A leopard gecko named rico

Attack of the Snow!!!

This week started out awesome. Temperatures were in the fourties, and almost all the snow was gone. We spent a couple days dodging slush, and creeks that formed at intersections. Just as things were getting to be really nice it decided to go below twenty on Friday, and then on saturday night through Sunday we got dumped on with six inches of snow. Now all the snow that had melted is back. It's funny because people say that this is the most snow we've had in about fifty years. Spirits are still high.

I heard this Sunday that another visa waiter in our mission expects to get his visa within a month to six weeks. He's been here about a month longer than me. Hopefully visas will pick up, so that I won't be waiting another two months. It's weird, because I really want to get to Brazil, but I want to see everything through that has started here in Lovell. The work must go on, and if I don't find out how everything ends right now I'll just have to come back for a visit, in two years.

We has a pretty strange lesson on Sunday. We were meeting with a less active, and while we were finishing our lesson his dog went into labor. I got to see a newborn puppy, which is really cute and really gross, at the same time. The mother is expected to have at least eight puppies, so we're going to be going back later this week, and hopefully I'll have some pictures to send home.

We had a very exciting visit this week. A had the first lesson with a man who's wife is a member, but he's never really been interested in the church. We've been stopping by, sharing spiritual thoughts, and doing service, but he hasn't really wanted to hear anything about the gospel. Recently he's been going through a lot of medical issues, and through it all he's had a lot of support from the ward. We got a call from his wife last week saying that he wanted us to teach him the lessons. When we were talking with him at the beggining of the lesson, he said that he felt that it was about time that he joined. We will be giving him a commitment to be baptized, this week.

The work increases to increase. People are continuing to pop out of the woodwork who want to take the lessons.

If you know of anyone who would like to hear the message of the restoration, please suggest them as a friend on Facebook.

Love you all. God be with you till we meet again.

Love,

Elder David Short

Highs and Lows and Happy Valentines Day!

The highs and lows of this week have been the temperature. Monday started in the negatives, and it stayed that way, until Wednesday it got to be about ten degrees. We got the car Thursday, but the temperature went up to thirty, and that continued through the weekend. Sunday we didn't have the car, and it got to be around fifty-five so had one good weather day.
This last week we've been making a lot of progress with our investigators, and weeding out the ones who we don't plan on visiting anymore. Some people just want to hang out, and if we bring up the gospel they argue with us, so we aren't going to those places anymore.
We've found out that one of our investigators originally planned to start his own church here, but he hadn't researched the Mormon church before, so if he likes what we have to say he'll get baptized. We're a little worried that he'll just take the things he likes that we teach him and use them in his own church. We are still confident in the converting power of the Spirit.
The work is progressing so quickly now. People who haven't wanted to talk with the missionaries before are now popping out of the woodwork. We are getting new referrals every week, and for the past couple weeks we've had a new investigator each week.( which is pretty hard in Lovell)
I am drawing a very large blank for this last week. When I get my brain back I'll write something interesting.
Love,
Elder David Short

Batismo Primeiro!

Saturday at 1 o'clock, Sean was baptised and confirmed. I've been seeing Sean since I got to Wyoming, and before I had gotten here he had had a baptismal date, but it had to be postponed till his dad could come up to baptize him. Finally we set a rock solid date, and it went through. It's been pretty amazing teaching Sean. Sean is 9 and has some sort of mental problem where he has about a hundred micro seizures a day. When he has one of these micro seizures he'll look off to the side, and he'll forget everything that has been said in the last five minutes, but when we've been teaching him we'll ask about things that we've talked about in previous weeks and in the lessons, and he'll remember! His mom and step dad were shocked and amazed.
This past week we've been in a tripanionship with Elder Trujillo from our district. His companion was transferred, so he had to wait with us till he got his new one. Work is hard when in a tripanionship, but next week we're going to make the work explode! Elder Trujillo's new campanion, Elder Berquist, is also a visa waiter.
We went to a member's house for dinner this week, and they showed us all of their hunting trophies from their hunt in Africa. They promised us that if we came again that they'd feed us rocky mountain oysters. I'm excited for our return.
We are very excited, because we had our first lesson with Brian. Brian moved here not too long ago and is looking for the truth, because he believes that all the other churches he's researched don't have the full truth. During our first lesson he soaked up the message. We gave him a Book of Mormon and told us that if we didn't come back tomorrow that he'd have the whole book read. I'm so excited to meet with him again.
More exciting news to be coming to you next week.
Love,
Elder David Short

P.S. No word on my visa, but I have been told that Elder Costa of the Seventy is going down to Brazil to speed up the process.