This week was utterly fantastic! Although the meetings never seemed to end, we got stuff done and things just sort of fell into place. Compared to last week, this week was a diamond in the rough!
Here's the rundown:
-MLC & DLC
-exchange with AP Cloward from Heber City
-an Elder in our zone went home this week
-Brazilian child of record baptism
-exchange with Elder Olson from Texas
-investigators are progressing
-got a new suit
Time just seemed to go by in the twinkling of an eye this week. In the Spirit of Christmas, our meetings focused on how we can better "light the world" as a mission by using social media, pass-along cards, and the Christmas initiative video (which, by the way, is brilliant). I still need to get in gear with it all, but Elder Baum has gone nuts with it. It doesn't matter where we go, he always manages to show that video to somebody...probably about 5 times a day. And that's why he's the brains of the companionship! To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if he went AP next transfer. I sure hope not, though, because I love serving with him. Shout out to the Bomb!
The AP exchange...I don't really know where to start. Some of the most interesting experiences of my mission have been during AP exchanges, so I always look forward to them. This time I was with Elder Cloward and we had a blast! I can't tell you how nice it was to be in a car again, but we were still super busy and we worked hard talking to everybody we could along the way. We played a lot of basketball with the other elders and some of the ward and it was fun, even though I'm really rusty. All 3 of the APs were high school ballers so they use that to their advantage. One of them, Elder Rivera, was absolutely on fire with his 3 pointers...like, lights out! At one point he got frustrated and in his anger started missing a few of them. At the end, we likened him unto Teancum, who also missed when he when he attacked Ammoron in his anger. That kind of cheered him up! Only on a mission would you liken a basketball game unto Teancum.
We had a great opportunity to get people out to a child of record baptism, and our investigator Dan actually came! The Spirit filled the room as the covenant was made and Dan definitely felt something. He might take longer than we anticipated, but he is on the right track.
Our investigator Sophie has come to church 3 times in a row now. We are super proud of her!
The Huertas fed us dinner last week and it was the best food I've had on my mission hands down. Better than Cafe Rio, it was proper Mexican food made by a Mexican. She also gave us something called horchata, which I highly recommend.
We had a miracle referral from America! John Paul is from San Francisco and he is living in Richmond for work. He's the CEO of a huge company and does just fine financially...probably a millionaire. We skyped in his counselor, who is a member from Georgia, and taught the first couple lessons to him and answered a lot of his questions. I've never taught anybody so humble and so prepared before...It's a dream come true! Hopefully we can get this man taught, fellowshipped, and baptized this transfer. He certainly is a miracle. Elder Baum and I feel like we just got a million bucks!
So things are great. Investigators are progressing, Christmas is around the corner, and we're just ready to baptize. Please keep these people in your prayers, because I know God will carry us the rest of the way. This work is true and it is so exciting to celebrate the birth of God's Son. I'd encourage you all to read the second chapter of Luke sometime before Christmas and ponder about the true meaning of Christmas. Love you all so much and I hope you light the world! Happy Christmas!
Love, Elder Thomas
ELSM
 |
| District leadership conference at Staines |
 |
| Ballin' with the APs |
No comments:
Post a Comment