February 13, 2017
Good morning!
I hope everyone's week was as good back in Arizona as mine was here in RayBreak, I mean DayBreak. It was pretty cray though...
So Monday we taught the butlers some commandments. 10 commandments, Law of Chastity, and obey and honor the law, that's what we had left to teach before the interview. Then we start going over the interview questions. We got through the first couple then asked "do you believe that President Monson is the prophet?" E. said Yes, L. and Z. said No. uh oh... kinda hard to get baptized if you don't wanna follow the prophet... so we taught towards that for a bit but we weren't able to resolve the concern through logic. They all believe in the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, but couldn't grasp Thomas S. Monson. So, we decide we will pray at the end and ask God, and so we move on. Then we get to asking them if they will live the Word of Wisdom, and poop kinda hits the fan. We realized we haven't taught them about it since like October. E. is all in, says he will live it, L. is a little broken up about it and Z. says no way. Poo. That's kinda a Deal Breaker too... so we try and teach towards that, saying that if the Book of Mormon is true, Joseph smith was a prophet, and the commandment was from God, and We get nowhere. Now we really need to pray. So we all kneel down and L. offers a prayer, asking God if Thomas S. Monson is a prophet and if they need to live the word of wisdom. He closes, and we wait. After a few minutes, E. speaks up and says he feels the spirit. We wait a bit longer and L. speaks up and explains a remarkable vision he had of Christ in Heaven, his arms extended towards him. "Yea, even babes did open their mouths and utter marvelous things" (3 Nephi 26:16). He explained how he knows now that President Monson is the Prophet and that he should live the word of wisdom. J. also then spoke up and said that she feels God telling her that she needs to follow President Monson, and to not focus on the word of wisdom right now. Z. did not feel anything, unfortunately. Elder Bottari and I fasted all the next day that she would so she could pass the interview.
Then next day on exchanges, the District Leader who was with me was able to teach Z. the Word of Wisdom in a way that clicked, she accepted it, and passed!
This week was really a crazy, crazy week. But the best weeks always are.
E., L., and Z. were all baptized on Saturday, Sunday Ervin received the Aaronic Priesthood, and him, J., and Z. received limited use temple recommends to be able to go do baptisms for the dead.
Last night, we had a fireside for all the missionaries in the mission, as well as those we teach, put on by Brad Wilcox. It was amazing! He taught us about Grace, a topic often misunderstood by many. I will include in this email a PDF copy of his talk "His Grace is Sufficient" for those of you who have not read it, it has a lot of similarities between his message last night.
The church is true, don't forget it.
Love
-Elder Ray
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Elder Bottari and Elder Ray at the baptisms of Zarriah, Legend, and Ervin, with Justina
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