My penultimate letter, Week 97, 2 weeks left. Ill be home July 2nd

Well well well! You know it!  This is my penultimate letter, or say, second to last, for those not yet used to large unimportant words. :)

Dearest family and friends!  This has been a fine week!  And it sounds like everyone is more excited for my arrival than I am!  I feel that the reality of me finishing the mission hasn`t quite `hit me` yet. But that`s alright!  I`m not as trunky!

So, me and Elder Ospina have been working well!  We have 3 people with a specific date for baptism, and are working with a couple others to do the same.  Our next service will actually be my last Saturday in the mission, with good old Luis and Mario.  

Luis is great!  He is to be wed in a week! But alas! Problems with his marriage papers!  And he has just begun his driver`s license course, and can only find him on the weekends!  Just when it seems mission work is just slip-n-slide of fun, you realize that your plastic tarp in not laid upon an American lawn of sweet mattress like grass, but a rocky field of cactus barbs and gravel! Opposition has struck every single one one of my converts!  And once again, we will face opposition and slap evil right in the face!  (So we are resolving those problems very quickly)

And Mario, is just... well.. rolling!  He should be good to go in no time.

And so, with the mission split and everything, we did have some changes!  And today, Elder Ospina and I will be receiving a THIRD companion!  Yes... just like the Triforce we shall be a Force to be Tried with! Ha Ha!  (pun AND zelda reference... I still do have an inner nerd!)

His name is Elder Alcarraz, and he should get to our sector in about 30 minutes.  So we hope all goes well!  We still need to find a third bed though....  we`ll try to get one by sundown.

But, I really think I see these last 2 weeks as 2 more weeks on the potter`s wheel.  Never before will I be in such a high spiritually plane such as the mission, and I need to use every moment I have left to bring about the last changes needed for real life!  So, when anyone of you leave on your mission, always remember that!  The mission is meant to CHANGE you!  Both in an increased testimony as a more advanced conversion to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  What a great opportunity it is to come here, and have no limits of progression!  The only thing that can limit you is yourself.    But it`s true, we can do that when we`re at home as a normal Latter-Day Saint, but I will say, nothing like it is being SET APART from the world!  It almost seems like the phrase being in the world, but not of the world really takes on a more literal meaning.  We don`t even have time to meddle or think or speak about worldly things such as movies or sports or politics, which is great, because all my desires to do things of that nature have greatly diminished.  Not that they`re bad things, but just as an apostle said, many of them are just `Idle Pursuits`, and halt us from heeding toward eternal progression.   

So, if we can always put things such as personal prayer, scripture study, and sabbath day observance BEFORE all that worldly stuff, then All Is Well in Zion!  Because don`t get me wrong, Movies are great!  Drawing superheroes is great! Working as a creative director at Trafalga is great!  But ONLY when placed in the right order in the chart of Eternal priorities.

SO! Do wholesome things, choose the right, and may you all have a great and stirring week!

-Elder Sanders

PHOTOS!- Me and good comp at a baptismal service in our zone,and us with some other missionaries, making them a delicious Ecuadorian

griddle-style Quiche as a reward for having the most street contacts last Saturday.  All is well,