August 28, 2023

 Hello Everyone, 

Thus the week passed away in peace and righteousness. 

We had a great week of finding people to teach, teaching, and meetings. Lots of meetings. Allow me to break it down for you. We had our District Council on Thursday. And then on Friday we had Zone Conference, and then after that we had the adult session of stake conference, and then the next morning we had the general stake conference. 

So if you couldn't tell there was a lot of driving this week, but I didn't have to do it all. Elder Nehorai got his driving privileges. That meant I haven't driven since Friday! Don't get the wrong impression, I love to drive but it is nice to have a break.  

I am amazed with the joy that I feel anytime I have an opportunity to teach someone about hope and they accept that hope. As I have shared hope, I have been hopeful. 

We did a variety of finding this week. We talked to everyone we saw, we called people to see if they would like to meet again. Many people said yes. As we did talk to everyone we found a lot of Spanish speakers. One lady we so nice. I could understand her, and she couldn't understand us but I knew she felt the spirit. How do I know that? Google translate! We did our best to teach about faith through our phones and she said that she wants to hear this message because she believes it is true. So we got her phone number and then passed her off the Spanish missionaries.  

Something that I was reminded about this week was to listen to promptings. This reminder came to me Friday morning before Zone Conference. We were already to go drive down to the church building, when I had the thought to grab something. I had sat down in the car when this promptings came and was about to start driving away. But I felt that I should act on this prompting, so I did. 

I'm sure all of you are wondering what was I prompted to grab. It's a long story of what it is and why is so important to me, but I'll try and tell the story quickly. When I was in high school my father taught me a lesson from the Book of Mormon. We read Ether 2-3, he my father taught me the importance Principles of working hard and then going to the Lord to have Him help magnify what I was doing. My father relayed to how the Brother of Jared worked hard to forge these 16 clear stones. To remind me of this lesson he gave me and my brothers two stones each, and they have been a blessing to me since that day. These two stones were on my desk the morning I was headed to Zone Conference. These stones are what the Holy Ghost Prompted me to grab. 

I'm sure y'all are saying "That's nice, but what has it got to do with missionary work?" Please allow me to tell you why I was prompted to grab these stones. While at Zone Conference President Judd taught some principles of action and power. To do this President Judd taught us about the story of the Brother of Jared. The same story before now just applied to the mission aspect of my life. While President Judd was teaching this lesson I held the two stones in my hand and gratitude in my heart that I had listened to the Holy Ghost.  

This was a moment where God was letting me know that I was one the right path, because I gave a training on this same Book of Mormon story last transfer to my district. Like my father before me I wanted to give a reminder to my fellow missionaries. So I gave them all 16 clear stones.  

I know that there is so much to learn in the Book of Mormon and in the scriptures. As we apply them to our lives we can learn what God is trying to teach us. And how blessed are we, when we are taught by God. There is no better teacher. That is one of the reasons the scriptures are so priceless. I know that to be true, and I love the truth. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ Amen. 

Us with our friend Juan, it's a long story but I'll tell y'all next week. He is a miracle 

There are a couple of pictures with other missionaries since we go to see them a lot this week. 

The Church of Restoration, very unique name. We almost walked in to see what they were teaching because I have never heard of this church before. 

Elder Nehorai's first day driving on the mission  

I also got more pictures from Amy's Baptism.  

Have a great week y'all!!!