Week 16.... 5 months down!!!

I am writing on a Wednesday because on Monday we went to email our families and the whole Internet crashed in Yumbel. Haha… The perks of living in the middle of nowhere. So now we have permission to write today. 

This week was a super good week for my comp and I. This week we really focused on the people that want to receive our message and want to progress. This week I was feeling super bold…haha. So we went to all of our 18 baptismal dates that we have, and I asked all of them if they really want to progress. I asked them if they were interested in listening to what we had to say. And if they were willing to do the commitments that we asked them to do. Now we have 8 baptismal dates! No, it was actually really good. My companion and I felt like we were wasting so much time on people who didn't want to progress. We would go and teach them, and they would be super good, they would say they wanted to listen and learn, but would never do what we would ask them to do. We asked them to pray, read, and attend the church, but they would never do anything. So, this week we went in and told them if they weren't willing to do the commitments, we were going to teach other people. We tried to be as nice as possible. I told them that we only have 2 years to preach this Gospel of Jesus Christ and we want to preach it to the people who want to progress and come into the only True Church. Then we would bear our testimony that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only true Church and we would testify about the truthfulness of the Gospel. Then we would say if you ever run into missionaries in the future talk to them because they have a message that can change your life. And then we went on our way. Everyone was actually super cool about it. I was really scared to be that bold, but with the spirit we were able to do it. Now we have more time to focus on the 8 people that actually want to progress and we won’t waste our time on the people who don’t. So it was a good week for that:) 

Also, this week we had a Zone conference. It was super awesome. We had a big 3 zone, zone conference. I got to see a bunch of my buddies from the CCM: Elder White, Elder Hatch, Elder Parkin, Elder Galbreath, Elder Stevenson. It was super awesome! The President came and he told us of a new program we are starting to do. We are starting a new program that isn't so focused on the numbers. They have a theory that all of us are focusing on numbers too much, so now we are supposed to focus on the investigators. I really like the new scheme we are going to do. Because we will be teaching people, not numbers; The focus will be on the people and not the numbers we have. So that was pretty big news, but it was a super good conference. It was good to see everyone. 

Elder Parkin

Also this week I had a really spiritual moment. So for all of you that have been following what I have been saying with my investigators, this week was a huge moment for us. So Viviana, the Mom of Nico, who never really wanted the church, she said she had her church and she was fine, finally opened up to us. At the end of one of our lessons she opened up and said that she was scared of receiving an answer and she was scared of praying. Already right there she was receiving an answer. She was scared that her church was wrong. So we told her that the answer comes from God and she will be comforted. Then we told her we would come back on Thursday to teach her more. We told her to pray to receive this answer. So on Thursday we went back to her house and we had the Joseph Smith First Vision video: The Restoration video. At first, she didn't want to listen to us. Then we convinced her to come and listen. We started watching the video, and the spirit hit us so strong. The spirit filled the room when Joseph saw the Father and the Son. You could tell she was feeling the spirit. It was such a cool experience. We testified to her that God will answer her prayers, and just like Joseph Smith, you will have hard times, but you will be happy and you will Know The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only true Church. It was such a good lesson. I have never felt the spirit enter a room with that much strength. I know the spirit was testifying to her that these things are true. I know she is receiving her answer. She is still trying to fight it, like she didn’t come to church, but it is a break through. We are going to continue to work with her and I know she will receive an answer and come to church. 

This week for my spiritual thought, I want to share a scripture: Alma 48:17 "Yea, verily, verily I say unto you if all men had been, and were, and ever would be like unto Moroni, behold the very Powers of Hell would have been shaken forever, yea, the Devil would never have power over the heart of the children on Men."

That scripture is so awesome to me. My challenge to you all this week is become like Moroni. Because of his faith and his love for keeping the commandments, he was able to do amazing things. He had so much Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. He put all his trust in his Redeemer. I know that if we can all become like Moroni and put all of our Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the very Powers of Hell will shake, and Satan will have no power over us. I hope you can all become like Moroni. That is my spiritual thought this week. I love you all so much. Have a great week.

 

Gigantic completos (hotdogs)