22nd and Muddy

Exciting news, we got new bikes on Friday. Bad news, they dont work to well in the mud and i already got it super dirty. This week was a tough one. It flew by most of it and i didnt even feel like i was in my area at all. I spent one day on exchanges in Longchamps and another 2 days on splits with a youth in my ward working Brandsen. The good news is we have 8 baptismal dates out in Brandsen so at least the work out there is going alright. On saturday i had a wonderful surprise. Ruben, Jacqui, Hno. Berta, and Carlito (all members from Acevedo) showed up at our church building with a cake to celebrate my birthday! :) That was actually a nice surprise and they told me many people wanted to come but couldnt. Yesterday was a rough day and exhausted me. At church none of our investigators showed up which was rough. We left and ate lunch in the pinch that the hna. Nina gave to us. (she lives in front of us and is amazing). Speaking of her, i met her mom the other day who is 102 and still kicking. Well when it came time to leave and work it started pouring and we pushed through the fiaka and left. We went down a one-way dirt path about a mile and a half but when we turned around we couldnt get back... the rain made the mud so thick that the mud built up on the bikes and we couldnt ride back. well we finally got back (mud everywhere) and as we were biking to take the sacrament to an elderly woman we saw a guy in his car that slid into a ditch. Well, it was kind of fun and took a while but we got it out. When we showed up at the house to give the Hermana, who is 98, the sacrament they just laughed but felt bad because it was raining, cold, and we were covered in mud head to toe. Well i got the mud out of my hair and face the best i could and we gave her the santa cena. we got back and washed the bikes off a little and then i took a nice warm shower. It was definately and interesting day and im waiting for the blessings to come from this one.... Really we are working but this area has a lot of work to go. This is one of the challenges in the mission that you have to love. If you dont that just sucks because your still gonna be here. You might as well be optimistic and it will help everything. Love yall! Elder Martino