Of Converts and Cats

This week was a good solid week. It was a little crazy because we were covering three wards and doing lots of driving around. It’s been fun being in a Trio again because the other elder that stays with us is without companion. The good news for this week is that he found a companion and is now healthy and back in the normal swing of things. And we are back on bikes. :) I like that though. It makes it easier to contact and work.

Spiritual: We are still having close contact with Dhani where we take him to dinners and FHE and other things like that. One of the nights though we went contacting. Dhani showed up in his shirt and tie looking all spiffy like and we said a prayer and went out to face the masses in the grocery outlet parking lot. Wow. What an incredible sight it is to see someone who was questioning the existence of God just a month prior turn around and bear a powerful testimony about how he found out that God is real and that this is the true church. We contacted a man by the name of Antonio and he was obviously not super happy to talk to us. We kept persevering and finally he opened up to us. His mom passed away a little while ago and he was still struggling with that. Dhani bore his testimony to him of the power and the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. It was incredible. The spirit that he brought with his sincerity and faith brought not only me to tear up but it brought Antonio all the way to tears. It was exhilarating to see such conversion. That got me so fired up to go out and bring more people to Christ. There is not a single person who could not benefit by becoming converted. True conversion is literally something to write home about. This is a true change of heart. That made me get excited to help bring more people unto Christ and it also caused me to think that fear is something that is learned. When we are young we have no reservations about going up to people and talking to them and sometimes we say some weird stuff. We should remember that fear is the opposite of faith and every time we fear, we are hindering our faith. I know that this is true and I am not afraid.   "Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not." D&C 6:36

Funny: Because we were covering three wards, I got the chance to go see Tommy again. This was a street contact that we had and has come to church and is learning more. A truly great guy, just is a little different. We went over and were going to sit in his front porch. We were making some small talk "How has your week been?" "Good." "Cool! What happened?" "My cat died." "Sorry to hear that!" "How is your sister?" "Good." The conversation went like that. It was a little crowded with stuff and there weren't a ton of good places to sit. Elder Green-Bey was making his way over to sit down on a chair that had a cardboard box on it. He picked up the box and all sorts of ants ran out from it. It was like the children of Israel running from the plagues. It was a lot of ants. We asked them if there was any other place we could sit down and talk. He said yes so we moved into the back yard. We met there and were talking for a little bit and he was telling us about his poor cat who passed. Casually he mentioned that the service would be taking place tomorrow when they would bury the kitty. Elder Green-Bey paused then asked him if the cat was in the box on the porch. Yep. Dead cat. In a box. On the porch. We were very glad that we didn't sit down on the porch. That poor kitty. He said the closing prayer for us. He prayed and said "I know that you are protecting me and helping me, but you couldn't protect my poor cat. I know that he is in a better place though and being watched over." The plan of salvation has really started to take hold in his heart. Whatever it takes to help him understand that we have life after death. Whatever it takes. 

Where I am at: The work is going well here in Seaside. The Hipol family took a church tour this past week and liked it. They are coming pretty close. Having a mini missionary with Elder Green-Bey has made me realize how accustom to missionary life I really am. I love it. It’s the best work I could ever do. It’s so crazy to see kids going back to school and to remember what that felt like and how thankful I am to be where I am. I still have a lot to work on but the nice thing is that I can work on weaknesses. I love this time. Things are great. I love you all!