Apple POP

I've found my new addiction. It's called Lift and it is apple pop. Doesn't sound that special? Well, it's really not. This is really how I got addicted to apple pop (which we should have in the US, by the by). I don't know what happened, but the moment I left the city of Oaxaca (where it is, in fact, available), I began to crave Dr. Pepper. It does not exist out here. So I went on a mad search for Dr. Pepper. Instead I found Lift, which is good, but it's not dr Pepper. And now I drink one like everday.

Alright, on to important, cool things. I had my first baptism out here in the Coast. Actually, I had my first three. We baptised three youth, named Ricardo, Angelica, and Adriana. I, for some inexplicable reason, did not get photos of this baptism, so you might never really know who they are. Theyre good kids with good attitudes, and their grandpa is active, so i hope theyll stay active too. OUr branch sure needs it. 24 people showed up this sunday, down from 33 the Sunday before. We are small. We have like 2 active melchisedek priesthood holders who are not insane (The Hmo Anatolio, who is the only counselor in the Branch Presidency, is like 70 years old and insane. He gives talks when assigned prayers. He's a strange fellow). My companion and I have to bless the sacramant. We have a grand total of one young man (2, now with the baptism of Ricardo). ACtually, our young woman program is huge with like 9 active girls. Yeah, I know, bigger than our ward in Minnesota. Thats how we shape up. It's our job to grow the branch to a good size so we can get a chapel out here (we'll need about 80 active members for that). It's the goal. Retention is a little bit of a problem out here, but we're trying to work on that as well.

THis week has been a little crazy. Well, at least the end of it. This is how it went, starting with Thursday: Thurs - exchanges with the zone leaders. Fri - Exchanges with the Elders of Pochutla (my district). Sat - Training conference in Puerto Escondido (like 2 hours away - EVERYTHING IS FAR AWAY IN THE COAST!). Sun - Baptisms. Mon - Huatulco (an hour away) in order to play basketball with the zone. It's been crazy. I'm looking forward to a normal week of work this week, without any distractions. Divisions were an interesting experience. I learned a lot. For example, I went on divisions with Elder Aguirre de Pochutla and we had this lesson with a kid named Joel who was supposed to have been having his baptism this Sunday, but had some doubts because he hadn't received a response to his prayers. I asked him some questions about this, "What type of response are you expecting? Are you praying, reading, and going to church? Do you mean to follow the response you receive?" And all the answers he gave me indicated that he should, in fact, be receiving a response. I couldn't understand why God wasn't answering this kid. THen, before I was going to read a scripture story to help him, I casually tossed out the question, "Do you believe in God?" expecting the response to be a confident yes. Turns out, he's not sure God exists. This is why you need to ask your investigators questions folks. He wasn't receiving an answer to whether or not he should be baptized because he wasn't asking the right question. THe right question is: "God, please help me know that you exist."

Anyway, what do ya know, I'm alrighty out of time. By the By, I do have water know, as well as my clothes that I left in Bosque, with the exception of my baptismal pants and tie. THat made Sunday a little complicated. Look forward to the box. Love you all! Bye!
Love,
Elder Johnson