On Monday I got nailed in the face with a dodge ball and they got it on
video. So they put it on our iCloud share for our mission. So
embarrassing but oh well. Nobody knows who I am yet so it's ok.
During exchanges I was with Elder D. I had heard he was annoying
but he's actually hecka cool. Maybe because I'm more annoying idk.
Haha. But we went to IUP (university) and played pick up basketball
games with all black people. They were like yelling and cussing and
stuff so I didn't want to play hard and get beat up so I played
lightly. Haha they weren't super good anyway. They were good but not
great. All of them were trying to dunk and they couldn't, except like
2, so I went and threw down and they were like "ohhhhhhhhh. Did he
just dunk. Did that white boy just throw it down? Dangggggg" haha it
was funny. We also were proselyting and we saw these two guys at the
basketball court. So we asked the, to a pick up game to 11. Elder D and I killed them.... Even in our proselyting clothes. Haha! It was fun.
We went and did service with prisoners, the typical prisoners you'd
see. A black guy, Puerto Ricin, white short wired up guy, then a tall
white ripped dude haha. They were all super nice though. They asked
about what we did and we told them and the short white guy said "for
two years with out pay, you pay, with no fun.... Why? I don't
understand." And then later he still was confused about it so I said "
well we do it because we love the gospel. We love God, we have felt
our heavenly fathers love and the joy this gospel brings and we want
to share that with everyone else" and he said " ya ya. I'm starting to
see, I'm starting to get it."
We went to Mike's this week and he had the playoff on.... Agh... It
made me miss basketball. It was the Dallas/okc game, I would look over
every once in a while but most the time I tried to get him to talk to
us so I wouldn't watch haha.
So I think we found new investigators. We were tracting and this guy
invited us in and got us water and he talked to us for like and hour
and a half then we started the restoration lesson, and his wife then
came in. She started talking about just religion and she is awesome.
She has such a strong faith in God and Christ. It's awesome. They told
us to come over whenever. They had questions about if animals were in
heaven and we said yes we thought they were and she said "oh good
because I hope they are but my pastor doesn't think they will"...
Boom.
Then the guy wondered where all these evil spirits come from and
that's perfect for the plan of salvation which is the next lesson so
we will teach them that next time. They are seriously awesome.
Here's the big spiritual thing of my week....
So during priesthood we watched the talk "behold thy mother" and it
talked about how mothers never let go. They never give up on you. And
said that is like our Heavenly Father. And then the teacher asked if
Heavenly Father and mothers are similar in love and I nodded my head
and the teacher asked me to share. So I said:
" yea. There were times when me and my parents would get in arguments
and I would be ready to move out and just leave the home. I would be
walking towards the door to leave to a friends house for just at least
the night and my mom would see me and come give me a hug and ask 'what
do you want me to make for dinner?' And she held on to me she wouldn't
let me go. She would show her love for me. So I would stay. And there
was a time in my life (this is were the sobbing comes) when I wanted
to walk away from God and he never gave up on me, he would not let me
go." That's all I said because I couldn't even talk anymore but I want
to expand. Just like mom asked me what I wanted God knew what I
wanted/needed. Good friends. So he fed me what I wanted just like mom.
He gave me great friends. The best friends, Caleb and Daniel. And so I
turned around and started coming back to Him.
I'm so thankful for loving parents and a loving Heavenly Father, that
never give up on me despite all my faults. They never let go of me no
matter how hard I tried to walk away. I'm so thankful for my friends
to be good examples to show me the way. Thank you to all my friends
that are good examples.
We had a lesson after church with G. His wife is a member. We
shared 2 Nephi ch 31. Which is the gospel of Jesus Christ. We then
confirmed that he was waiting to KNOW the church is true before he is
baptized. Then we shared part of the talk "lord I believe" and talked
about how only a few people truly know, and the reason why people say
they know is because they are bearing their testimony and the spirit
is so strong that in that moment they do know. But everyone always has
doubts. An apostle even only believed for years and years and years
and years. And. Years. Belief is enough.... Oh I kind of forgot I was
writing a letter. My mind went into lesson mode haha! Hey that means
I'm a missionary. Anyways. He is going to pray about a baptism date
and he is going to let us know.
Then we went to our branch presidents home and shared the restoration
and then shared a scripture and asked them to help us. That we needed
their help. We couldn't do this without help of the members. And so
they are going to pray to know who they know is ready for the gospel.
It's hard out here. Everyone already has their own church. There are
churches on EVERY CORNER. Literally. I'll send a pic of 3 churches
right next to each other haha. So hard.but we will be able to as long
as we let God help us.
We also did that same thing, share the restoration and scripture and
ask for help with another member couple. We are going to start going
to all the members and do that I think.
Anyways, I'm so thankful to be on a mission. It's so fun. It's so
hard. It's so rewarding. I love it. I know, I know that this is the
church is where God wants us to be. I know God loves us and knows us
all.
A quote that I say everyday before we go out is from a talk in the Mtc
by Elder Holland. It's "Go out and ASTONISH SOMEBODY!"
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