The week has been a little slow due to the situation of people in our home. Elder Mortensen is currently on the "resting roster" which means one of us has to stay in the house with him every day, so we switch off every day on who stays, and who works. But the work has been amazing nonetheless.
Our investigators are on fire right now. They are doing way good! I will give a brief explanation of what is going on with each investigator.
Yeni and Nicolas: They are coming and attending church every week. We are just waiting on Nicolas to get his Birth Certificate, and as soon as he gets that, they will be getting married! Once they are married, they will be baptized that next Saturday. But they have progressed substantially. As we go to their house, they always share their testimony with us about how they know the church is true. We actually passed by the day we had put their "baptismal goal", which was the 27th, and Yeni told us how she would have loved to have entered the waters of baptism that day and how sad she was that they still aren't truly clean. It was very humbling to see her true desire to follow Christ's example. I know for them it isn't just a thing to do, or a bath as some believe, but they really see the deep covenant they are about to take, and I hope and pray each day that Nicolas' paper shows up, so that they can receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Fransico: What a great guy. This week we only passed by once, but his questions were phenomenal, or however that is spelled. He asked some deep questions, that really show his overall desire to know if what we are teaching is true. He also came to the church yesterday, and he was confused about who Joseph Smith is, so we have set up a time tomorrow to go and watch the Restoration video with him. His desire to know amazes me. He tells me that he is a man of little faith, but as we talk, I see more faith and desire to know in him than I have seen in a long time. He studies hard, prays with a real intent and desire to know, and listens so closely to every single word we say. He soaks in gospel doctrine, and just like a sponge, he expands his knowledge. He has a baptismal date in February, but he, if he continues progressing as he is, could be baptized very very soon.
Ana Peña: Ana is a less active we are working with. On Saturday we passed by her house, and we gave a lesson about goals, seeing as it is a new year. She explained a new goal she has. She wants to read one page a day out of the Book of Mormon. It was an amazing goal, and we have given her a chart to track her reading, so we hope that as we go back we will be able to read with her and help her understand what she is reading. She is coming to the church regularly, her only reason for still being less active is that she needs to get married. We are working with that. But we can see her attitude for the church has changed drastically, and in a good way.
Familia Capayan: I don't think I have ever mentioned this family before, but just briefly, I will say that they were less actives as well, but as of this week, they are officially full active members again, and the mother now has a calling in the church. They weren't inactive by any means, they were just a little iffy on coming to church every week, but now they are coming every week. But the cool thing, is that my companion and I have been inviting her to prepare to enter the temple and receive the blessings for receiving her endowments, and I am really pleased to say that she has accepted that decision, and is planning on going to the temple in the near future, which is real exciting!
So those our a few of our most progressing investigators. We do have one sad news though. This week we had to drop our investigator Miguelangel, who played tennis with us. He didn't see eye to eye with us and had a lot of "apostasy".... for example... when we went to tell him we couldn't pass by anymore, he told us we were nuts because the book Joseph Smith wrote isn't true because, as he said "Joseph took it to a professor that was the professor in the area that validated all things if they were from God or not, and the professor did not validate the book that Joseph brought." So basically told us that Joseph took the Gold Plates, which was forbidden to be shown to anyone unless God directed otherwise, to a random professor that said if something was from God or not, and this "professor" guy said no. That is what he believed. I felt a very weird feeling. I knew I had to stand for what I knew and I felt the need to do it. So I very bluntly stated "Well brother, the story you just told me is completely false. 100% incorrect." I bore a solid witness, as well as my companion, that Joseph was a prophet of God. I had to protect the truths that I know are true. I felt a big feeling of companionship, both from my companion, but also from the Holy Ghost. I know we spoke with the spirit in that situation. He did not accept, and we left it at that, with a solid witness of the truth. I felt happy that we did what we did. We stand up for truths, not beliefs. God has manifested all the things I know by the Holy Spirit that they are indeed true. It is not my belief... it is a truth that I know. I know it, and I will stand as a witness, defending those truths of God until the day I die.
I have received a new calling in the ward! I am now our Ward Mission Leader! It is going to be a new experience, but I am ready to give it my all!
Onto New Years! We celebrated very minorly.... haha.... we stayed in the house. I stayed up until 12, and a couple fireworks went off and I took some pictures. Then, I switched out my calender with the new 2015 one. My "Black Year" is over, and 2015 has begun! The celebration in our house lasted like 5 minutes, then we all hit the sack!
Once again, I hope Mom had a good birthday on Saturday! I love you lots!!!! :) You are gorgeous and still the best mom ever. :) May all your birthday wishes come true!
I love the gospel! This church is true, and I can't wait to preach this gospel throughout the new year! Que Dios les bendiga!!! :)
Con mucho amor,
Elder Weiss :)
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| Just a couple of selfies... haha |
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| This girl is leaving to go on her mission tomorrow to Mexico! She'll be a great missionary! |
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| Me changing out my calendar! :) Hello 2015! |
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| The moment the new year came!!! |
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| Elder Mortensen and I got carved machetes, made out of wood. From Elder Alvarez! Super cool! |
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| More Selfies! With Elder's Mortensen, Millward and Alvarez |
