So the week started off a little bit tough. Monday was normal, but then on Tuesday we had the district meeting and everything. In district meeting we talked aobut hte doctrine of Baptism, and it was really spiritual. I did divisions with Elder Sevy (Idaho), and it ended up being a pretty rough day, like the rest of last week. On Wednesday my companion came back, and we had a better day, still not the best, but better than the past 7 days. On Thursday I decided I was going to do a fast because of the problems we're having in the area. It just so happened that my companion planned on doing one as well, so we both ended up fasting on Thursday. That day we left with a lot of excitment, and zeal to find good people. We found some catholics early in the day that were pretty hard catholics. Even though they didn't really want to listen at first, we had a really good lesson, really spiritual, and hit each and every doubt and need right on the spot. At the end they accepted the invitation to read and pray. We had a bunch of lessons during the day that were like that. We ended up finding 10 new investigators in the day, and invited all of them to be baptized. Out of the ten people, 4 of them were families. The next day we had another good day, we found another new family in the morning before finishing our fast. During the 24 hours of fasting, we found 12 people, with 5 families in total. We also ended up teaching 4 lessons with member (we usually teach about 4 in the week). On Saturday, things didn't quite go like we wanted, seeing as we really needed to set more dates with people, but we had a couple people that committed to go to church.
On Sunday, we went to church, and none of the people we had committed came. In the second meeting we went out and started looking for some of our investigators. We had no success, and so we came back to the chapel. I was kind of disappointed, seeing as that was the main reason I had fasted, is to be able to get more people in church. We went into the sacrament room and read scriptures for the last couple minutes. Then everyone else started coming in, and right at the end, one of our investigators came in. He had been in the Sunday School class and we didn't even know it. His name is Derlis Benitez. He is baptist, but he actually came to church to see how it was. It really showed me the power of God to see something like that. I was kind of getting frustrated with the fact that we didn't have anyone in church, when all along, he had brought one of our investigators.
Later in the day, we ended up going to a guy that lives in front of a member. We talked a little bit to the member right before going over, and he seemed pretty busy. I felt like we should ask him to go over to his neighbor with us, but i shrugged it off. Later we went over and sat down with Roberto(the investigator). Once again, I felt like we needed to go over and get the member to teach him with us. I shrugged it off once again, seeing as we were already seated and talking to him. A third time the impression came that we needed to go get the member before we teach him. Well, with thirds, I always know that it is the spirit and not just my own thoughts, so we went over and brought the member over. The resulting lesson was one of the most spiritual and motivating lessons I have had with an investigator. He really had a great desire to read and know if it is true, and even asked the member if he could come over later to do the prayer with him at night. He was really happy when he heard the message, and really wanted to know that it is true. The member really made the lesson, when he bor his testimony of how he gained a testimony, and almost cried during it. Afterwards I really was grateful that I had listened to the promptings of the Holy Ghost. It was really cool to see that the Lord knew that was going to happen, and that it needed to happen like that. It was definitely a good learning experience.
During the week, we found a total of 20 new investigators, with 7 families. We ended up reaching new levels in a lot of the key indicators this week. There is still a lot of work to do, and I know the lord has even greater miracles in store for us according to our faith. I am really excited for these changes with my companion, we are working really well together.
I love you guys tons, and as always, I hope all is well with you. Thank you for all you do, and for all your support.
Love,
Elder Ryan Griffin
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