November 5th

Howdy!
To start, yes mother our area is probably the most ghetto area in the city of Rio Rancho. Don't be worried, the Lord will protect us because we are doing His work. Our apartment is pretty nice and we do not share it with any other Elders, but when we bike down to the hill where most of our work is, that is where it becomes more and more ghetto =) Yes I have been getting the emails from the siblings as well so you don't need to worry about that. Father, that's crazy that Justin Barcia won. Wasn't he in the lights class last year? GO DUCKS! GO PACKERS! WIN THE 'SHIP!
This week has had its pros and cons. One of the main things I learned this week is that even if you are guided or led by the spirit to go somewhere or to talk to a specific person, they still have their agency which oftentimes is a bummer. Anna, who Elder Cloward and I tracted into on exchanges was not there for our appointment that we had and then didn't answer the phone so that was disappointing. Also, the same exact thing happened with Hannah. Roxy and T.J. live super close to us but sometimes it has seemed like they are avoiding us. T.J. is more willing to talk to us than Roxy though. That's what it seems like anyway. They are never home when they say they will be. The other family we had set an appointment with were named Ramon and Elaine and they also were not home when they said they would. Something funny happend though too. There was a family named the Halls who Elder Jacobs was teaching before I existed and they said they couldn't meet with him anymore because they were moving to New York. Well, we saw them driving their car one day and then we decided to go by and see them and they said our religion isn't for them. The things people say sometimes...
On the bright side, we have found quite a few new potential investigators that we are planning to meet with tomorrow. Tomorrow is a very busy day and we have plans for almost every single hour of the day. I also have my first interview with Pres. and Sis. Miller tomorrow and we are supposed to teach sis. miller the atonement as if she were a 9 year old. That's going to be a tricky one because I have met/talked with hardly any little children but it should be a good learning experience! I am excited for tomorrow especially because a while back we received a media referral from Temple Square for a woman named Sally that we will finally be meeting with. On the referral it said that she wanted a copy of the BoM and to meet with missionaries so that should be fun!
Shariy (our only progressing investigator) is doing well but I hope this marriage ordeal doesn't prove too difficult for her to overcome. She is just really scared of marriage because of her previous marriage that went south after about 30 years. We had a member come out with us named Bro. Witt and he is just about our only really supportive member in our ward besides the bishop. He is awesome though. We watched the John Tanner story with Shariy which is about a 15-20 min. video and basically, John Tanner is a great example of how through faith and putting your trust in the Lord, you can accomplish whatever you are supposed to accomplish. Shariy was amazed by John Tanner's story and it was really good for her to see such great miracles that can be wrought by faith. We asked her to exercise her faith and to ask the Lord if being married to Geno so she can be baptized is something that He wants her to do. This is where Bro. Witt showed his bossness. He told Shariy that he felt impressed to invite her to fast about the issue as well and he invited her to do that and she said she would. Then, we all told her that we would all fast with and for her. She came to church yet again (5 times in a row!) and she just seemed really happy about it. I can't wait to ask her about how her fast went!
We also met with Michael in the heart of the ghetto a few more times this week. We talked a lot about his good memories being raised in the church and all the fun things he did and the happiness that he misses in his life. He gets really emotional talking about all of that. It's kind of funny because he's pretty convinced that the 2nd coming could be happening pretty soon. Whatever motivates him to start coming back to church and changing his life around is a good thing right? Anyway, he came to church and it was so awesome! A bunch of the ward members came up to him and gave him hugs and told them they missed him and that they were so happy to see him. That was some awesome support and he was feeling the spirit so strongly at church. I loved it. Michael also was 1 of 3 individuals who volunteered to come and clean the church on Sunday. He's just a boss.
Last night, we were supposed to meet with Cowboy and his family (and they were also supposed to come to church) but neither of those things happened so we visited a member who lives nearby (in the ghetto by Michael). We watched a Mormon Message with him and he just started crying. We didn't really even know what we were doing there but that is another one of those small instances where we were guided by the spirit to help invite someone to come closer to Christ. I thought that was pretty sweet.
Oh! I also went up to Santa Fe on Friday for zone meeting so I thought I'd let you all know that I have been up to Santa Fe now. It looks weird. There are these weird green tree looking things but they don't have trunks so they're just sitting there on the ground. Our zone leaders are great though. There names are Elder Chalk and Elder Turnbow and they are super awesome examples to me and they are just full of the spirit all the time. It's awesome. We learned about how to teach people so the people KNOW what we are saying and understand it too, FEEL the spirit and our love for them, and DO things that help them gain the desire to have faith unto repentance and then to be baptized and have the Holy Ghost with them! It was awesome and I learned a ton!
Anyway, this all I have for ya'll. I also have sweet pictures of the moon and a glorious sunset. The sunset is glorious, but the gospel is more glorious. I know that this is the true church, the BoM is the word of God and Joseph was a prophet. I know the spirit guides us and teaches us important things that we need to know and feel. I know these things more and more everyday. The Savior loves us and loves all ya'll!
Peace and love!
Elder Black