Monday 01/06- We had a family home evening with Efrain and the Duenas family. We read the story of Nephi and his brothers going back to get the plates, and they all participated really well. We committed them all to be reading the Book of Mormon every day. According to Efrain, the youngest son Nate (13) has actually been reading every morning too. It's great when the children lead out and are an example to the adults in the home. It really has a powerful effect on their commitment to read, pray, come to church, etc.
Tuesday- I did exchanges with the district leader, Elder Smith all day. He came to the Creekside area. It's funny, I still haven't ever done an exchange outside my own area. It'll happen eventually. We made some good contact with some less actives, and set up several lessons with them for this coming week. It will be really good practice for Elder Justensen since he is still inexperienced in teaching.
Wednesday- We ran around in an area of the ward I haven't been in very much. Knocked on some new doors. We made good contact with a sister who can't come to church because her immune system is too weak. We set up a service project with her that should actually be kind of fun, and will possibly result in free fruit. Woot! We accompanied Nate (mentioned above) to mutual, just to make sure he got fellowshipped.
Thursday- Mission Conference with Bro. Donaldson of the mission department. This was the first time EVER that someone who was not a general authority or the mission president conducted a mission conference. So that's a neat thing. He taught us a lot of new things. New ways to teach, new ways to contact (Are you sure Jesus has no more blessings for you? Are you 100% positive that you're family will be together forever? Are you willing to bet them on eternity?). It was really great. He also answered some good questions about when we are getting our iPad minis (February). It's pretty sweet. I will have my own, and I will take it with me everywhere for the rest of my mission. Another cool thing about Bro. Donaldson was that he basically hangs out with the Twelve. Yeah, those Twelve. The way he talked about them, and the things they've told him, are mind blowing. The most mind-blowing thing though: The Book of Mormon was written for our day right? If you look at major events, and the order of them, they match up perfectly with events in the restored church. And guess what the next major event is? Hint: We're living 3 Nephi. yeah. It is THAT close.
Friday: We helped the sisters get some stuff ready for their baptism on Saturday, got yelled at by a Catholic at a park, and watched Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration with him. It wasn't as powerful for him as we hoped, but he did commit to come tot he baptism the next day.
Saturday: We had a lesson with a brother who we thought was a less active member. Turns out he's just straight up not a member. That was neat. In the afternoon we had the baptism. I was sitting by Efrain right up at the front. He was extremely attentive the whole time. He is always so touched by music, and after the baptism we explained the difference between being touched by the Spirit and actually having it with you all the time. He was like, "well I want that!" And i was like, "Great! get baptized!" Not in those exact words, but you get my point. So this week we will hopefully set him up with a baptismal date. I'm so excited for him!
Sunday- Efrain, never failing to disappoint, came to church again. That's three in a row. If he were living all the commandments, he could be baptized immediately. We do still have quite a lot of work with him though. The Lord will make it happen though, if Efrain lets Him. We had a surprise lesson with our investigator Matt Cosby. We taught him about the Book of Mormon, and hopefully he will be reading it every day now. We spent the evening talking to a rather crazy person. By rather crazy, I mean off the wall nuts. It was interesting. Elder Justensen seemed to handle it well though, which was my main concern.
Notice! President told us all to un-friend all parents, siblings, girlfriends, etc on FaceBook. Some of you may have already noticed that this has already happened. If you wish to complain about it, write the Twelve. Not me.
I love you all very much! Keep being awesome, and remember that the Gospel is true, no matter what man may do.
Elder Brett Whitney
