Catching Up...

11/14/11

Dear Famiree,

This week was significantly better than last week! We were able to teach nearly all of our investigators.

The ten-year-old son in one of our Rescue families, accepted the invitation to be baptized on this Friday. Unfortunately, they did not come to Church yesterday so his date will be moved back a couple weeks. We have an appointment to meet with them tomorrow to help him get back on track to be baptized.

We had a great lesson with T. We tracted into her several weeks ago and answered a lot of her questions regarding the over-abundance of churches and different versions of the Bible. This last lesson with her we focused on applying the teachings of the Book of Mormon in addition to praying to know if it is true. She invited her friend, E, to sit in on the lesson. After some encouragement from T, E was reading from the Book of Mormon in no time. T asked if she could invite her mother to sit in on the next lesson as well. We invited T to come to Church but she still feels uneasy about coming due to some negative experiences with organized religion in the past. We promised her that her desire to attend Church will grow as she continues to read from the Book of Mormon. Our next appointment with her is tomorrow.

We have still been having a difficult time setting up a lesson with the other T, however, we have been able to talk to both her husband, D, and her roughly 20-year-old son, R. D said that he is not quite ready to change his life yet but will let us know when he is.... R was pretty interested and said that he would sit in on our next lesson with his mom. He usually stays in the back of the house or outside working on the cars with D.

We also got back in contact with T.J. We tracted into him a couple weeks back and have had a couple of appointments with him which he was unable to keep. We invited him to come to Church yesterday and he committed to come with his ten-year-old daughter. He did not come. His daughter apparently loves going to Church. We hope that she will be a motivator for him.

I went on exchange with Elder P in South Knox this last week. It went very well. I learned a lot about the importance of using the "How to Begin Teaching" section of Preach My Gospel not only at the beginning of a lesson, but also throughout our teaching. We found several new investigators and invited one of their investigators, J, to be baptized. He accepted the invitation to be baptized 26 November.

In my Gospel study I have continued to study from the Book of Mormon. I have also tried to do a better job of preparing to teach our investigators by reading sections from Preach My Gospel that apply to their current needs. During mealtimes I have been reading the General Conference Edition of the Ensign. I am inspired as I read the words of our leaders and pray that I will be able to apply the things that I am taught by the Spirit as I read.

That's crazy that Elder Raymond the Younger was in an earthquake!!! It's good to hear everyone is doing well. I was sure surprised when I read that you're retiring next year, Dad! Good luck finding a new job! What kind of work do you want to do now?

I love you all mucho much!!! (That's Spanish for much much!!! (Just in case you didn't know...))

Love,

Elder Elder Raymond