Hello,
Well this past week was pretty good except I am really tired. We had exchanges monday night through tuesday night so I was serving in Western Hills with Elder Murillo for the day. It was definitely my favorite exchange because well we had a car and I got to drive. It was my first time driving in nearly 10 months and man did it feel good. Along with that we were able to teach five lessons that day.
Last sunday I had to give a talk and well I decided not to write it out word for word like I usually do. I had a short story written out but the rest I just said occasionally looking at my notes. It felt really good! I was pretty nervous before I got up to speak, so I said a prayer and just asked that the words I needed to say would come to my mind. As I got up to speak the nerves went away and it just flowed. Afterwards the Gospel Prinicples teacher Sister Batty from the Dominican Republic came up to me and congratulated me. She said sometimes she would get in trouble when she would speak while on her mission because she would be so bold that she would offend people. She said I was pretty bold, I hope I didnt offend anybody but if I did well there is something they need to change.
Tuesday I got an amazing call from the Elders serving in my old area. Nicolas and his wife Augustina were getting baptized the next day. Elder Hernandez and I found Nicolas and his wife like a week before christmas last year. I taught him over the 8 months I was in West Jordan but his wife was never interested. She would listen to us teach him while she cooked but she never would come sit down. Eventually we sent over the senior couple that teach english and Augustina slowly began to take the english classes and pray. She began to read the Book of Mormon. From that point she began to progress. At the baptism I was afraid Nicolas wouldn't remember me but when I saw him he recognized me immediately and said Hermano Jolly. He skipped my handshake and went for a big hug.
We had dinner with Jose Hernandez and his family for his birthday. They thanked us for teaching him and helping him prepare himself for baptism. He told us that what made the difference between us and the countless missionaries that had taught him before is that he said we brought a lot stronger spirit and he knew when we taught him what we said was true. They had us sign a journal for him with our address so they can write us and invite us to the sealing in a year, Elder Bolivar will still be in the mission but I will sadly have already finished. It is amazing to see the joy that these people have as the make the decision to get baptized. You can see it in their countanace and in their eyes. It is an amazing experience and I am looking forward to continuing to disfrutar in the experience. The Spirit really does guide this work.
Love,
Elder Jolly
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