Hello, hello.
Heavenly Father was very good to us this week. We were able to find 8 new people to teach! We have had struggles the last few weeks with people actually committing and going from potentials to investigators but this weeks the windows of heaven were truly opened! And it's funny that miraculous weeks follow trials. I don't think I mentioned it but last week I had some bike problems... I tried to pump up my front tire, just to get some more air in it, and when I went to take the pump off the stem it ripped the stem right out of the tire! Luckily an Elder that lives in our same apartment complex had an extra tube so I was able to make a quick switch. Then we went to the church building to do some Online Proselyting and when I went to ride away I was greeted by a flat tire. :( Once again luckily there were some missionaries at the church building with a car so they gave us a ride to get a pump and ANOTHER new tube. And then that night on the way home I crashed on my bike... I was able to stay on my feet but my bike flew out from under me. But sometimes I welcome those small bumps in the road because I know that there's something great coming. :)
The first of the new investigators... A----. She's a little nine year old girl that has been coming to church with her neighbors the E----- family. Sister E----- is a single mother with one daughter, the Ward Council has asked us to teach her. So... We invited them to have A----t over so we can teach her too! We had a nice lesson Monday night and are meeting with them tonight. Keep A---- in your prayers, she is going to have a pretty extensive surgery the beginning of December that she is really nervous for. She's a good girl.
Then there is E-----. She had talked with Elder Hoggan and his previous companion a few months ago and we ran into her again the first week was here. Since then we have been trying to meet with her and it finally worked out this week. She has a few kids and needs a lot of help with them, the church and the gospel is going to be the best thing for them. She is going to meet with us on Wednesday again.
Last Sunday after we set up the appointment with the E----- family and A----- we were leaving these little apartments in our area and we ran into a lady by the name of A------. She told us that she had recently started attending the Jehovah's Witness church but was always open to learning more. We went by on Wednesday night and she said she only had ten minutes. Plenty of time! We were able to teach her the Restoration and her husband ended up joining us, his name is B-----. They are super open. We were supposed to meet with them on Sunday night but he had to wake up at 3am so we just talked at the door for a minute and set up something for Tuesday. I'm excited to see what happens with them.
Next we have J----, S-----, & A------. They are three kids that have been taught previously but the missionaries stopped because the grandfather wouldn't progress. But they need the gospel and they are ready, especially Jeremy. The first thing he asked was, "Is it alright if I get baptized into your church in a month?" A----- is his brother and S----- is his cousin but J---- is the only one that seems to want to progress. I will keep you posted on them!
Lastly there is M----. He lives with a family in the Ward, the D----. He is their nephew, 20 years old, loves football. Sister D----- recently got baptized in February and Brother ----- has been inactive for years. But they are an awesome family. We had met M----- previously but he had always stayed in the other room when we'd come over for dinner. But just last week he decided to come to church and we have been building a relationship with him. We went to eat dinner with them on Friday and he ate with us! We were planning on being pretty bold about inviting him to meet with us but he made it pretty easy on us when he asked what we do as missionaries. :) He's a really good kid.
So that's all the new people! I'm excited to see what happens. Not all of them will go on to be baptized, that's a reality. But I'm grateful that I am blessed to play some part in sharing the everlasting gospel with them!
C----- is coming along great! He feels his faith growing and he has started praying, he is pretty quiet but as we have gotten to know him he has opened up a lot more. I gave him a tie after our lesson on Saturday to help soften him up haha. We are going to go with him to a baptism this Saturday so he can see what a baptism is like because the 6th us coming up quick! The baptism we are taking him to is F------ from the 18th Ward! I'm excited to see him make that covenant, and Elder Sweeten gave me some pretty exciting news. D-----, F-----s mom, has decided to be baptized with him on the 22nd. :) I knew she would follow soon after! She really wants to make sure that it is F-----'s decision so she hasn't even told him yet that she will be getting baptized with him. I'm excited to witness it.
Today B----- took me, Elder Hoggan, and Elder Meng (our roommate) out on an adventure! We took a back road out to Globe past all these lakes and saw some cool sights and explored a bit. I have some good pictures, I will send you some today! We also stopped in Miami and got some really good Mexican food from a place called The Burger House that I've always heard about. It was really fun.
This week we also had Zone Conference. It was 7 hours long! But it didn't seem like that, it was a great meeting. I got to participate in the training on planning and was in charge of demonstrating preparing a lesson plan during weekly. It went well. I also got to bare my "final" testimony. I spent a large part of it testifying of the fact that when we are obedient we can have confidence that WHATEVER happens to us is for our benefit. I almost said, "I'm grateful for the opportunity I have had to preach the gospel." But I corrected myself and expressed my gratitude for the ability to continue to spread the gospel. Both because I have a whole month left to commit myself fully to this work and the fact that my service will never truly end. I will continue to serve my Father in Heaven willingly and I know that He will bless me.
"...we can see that the Lord in his great infinite goodness doth bless and prosper those who put their trust in him." Hellman 12:1
Loves.
Elder Alexander
Sent from my iPad
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| This is a cave we climbed up to. |
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| We also stopped in Miami and got some really good Mexican food from this place called The Burger House that I've always heard about. It was really fun. |
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