August 12, 2008 -- A Good Week

Things are going well for me here in Kearns.

It seems like the Olympics are everywhere I turn this week, including on our land lady's TV everytime I walk in. I have also seen copies of "Breaking Dawn" [the recently-released book by Stephenie Meyer] lying around in several people's houses. I can't deny that I have been tempted with both a few times, but I'm content to wait for 22 more months before I worry about that stuff again (although minor updates from the family wouldn't hurt.) ;-)

This last week my companions and I had a wonderful experience with one of our investigators. We have been working with a woman named Angelica for a while. She is incredible--she has read half of the Book of Mormon already, she accepts everything we teach her, she has a testimony, and she wants to get baptized. The only thing that is holding her back from making that important covenant is her inabillity to attend church. She really wants to come, but she has to work on Sundays. Two Sundays ago, we thought she would be able to come, but things changed at the last minute and she wasn't able to.

This week my companions and I decided to have a fast for her. As we closed our fast on Thursday, I felt strongly that the Lord would help her be able to attend church. However, the last thing we heard from her on Saturday was that she would have to work on Sunday morning. But we didn't loose hope and we kept praying.

Sunday morning, we waited by the doors before church started, but Angelica wasn't there. Five minutes after the meeting started, we decided that it was time to sit down. About 15 minutes later, however, Angelica came in and sat down right in front of us!

She had gone to work that morning as usual, but when she got there she was informed that someone had taken her shift for her and that she was free to come to church. She came immediately.

What a miracle! I can't tell you how happy I was to see her at church. The experience really strengthened my testimony, both of the power of fasting, and of the fact that the Lord always provides a way for us to keep his commandments (1 Ne 3:7).

Last weekend my companions and I were also blessed with two baptisms. They are two little girls, 8 and 9 years old, and are sisters, and the daughters of a recent convert. They are very smart and sweet and were ready for baptism. Their baptism and confirmations were a sweet experience for me.

I don't know if you remember Clifton Dudley, but he was my friend from BYU who got his call on the same day as I did to the same mission. He left the MTC last week and is now also in the Salt Lake South mission, in my zone. Yesterday, while my companions were at zone leader meetings, he and I were able to work together. It was incredible. He is an incredible missionary. We worked hard together and it was one of the most successful days of my mission so far (we taught a total of six lessons, found two new investigators, and gave one of them a baptismal date.) We were also able to reminisce a little about BYU, although we were careful to not get carried away and distracted from the work. I really hope that he and I can be companions in Mexico some day.

Speaking of Mexico, I still love it here very much, but I am now more excited than ever to go. And if rumors can be believed, that could be happening in a week or two. (More detail to come as more information comes to me.)

Last Saturday, my companions and I had a shift at our mission's booth at the Salt Lake County Fair. Fairs would be a great place to talk to people almost anywhere, but my honest opinion is that they don't work too well in Utah. We talked to many people and tried to get referrals, but we didn't have any success.

About halfway through my shift, I noticed a group of people in front of my booth who I recognized. I went up and said hello, and they stopped and looked at my name tag. It was [mom's] Uncle Earle and Aunt Carolyn. It was nice to see them, we had a good conversation, and they told me to say hi. (I also asked them for referalls, but they didn't have any.)