January 23, 2017
Hello All,
Thank you all for the birthday wishes! It was a great 20th. It's pretty wacky to think that I left home when I was 18, and now am 20. It's also nice to be able to stop lying, because for the past 3 months I've been telling everyone who asks that I'm 20. Ha.On top of having a Birthday, the week was stellar.
Monday morning we evaluated the key indicators of our district leaders, then hit up Walmart, washed the car, and got some all you can eat pizza for lunch. After that we played some games with the district and then went to a family's house for a little party for me and the Dad since mine was the 17th and his the 18th. We had some super good southern BBQ. Ribs. Tasty. After that, we taught E. and his family. The day previous, E.'s mom had a stroke and ended up in the hospital, and we were able to organize for a ward missionary and his son to go there and give her a blessing. That was a great experience, and E. asked him to arrange for us to come by. We had the same ward missionary—Brother Young—come to our lesson Monday night, and it couldn't have gone better. We taught about temples and eternal families, tied into the priesthood. After a bit of us teaching we had Brother Young share his testimony. Wow. Brother Young's dad passed away two weeks ago. He told of his experience in the temple the day before his father passed, where he asked the lord once again for a witness of the truthfulness of the gospel, and received a powerful answer. After he shared his experience we asked what everyone was feeling, and Justina just broke down crying. She said she feels that she is responsible for leading her family to the gospel since she has already been baptized. E. spoke up and said that with all the trials they have been facing they can't go on without the help of God. So we put E., Z., and L. on date for Feb 11th! It was such a spiritual lesson, and we left it and headed to an appointment with a family who basically ambushed us with a guy who left the church a few years ago because of anti material. It was very cool to see the difference between a very spiritual lesson and one where the spirit of the lord is not present.
Tuesday was normal, we went to a district meeting and evaluated it.
Wednesday morning we had interviews with President Lansing, then started exchanges with Elder Choi, one of the DLs, and his companion. Exchanges went great.
The rest of the week was pretty normal until Sunday when... E AND. HIS FAM CAME TO CHURCH! Wow. I can not describe the joy that I felt. I found myself sitting next to them with the most ridiculous smile on my face. I couldn't get it off. I've been teaching them since September, it is so cool to see them progressing! Wow. It was great. Later that night we got into the home of a guy named E., who is a born again Christian. Great guy! It was late so we didn't teach him much but he agreed to let us come back! He said something that just blew me away, something that I thought was extinct in Utah. He said that when he first moved in, everyone was so nice, but now that he has been there a year or so, his neighbors will not let their kids play with his because they are not members of the church. Absolutely ridiculous...
A talk came to mind that was given by Elder Ballard in a regional conference late last year, I recommend you all read it. The Savior was the greatest example of all when he ate with the Publicans and the Sinners, let us all remember to be an example as Christ was, doing so will bring us more joy than anything else! The church is true!
Love
-Elder Ray
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| Elder Jensen and Elder Ray |
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| Seth and the South Jordan Zone |
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