Tuesday, February 12, 2013

I Had a Great Birthday 2/11/2013


Good morning!!!  

We had a great week as always and have a super exciting week this week.  First of all, I did have a great birthday on Friday.  I did love the watch.  It was a pleasant surprise actually since I totally forgot to ask for a watch for Christmas, and I really was wanting a new one.  So thank you very much.  We had a zone meeting in the morning in which we talked about the importance of inviting people to be baptized.  It was kind of interesting for me to contemplate what was said.  Essentially what was said was that every program we have and everything we do as missionaries has the end goal of baptism.  President Mullen gave a good analogy about sports such as football.  The plays in football are not designed only to gain a few yards, but ultimately designed to score a touchdown.  That is our same purpose, our "plays" are not meant for us to just help people become better, but to help them receive the gospel of Jesus Christ through Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End.  It really was a great meeting.  We have had a lot of wonderfully spiritual meetings this transfer that have helped us to improve ourselves.  Anyway, for the rest of the afternoon, we spent time tracting, had dinner at a Chinese place, and then had a lesson with the Morans.  It was a super day.

     Jacob is getting baptized on Saturday!!!  His testimony is growing so much and he really enjoys learning more about the church and about the gospel of Jesus Christ.  We can really tell as we teach him that he truly wants to understand everything.  His baptismal interview is today and after that things are good to go.  The really amazing thing about this is that Forest is going to be baptizing him. 

     Marcus and Melissa were sick this week so we weren't able to have a lesson with them and they couldn't come to church.  They are still doing great spiritually as far we know.  We are hopefully seeing them tomorrow.  I think they are going to have Josh baptize them, which is awesome as well.  In the 8 months I have been here, I am going to see two men go from investigating the church, to baptizing family and friends.  I love seeing them learn and progress in the gospel even after they have been baptized.

     Brittney, Josh's niece is on track to be baptized next Thursday, and is so enthusiastic.  Josh is going to be baptizing her as well.  We have another lesson with her tomorrow and Bishop Tolley will be interviewing her sometime this week.

     Glenda has been more optimistic this week.  We had a lesson with her on Monday in which we read 2 Nephi 2 with her.  She also had a job interview this week which has looked promising.  She still hasn't come to church yet though, and we really hope to help her see the importance and blessing that church is this week.

     At church this week, a member brought one of their friends, named Benz to church with them.  She really enjoyed it and wants to be able to learn more about the church for her and her family.  She has gone through some real struggles from what it sounds like and is in a very humble position right now, but she really does seem sincere about taking the discussions.
     We have had some good success this week in using the pamphlets in finding situations.  We found a family of 4 that let us in and share a message for 10 minutes.  We taught the Restoration and gave them a Book of Mormon.  They mentioned that they didn't necessarily intend to join the church, but that they would at least read and pray about the Book of Mormon, and we have a time to come back and meet them this week.

     So things are going great here.  I am happy to be here and we have a good amount of people we're teaching right now that I love so much.  Transfers are coming up on Sunday.  I've dodged the last 6 transfers, so we'll see what happens  on Sunday.  Will Megan be home when I write my next email???  It is so crazy that amount of time has elapsed.  Anyway, I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week.

Elder Stacey

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