The Work Continues - Our Investigators extend the Gospel to their families (11/11/2013)

Hey Everyone!

      

So this entire week has just kind of been a blur ha. It's been really good though :) So first off we had a gathering at Stevens house a few days ago that consisted of Steven, his mom, his grandmother, his brother (on Skype), and us) He told every one that he was going to be baptized!! He was super excited about it and pretty much everyone that was there supported his decision. His grandmother wasn't totally keen on the idea though and asked him probably 10 times if he really thought he was ready and if he had studied enough about the gospel. She even asked us if we thought he was ready. All in all, we, his mom and his brother were really happy for him :). His baptism date did change though! He had set it for the 17th of November, but realized later that it was his fathers birthday. He and his dad don't have the best of relationships, so he didn't want to ruin it further and take away from his dad's day. So now it's on the 24th of this month!!         

 

Then the next day we had a meeting with Victor!! We taught him the lesson called The Gospel of Jesus Christ and he loved it!! He had a lot of great questions about repentance, enduring to the end and the gift of the Holy Ghost. He is still scheduled to be baptized on December 8th as well! He absolutely loves the church and is really excited for his baptism! 

 

We also had a couple of lessons with Gabby's sister Maria!! Maria actually came to Gaby's baptism along with her really good friend, (who's name I can't remember), and they both really loved the feeling of the spirit that was there. They both said they wanted to take the lessons, but her friend isn't as serious about it as Maria is.  So we actually met with Maria and we taught her the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation.  Well, I actually wasn't there for the plan of salvation because I was on splits, which I'll talk about later. She loved the lesson on the Restoration though and very much felt the spirit that it brings. Especially when we shared the First Vision :). They tried to give her a baptismal date, but she said she would think about it. She wants to learn more before she says yes to anything.
 

Now to tell you about the splits I went on.  Ryan (a member of the ward) and I went to D.C. to share in a lesson with an investigator that another set of Elders wanted to hand off to us. Their ward mission leader told them that he technically lives in our ward boundaries. So we went to the lesson to meet him and to participate.  He had a friend with him at the meeting also.  We taught them the lesson on The Gospel of Jesus Christ.  All together, there were three members, three missionaries, and two investigators there.  We went through the lesson and it was awesome! The spirit was so strong and the investigators were golden!! Then I found out that both of the investigators are supposed to get baptized in like two weeks!!  I was thinking "why on earth would their Ward Mission Leader tell his
Elders to pass the investigator off to us when he was so close to baptism!?" I mean really he has been taught everything by these other Elders.  His friend is supposed to get baptized with him and if he is transferred to us, his friend (who is not part of our area or ward) would not be able to get baptized with him in the Young Single Adult Ward.  Plus, the new investigator  wouldn't know anyone in our  ward since he has been attending the other ward!! So we told the Elders that we thought it was best that they should finish teaching him and baptize him.  If he wants to come to our ward after he's baptized that's fine, but not right now.

 

Then today for our Zone activity, we had soda wars!! a.k.a. Soda pong!! haha It was really fun! The Zone Leaders got black lights and told us to dress up in stuff that would glow.  They had like over 160 glow sticks! They put water and  glow sticks in some of the cups, that way they would glow as well! The object of the game was to bounce the ping pong ball into a cup with a glow stick in it.  If you accomplished this, then you had a side cup with soda in it that you could take a drink from.  It was very challenging and super fun!

Well every one that's all for this week!  Until next time!! Love to all...

-Elder Gold