Hey y'all. Super exciting week this week. We worked super hard to hit some hard goals (finding one new person each day) that we had set and we hit them. So we are pretty excited about that and are pumped to do it again this week. I've seen a lot of miracles this week and I have realized just how insignificant we and our efforts are this week without God on our side.

Monday was just like any other pday, except it is now an official mission rule that we cannot take our car out to do recreational activities, only to shop or get our haircut or anything like that. So we will be in our apartment most of the following pdays. That night we did have a lesson with a returning less active girlfriend of Juan. She has been to church pretty consistently for 3ish years and claims this one as her own. But she has never been taught in her own language, so her understanding of the lessons isn't that great. And the only reason she isn't baptized is because Juan has to get divorced from his wife, and the records are in Mexico. And we have been informed that that takes a very long time usually. He is currently in his 2nd year of getting things figured out and says he'll need about 6 more months before it's all over. But they are still super awesome people and love the gospel and are super willing to help us out.

Tuesday we had DC and interviews with president. It all went very well. President hinted that I might be staying in this area for quite some time which I am very happy about. That day we were also driven around by the senior couple that we have in our district and printed out some posters to advertise English class and got them posted around different tiendas. That night we found Juan Carlos. He had been taught by missionaries in the past in Mexico and remembered loving the book of mormon and was sad he didn't have one now. So we taught a quick restoration to help him remember everything and gave him a book of mormon.

Wednesday we spent more time with the Binghams in the morning and in the afternoon visited some less active Hispanics in their ward (or at least tried to, but no one answered). Then we had a lesson with Bibiana and Viridriana again which went really well. We're trying to see what it takes for the girl to get baptized because we learned that she's the reason this whole thing is being held back a bit. Then right after the lesson we went over to their neighbor where a man had just opened up a beer and was about to take a sip before we stopped him and asked him if we could go into his house to teach him a bit. And he looked a little disappointed because he wouldn't be able to drink his beer but he must have felt the spirit because he let us teach him and his family. So we taught the gospel of Jesus Christ and they all really loved it and wanted us to come back. So that was a really cool miracle as well.

Thursday not much happened until the last minute of the night. We had knocked on almost every door in a trailer park and had been rejected by all, until we came across Victor and Lorena. We had a great plan of salvation lesson with them. We told them it would only take 5 minutes, but they were so interested in what we had to say to the point where it took about 40 minutes. So that was super cool.

Friday was a pretty eventful day. We helped a family move out of a very rundown house in the afternoon. The ceiling was falling down, there was all types of mold, one of the rooms didn't have any floors or walls, there were multiple beehives in the house, it was terrifying. But we made it out alive, and we were close to where the former branch president lived, so we went over there and met his family and got to know what the Simpsonville group was like. It apparently has 10 active families there, which is quite a lot. So we have to make it down there one of these sundays. After that we finally met one of the less actives we have been trying to see for quite a while.  She’s super cool and loves the missionaries. Then we found a new person Jessica, and that was that day.

Saturday we went to the flea market in the morning to pass out English class cards. Then we went to a service project to help paint a catholic church. A bunch of missionaries came out thinking it would be a great finding activity, but no one from the catholic church was even there.  The only people helping out were members of our church. But we did it nonetheless. Then at night we tried stopping by a to see a bunch of people we were supposed to have lessons with but nobody answered. Then we went over to knock in a trailer park and found a cool woman there that had been taught by missionaries the day before she had left on an emergency vacation thing to help out her daughter. And she had only been in South Carolina for 4 days. So that was cool how we were led there. 

Then we were called up by the sisters in our district saying that one of their members needed a blessing, and so we did that. It's a Hispanic less active family, but they are all fluent in English except for the dad (who isn't a member). So it was cool to build some member relations there as well. They also had a lot of habeneros at there house and the sisters didn't believe that I could eat them without giving a reaction or needing milk. So I ate one and was totally fine, which made one of the sisters think that they must not even be hot, so she ate them and started to cry and instantly regretted her decision. So to rub it in I thought I would eat another one but instantly regretted that decision. And it was a lot harder not to react to that one. But it was all very fun and built some good relations with all the members of the family. Hopefully we can come back at sometime to teach the dad. And the mom goes back to church.

Sunday we had church and then we had a member come out with us to find, and she was very good at door approaches. We got in and established friendships in like the first 30 seconds. It was pretty cool to watch. Then we had a lesson that fell through. Then we had dinner at a members house and went to a lesson that also fell through. So we actually didn't find anyone that day, but it was still a really good day. All in all, we found 10 new people in one week, which has been the highest of my mission so far. And it was quite the miracle bringer and everything.

That's about all this week. Very good week. Oh and I guess I am hitting my year mark this week so that's cool too.

Elder Bertoch