So this week was cool in that we actually moved a baptismal date up. I've never done that before... EJ's new baptismal date is now for the 18th. It has been really cool to be able to teach him. He is already friends with a lot of the young men and young women, he has a firend baptizing him, and his uncle confirming him. We play basketball with him every monday and keep contact up with him pretty much daily. This is like the example of how an investigator's process should be. He is doing really well, and is even talking of seminary after school starts. We're super excited for next weekend. We've only got a few of the "smaller" commandments to teach him, but he'll be good to go.
This week has felt like a zone leader. We were down in San Jose for a leadership meeting on Friday, we've been coordinating different things for different companionships, and we've just been trying to get the Zone motivated. Together, the zone set a goal for 4 baptisms in the month of August. The stake only has 8 the whole rest of the year. There are 3 that are all but locked up, but the 4th will take some stretching. It will be amazing if we can get these 4.
This last week Elder Suzuki and I organized a little devotional to start our fast on saturday night. We just met at one of the buildings here and gave some thoughts and testimonies. I learned from my trainer, way back in the day, that it is the little things that help the Zone so much, and an example goes a long way. Elder Suzuki is a zone leader, and I'd be lost without him, even though I know more then the average new ZL by virtue of my first 3 transfers.
We met with the High Councilor in charge of missionary work this past week, and he is great. His name is Brother Wirthlin, and he happens to be Elder Wirthlin's grandson. He is excited to try to get the work moving. He brought up an interesting point in why our numbers are so low sometimes. We are the smallest stake in the mission. With 1 big wards, 4 tiny wards, and 2 branches, it can make things tough. We're working with what we've got though, and are still excited.
Glad to hear things are going well.
-Elder James Richards