It has been a good week over here in P town. Everyone is getting into the Christmas spirit! As a result, we have been showing a lot of people the Christmas video! It's great! Many people have been happy to watch the video. Buuuuut we haven't really gotten any solid investigators from it. Like none. But no worries! We are doing our best! So I know everything will work out. It's the Lords will. Holy smokes Mark and Lyndsey got married on Saturdayaturday!!!!!! That was soooo amazing! There was such a special spirit during the wedding ceremony. I just thought about the commitment they were making and I imagined next year when they get sealed together. I'll admit, I cried a bit, because I was just so darn happy for them. It was so great. Next week is transfers!! And odds are, I will be leaving. Hey maybe not! But probably. We've been asked to speak in sacrament meeting next Sunday. So it's probably just gonna be like a farewell all over again! Like dad said, I know this Ward just about as much as the one back home, if not better! I love the people here so much. Through my six months of service here, I've come to know and love this ward more than I can put into words. The members here are so special, and I've made so many friends in this ward that I hope I can stay in touch with throughout my life. Elder Cook is almost done with his training! He has grown so much over these past three months. It's been so cool to watch him learn and to learn and grow with him. I love that guy so much. It's gonna be sad to leave him. I wouldn't mind staying with him another transfer. He's great. We have a good week planned. We are going caroling a lot and baking cookies and taking them to people, because that's probably the only way people will let us in. The members are feeding us on Christmas Eve and Christmas, so we are well covered there. Alrighty! Ahhhhh I will see you on Friday over Skype!:) merry Christmas! -Elder Francis As you can see I was pretty much more excited an they were. In their defense, Lyndsey was still way nervous and I kinda caught them off guard with the picture.
Crazy week! We have been doing a ton of finding, and it sadly hasn't yielded much results in the form of people to teach. We have planted many seeds throughout the week though, the Spirit has confirmed that to me, and I am content with that as long as it is the Lord's will. Besides, I can't really complain much anyway, because ANGIE GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!! Holy smokes that was so incredible. Angie was glowing, her countenance was shining so bright, I could tell more than ever before that she was made completely perfect through the atonement of Christ. And it was so special for me to be able to perform that sacred and life changing ordinance for her. After the baptism, as I was getting back into my suit, all by myself, I took the opportunity to speak with my Heavenly Father through prayer, and what a powerful experience that was. I felt His overwhelming love for me and for Angie, and I knew that this work is of eternal consequence. The spirit was so powerful! I returned to the room just in time to hear Angie get up and bear her simple and powerful testimony. A special spirit filled the room as she declared her knowledge of the importance of her baptism, and of the plan of salvation. It was so amazing. Wow. What an awesome experience. It's days like that that remind me why I'm here. We had a visit from Elder Dube from the first quorum of the seventy this last week. I got to talk with him quite a bit because his son is at our apartment and in my district haha. We had a mission conference with him, and that was awesome. It was humbling and inspiring, as usual. I've been pondering a lot lately on my own spiritual growth and on my performance as a missionary. I could be doing a lot better, that's a given by now haha, but I am happier with the work that I have been putting forth lately. Especially this last week, we have been more productive with our time, and I've been trying to work harder! Yesterday at church though, I received the first impression that I have been focusing too much on myself! Haha there's a shocker! So throughout the rest of the day, I thought about others. Any time a selfish thought came to my mind, a replaced it with a selfless one. Man haha, I was so much happier yesterday! How great would it be if I could master the attribute of charity. Someday.... But I will make that a focus over this Christmas season. I could write for days, but I'm out of time. We are still going strong on our 40 day fast. The Christmas initiative is better than ever. This next week is full of finding, so let's hope we can begin to build up our teaching pool again. I know we can. Christmas is coming up, so that's pretty awesome. Don't forget to take time to remember the reason for the season!
We passed Eduardo over to the Spanish elders this week, so we aren't sure of his progress. I don't think he will be getting baptized this Saturday, but he is still keeping his commitments. Angie, however, IS getting baptized!! As a matter of fact, she has asked me to baptize her and my companion to confirm her!!! I'm so excited!! It's gonna be fantastic! Our next transfers are the Monday in between Christmas and New Years! The timing isn't the best, but at least I will be here for sure on Christmas! What will happen after that, I'm not sure! Lyndsey's wedding is on the 19th! I'm so excited for that too! They are doing awesome:)
We have been doing a lot of finding this last week, and we have been using the new video that the church came out with for Christmas called A Savior Is Born! You should definitely watch it! And share it! We've had a bit of a crazy week this week. In a good way. It's all in my journal, but for today I'll share one very crazy experience haha. So we were visiting a potential investigator named Jose. He lives in the most ghetto part of our area where we generally try to avoid at night, but it was 8:30 and we had nothing else to do so we decided to try Jose. From a distance we see Jose and another man sitting out on his porch. Jose wasn't wearing a shirt, and they were being really loud, so I asked my companion his thoughts on whether or not we should follow through with it. He says, "well we are already here." We see Jose go back into his place. We approach the porch, and Jose emerges from the apartment, carrying a rifle. I look on the ground and see half empty kegs, yes kegs, of beer, and it was at that point that I began to question our presence there. He greets us, and my companion says, oh is that a BB gun?" ..... Jose gives a Hispanic chuckle, "jajaja sure we'll call it that.".... Oh elder Cook. We get him to put his gun away, and started talking to his buddy, whose name was Crook. Crook got a kick out of Elder Cooks name, because they rhymed. He asked for my name, I told him, and he said, "no way.... Is that seriously your name?" I told him it truly was. He said, "that's my girlfriend's mom's name. She just died today." "Man, I'm so sorry." I said. "Eh that's okay. Why are you guys here?" We told him that we have a message about Christ. Crook couldn't believe it. I guess he took me and his girlfriend's deceased mother sharing a name as a sign from God, so he pulled out his phone, started recording us, and said, "okay, what's your message?" We shared the new Christmas video with them and told them about the importance of Christ's life. Crook recorded it all, and kept on inviting his buddies passing on the street to come watch with him. "Come on, these guys are cool!" He would say. So yeah, I'm cool with Crook and Jose now. Both Jose and Crook listened so intently. Afterwards they said, "wow that was beautiful". At that point they each started telling us about all of the sins they are committing and have committed. Poor guys. We testified of the power of the atonement to them and got out of there. After all, we are only 18 and 19 year old Mormon boys from Idaho. I have no doubt that the Lord was softening the hearts of Crook and Jose and making sure we were safe. I felt that as we were leaving. I have been trying so hard lately to be more diligent and obedient in all that I do. I desire so badly to change and be an effective tool in the Lords hands. I'm so eager and excited for this special Christmas season in which I will have the opportunity to come closer to Him as I spend it all in the service of others. I love being a missionary with all my heart, and although I constantly wish I was better, I have faith that the Lord has a plan for me, that He understands my frustrations and my concerns, and that through the power of His atonement I can find relief, peace, and hope in a future that is as bright as Christ Himself. He is my light and my life, and He is truly the reason for this special season.
So this week was pretty slow, not too much happened in the form of finding or teaching. But we were able to meet with someone we recently found named Madonna and Eduardo. Madonna is pretty awesome at this point. She wasn't responding to our texts so we stopped by and she was like, "hey I kept hoping you guys would text me but you never did! I read some of your book!" Turns out she wasn't receiving our texts, so we resolved that, but we were pleasantly surprised to get that response to say the least haha. So we are meeting with her again this week to share an actual lesson. We had a great lesson with Eduardo this week too. He understands why he needs to be baptized and has read from the Book of Mormon since the last time we met with him. His parents, however, don't understand why he needs to be baptized. And because they don't speak English, and the family is so central to the gospel, we are passing Eduardo over to the Spanish elders, where they will hopefully be able to resolve the concerns with his family and help them all progress towards the gospel. I know that it was the best thing to do! Other than those two, not much has happened this past week. A lot of people were out with their families for thanksgiving, so we weren't able to meet with some of our investigators, like Angie. But she did, however, come to church yesterday and is still progressing towards her baptism on the 12! We stopped by their house, and Angie's dad was out front, waiting to pick the kids up. He was against having Angie get baptized at first, so we took the opportunity and talked to him about how awesome Angie is, and how our purpose as missionaries is to help others come closer to Christ, and how the gospel will bless Angie as she gets older and has to make choices. He really softened up and thanked us for what we were doing, so I have no worries about him not letting Angie get baptized. Lately I have been pondering a lot on my own spiritual progression and how well I am submitting to the will of the Lord. It is always so humbling to take that time to self reflect haha, because I see truly how much progress I can still make. But how wonderful of a blessing is that?! That perfection isn't just given to us but that we truly have to work at it throughout our entire lives and into eternity. I can't imagine how much more I will appreciate those attributes when I finally attain them, or when I see them in others. I will someday be able to look back and see just how far I've come. Eternal Life is progression.
