Hello Everyone,
Ok who is playing with the time dial?? You can knock it off because it isn't funny anymore. :( I agree with everyone else, time just seems to keep flying by and it is hard to keep track of anything. There was a point where in one day we forgot who we had taught that day and it was kinda crazy. Oh well just means we need we need to be working harder and harder every day.
Thanks everyone for the Birthday wishes and all. I did get the b-day package, in fact the ZL's dropped it off Tuesday morning while we were out working. I absolutely love the GENTRI cd, we listened to it for about 4 days straight and I am pretty sure Elder Obray is sick and tired of it. Haha and thanks for the cake, we had a district cake party at our apartment after District meeting on Wednesday and the cake was gone in about 2 minutes. So thanks for all of the gifts and love!
Ok so what is "Contacting?" In Preach My Gospel we are taught that we should talk with EVERYONE. Elder Ballard included a promise that if we get in the habit of talking to 10 people a day, 1 person will accept our message. So contacting is when we are out working and talking with everyone as we move from set plans to set plans. I have actually found it is alot more simple to talk to someone instead of knocking and guessing what is on the other side of the door. So with Araceli we were working in an apartment complex looking for someone and we stopped and talked to her. I remember at the start of my mission when I did not want to talk to anyone and contacting was not my favorite activity. But now it is probably one of the most successful ways of finding new people to teach. So that is contacting.
Now about mother's day to answer dad's question. We do not know what the plan is for Mother's day. I am trying not to think about that week because it is my last week in the mission, so I am trying to imagine that week months away. But when we get details I will let you all know.
So this week was full of miracles and huge progression, for us and the Elders in our Ward. We had been struggling getting members out to lessons with us and we wanted to change that. So we set the goal of 28 Member Present lessons before the week ended. Well we were all set on the goal and we worked super hard to achieve it. We finished the week with....27 member present lessons as a District. However, as we evaluated, we realized we still let several lessons slip through without a member. So we were excited that we got so close to achieving our goal, and we are even more excited for our goal for this week of 33 Member Present Lessons as a district. It is going to be exciting to see how the Lord will bless us as we strive to work hard and effectively.
So on Thursday I did exchanges with Elder Rebolloso and I went to his area for the day. Well that morning at 11 we thought we had a solid lesson set and didn't set super solid back up plans. However, the lesson got cancelled and we blew through all our back up plans by11:30. We were a little worried how the rest of the morning was going to happen. So we said a prayer and started to go through the potentials they had in the area. We went by and one was home and invited us share a quick 10 minute lesson with her. We reviewed about God's love for the family that he sent His Son Jesus Christ and invited her to read the pamphlet. So right there we found a new investigator. We decided to knock a little bit in her comlex and about 10 minutes later we found another new investigator. It was such a huge blessing to see how the Lord guided us to those who looking for the happiness that comes from the Gospel.
So updates on Juan and Roxanna, our investigators with a baptismal date. Juan is still excited as ever. On Thursday we taught him more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and baptism. Later that same day, the YSA Elders had a baptism and Juan wanted to attend. So he did and really enjoyed the Spirit that was present. We answered more of his questions and that got him more excited. This week we are hoping to have a member take him to the LA Temple Visitor Center. He is awesome and loves everything about what we are sharing.
For Roxanna, she is progressing but a little more slowly. We only taught her once about Baptism and the Gift of the Holy Ghost. She is still yet to attend church and if she doesn't come this sunday we will have to move her date back. So we are planning on teaching the importance of Church attendance and the blessings that come from this act of faith.
One more story/miracle and I will finish up. So this week was full of teaching opportunities that we had been struggling finding new investigators. On Saturday we had more time to find and we prayed specifically for help to find 2 new investigators. After lunch we tried by one of our investigators and found her husband, Johnny, who invited us in immediately as well. We taught about the Restoration and was accepting everything. At the end of the lesson we invited him to pray specifically if Joseph Smith was a prophet and he did! Afterwords we said he hadn't felt so good in a long time. It was a boss lesson, the only bad thing is they might be moving out of the stake. But we will pass him on to the other missionaries.
After dinner, Elder Obray decided to try by a potential that I had tried by before and hadn't had success finding. So I was a little hesitant, but I trusted him and we took off. We knocked on the door and the person we were looking for answered the door. Her name is Brenda and she let us share a quick 10 minute lesson about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. She was very interested in learning how we can receive forgiveness and become clean again. She invited us back on Monday to share more. At that point I was just so grateful for everything. One, that God had answered our prayer of finding 2 new investigators and two, that I trusted Elder Obray to lead us to a new investigator. Miracles like none other.
Ok well hopefully everyone is still awake and hasn't fallen asleep with this mile long email. It is amazing to see the success that the Lord is giving us this week. I am super excited to see what we can accomplish this week with our District Goals and plans. I know this work can change lives and is a powerful work. I know that He is leading it and we are only instruments in His hands.
Have a good week! Les Quiero!!
Elder Roberts
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