! I am so pumped for you!!

This week has been awesome. This email is going to be short because I have no time, but anyways... so this week was mother’s day! The new best day of the year. Seeing my family was the best thing I could even imagine. Words cannot describe how happy I was yesterday. I have the best mother in the entire world!!!!!!!

So this week I got to bless the sacrament for the first time in Spanish! That was a new experience. It was so cool though. I was way nervous but I did it. Maybe not pronounced correctly but it worked.  And just a fun fact, down here we start every lesson with a song. So that is different. I thought they were just joking when they said that in the CCM but we really do. So I now know more songs in Spanish than I do in English. Hah.

We have been working really hard down here. We have actually reactivated 2 families this week. It is the most awesome feeling seeing them at church. It really makes me realize what home teaching is for. It is amazing what visiting members can do for families, and just talking to them in general. People underestimate the value of a loving ear to listen and what a simple visit can do. We have been focusing on inactive members a lot lately. You can literally see the change in their countenances, they are so much happier. And the ward is so happy to have them back with them too.

So this week I had splits. I went with Elder Orellana. He is from El Salvador. He speaks no English at all. It was an experience. I was honestly scared, but it went so awesome!! I kind of wish I had a Latino comp now, talking Spanish all day. We had a lot of good lessons. I had one of the most humbling experiences in one of them though. We went in to teach this guy a lesson, just a simple home, concrete floors, curtains for doors, and a whole family living there. As we started the lesson, Elder Orellana pulls out a piece of paper and a pen. We were teaching this 36 year old man, with a wife and 3 kids the vowels, so he could learn how to read because he wanted to be able to read the Book of Mormon to his kids. He was struggling so much with the simplest letters but he wouldn’t give up. He had such a deep love for the gospel. It was a real testimony builder for me. The spirit was so strong. He was such a positive guy.

That’s all I have time for this week, I am sorry.  It’s been kind of crazy, but I love this work I have been called to. There is no other place in the world I would rather be. I miss you all and love you all so much. The church is true!!

Elder Staffieri