Serra - Week Eleven

 I bought a new flag.

 My new comp with a zombie dog.  It's the only picture I have of him.

I like graffiti.

Well. This week was pretty good.

Anyway, so my new companion is Elder Blackwelder from Florida. I really like him because he's a nerd too. xD something I found is that it's a lot easier to start getting along with your companion when you don't have a culture barrier. This is only the second American companion that I've had. The only other was my trainer. Elder Blackwelder worked at Universal Studios at Hogwarts, so he has a Gryfindor tie. Pretty cool.

This week went by pretty well. We had some really good work with some members, which helped a lot. I like a lot of the members here. Something that hit me this week, is that some of these members that I consider to be friends, are like a little younger than Drew. haha sometimes it's weird to think that I'm 21. Wow. That doesn't even seem right.

Anyway, something that's really going well is one of our investigators named Daniela. We talked to her on the street and asked if we could come by and she accepted. We went by and taught her about the restoration. It was great! We marked a return visit to also teach her husband, but when we got there he had already left because he doesn't really like religion...yet...but we also taught her the Book of Mormon and she understood, we are going to challenge her to baptism tonight!

We are teaching and planning to baptize a kid named Marrone. He is 14 and his dad is a member. We are teaching him along with two inactive members about his age (I think they are cousins? Whatever, they are family) who are really supporting him and are excited to go back to church again as well. Sometimes it gets a little out of control, having a deacon present is like having Doug from UP! He kind of has problems paying atten . . . Squirrel!! . . . tion. But we are planning on baptizing him this week.

We had a really great experience with Rafaela. She is the daughter of a member, and has only been to church a few times. She's already heard the lessons from a lot of different missionaries. But she likes when we are there. We were trying to discover what is holding her back from being baptized. We were talking about the Book of Mormon with the member, and she started to ask a lot of really good questions about the church and what we believe. While we were there, the home teachers showed up one by one. And the first started to share his testimony about the Book of Mormon and the church. As the second came in the door, she asked him to share his testimony. And he did. It was a really spiritual experience. After we left, me and my companion talked a little about it. We decided that she was like one of the members there who bore his testimony. She knows that it's true, but hasn't asked God yet, and she doesn't want to be baptized because she says she "doesn't have time" when really it's because she knows that if she joins, she won't ever leave. And that is exactly what happened with the member who bore his testimony. He did pray, and he hasn't left, but he was in the same situation. I still think its amazing how much you care for these people. When conversing with me about the church, she always says, but I don't want to be baptized. And I say, "I don't want to baptize you. Someone else can do that.  But I want to do is help you know how important these things are, and I want you to have the joy, happiness, and direction in life that comes from this gospel. And this only comes through baptism and enduring to the end." In the end, I know she'll accept the gospel. I just hope she does while I'm there.

I love the mission. I do know that it's where I'm supposed to be. I've always thought of the mission as tithing on life. You go at the years that should be your best. The two years you give are basically 10% of the years that you've lived so far. So, just like how tithing you get a lot of blessings, I believe that the mission blesses you a lot as well. From what I've heard anyway. =)

I love you guys. Thanks for all the support. I'm glad that you are my family.

The power went out for a minute, so I took a picture of Elder Blackwelder.