Electrical work

This week we did service for an investigator family. They are moving houses, so we cleaned out the new house and painted it before moving the furniture in. It took a long time. We weren't able to get permission to bring other missionaries in to help, because it is too dangerous where they live. two companionships were able to come for a little bit, but Elder Vallecillo and I did the majority ourselves. It took the entire day. We also weren't able to change out of our shirt and ties (the danger thing again) so that kind of stunk. I got my clothes a little dirty....

I also learned a thing or two about how they do the electricity here in El Salvador. The new house only had one electrical outlet. To create another one my companion and Diego, the investigator, tore out a light switch and taped an extension chord to the wires inside. (I decided I didn't want to involve myself with that). We didn't have anything to test the electricity, so we just had to plug stuff in to see if it would turn on. It didn't work.

They decided that the outlet/switch must be bad. So they started to try to undo the extension chord. But they did such a good job taping it up that they decided it would just be easier to cut the wires out. Diego tried to cut the wire with a pair of metal pliers, and as you can probably guess, he got a pretty good shock.

At this point we decided it would be easier and safer to go get a professional electrician who lived close. I fully expected him to tell us to use a splitter or something on the one outlet. But he did almost exactly the same thing that we did. Using a light socket instead of a switch. The nice thing is that the houses here are all concrete and cinderblock. So it's pretty hard to burn down a house...

A spiritual experience...
Getting investigators to church can be pretty frustrating. We tell them to meet us at 9.00 at a corner outside their colonia so we can get them a ride to church from a member. Finally at 9.30 they leave the house after we knock for awhile. And the member has to wait outside a colonia that is too dangerous for him to enter. I get pretty angry sometimes. But whenever my companion can tell that I'm angry he'll sit down, and he won't move until I calm down. The first time he did it, it made me even more angry. But now I'm grateful. If we are angry, we don't have the spirit. And if we don't have the spirit, well....

Have a great week! I love you!

-Elder Goodman