Yuma!

Dear You,
This week was a blast! We had our Spanish training down in Yuma on Thursday so we left from our mission home Thursday morning about 22 of us Spanish missionaries from the valley. I got to drive the "Action Van" 12 passenger beast. It was a little awkward to get used to but I had hundreds of miles to get comfortable with it, which turned out to be pretty fun. When we got down there we had a training from the Yuma zone leaders, the mission president, and the local Spanish branch president. They focused a lot on serving the members and building their confidence in us so that we can then rely on them as sources of missionary work. President said that the fundamental principle of leadership and influence is serving others and gaining their trust. Think about the Savior too. I think he's right. So after the training and dinner (lasagna!!) we split up with different companions in different areas with a member of the branch. A group of us went down to San Luis, a hispanic community on the US-Mexico border. The member I was with said that the only white people in that town are the missionaries. EVERYone speaks Spanish. How crazy is that! It was my first time being out of the valley and being so close to the border. Kinda cool and way fun. It was a good learning experience as well.
Back home at the Table (mesa), things are going well. Our English ward is building up more and putting plans together to improve the work. Our Spanish ward hasn't had a ward mission leader in 4 months, so we've been pleading with the Bishop constantly. And finally, after some intensity about missionary work in our priesthood meeting, Bishop says we will have a new ward mission leader next week. We really need it. But at the same time we're starting to work better with members to help them be better missionaries and participate in the work. We've been presenting families the idea of making a "family mission plan," in which they strive to have the Spirit tell them with whom they should work and how to work with them, in a missionary light. We've been inviting them to also consider including our investigators in their list, and to brainstorm ideas that will help them to fellowship those that we're already teaching. So far it seems to be going pretty well. We'll be doing more follow-up this week.
Oh! So we started playing soccer as a way of finding people to teach and to help members bring their friends to activities by the church. And this past Saturday was our first time. It's been my dream since the beginning of my mission to play soccer with some Mexicans, and it finally came true. Their was just me and my companion and 4 young men, but it was also raining, so a lot of people didn't show up for that reason. But it was a blast!
I love you all, have a great week. Stay righteous and keep the faith!

Much love,
Elder Gathro