August 22, 2011

Hello Hello.

This past week was a great one! We had a speacial mission conference about music and the power and influence it has with regards to the Spirit. The 2 people who created the music and conducted Messiah in America came and talked to us. I love one of his quotes "Anyone who has been elevated to a standard of excellence will never again be complacent with mediocraty". He talked about how Boyd K. Packer said we grow up on musical french fries when we could have a gourmet feast. At the end we all sang "We need thee every hour" and it was very powerfull.

On tuesday we did splits in the afternoon and I went with an RM named Manuel and we had a pretty crazy experience happen. I learned to follow the Spirit of the Law more than the letter of the law. Right before I left the house I had this feeling like I should grab the chapel keys, I had no idea why but I did. We went to our first couple of appts and then for some reason we both felt the impression to deviate for our route and scheduled appts to go visit Patrichia an inv that is not progressing. We went by and she was busy so we set up an appt and asked for refferals. She gave us a refferal for 2 of her neighbors. We went an knocked the 2 doors to no avail. As we were walking back to the car. This hispanic man came running up to us. As it turns out he had broken his car key and saw us walking and asked us to give him a ride to get his key fixed. We said "sure" as this was the perfect opportunity to trap him in the car and teach him. As we drove we began to talk about religion. The first place we went to didnt cut keys so we continued on, eventually leaving my area. We talked about the restoration and Jospeh Smith, he had a few differences of opinion. As we continued along we could not find a key place but then a guy told us of a key place about 10 blocks north, which was outside the mission. Manuel asked me what we should do, I thought about it for a minute and said "lets go". We get to the key place and the guy only has a dollar, he have just arrived form Mexico and about a dollar in change was all he had left. So we left him at the key place to go get $10. When we came back he was outside with the key, saying "this is what you call faith". The owner had decided to give him the key free because of his circumstance. As we drove home the guy began to talk about how hard his life was and how he felt so depressed and like there was nothing he could do. I pulled out the Book of Mormon and told him to read Ether 12:27-28. He began to read and got quiet, 5 minutes later he was still quiet. I then looked back to see this man (Juancarlos) staring at the page tears running down his face. Manuel then leaned over to me and said "We r taking this man to the chapel, do you have the keys?" Suprisingly I did because I had grabbed them earlier. We took him to the church building and asked if we could show him around he said yes and I asked if we could start with a prayer. Right then he broke down bawling. He was going through some really tough stuff in his life, leaving his kids in Mexico to come here to find work to support them. He felt like nobody understood him and that there was no purpose to life. I gave him Alma 7:11-13 to read and he read the whole chapter. The Spirit was very strong. Manuel then bore testimony of what he was feeling. I told him a personal experience with the spirit and then Manuel invited him to be baptized. Right then and there the first time we met him, but the Spirit testified to this man that this was right and ture. He accepted baptism and told us he needed to make this step. He then opened to a random page and began to read. Manuel started to say something but Juancarlos stopped him and said "Let me read, this book speaks to me, I understand it". I was a crazy experience! We ended in prayed and then took him home. Afterwards the car was quiet as we we shocked at what had just happened.

Lulu was baptized saturday night! Her baptism was awesome. Her dad who is not a member came and supported her. Lulu asked me to baptize her and it was so amazing to see how this girl knew and wanted to follow Jesus Christ. In the process of teaching her she would say the most sincere prayers asking for help to learn so she could be baptized. I loved every moment of teaching Lulu and her family.

This is what missionary work is all about, helping people find Christ in their lives. It is so rewarding and I find my love for Christ grow as I help others find that love in their lives. I know this Gospel is true, this is THE church of Jesus Christ restored to the earth through his servant and prophet Joseph Smith, I know it and I feel its truth!

Love,

Elder Jolly