The Plan of Salvation

Hey fam!

Glad to hear that everybody had a good week!  Here everything was as normal as could be expected, getting to know the area, the members, and the not so large investigator pool. The area is pretty cool, more paved roads than all of my other areas combined, which is interesting considering the fact the town itself is only slightly bigger than Aimogasta.  Walking down their "downtown"  reminds me a tiny bit of being in Town Center down in Sugarland.  But just a little, it is missing a few key things.  Like fast food.  The weather this week was actually surprisingly cold, but it is warming up little by little.

This week Elder Venegas and I spent a lot of time working with the less active members.  There are 400 members in the area, and we only had 40 show up to church yesterday, so we definitely have some room for improvement.  Yesterday I was able to give my testimony in the branch.  On Thursday I had to give another training to the zone on how to work with members.  I guess word is going around that I give a pretty good training on it, because it is like the 3rd time I have done it in a month.  

This week in my studies I was in Alma, when Alma gives his final chats to his 3 sons.  I got quite a bit out of it, concerning the plan of salvation and Atonement.  The knowledge of the gospel does help.  I don't think it was a coincidence that this week I hit Alma 40.  The Atonement is real, and the plan is perfect.  There is no doubt in my mind about that.

My comp is from Peru, reminds me a lot of my other comp from Peru and also my comp from Nicaragua (which makes sense, because Muñoz was his trainer).  Raised in the church, in a branch in northern Peru.  The part they call "the jungle."  Our first week was good.  Church is 3 hours, but there is no gospel principles class, everybody is together studying the New Testament.  There are quite a few things we need to talk with the branch president about this week in regards to Sunday meetings. I make sure that we get food on a daily basis from members.  There are 2 other companionships in the district, the sisters that are in a town 15 minutes away called Leones, and the other sisters than are an hour away in a city called Bellville.  Lots of bus trips.  The apartment is great, well, sort of.  We have a shower with hot water (most of the time) but no fridge or "plancha"...I think that is iron in English?  The thing you use to get the wrinkles out of shirts.  

I am glad to hear about the UT (the real UT...University of Tennessee) and BYU wins.  I heard about Maddie's call, that is awesome!  Everybody is heading out on missions, it is great!

Love you all!

Elder Mangum