Dear Elder John: Grupo Tahuexco!!!

Hola Everyone!

I have lots of great news this week! I guess the biggest piece of news is that after almost 5 months of me being in La Maquina Branch, we are going to open a group (mini congregation) on the beach in Tahuexco! This has been one of our goals for the longest time and I am so thankful to have been here during this ocasion. Yesterday, the counselor and secretary of President Goodman came to La Maquina to support us in the branch. After that, they drove us all the way to Tahuexco to talk with a brother named Genaro Martinez.

Genaro Martinez is a Melquesidek Priesthood holder that was baptized with his family 6 years ago. They were the first members of Tahuexco. They met the missionaries on a bus to La Maquina and shortly after, got baptized. After them, a few of their neighbors and family members also were baptized. After two years of being members, Hermano Refugio Bonilla (the father of the kids that we baptized not too long ago) moved back to Tahuexco with his wife Lorena, who was baptized back in 1987. The Martinez and Bonilla familia are the two firmest families in Tahuexco - and EVERYONE is either family with them or knows them really well. We are so excited to see the future of this newly-opened group. The group will function as a annex to the branch in La Maquina. Hermano Genaro Martinez will be the group leader and they will have sacrament meetings every Sunday starting on Oct. 30th.

We are still working super hard with Ricardo and his family! They are continuing to learn and progress and told us that they want to make a final decision soon. The counselor and secretary of the mission also met him and are very excited to work with him. He is the future of this branch. If the legal process of his matrimony takes too long, we are going to baptize the kids first, so that the sons can begin passing the sacrament and exercising the priesthood.