Hello Everybody! What a great week it´s been!
On Tuesday, we had a Zone Conference. Everything went VERY well - The presentation on helping commit investigators to come to church, AND the workshops that we did afterwards, helping the missionaries to be bolder when the time comes to enter soembody´s house, set a commitment, set a baptismal date, invite everybody in the house to participate, do street contacts, etc.
In the beginning of the week, things were going really slowly, even though Elder Labra and I were doing everything that we could to meet our goals - we were talking with everybody, and applying all that we learned in Zone Conference about having faith and planning well.
On tuesday, after the zone conference, we had ward mission correlation meeting in the church. After our meeting, we realized that there were a LOT of non members in the church that had come to mutual - so, we invited 6 or 7 young men that aren´t members to have a lesson with us. They accepted, and we realized that one of them was really interested - Nicolas Leiva. We taught him and his family Saturday night, and Nicolas came to church Sunday morning! The other kids that were in the lesson didn´t seem to interested, but we invited them to church on Sunday. Besides Nicolas, 2 of the other kids that were in the lesson tuesday night showed up to church sunday! (Miracle!!!)
On Thursday, we had to go to a city about 45min away in Bus to pay the rent of some apartments...on the way there, we didn´t have anything to go, or anywhere to go...and neither did any of the other people that were on the bus. We talked with every man that we could, and got rejected by everyone. As we were about to get off the bus, a 20yr old kid signled for me to come closer. He has studied the book of mormon, doctrince and covenants, the pearl of great price, and teachings of the prophets. He attended church for about a year, and then for a small detail, was turned off to the church, and stopped going. He said that he was still interested, and wants us to pass by!
On the way back to our area, we did the same in the bus, and again, were rejected by everybody. - But here comes the miracle!!! When we got to our lunch appt, which was with the elders quorum president and his wife, he told us that he had a friend there that could be a new investigator, and also a less active member. They had spontaniously (miraculously) decided to visit this member when we went to eat. We talked a lot about the apostacy and the restauration with him, and set up an appointment to visit him again!
On Saturday, we went to the house of an Ex-Investigator to see if he´d like to start taking the lessons again. He said yes, but that he couldn´t start right then. As we were about to leave, a 19yr old kid walked out of his house, and entered a house a few doors down the street. I asked the ex-investigator who it was, and he said that it was the oldest son of his wife, and ALSO told us that where he had entered was the house of his grandma, who is a member of the church! We went there, and had a lesson with Jonathon, the 19 yr old. The mother of Jonathon´s 7 month old son was also there, Cecilia, who is 16, and her older sister Isabel. We taught all 3 of them, and they all have desires to continue bettering their lives and listening to what we have to teach!
On Sunday, we got to church and it was EXTREMELY empty. There were hardly any members. (8:50) After a few minutes, 4 investigators, Guillermo with his girlfriend, Jimena (he - men - uh), and Guillermo´s Mom, with her husband, all showed up! A few minutes later, Gonzalo Oriento Showed up! (GONZALO GOT PERMISSION FROM HIS MOM TO BE BAPTIZED!!!!!) (Mirale!) And a few minutes later, the 3 kids from mutual showed up! (Nicolas, and the 2 others!)
This week has been full of miracles!
In my personal study, i´ve been reading alma. This morning i read Alma 42. It blew me away how clear the atonement is! It is written out so clearly that there is no way to not know what is required of us so that we can return to our Heavenly Father after this life. My favorite part of the chapter is when it talkes about Justice and Mercy. Because of the fall of Adam and Eve, and because of Justice, man would be subject to the demands of justice, which require that he be seperated from God. Because of this problem, God send Jesus Christ to suffer for us. He literealy paid the price for our sins, and satisfied the demands of justice so that Mercy can be excercised - but mercy can only come into play if we do our part and repent.
Wow....REALLY long letter today! Sorry.
I Love you all, and hope that you have a Great week whoever and wherever you are!
Love, Elder Denton
We had an excellent chat with Elder Kyle Denton yesterday after church. We fired up skype and spoke for at least an hour. He's been teaching his companion English and Elder Labra practiced a sentence or two with Connie...he did excellent! We found out that his mission president will be changing very soon. Kyle mentioned that Cody will be going into the MTC during the training of the mission presidents and will have the same opportunity Kyle had while he was in the MTC - to have the prophet and apostles visit quite often while he is there. Kyle is predicting that Cody will only spend 3 weeks at the MTC because of how good is Spanish already is. It is amazing to listen to the 3 boys speak Spanish together. We wonder if Whitney will be going to a spanish speaking mission now...:0) George.
