Great Week!

Well it was another great week. It hasn't been to cold lately. I don't know, I guess I'm just used to walking around in the cold. I can't wait for it to warm up a little bit. That'll be very nice. Maybe I'll go to Wyoming in the summer time. That way it won't be too hot. It'll be AWESOME. The Nashville Tribute to Joseph Smith is a great CD. Especially The Rising, and Modern Day Sam, the Emma Smith song is pretty good too. It's crazy I've been out for 8 months now. It's going by so fast. Man. Crazy.

I didn't hear about the earthquake until a few days after it happened. I'm kind of glad I have this distance from all the bad things happening in the world. It's kind of a blessing to be cut off a little bit. I'm not totally cut off though. I know that BYU is ranked like 12th in the nation in basketball which is pretty amazing. We just finished our week of eating with the Samoan branch. That was fun. We went to Golden Corall twice, and had brisket on Sunday. it was good. Anyways, we had our 5 baptisms last weekend. Which was really good. They're a solid family. And right now we have 3 more people on date in February.

On Friday we had Zone Conference. That was really good. They talked about how to be a Zion mission. Because last year the theme was becoming Zion missionaries, and now it's about helping others to become a Zion Mission. President Sonne was talking about how there is an evil among pretty much all missions. And that is not reporting when someone does something against the rules because you don't want to be seen as a "traitor/ tattle tale." He quoted President Monson I think and said "tolerance is the mask of sin." He talked about how his brother talks about how being tolerant is "politically correct" but it's not. I was reading something about pride too, and it said that worrying about what people think about us more than what God thinks is a form of pride. And we had a training about how to pray correctly. That was interesting. Well I think that's about all going on.

Que Oonda?

Happy Martin Luthur King day!
So for transfers I got moved back to pretty much my first area. Just one stake over. So I'm still in the WVC. Hopefully next transfer I will get out of this area and maybe see more than this part of Salt Lake. It's good and there's a lot of work here, but I wouldn't mind seeing different parts of the town. But it's all good I guess. I'm living in a new apartment and working in the area, but in the same zone. The family we are living with is the Kendall's. I found out that Sister Kendall is the cousin of Brother Harris in the third ward. So that was pretty interesting. Small world. Last week on p-day we watched Forever Strong. It's pretty much the mission film. We've watched it at least 4 or 5 times since I've been here. President Sonne must really like that movie. He has us apply it to the mission life. Good stuff. This weekend we have 5 baptisms coming up. And then we have one more on date which is really exciting. We're going for 12 baptisms this transfer. We're helping a family get married too. So we're staying busy here and BAPTIZING LIKE CRAZY. The family we're going to baptize is solid. They're good. Not too much has happened this week. Elder Santos got sick so I spent a day in the apartment which was a little boring. It was like a day long personal study. So I updated the scrapbook and things like that. I think that's about all.

Another Transfer

It's pretty cold here. It's usually in the teen's or 20's. And I got transferred to a new area, but in the same zone. And I'm still without a car. It's AWESOME... Anyway quick story. One of the missionaries asked how old Clark was and I told him without thinking, "he has 6 months." I thought that's how you say it. But it's "he is 6 months old." It's because in Spanish you say "tiene 6 meses" (he has 6 months) I'm turning MEXICAN! But, the baptism went through. It was good I'll send some pictures of it. But we went to his house after the baptism and we were talking. And he asked how he could become an Elder. I explained there's a difference between the office of an Elder and a missionary Elder. And I suggested a mission. And I was so excited when he said he was thinking about serving a mission. I don't think I could of had any more joy. Actually I did when I went to say goodbye to some of my recent converts. I went to one of their houses and I told her that I don't know when I return but when I come back I want to see her active and going to church. (her husband doesn't want anything to do with missionaries, and her kids aren't interested. But she was promised her family would accept the gospel). And after I told her that she said "I'm going to be waiting." She's so solid. Oh and another one of the converts hasn't come for like 2 weeks and the same one who said she was going to be waiting asked us for her number so she could call her and see how she's doing. Man, she's going to be Relief Society President some day. I've had some other pretty good experiences lately, but there's too much to write. So we'll just have to go through the Journal when I get back to tell the stories. Because I can't really think of all of them right now. Anyways, My new companion is from Mexico and he is like 28 years old. I don't know why I keep getting all the old people for companions, but it's all good. A lot of people are trying to give me advice how to help get through the transfer, so we'll see how it goes. The new area is good though, We have 5 baptisms coming up this weekend, so we'll see how that goes. Well I gotta go.

Hola!

Anyways, I figure I should write about the week. It's only been a few days since I last wrote, so there won't be too much. Yesterday we had a ridiculous lesson. We were teaching these people and asked if they wanted us to focus more on Prophets or Christ's Earthly Ministry. They said Prophets. So after we finished the lesson they say "Why do y'all talk about prophets so much? Y'all talk about prophets but never talk about the Virgin of Guadalupe/Mary." Then they said "I think the Virgin is more important than prophets." And so I talked about how in the ten commandments it says to only worship the one true God, and the husband said "well my wife worships the Virgin" and she interrupted and said "I believe in the Virgin..." And then the Husband said "for us the most important people are God, the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Virgin." and so I corrected them and said that the trinity is God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, and that they should be the 3 most important people. They kept talking about how we don't believe in the Virgin Mary and so I read from 1 Nephi 11. I was angry by then, so I said "fine. read this." Then they started talking about how in the story the Virgin says that whatever we pray to her in the name of her son we'll get. And I asked where it was in the Bible and they said "no it's in the book of the Virgin" and I said no I want to see that in the Bible. Man that was an annoying lesson. But it's all good. I don't think much else has gone on. We're going to the temple tonight, so that should be pretty fun. It's with a family we're teaching. The wife is trying to stop smoking. I think she has around 2 weeks now. We've been teaching them The Plan of Salvation. So after the lesson we asked if she had any questions. And she said that she had a dream and she saw her grand child and a bunch of other children in a white area. And so I told her that that was a way that her prayers were being answered. That what she saw was the opportunity she has to live with her family forever. All the children she saw were her posterity, and that this is what Heavenly Father wants for her and her family. Well that's about the highlights from the week. I'm starting to get sick, but I bought some NyQuil/DayQuil, and some sore throat numbing spray, and some Orange juice. So I should be getting better pretty soon. I already feel like I'm getting better!

OH I forgot I'm having a baptism this weekend! I'll write y'all about how it went and the story behind him next week because there are people waiting for computers!

Alright So the first is a picture of the Virgin Mary some investigator has in their house. I thought it was funny because there's one dead flower, a it's the flower she's looking at.  The next two are of the Temple. The last is of a billboard. Don't know why but they're everywhere. Talk about Houston. ENJOY!

Prosper Año Nuevo!

HAPPY NEW YEARSSS!!

Well I hope that y'all are recovering from your CrAzY night last night. I know I am! to sweat out all the toxins from last night we sat in a sauna for an hour. Just kidding. But seriously one of the members has a sauna in their house so me and three other missionaries went and sat in it for like an hour. It felt so good. I think we're going to be doing it again next week. Anyways, the past week has been pretty good. We're staying busy and teaching a lot of lessons. There was some contention between me and my companion but that's all cleared up.

I was teaching the Savala family, the family of 6 from Mexico, and felt like I should promise them a blessing if they went to church today. So I was thinking of what I could promise them and I had it in my head. As I began to speak the Spirit came in so strongly and I said "As a servant and representative of Jesus Christ I promise you that if you come to church this Sunday you will feel the Spirit stronger than you have ever felt it in your life and you will know that this church is true." It came out different than I planned it, but I could feel the Spirit testifying to me that it was true. So we are going to try and get them to church.

Wednesday we went to Temple Square with an investigator named Marvin. He has a baptismal date for the 9th. And that was a good experience. He's solid. We left him with the pamphlet for the first lesson and taught him about God being our heavenly father, and how the Gospel blesses family. We came back and he asked us why the Aaronic priesthood was the lesser priesthood and the Melchizedek the greater. We met him because he came to church on his own for a few weeks in a row.

We had a meeting with the Mission President and all the Spanish missionaries. He talked about how next year all of us are going to be working with the English wards and stake. So I'm excited about that. We've been trying to do that since we worked with Elder McCollum and he taught us all that. So I'll probably be with someone who didn't get that training next transfer. So that's all about that has changed. Last night we watched Monsters Vs. Aliens. It was pretty funny. Y'all should watch it. and then at 9:00 we celebrated the new years in Halifax, Canada! Because it was before our bed time and we could celebrate as a zone. It was fun. We had pots and noise. Then today like I said we went to a member's house and used their sauna. Oh and I celebrated New Years for Texas with a countdown. Today I think we're going to watch Chronicles of Narnia or something. It should be fun. Well I think that's about all. I don't have my pictures this week. But next week I'll have some for you. Hope y'all have a great day of recovering and that y'all have a great week! I love y'all and miss y'all. Hope all is well!

P.S.-y'all should get the "Joseph: A nashville tribute to the prophet. It's good.