92nd week in Spokane

We had another awesome week! Ed got baptized!!!! The service was really good! We also had a child of record baptism at the same time so that was pretty awesome! Also, the Crumps brought a friend to the service and now she wants to be taught! So we are looking forward to that! Emil is way solid now for his baptism on July 6th. We also had a way good lesson with the countryman family. They have been kinda shaky about their date of July 9th, so we went over not having prepared anything to teach and we just wanted to let the Spirit guide. We shared with them a few scriptures, asked a few questions, and the spirit was way strong and everyone was crying and they are solid about that date now! It was a way good experience. Richard is still good to go for July 9th.. he just needs to quit drinking coffee but he said last night that nothing is going to stand in the way of him getting baptized this time around! So that's going to be an awesome day! We taught a family named Bouvette, and she is Brother Countryman's sister. That lesson was way good, she has a daughter that's not baptized yet so we are going to shoot for her daughter getting baptized with the Countryman's on July 9th too! This week we also had zone conference. It was way good as always. We had it set up to where my companion and I were going to sing “come thou fount” as a duet but my voice got way horse and so we had to get another missionary to do it. He is super shy, but we convinced him to pray about it and he said that he got a pretty direct answer that he's supposed to sing. So right as soon as he decided to take my place, my throat got better! It was pretty funny.. obviously the Lord wanted him to sing instead of me.. it was way good for him, help him come out of his shell! Well, that's about it for me, we have a very busy and hectic next couple of weeks with all these people getting baptized! I sure do love this work!

91st week in Spokane

It just doesn't slow down up here in deer park! This week we were teaching like crazy! It's the most lessons I've had in a week in a long time! It has been amazing! Everyone is still pretty solid! Our lesson with Richard on Wednesday went through and we were able to invite him at the very beginning of the lesson to be baptized on July 9th and he said yes! Ed is doing awesome! He is constantly quoting scripture to us from the Book of Mormon during our lessons. He has been a big help to Emil because he will teach him while we aren't there. He will be getting baptized this weekend! We've been teaching a guy named John, and this week we were able to focus on baptism. He's made a whole lot of changes in his life and he is finally ready! So we invited him to be baptized on July 16! On Tuesday we went on exchanges with the assistants and I was able to go down to Spokane to the 15th ward for a day! It was pretty fun trying to see all the people that I taught when I was there. The 15th and 22nd wards were my first area that I covered when I first got to the mission! So that was fun. With the countryman family we were able to teach them and we were able to find out one of the main concerns and so we taught to that and then they did a fast and so did we on Wednesday and they said that they received their answer! So we are way excited about them and are praying that they won't get cold feet for July 9th. Its amazing too because in the zone right now, there are eight people preparing to be baptized on July 9th! We were able to do some service this week.. my favorite! We split up about three cords of wood!! It was awesome!! Alright, so last night, we were at a members house eating dinner and he is from Cambodia so he made us some food from there and it was delicious, its called fa. But then after dinner, he had us try out some hot sauce. Brother Lim has done a whole lot of research to find the hottest sauce in the world and the one that he has is called the bomb! It was insanely hottt!! It was a solid fifteen minutes of straight pain! It was awesome!! They got it all on video, they said that its a tradition that whatever missionary eats at their home has to try it. It was intense!! Well, that was pretty much our week! we are continually being blessed! love ya!

90th week in Spokane

We had, once again, an awesome week! I keep on getting amazed at the blessings that the Lord has been giving us! Last week I mentioned the countryman family. Well, they wanted to learn more about the sacrament. I was excited about that because in order to know about the sacrament, we gotta know about baptism. So we talked with them about baptism and the covenant that we make when we are baptized. We read the sacrament prayer and pointed out the three things that we promise to be willing to do.. Take the name of Christ, Always remember Him, and keep His commandments. The last two are self explanatory, so we focused on what it means to take the name of Christ and why that's important. We drew a diagram of the plan of Salvation on a white board and then drew a straight and narrow path from earth to the Celestial Kingdom, and drew two gates, one at the beginning and one at the end. Then explained that baptism is the gate and the Priesthood is the key for the first gate. We then talked about the second gate and read a few scriptures with them.. we focused on Mosiah five, and also read some verses in doctrine and covenants sections 18 and 45 and then did a role play with them that we were at the gate at the Celestial Kingdom. I know that the way I just explained it sounds confusing, but with it drawn out I promise it makes sense! The spirit was so strong during that lesson and we invited the family to be baptized on July 9th and they said yes!!! It is such a miracle! They are an awesome family and I am so excited to be with them as they make this leap of faith by being baptized! So that was miracle number one. Miracle number two comes from the lesson that we had right before the Countryman's. We actually didn't have time to teach a lesson because Richard was late getting there, but we were able to talk to him for a few minutes. He has been coming to church for a few weeks with his girlfriend, he's 25. He also took the lessons a couple years ago but wasn't ready at that point to be baptized but he says that he's ready now. When we asked him what his expectations are with meeting with us, he said to be reminded about the fundamentals, and to be baptized! So we will be meeting with him on Wednesday and inviting him to be baptized July 9th. Miracle number three is CRAZY! we left our apartment and it was raining, Elder Fordham asked me if I wanted to drive.. I said no, lets walk. So we started walking. There's a Baptist church right across the road from us and there was a guy sitting right next to the front door. Elder Fordham asked me if we should go talk to him. Immediately my mind quoted the white handbook "do not proselyte at or near other houses of worship" so I said can we do that? But we felt like we should, so we went and talked to him and it turns out that he got kicked out of his brother-in-laws house the day before and was homeless, he's 23. So we talked to him about the Book of Mormon and we read the introduction with him and he said that this is what he's been looking for, he said that he felt like the Lord was guiding him to the Baptist church so that we would run into him. So we called our bishop, then took the man to a members home a couple doors down, taught him the restoration and invited him to be baptized on July 2 and he said he would. So he met with the bishop and right now he is living with the same member that Ed is living with! His name is Emil. He is a tender mercy of the Lord. He's my same size so I gave him some slacks, a tie, and a white shirt. His backpack was all torn up so i gave him mine. He's an awesome guy, very sincere, very humbled. The Lord lead us right to him and He lead him right to us! Then at church there was a member that came up to us and said that their son, who is not a member, would like to take the lessons, and he was at church with them. so that will be happening this week and hopefully be putting him on date to be baptized on July 9th! I also had a very enlightening study this week. I've been studying about Christlike attributes in Preach My Gospel. I've also had on my mind about living the Doctrine of Christ and what evidences are there to show that. Well, in the first blue box in the Christlike Attribute chapter, there's a question that says how do the first principles of the gospel and Christlike attributes relate? The scripture it gives is Moroni 8:25-26. I read that and it hit me like a ton of bricks... If we are living the doctrine of Christ, the fruits or the evidence of that would be that we are living the Christlike attributes. So as a missionary, to test ourselves if we have the Doctrine of Christ in our hearts, is tested by the Christlike Attribute self test.. along with check your progress. Also, in the teaching skills chapter, in the very first paragraph it says, essentially, that in order to teach with convincing power, we must first have Christlike attributes, and then study the material, and then master your language, and then we can fully rely on the Holy Ghost in our teaching to teach with convincing power. But first and foremost, we gotta master the Christlike attributes. because without it, how can we be Christ's disciples? Without it, how can we have the doctrine of Christ in our hearts?? So Elder Fordham and I have talked to our District leaders and this week we are going to take about ten minutes in district meeting and talk about this so that our missionaries can more fully have the Doctrine of Christ within them. I love this work! I love being an instrument in the Lords hand! I love being a missionary!

89th Week in Spokane

We had an amazing first week together! I came to an area where there are a few fence sitters. The first night here we taught a 19 year old guy named Ed who they had been teaching for about a month but he wouldn't commit. We were able to talk to him about faith and goals and how we prove to the Lord our faith to Him. We set a goal with him to be baptized on June 25 and he said he would. Since then, he has gotten really excited about his date and he said that he will be serving a mission in a year! He is just staying here for the summer, he will be going to BYUI in September, he's the man! Then a couple days later we taught another investigator named Murry, he's 18, we taught him about the plan of salvation and tied it right into baptism and he is now preparing to be baptized on June 25. On Sunday, we had seven investigators come to church! It was a really good day! There's a girl named Sara who has come a couple times with some members, she's about 23 or so, and we set up an appointment with her for after church and we taught her the Restoration. The Spirit was so thick it was tangible! It definitely ranks in the top five most spiritual lessons I've had on my mission. She said a prayer that rivals King Lamoni's first prayer.. it was so sincere! There's a family that has been taught for a long time here that won't commit named Countryman. I'm really praying that they will be ready to be baptized on July 9th, it will be my last Saturday. They are so awesome.. they are just scared to commit to baptism! Its a husband and wife and two kids, the husband is actually a member and a week before I got here he told the Elders that he's ready to start making some real changes. We also found a new couple to teach named Randy and Mariah, they are pretty sweet too, he's 20 and she's 19 and they have a 6 month old named Aden and they seem really prepared. This transfer we are really gonna be focusing on working closely with the members, building their trust and confidence in the missionaries, it seems like its always a constant cycle.. the members are way awesome and then some slacker missionaries come and screw everything up and then new missionaries have to come repair whats been done and then the cycle starts all over again! It seems that has been my role many times on my mission. But it has always been really nice to see the results that come from it. My companion asked me what I want to become when this transfer is over and I get on the plane. I told him I just want to be exhausted! Spiritually and physically. And so far it has turned out that way. I'm so grateful that the Lord is pouring out His blessings upon us on my last transfer. I've been praying for this transfer my whole mission and I can feel the effects of those prayers now and I know that the Lord will continue to pour out His blessings upon us. I love this work!