Monday, February 4, 2013

Miracles Never Cease!

            Yup, Elder M will indeed remain my companion for the next six weeks. In fact our whole District stayed exactly the same. We are all staying exactly where we are and we were told that we were all exactly where the Lord wanted us (you don’t mess with a good thing). So yeah, were staying where we are, and were working even harder! 

Thanks once again Mom for the spiritual thought and for the weather report, they really do help out, more than you know. : ) I love you too, and I know that you love each of us (your children) more than we probably can understand.

I was super excited to hear that A got baptized, she and her brother are both really people and were practically living the gospel already, they just didn’t have anything to call it. ; )

My feet are fine! They’ve only frozen solid a couple of times but they thawed right out, and aren't any worse for wear! :D

As for the Subway cards, no I have gotten them. And I think I’m going to starve to death!! KIDDING!!! I'm so fat. I have so many dollars a month that I can’t spend on anything but food and you keep sending me stuff! I did get the “Sunshine in a Box” that you sent. Thanks so much. Are you trying to give me diabetes? : P ... if only you knew what I’ve been eating. : P  No, I am not burning enough calories, not even close. I try and share all the goodies you send me. Elder M is no help at all. He's got his own candy he's trying to get rid of. I'm about ready to start throwing it at people who don’t want to talk to us! ; ) Jut kidding!... But it is nice to know that I’m loved. : )

Okay, miracle time! This week’s miracle was that we were able to find and teach 4 new investigators this week which is my personal best (so far!). Here’s a real speedy quick version of what happened with each of them:

·         D - We found tracting. When we knocked on her door she said she was sick, but that we could come back a different time. We went back after another one of our appointment fell through and we had J (a priest age young man from the Branch here) we taught the Restoration and invited her to be baptized if she came to know that the Book of Mormon was the word of God. She objected, but we were able to determine from the following conversation that she didn’t really understand the principle of authority, or even believe that authority is necessary. We left her a copy of the Book of Mormon and she said that she would read form it.

·         R - We also found tracting. She was having "one of those mornings" and said that we could come back at a different time. We also took J with us to visit her, and again taught the Restoration. We laid a heavy emphasis on Prophets, which turned out to be good because she was leery of reading "another book", but after re-explaining that the Book of Mormon was the words of ancient prophets (just like the Bible is) and that it was translated by a modern Prophet and that it was by reading these words that we could come to know if Joseph Smith truly was a prophet called of God, she finally accepted a Book of Mormon and the invitation to read.

·         W - We (again) found tracting. He said that he has visited with missionaries before but we couldn't find any record of him in our area book, so they must not have gotten very far. We talked about the Book of Mormon and about Prophets; we asked what he remembered from talking to missionaries before. We invited him to read form the Book of Mormon and to come to church with us. He declined to do either; he said that it would be too hard for him. He explained that a few years ago he fell from a roof and broke his spine. He is paralyzed from the waist down and has limited fine motor skills in his hands and arms which makes traveling and turning the thin pages of the Bible (and Book of Mormon) very difficult. Difficult but not impossible, he can do both, but must rely heavily on the assistance of his wife and he is reluctant to inconvenience her. We did however leave a copy of the Restoration pamphlet, which he will be able to read because he can turn the thicker pages. He seemed excited about it.

·         K- We found when we went to visit a less-active Member. His name is B, he is a great guy with a pretty strong testimony of the Church. K is his Fiancée and was there both times we visited with B. The first time we went over we had no idea that B was engaged, and were a little bit worried that K would be an obstacle to B's reactivation, She was a little standoffish, and it was obvious that B (while excited to have us over) was worried that we (and by association his faith) would offend her somehow. However, over the course of the visit K became more comfortable (I think she realized that we weren't there to tell her that she needed to join up or she would be going to hell), and B visibly relaxed as well.  By the end of the lesson B bore his testimony of the church and how it was the only church that could answer all of his questions, and K was the one to invite us back! The second time we went over we planned to teach K by asking B questions about what he remembered about certain aspects of the gospel (i.e. Priesthood, Apostasy, Restoration, etc.) it went very well and lead perfectly into explaining about Joseph Smith and the Restoration. We left K a Book of Mormon, and committed them both to reading Moroni 10, and praying about the Book of Mormon for a witness (in B's case for a reaffirmation) that it is true.

Anyway, those are the most exciting things that have happened in  this past week,

Talk to ya next week! : D
Elder Thomson

P.S. Elder M says "Hi."

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