A Mighty Change

Dear Family & Friends:

This week was sooo great we saw a lot of miracles and we had a great turn out to church!  Ken is doing alright! He came to Sacrament AND Sunday School, so that was good to get him to come a little bit more than just the first hour!

7/31 Monday
Today we meet with President to do our MLC Prep. MLC is on Wednesday, and we are looking forward to it! After our meeting, we went to play basketball with the Canyon Springs Zone. When we rolled into the parking lot, they were packing a missionary out in a wheelchair haha. We asked what was going on and I guess this missionary was playing soccer without shoes on and broke his toe... Not sure why he needed a wheelchair, but oh well.

8/2 Wednesday
Today we had MLC (Mission Leadership Council)! It was great. Elder Renel and I had the discussion topic of “How Obedience Will Help Our Mission Have a Christ Centered Culture.”  As we prepared, we kept thinking about all the outward blessings that come from being obedient, more baptisms, more investigators, etc. The more we thought about it, we realized that our approach was wrong. Yes, most of the time we are blessed externally for our obedience but that shouldn't be why we keep the commandments. It should be because we know it will change us internally or in other words, have us have a change of heart. It is sad to see members and missionaries who follow the commandments just for outside blessings and when God needs to rest us a little bit and let us grow, they give up and say that it must not be because blessings stopped coming. But it is important to know the greatest blessing of all is a change of heart! Alma 5:12-13
12 And according to his faith there was a mighty change wrought in his heart. Behold I say unto you that this is all true.
13 And behold, he preached the word unto your fathers, and a mighty change was also wrought in their hearts, and they humbled themselves and put their trust in the true and living God. And behold, they were faithful until the end; therefore they were saved.

8/3 Thursday
So we have been trying to work with this family that hasn't come to church in a long time. The dad served a mission in Florida and the wife is actually a convert. They have a 9-year-old daughter that won't get baptized just because she is scared of water! Haha that is a tough concern to overcome. We also saw Joseph and Janice tonight they are headed to Havasu Pi Falls this upcoming week! Hey found out that there is a Mormon Church down there, so they will be able to partake of the Sacrament!

8/4 Friday
Where do I even begin.... today we saw miracles!!!!  I was on an exchange with Elder Smith from South Carolina. We had great contacts all day long but one was just spectacular. We started talking with these drunk guys and they weren't having it so we moved on and saw another man next door on his garage. We said hello and walked towards him and he came right up to us and introduced himself. After a little talking he said his wife LOVES Mormons and has some coworkers and different things and he has always respected us. About 20 minutes into the conversation, his wife pulled up and told us about how she does genealogy and loves the church websites. She couldn't stay and talk but she said she would love to have us continue visiting them as long as it was OK with Jared (the husband) and he was all for it. We kept talking to him and he grabbed some chairs because he had a few questions. One of the first questions was about the Trinity and when he heard our beliefs he was stoked, because that is exactly what his belief was. This went on for like an hour and forty-five minutes! He loved it. We invited him to pray and read and specifically pray about being baptized! We set up to go by tomorrow! He has four kids and they are such a great family!

8/5 Saturday
Today I was on exchanges with another missionary in his area. We worked super hard and got to meet some great people. Elder Renel and Elder Wright worked our area, so I wasn't able to teach Jared but tonight I heard all about the lesson! He had read the introduction all of the testimonies in the front of the Book of Mormon and absolutely loved it. Ha had prayed and he felt the Spirit tell him he needs this for his family and he should be baptized. The topic of Family Home Evening was brought up and he asked if we could come and show him how to do a Family Home Evening for his family! I am sooooo excited for him and his family! They probably won't make it to church because it is their son’s birthday on Sunday and they already had made plans.

8/6 Sunday
Today was great we had 5 investigators at church and many other non-members that were just visiting! It was great! Tonight we swung by Jared and Lori's with Brother Parker and dropped off some cookies! They were doing well! We also had a great lesson with a family we have been working with a little bit ever since I got to the area. The first time I met them the dad told us that he wasn't really interested in coming back but tonight we asked them about getting ready to go back to the temple and they said they feel like it is time!!! This was super great news!

I had a great week this week and I am always looking forward to the upcoming week! Love you all!

- Elder Call NLVWM