March 28

Dear Family,
(This letter was sent the last two times and didn´t work.

I want to talk about Alejandro, my very first convert. I met Alejandro for the first time a couple of days after we got here. He was smoking, but Elder Parker told him to break it and throw it away, so he did. He told me that last time the missionaries came, a week before, he didn´t want anything to do with them. Elder Parker said "We only want to share with you five minutes", so he let them in. Since then he has been struggling really hard. He still has trouble with smoking, but he´s gone a whole week and a half since the baptism. The bishop is helping with that now. Alejandro´s brother talked to a member and asked him if he knew how to help his brother, so Hno Vallejos sent us over. That just goes to show how important references are.
     Since my first lesson with him he has read a lot. He reads the Book of Mormon and prays almost every day now, but he also reads Gospel Principles, and the Liahona. When we teach him he doesn´t remember much, but when he reads it sticks. It´s amazing what he remember from what he´s read. I´m pretty sure he uses entire phrases from the Gospel Principles book. His life has really turned around. He keeps telling us that before he learned about the Gospel he was a real mess. He didn´t want to talk to anybody, he never wanted to see anybody. He was always angry and yelled at work (which I think is weird because he´s such a lovable guy, Darn Alcohol). He smoked a 20pack of cigarettes a day and about 2 liters of beer. His wife left him a long time ago and he was just miserable.
      During our lessons he would do whatever we told him to do. He came to church 5 out of 6 weeks we invited him. He read all the pamphlets and promised to follow the rules. He was just so willing. He has a lot of faith. When we told him to smoke only a certain amount a day he always completed. The only time he didn´t is when he got down to 1 cigarette, but eventually we got him to drop that too. He is just so happy now. He is buying new clothes, he washes the old ones, he had an entire Sunday outfit, he eats lots of caramels to calm the nicotine fits. His brother comes by and talks to him now and recently his wife came back. She is so greatful for what we´ve, aka the Lord, has done. She really likes the Church and has read some of the Pamphlets. She works a lot so she is only home one day a week, but I can definitely see a baptism in her future. The members are all very kind and are really helping him out a lot.
     You can only imagine what this experience was like. We were his only two friends, he didn´t even like his brother or his wife. It´s really amazing how the Gospel has changed his life. This is my purpose as a Missionary.

Well, that´s all for today.
Until next time, Love,
Elder Zachary James Singson