July 20, 2011

Well another week has come and gone and this week was exceptionally fun and overwhelmingly tiring. So this past week Elder Bowers and I continue to find success in hard work. We found 7 more new investigators and 2 more so far this week. It is actually becoming a problem because we cannot keep up with them all in an area this large when we are walking. We talked to President about it on tuesday when we had interviews. Our teaching pool has now exceded 40 people and in order for investigators to progress they need to be contacted 2 to 3 times a week if not daily. This task is impossible since, well, our investigators are spread out over our whole area and those 40+ inv live in 27 different households. President said we need to just focus on those who we really think will progress and then come back to the others later or he said he may split the area so we would have 4 missionaries in this one spanish ward. Whenever we are running a little late Elder Bowers loves to just start running even if we have just left from our dinner appointment, so I have been getting back into shape from all the running we have been doing. The weather here recently has been about 90 and extremely humid so it is not the best running conditions.

     We had a cool experience this past week. We were invited by President to come up to his house sunday night and sit down and just talk with him and celebrate his sons birthday with him. We had some heart to heart talk with President ate some cake and stuff. Afterwards he had to drop his son off at the airport and he took us along. It was just a neat experience to ride along with President and just talk about life with him and talk about the mission. I am starting to see him as a real person now. He has definitely earned a lot of respect from me!

    Yesterday we began teaching a young couple and their two little kids. I believe that this couple was the most prepared people I have ever met in my life. She bore testimony of how she knew she was guided to Utah by the Lord so she could find this church and raise her kids in it because she said she knows that this is Christ's church. I tried to give the baptismal commitment but they said yes before I even started. They should be getting baptized July 31st if everything goes well.

  We started teaching a less active part member family and they were very receptive. There seems to be a key similarity with the people we are teaching right now, which is that they all want to raise their kids with a strong belief in God and good principles. Now of course all these things are found in this church. We put the daughter on date and the parents were very supportive, so she will be baptized August 7th. We are still trying to work on the father.

    Another investigator that was being taught a few months ago but decided to stop taking the lessons randomly showed up to church and she is almost done reading the Book of Mormon so we are hoping things will go well with her tonight as we try and extend a baptismal date.

     During this past week I have pondered often on the church and why so many people love the church and the principles it teaches there children. I can firmly say that the church teaches the exact principles and the exact way we should live our lives in order to be happy, which is why I know I will raise my kids in this gospel. I hope I can give my future kids the same foundation for success that my parents gave me as we focused on the little things of the gospel. I dont remember many Family Home Evening lessons, but I always remember doing it every monday night and I remember the time we spent as a family. Just as it is with teaching investigators, it doesnt always matter what you teach them or what the lesson is, but it is how they feel. As we strenghten our family relationships and as we set our sights firmly on Christ, the Spirit will always guide our path. I thank my parents for having showed me this path and for having raised me they way they did. Love you all!

 

Love,

Elder Jolly