Hola Familia y Amigos!
This week went a lot better than our last week. For one we had appointments jammed packed the past couple days (Blessings of Fasting) and number two Jose Chavez got BAPTIZED!!!! It really all started out with me and Elder Nelson going to visit someone at about 8:30 monday night when we got a call. Elder Nelson answered the phone and said it was for me, so I take the phone and its Elder Horrocks calling to tell me that Jose Chavez was going to get baptized this saturday at 11. That lifted my spirits so much because we were kinda coming off a slow week with investigators and a lot people dropping. I got to give a talk at the baptism on the Holy Ghost (hopefully everyone understood it). It was so amazing to see your hard work pay off, I taught Jose Chavez all of last transfer, the first day I was companions with Elder Horrocks is when we found him. So to see all that teaching and work get him to the waters of baptism was so exciting. There really is no other way to describe the amount of happiness you feel for someone thats decided to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized. (I've got pictures I'll send them).
Also me and Elder Nelson have been so blessed to be able to have a lot of appointments this week. We have been jammed packed this whole week which is amazing and I know it comes from fasting. I'm so grateful for that opportunity we have to fast because I know it works. The ward is doing better thats for sure, we're still trying to figure things out as far as callings in the ward go but Bishop Menrequez is a stud. We are probably going to have a ward family night to bond the ward together. But other than that the ward is doing a lot better. Spanish is doing really good its kinda weird when you know that you both only speak a little spanish you start paying a lot more attention to what people are saying. As you start listening more you start to learn more. So to say the least we both learn a lot of new words everyday. The best learning experience this week was probably during District Meeting. We talked a lot about how to extend an invitation more directly to someone and give them the specifics of the commitment. This way there is no confusion and new excuse the investigator can make because of the how specific the invitation was. For example you could say,"Will you read the intro to the BOM?" or you could say, "Will you read and pray about the intro to the BOM before our next appointment?" That way they have no excuse.
The hardest part of this week to be honest is when our Baptismal date (Shawndell) dropped. He was a super solid kid and loved recieving the lessons. He dropped because we lost contact with him. We're are definitely going to try by again and get him on date though. The way that I overcame difficulties on the mission is by looking at the good things that happen throughout the day. Like for instance this week when Shawndell dropped I remembered that we had Jose Chavez's baptism or I'll remember a good lesson we had that week. But it's really all about your attitude if you can focus on the positive things that happen then you'll be a positive person. That's one of the harder things with Elder Nelson right now. If we have a bad day he kinda gets in a bad attitude and its really hard to work with investigators when you have a bad attitude, so I try to cheer him up. (thats not to say that I've never been in a bad attitude either). But other than that we are doing fine he's a great missionary and a good friend. The new zone is super fun (Not as fun as the last zone we were all super tight but still super fun). We are going to the city walk today which is like a smaller part of Universal Studios should be super fun.
Alright this week we got to do the BOM experiment again and this time we had a level 3 set up not a level 1 so this was the full deal we had posters and panels a table set out the whole 9 yards and it was amazing. So we are all undercover and we ask people if they would like to participate in a social experiment then if they say yes we give them a page from the BOM and ask them to mark references to God and Jesus and whatever else they liked. So I ask this one man (En Espanol) and he says yes he reads it and marks and then I asked him how he felt while he was reading it. He said it was very interesting and that he would love to learn more. However as soon as I revealed to him that it was from the BOM and we were Mormons he said that he didn't want anything to do with it. I was like, "Senor usted dijo que quiere aprender mas sobre este libro." He said that he refused to talk to us. I was like wow we must have the truth if people are this angry with us. We were right next to a Jehovah's Witness stand and I got bashed hardcore by one of them. The thing is though is that they are out to fight you, they want to try and prove you wrong even though it's right. The thing that bugs me most about people like that is that they try and tell you that the BOM is wrong and then you ask well have you ever read the BOM and they're all like, "Well no." and then you ask, "How do you know that is wrong then?" and then that usually will shut them up. It's the funniest thing they try to prove you wrong but what they end up doing is proving that you're more right (I love it).
Well because of that bash I know without a doubt that the BOM is the most powerful key in the conversion process and that our church really does have all the truth revealed through a modern day prophet. I hope everyone has a good Week I love you all praying for everyone every night. Remember the BOM is true and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Les Amo
Elder Gibbons
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