Letter #24
February 3, 2014
Area: Broadway 2 East
Companion: Galvez
This time I'll do the questions first because I almost forgot to last week...
Yes, I got the package, and thank you. We have been listening to the talks that you downloaded to the USB drive. Thank you. We keep pulling up different talks. I am glad
there are so many because I enjoy listening to them more than just music
because it is something that I can follow along with and it brings the
spirit more strongly.
The weather has been crazy over here! One day it will
be nice and sunny and get warm enough that you're sweating when you ride
the bikes, then other days it is really cold and you don't really want
to go outside...
Well, this week really flew by for us here.. We
spent most of the time teaching a few people, and helping them progress
more. I think I told you last week about how we got one of our
investigators to get a baptismal date, but this week we went by and
taught him about the 5 steps in the 4th article of faith (the 5th being
enduring to the end) and he understood it perfectly again! He even
compared baptism to a ticket that Jesus is offering to you. I continued
on with that analogy and said the ticket was a trip for him, and his
family, to a never-ending paradise with God and Jesus Christ. Elder
Galvez asked Oscar (the investigator) when he would accept that ticket
if Jesus was offering it to him right now, and Oscar understood
completely and answered that he would take it as soon as possible,
meaning right now. Oscar is super excited to be baptized and when we
invited him again to be baptized the 22nd, he said that he would and
that he would to everything he could to do so.
Not only did Oscar accept the invitation to be
baptized the 22nd, but we invited the 2 kids of a less-active member of the church, and 2
other investigators we have. We were super excited when all of them
accepted our invitation, and they all were willing to prepare for that date. (The only kink we have is the fact that the less-active mom
keeps making excuses to not go to church, but we'll try our best)... I am excited to help these 5
people make that baptismal covenant with our Father in Heaven, and I can't wait to go to the
church that day and see 5 people that I taught [basically from the
beginning, meaning the lesson on the Restoration], enter into the waters of
baptism, and start a new life as members of the church! Seeing them progress and change in ways that you can see in their eyes the desire to live a life that will bring them closer to their Savior and in serving others.
We also saw a lot of miracles happen this week from
knocking :) One day we were having a pretty bad day...it was cold, and
almost all of our appointments called and cancelled. We contacted a few
of the referrals that the English sisters gave us, and then went to the
house of Oscar to teach him that lesson that I described above, but we
got there a little early, so we were talking through the lesson a little
and listening to a talk from the USB. We got a text from Ana, Oscar's
wife, and she said that he was working a little late and asked if we
could come at 7:30 instead of 6:30... We decided to drive down the road a
little farther, and I just kept going a little farther before I
stopped. We were just sitting there for about 5-10 minutes listening to
the talks, but then I had the feeling that what we were doing was a
waste of time and I felt like we should go knocking... I shrugged it off
at first and just kept listening to the talk, but the feeling was still
there and it was bugging me, so I told Elder Galvez, "Let's knock a
little bit, we've got about 50 minutes", to which he responded "It's
cold, I don't want to go...". I told him to come out and knock and I
turned off the car in the middle of the talk that he was really
interested in, and he got kinda mad and said that he was listening to it.
I just said that I was too and I got out of the car. He was being a
little spiteful for me making us go knock and he told me that I had to
lead us to where we were going to knock because I wanted to go so bad. I
had no idea where to go, so I prayed and asked to be led to those who
were ready to hear the gospel. I felt the need to knock on this one door
off to our left, so I went over and we knocked it, and Elder Galvez
still being spiteful, told me that this one was mine to contact. So I
started talking to the person and she said she was a little busy, so we
got her name and address and said we would come back another day in the
afternoon. We went farther down the street and I felt like I wanted to
knock another door, but I wasn't sure if it was just me wanting to, or
if it was the Holy Ghost telling me to, so I thought to myself "What's
the worst that could happen?" and knocked it. It was kinda awkward at
first, but then the person invited us in because it was cold outside. We
taught her about God and His love for us and how the gospel can bless
families, then we ran out of time, so we had to go... But I know those
feelings I had were from the Spirit because it got us 2 new
investigators who are pretty interested and they were fun and reminded
me of you guys.
We went back to that first house one of the next days and found out
that the lady is from Mexico, but used to live in "the valley", which
is this supposedly really cool place in southern Texas, and she used to
meet with missionaries there, but then she moved here. We asked her how
she felt about the missionaries visiting her and what they taught, and
she said she was fine with everything. So, we asked her if she was
willing to have us come back and visit her. She said we could and gave
us her phone number to see if she is home and she told us the best times
to go visit her.
The saddest part of the week was when we got the
call on Saturday saying that I, once again, am getting transferred.... I
really wanted to go through the rest of the lessons with the people we
have baptismal dates for, but I guess the Lord says my work here is done
and He needs me in a different area. I am glad that I at least get to
come back to see the baptisms of these people I helped teach this
transfer. I am glad to say "I will go and do the things the Lord
commands" (or in spanish "Ire y hare lo que el Senor ha mandado"). I
don't know where I'm going to go, but wherever it is, I will work my
best.
Les amo y me encanta mucho leyendo sobre sus vidas,
Elder Stanley Scott Dye
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