Well this week Apolinar didn't get baptized. He still wanted to investigate a little bit more and he wanted his family to come and investigate as well. His wife and his daughter went to church yesterday and they loved it. We put a date with them for the 12th and we are going to see tonight what they say about it. He is progressing very well. We were scared because this last week he went to talk with a pastor of the Christian church because Apolinar was a teacher there. And he told his pastor that he wasn’t going to assist anymore there and that he wanted to better his life!! So basically he told him your church is not doing it for me. Haha. He is sweet and I think his whole family soon will be baptized.
We also have to kids of those less actives that I told you about. One is 15 yrs old and he loves church and all the young men and he is going to all the activities and everything. But his mom thinks it is really soon to put a date with him to get baptized. We are going to work with her and explain to her the importance of baptism and we are going to put a date with Bruno and invite him to pray to see if that is the right date for him. We have some lined up and we have some others who are almost ready. One of our converts, the little 12 year old, brought some of her friends to church with her!! And so we are going to start teaching them and their families. We need to keep finding more and more!! We can't get comfortable with those that we have.
When Elder Johnson came he told us that we should be finding and baptizing every single week. We have not done that. He is a servant of the Lord and I know that if he said we could then we can. I have been meditating a lot about that and about the promise. I began to read the BOM and almost immediately I found my answer. I will need to make a few changes. We can be baptizing every week. And I can't preach to my zone about that if I am not even doing it. So as a leader, firstly I need to set the example for the zone by doing it in our area and then I can begin to testify that it is true and that the zone should be able to do it too. Dad I think I will be applying a lot the scripture that you gave me in Helaman 3:35. That is something we definitely need if we want to achieve a high goal as Elder Johnson has set for us. Something he told to our whole mission was this,”You want to know why you are not baptizing, because you are lazy." So we need to kick it in the butt.
We are trying to think of new ideas to try and animate the ward to work with us more and to preach the gospel and the talk with their friends so we can find more people. Any ideas???
Well we are going to have a counsel this week Tuesday and Wednesday. I like going because we always come out very pumped up to work even harder and more efficiently. Well I think my generation of missionaries is the best. Haha We were talking about them the other day and 11 of the 15 of us are zone leaders. So for our last change they will have to move us all down from zone leader and they will have to move up a bunch of new ones. Haha.
I am doing well and I think I am going down little by little in the weight department. My comp is fine. He is a little bit crazy and some times he crosses the line. But I call him out on it. He has worldly music on his ipod and he has turned it on and I have to tell him to turn it right back off. And sometimes he gets tired and wants to take a break but I don’t let him. Haha. I am not talking myself up because I too have many things to change and I can only do this with the Lord's help. Where are treasure is, our heart will be there also.
Well the assistant, Elder Talbot, told me that after the counsel they are going to change him from the offices because he already has a lot of time there. And we are thinking that it is going to be one from our generation. A lot of people say that I will be it. Haha They just like to mess with me but I don’t know. So we will have a new assistant this week I think. The new Americans get here this Thursday and I am pumped to live with a new American, because I can help him so much. I remember when I first got here and I looked up so much to my zone leader because he talked really well and knew how to teach and everything. He had like 18 months when I got here and now it is going to be the other way around. I am going to be the one that is going to help him. I have learned a lot about charity and love in the mish. And how as we begin to think of the problems of others we forget about our own. But as in 1 John it says, "not love by words but by works." So we must show our love not just talk about it.
I am studying the BOM in Jacob and I am reading Jesus the Christ. My pres told me I should read it before I go home. I have really grown closer to my pres and have got to know him better in these last couple of weeks and really he is one of my heroes.
I was reading my patriarchal blessing the other day and it talks about how I will become as Moroni!!! I read in Alma 48 about Moroni and I love the description of him. How the gates of hell shall not prevail against him. Wow, do I have a long way to go, and that is what the Lord expects of me. It also says that he worried for the welfare of his people, in other words he served and didn’t wait to be served. Just as him, in the mish I need to serve and help others more than myself. As I help others I will help myself. I need to worry about the welfare of this zone and pray for them and think about them. Wow, I have to live up to many things. I was also reading about how I have a work to do in my family history. And I can't wait to get home and do that. That has always fascinated me since a little kid and I don’t know why. But it says I will be given the gifts to search for my kindred dead. What does that mean, what types of gifts, who knows? I only know that I must do it and that the spirit of Elias will be able to guide me through that work.
