This has been an exciting week in Ciudad del Carmen.

This picture introduces us to Elder de los Cobos, Seth's new companion, on the right. Seth is next to Alejandro who, obviously, was baptized. Next to him is Abraham, a recent convert of Elder Vasquez. On the far left is Ricardo who is investigating the church.

Here is something Seth wrote about events leading up to Alejandro's baptism. "When he [Elder de los Cobos] saw that we had a baptismal date set for Alejandro, he simply said well I guess we are going to visit him every day this week and baptize him. Needless to say I didn't refuse. So we went every day and worked with this young man, and he was very prepared to be baptized, and we believe sincerely that a lot of his family will follow his example."

They played soccer on their P-day. Seth noted that they don't have soccer fields of grass but they play soccer on the basketball courts. To an old basketball player like me, that seems heretical. ;-)

This is a sign of the city's name on the beach. Mary likes to watch Christmas movies on Netflix and one that we watched last week mentioned going to Carmen in Mexico several times.

Here is Seth's early endorsement of his new companion. "We have had a lot of success with setting and securing the goals of baptism with many people. All of our goals for the first 3 weeks of January are very promising with 11 people. The area and I have been very blessed to have Elder de los Cobos to work with us, and I have learned a ton."

Finally, a portion of his testimony - "Sé que si podamos honrar las cosas que sabemos son buenas, Dios va a guiarnos en nuestros deseos. Tengo debilidades, pero estoy aprendiendo ahora mas y mas que él nos ama, y va a guiarnos... tengo mas esperanza ahora en las cosas que puedo hacer por medio de la Expiación de Jesucristo. La fe es en vano, si no podemos ver que todas de estas cosas solo son posibles porque Él sufrió para nosotros."

"I know that, if we honor the things we know are good, God is going to guide us in our desires. I have weaknesses but I am now learning more and more that He loves us and is going to guide us.. I have more hope now in the things that I can do through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Faith is in vain if we can't see that all of these things are only possible because He suffered for us."