I'm not going to lie, my first transfer was a little rough. But this last week was SO great. Finally I'm LOVING MY LIFE! Yeah. It was great.
It started out last Monday. We went to the wax museum in Centro and it was SUPER Fun. Way more fun than I thought it would be. I don't know if it's just because I haven't done anything "fun" for a while, but wow. I loved it. I took a lot of really great pictures there that I will be sure to send you soon. We went with the Zone Leaders and Elder Black and his companion and the Sisters. It was a party.
Tuesday I went on splits with our district leader, Elder Sosa. He is from Uruguay and he is super funny and super hard to understand. He has such a weird accent. But he's great. We're best friends. It was a good day. Our morning wasn't super successful, but on the bus ride to lunch, who should I see but J! Yes, the very Jose who contacted us and speaks English and all that. He seemed happy to see me. I talked to him to see how he was doing. He's doing a little better, things still haven't totally calmed down yet. But he said his parents don't really want him changing religion, but he's 42 years old, so it's fine if we meet with him somewhere other than his house. So we are going to try to have a lesson with him in the chapel some time this week. Was I put on that bus for a reason? I think yes.
That afternoon we went with C D. We took one of his good friends, H, who just got baptized into our ward. H didn't let us talk the whole time! He literally spent an hour bearing his testimony to C while Elder Sosa and I sat there feeling awkward. But the Spirit was really strong and C seemed absolutely amazed at who H has become. So we left that lesson praying something he said would stick and help C want to change.
Next we went with G. We got there and found out that her cousin who has been trying to convert her to some other church offended her really bad and she doesn't want to talk to him anymore. In fact, she wished she was with us when it happened because she really was pretty depressed about it and I guess she feels good when we teach her. That, my friend, is the Holy Ghost. So that was sad but kind of awesome at the same time! We taught her the restoration and it went really well. She's been reading the Book of Mormon every day and she loves it. She told us she wants to get baptized! WHAT?! So we put a date for October 13th. Great day.
Wednesday we had a zone conference with two other zones because Elder De Hoyo of the 70 was there to talk to us! He was super awesome and we learned a ton of things that we want to do better and apply in our teaching. We left there super pumped to try out our new ideas. We had a lesson that afternoon with B, just to stop by and see how she was doing. On the way over there we invited her neighbor to join us and she did! So we basically ended up just teaching her. We applied everything we had just learned in the conference and it went super well. Her name is M and she told us she wants to be better and get closer to God but doesn't feel "full" when she goes to the Catholic church. GOLDEN! We had her say the closing prayer and she felt the Spirit so strong she started crying! She knows it was an answer from God and she wants to keep going with us. Our leaders really do know what they are talking about!
Thursday we had an appointment fall, so we prayed to know where to go. The Spirit told us to go with the S G family. On the way, Elder Heath felt impressed to contact two different people, both of which were awesome! The first one is named M, he's about 20 years old and he told us he has sinned against God and his family and he wants to repent but doesn't know how. Perfect! The other was a couple. We started contacting them and the man says "Yo soy Mormon." He's an inactive member and his wife is a non member that live in our area. They have 5 kids! The oldest recently died though, so hopefully this message will help them through that. After contacting them, we had a really mediocre lesson with L. She doesn't really want to know if the church is true, so she'll never find out. After that, we went to check up on C and he was super happy! He said he's been doing what H told him too: reading the Book of Mormon when he feels "inquieto" (not sure how to translate that one into English. GoogleTranslate?) and it's really been helping him! He told us he wants to change and he's going to stop scheduling parties on sunday so he can come to church! What?!!! That was enough to make my day. Then we went with the N family. Only G was home, and she told us that when we first knocked on her door, she had been praying for something to help her family. She said it was a miracle that her husband invited us to come back because he never does that. So she knows we are sent from God. She wants to go to church and try it out, but her husband is the one having problems committing himself to it. They couldn't come this week AGAIN because of work, but she said she isn't going to schedule any appointments on sunday this week so they can go. I really hope they can! We are going to focus more on C now since the other 3 are already basically converted.
Friday night we taught the Restoration to M. She was very receptive and also accepted to be baptized on October 13th, so we just need to prepare her to make sure she's ready. Also, she's going to have to come to church some time. 2 times actually. But she will. After, we went with G and brought our newly called ward missionaries with us. They are two girls that are about our age and are preparing to go on missions themselves. They're super great! They come with us to every lesson with G now, and they are already buddies with her. Also, they are going to call 6 more ward missionaries. LOVE THIS WARD! Elder Heath says we literally have the best ward mission leader and the best bishop he's had in his entire mission. But anyways, we taught Guadalupe the plan of salvation. It was great.
Saturday was a big fat failure. Every single appointment fell through except with L. It doesn't matter how many times and how clearly we explain the restoration to that guy, he just doesn't get it. He sees no need to change religions. he thinks they are all the same and will take you to the same point. So we are done going with him. That is one of the biggest lies Satan tells these days. I hate it.
Sunday C came to church! And after the meeting, he told us he wants to get baptized! So great! But he's got a lot of repenting to do first, so we aren't really sure when he'll be ready. M couldn't come, mostly because of her husband, but we went and talked to him after church and we'll be okay now I think. G didn't come either for some reason, and she can't come next week either because she is going on vacation with her family. But she still wants to get baptized, so we had to push back her date to October 20th. We are doing a family night with her today.
Thanks for the letters everyone! Sounds like you are all doing great! I'll read the rest of them tonight! I got that package with the pictures from Gwen (very cute) and the emails from my friends. Thanks! I'm about out of time, so I'll talk to you next week! Be good and pray for our investigators! I love you all!
-Elder Pew
