A lot of alone time

Dear Family,
Wow I have a lot to say today. It was a fantastic week and the most interesting weekend. Just a funny anecdote, one day this week when we were at the gym we asked the Hispanic guy behind the front counter how to say "to scan" in Spanish. He said, "It's the same: scan." I said, "Seriously, in Spanish?" "Well there's another word for it but we're right by the border." It was hilarious! Spanglish is pretty common down here. Another time this week we pulled up to a stop light, and my comp looked over at the car next to us and said, " Hey he's a member." So I figured they knew each other, so I rolled down my window and shouted out, "Hey I'm his new companion, my name is Elder Gathro!" He said, "What?" So I shouted back the same intro. And then I hear my companion starting to laugh, which is when I pieced it together. My comp confused the other drive with someone else, but he was just a random stranger. We just bust out laughing and luckily the light turned green :) Ok, one more story. We were talking to a lady on her porch in Spanish and I was explaining what we do as missionaries, and I said "We help others to learn and apply" but it came out funny and the lady immediately stopped me because she thought I said "we help others to learn to sin." Kinda embarrassing but super funny. It was classic :)
I also had some neat experiences this week in our visits. I was in another elder's area on Wednesday and he had been given an assignment from the bishop to visit a lady in the ward that no one really knew anything about. So we went by, and from the first impression(s), she seemed absolutely nuts. She had coffee in her hand and broke into a hysterical laugh every minute, literally. But toward the end she opened up a bit and said that she has really missed the family feeling within the Church and has been thinking about returning. So I said, "Well here are two brothers calling you back to the fold." You could tell her eyes started to get a little watery and before we left she thanked us sincerely and said, "You don't know how timely your visit was." It was really neat, and I believe the power of our visit came from following the assignment of the bishop.
Speaking of assignments and less active members, here's where it gets interesting. We had interviews on Saturday with our mission president, and before meeting with our zone he met with the stake president down here. President Howes asked the stake president what he could do to help, and they started discussing the needs of the Spanish branch that we're serving in. As their discussion developed they came up with a plan. At the end of zone interviews our mission president sat down with both me and my companion and told us about their discussion. He will be releasing us from all of our assignments, except that of zone leader, and wants us to be 100% dedicated to help strengthen the branch and branch president. In two weeks when the transfer ends, we will no longer have a "proselyting area," but will cover the entire valley visiting branch members and helping out in any way that the branch president desires. As if we were his counselors but not, because it's a stake not a district. We met with the stake president yesterday too, and he wants us to make sure that every member of the branch - single, married, family and kids, active, inactive, even the branch president's family - receives the 5 missionary lessons, ideally within the next 3 transfers. We're aiming to transform the branch, strengthen the members, help everyone receive the ordinances that they are missing. We're kind of like investigators too, finding out the situation of every family in the ward, and helping to bring to the surface those who may have fallen through the cracks. Elder Sawyer and I are absolutely stoked about all this! It's never been down in our mission before, and it was not thought of prior to their meeting on Saturday morning. So it's still very fresh and we're shaping it as we go along. Probably be having Family Home Evening every Monday night, helping people in their callings, in home teaching assignments, being very much involved in their lives, even in ways that we honestly don't want to. It's a heavy load, but Elder Sawyer and I feel really privileged and we recognize how much the Lord is trusting us in this. Our faith and obedience and that of the members will be the driving force I believe. I'm not sure if I've explained it all very well, so feel free to ask questions about it. My life for the next few months will be different than what I've gotten used to. It's exciting!
Well I've used up all my time. Thanks for everything! I love you all so much! You're the greatest!

Yours truly,
Elder Joshua Gathro