So, we didn't meet with a single investigator this week. We dropped all our investigators because they are not progressing. They all had some some sort of problem, so we are starting with a clean slate. We are working on finding new ones. We had a nice visit with all our less-actives. We met with Juan, who got baptized not too long ago on Thursday. He's doing good. This weekend he's going to France to visit his family and then in January he's going to move there. I'm probably going to be gone to a new area by then. We talked to him about the priesthood and he knows a lot. He really should have been baptized a year or two ago. I feel like he knows as much as me about this stuff. He really gets it. He knows that he needs to change himself and really step up to be worthy of this priesthood. It's really cool seeing the reverence and respect he has for it. It really strengthens my faith and my testimony. Kinda made me feel like I need to take the priesthood a little more seriously. So it was really cool.
On Friday, we went to visit Maximo's family. Maximo was baptized back in August when Elder Farmer was here. The dad and the older son haven't been to church for the past two weeks so we are a little worried about them. But we are going to go visit them this Wednesday and see what's going on. I believe the dad is not coming because of work but I think he has control over whether or not he works on Sunday. Bothers me a little. I think the son is watching his dad and thinking he's not going to go if his dad's not going. I don't really know, but we will see what we can do to help them.
Later, Friday night we went to the temple and had a beautiful experience. We were told if we weren't there by 6:30 with our recent converts, we wouldn't be able to get in. Juan told us he wouldn't be able to get there til 7:15, so we made plans for him to pick us up and go to his pueblo and teach a message instead. Then he decided it would be less miles and easier to just meet at the temple. We decided to just talk about family history work and, since he had his recommend, we would go in the temple and show him the font, even though there wouldn't be time to do baptisms. So, we went inside and it was really cool. We had just talked about how he could do baptisms for ancestors who had passed away, when Elder Holt saw us in the back. He asked one of the temple workers if there was time for him to do baptisms. The temple worker said he could if he could hurry and change. It was already about 8 pm, but Juan hurried into change and I quickly went upstairs to have some my family names printed off that I had found. He was able to be baptized for two of my ancestors and he was confirmed right by the side of the font so I would be able to see it. It was very spiritually powerful. But there is more to the story – maybe the coolest part. When Juan didn't show up to the temple on time, we left and got on the Metro and left him a message telling him that it probably wasn't going to work out. But then my comp and I both got a prompting that we needed to get off the Metro and go back to the temple. Then everything worked out the way it did. The Lord really wanted us to have these experiences. It was a very powerful experience for Juan – he absolutely loved it. Tomorrow we are going to do some family history work for his dad and his grandparents. He can be baptized for his grandfathers and when his wife comes back to town in December, she can do his grandmother & great grandmother.
Saturday we had lessons set up by they failed us. We are trying to meet with new people but they just aren't showing up. We're trying to work with more members this next week and get references. We went out to the pueblo and met with the Belgium family. They were excited to meet with us and know that I won't be transferred but that I am staying here in Coslada. So we talked to them about faith and how it is a choice – there is that conference talk “Faith is not by chance, but by Choice.” We shared that with them and it really hit them hard. They really liked it. We talked about in order to have this faith that they need in order to reactivate themselves, they have to choose to do stuff. They have to choose to read the scriptures. They have to choose to come to church. So we talked about that and we talked about reading and praying. Ives said it will be hard to get him to come to church – that he's got something coming on that we couldn't get him to share. So we are trying not to be too prying – we just want to help him, but this week we're going to try to be more direct and show him that we really love him so we can help him and find out what's really bothering him. He talks about reverence but most of that is kids. Karin, the wife is doing really good. She came to church and she's reading everyday. She's progressing and she wants to go to the temple. She has a real drive and I can see that she has chosen to reactivate herself. There is something different with her, compared to Ives. I can see that she has the Holy Ghost with her and she's happier. I'm really grateful to see all of this. I didn't really do that much. I just showed up and invited them. But I guess most of the time that is all that people really need is an invitation. That's what's cool about missionary work is that we get to be the ones that get to invite and its usually not something really complicated. Most of the time its just an invitation like the Lord does with us. Its really cool.
Sunday, not much else happened. We set up some appointments and we have our week almost full with less-actives and a couple of members where we are supposed to come visit their pueblos. These members have talked about inviting friends that they think they can share the gospel with. So, we are really excited to meet with them to see if we can help their friends.
Something funny on Friday. Three different people asked me if I was Romanian. I often have people from Romania come up to me and start talking to me in their language. I think it is fun to mess with them so I often say, “Hey, how's it going?” in Romanian, because I've been taught that. They will think I'm Romanian, and I tell them, “I'm sorry, I'm from America and that's all I know in Romanian.” They are kind of surprised.
Funny to hear about Donald Trump. I don't really know what is going on with him. All the Spanish people think it is terrible and that we should have had a woman president because its different. It's funny to hear their reasons on why they think Clinton should have won. The media is doing a good job making Trump look like an idiot. But I'm really way out of the loop.
Well, that's my week. Love you all. Hope you have a great week!
On Friday, we went to visit Maximo's family. Maximo was baptized back in August when Elder Farmer was here. The dad and the older son haven't been to church for the past two weeks so we are a little worried about them. But we are going to go visit them this Wednesday and see what's going on. I believe the dad is not coming because of work but I think he has control over whether or not he works on Sunday. Bothers me a little. I think the son is watching his dad and thinking he's not going to go if his dad's not going. I don't really know, but we will see what we can do to help them.
Later, Friday night we went to the temple and had a beautiful experience. We were told if we weren't there by 6:30 with our recent converts, we wouldn't be able to get in. Juan told us he wouldn't be able to get there til 7:15, so we made plans for him to pick us up and go to his pueblo and teach a message instead. Then he decided it would be less miles and easier to just meet at the temple. We decided to just talk about family history work and, since he had his recommend, we would go in the temple and show him the font, even though there wouldn't be time to do baptisms. So, we went inside and it was really cool. We had just talked about how he could do baptisms for ancestors who had passed away, when Elder Holt saw us in the back. He asked one of the temple workers if there was time for him to do baptisms. The temple worker said he could if he could hurry and change. It was already about 8 pm, but Juan hurried into change and I quickly went upstairs to have some my family names printed off that I had found. He was able to be baptized for two of my ancestors and he was confirmed right by the side of the font so I would be able to see it. It was very spiritually powerful. But there is more to the story – maybe the coolest part. When Juan didn't show up to the temple on time, we left and got on the Metro and left him a message telling him that it probably wasn't going to work out. But then my comp and I both got a prompting that we needed to get off the Metro and go back to the temple. Then everything worked out the way it did. The Lord really wanted us to have these experiences. It was a very powerful experience for Juan – he absolutely loved it. Tomorrow we are going to do some family history work for his dad and his grandparents. He can be baptized for his grandfathers and when his wife comes back to town in December, she can do his grandmother & great grandmother.
Saturday we had lessons set up by they failed us. We are trying to meet with new people but they just aren't showing up. We're trying to work with more members this next week and get references. We went out to the pueblo and met with the Belgium family. They were excited to meet with us and know that I won't be transferred but that I am staying here in Coslada. So we talked to them about faith and how it is a choice – there is that conference talk “Faith is not by chance, but by Choice.” We shared that with them and it really hit them hard. They really liked it. We talked about in order to have this faith that they need in order to reactivate themselves, they have to choose to do stuff. They have to choose to read the scriptures. They have to choose to come to church. So we talked about that and we talked about reading and praying. Ives said it will be hard to get him to come to church – that he's got something coming on that we couldn't get him to share. So we are trying not to be too prying – we just want to help him, but this week we're going to try to be more direct and show him that we really love him so we can help him and find out what's really bothering him. He talks about reverence but most of that is kids. Karin, the wife is doing really good. She came to church and she's reading everyday. She's progressing and she wants to go to the temple. She has a real drive and I can see that she has chosen to reactivate herself. There is something different with her, compared to Ives. I can see that she has the Holy Ghost with her and she's happier. I'm really grateful to see all of this. I didn't really do that much. I just showed up and invited them. But I guess most of the time that is all that people really need is an invitation. That's what's cool about missionary work is that we get to be the ones that get to invite and its usually not something really complicated. Most of the time its just an invitation like the Lord does with us. Its really cool.
Sunday, not much else happened. We set up some appointments and we have our week almost full with less-actives and a couple of members where we are supposed to come visit their pueblos. These members have talked about inviting friends that they think they can share the gospel with. So, we are really excited to meet with them to see if we can help their friends.
Something funny on Friday. Three different people asked me if I was Romanian. I often have people from Romania come up to me and start talking to me in their language. I think it is fun to mess with them so I often say, “Hey, how's it going?” in Romanian, because I've been taught that. They will think I'm Romanian, and I tell them, “I'm sorry, I'm from America and that's all I know in Romanian.” They are kind of surprised.
Funny to hear about Donald Trump. I don't really know what is going on with him. All the Spanish people think it is terrible and that we should have had a woman president because its different. It's funny to hear their reasons on why they think Clinton should have won. The media is doing a good job making Trump look like an idiot. But I'm really way out of the loop.
Well, that's my week. Love you all. Hope you have a great week!