Hey! This week was, well, it
could've been better. The baptisms for this weekend fell out on Wednesday because their preacher and family and
friends found out about it and they talked them out of it
essentially. What Joseph Smith said is true, that e closer one comes to God and Christ, the more intense the Adversary works to stop the individual. We are still going to stay in contact with them. I think that they just need a stronger testimony. I am convinced that they will be baptized sometime soon. They are super great and they can feel the Spirit so easily. I talked a little bit about it last week, but Mona lost her glasses and can't read now, so we went to a shop on Friday and we found some magnifying glasses for her to use. They are super neat! We heard from them that it works for her. Hopefully she will see the glasses and still think about who gave them to her and she will remember to read when she can.
We also got a new investigator this week named Pablicio. He is from Ecuador. We first met him about 2 months ago. We finally were able to meet with him after all the holidays. We had a great first lesson and we invited him to be baptized. He said he needs to read the Book of Mormon first before he can say yes(or course), but he said he would if he gets an answer that it is true. He believes what there was an apostasy after Christ and his Apostles died and that the First Vision with Joseph Smith makes sense because the truth had to come back somehow. We have another appointment set up with him for this Wednesday. We are excited to start working with him.
essentially. What Joseph Smith said is true, that e closer one comes to God and Christ, the more intense the Adversary works to stop the individual. We are still going to stay in contact with them. I think that they just need a stronger testimony. I am convinced that they will be baptized sometime soon. They are super great and they can feel the Spirit so easily. I talked a little bit about it last week, but Mona lost her glasses and can't read now, so we went to a shop on Friday and we found some magnifying glasses for her to use. They are super neat! We heard from them that it works for her. Hopefully she will see the glasses and still think about who gave them to her and she will remember to read when she can.
We also got a new investigator this week named Pablicio. He is from Ecuador. We first met him about 2 months ago. We finally were able to meet with him after all the holidays. We had a great first lesson and we invited him to be baptized. He said he needs to read the Book of Mormon first before he can say yes(or course), but he said he would if he gets an answer that it is true. He believes what there was an apostasy after Christ and his Apostles died and that the First Vision with Joseph Smith makes sense because the truth had to come back somehow. We have another appointment set up with him for this Wednesday. We are excited to start working with him.
On Saturday, we met with the Bethäuser family. The father is not yet a member but he believes everything. He has been close to the church for the past 20 years. He is so cool! He actually reminds me a lot of a good friend of mine. He is just stuck in the mindset that if he is going to be a member, then he is going to have to do it right. It is a great mindset but it is hindering him from coming to church because he feels like he needs to be a better person to come. This man is not a bad person. He is one of the nicest guys I know. He likes his beer but is not an alcoholic and he smokes. That's it. He has set goals for this year to stop smoking and to start reading the Book of Mormon again and more often. He has made remarkable progress with his smoking goal. It is incredible! I am super proud of him. If any of you guys have struggled with smoking and have some tips on how to quit or how to make quitting easier, then feel free to let share them with me. I would love to share them with Bruder Bethäuser. We want to work with this family more, simply to bring the spirit into the home more often so that we can strengthen his testimony and to help them be a stronger unit. We had a lesson with them about family home evening. I would say that it went. Really well. We shared Alma 56:47. We told them that the Stripling Warriors were delivered because of their faith on what their mothers taught them. We also said that one could also say that not only did the mothers teach the children, but also the fathers. We then tied that into family home evening.
Sunday was also really good. We got two of our investigators to church. During sacrament meeting, Bishop Schauperl included some Ward statistics, progress, big events of the year, and goals for the next as part of his talk. As he was talking about some statistics, he started to choke up a bit. I was curious to hear what he was about to say that caused him to choke up, so I listened a little bit more intently. He then started to talk about the missionaries from the Ward who were gone, his oldest son being among them. It struck me as I realized the love that he has for his kid who was gone. They were probably buddies! Dad, Mom, I hope you two don't tear up or start choking up too often when you talk about me. I'll be back before you know it! I miss you guys just as much, if not more, than you guys miss me. I can't wait to come home and see you guys in person again. I am so excited to spend time with you all and to make of for them time I missed out on!
Yep, this week was really sad because of the fallen out baptism, but some good things did happen this week though. I love you guys! Have a great week!
Elder Grow
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