So I am sorry for the short letter last week. I really didn't have much to tell. So this week to start out I will tell you about the missionaries in the Opelousas Ward.
First
off there are four Elders. Elder Bean and I are the Spanish Elders.
Elder Bean is a pretty cool guy. He has played just about every sport
there is. His favorite sport is golf though. He can't play competitive
sports anymore because he has had nine concussions and has had both
knees busted while playing football. He has to get his knees replaced
when he gets back. He is probably the best Spanish speaker in the
mission because he went to a school where the teachers all spoke
Spanish. He is from Utah, same as the other Elders in our apartment. The
other Elders are English speaking. Their names are Elder Hunter and
Elder Otterstrum. Elder Bean and I spend a lot of time going out with
these two because they have a lot of people to see and we don't have
many investigators. Elder Hunter, went to school with, did choir with
and knows my cousin Melissa. It really is a small world.
There
are also two English Sisters. Their names are Sister Thomas and Sister
Gelwix. Sister Gelwix and I both arrived here the same day so we are the
greenies in this area. Sister Thomas is from Utah as well. Sister
Gelwix is form Tri-Cities Washington but grew up in Idaho Falls.
The
cool thing about out here is that we have a lot of families that want
to feed us and they feed all six missionaries that are in this area. And
the food is all so good!
This
past week all four of us Elders haven't had many lessons because of
limited miles at the end of the month but we have all done many hours of
service. First we helped Lisa Fernandez and her son Alex move
apartments. Elder Bean and I were also able to give her a blessing
because she hasn't been able to sleep much for the past week or so.
After the blessing she said that she felt comfort and peace. I saw Lisa
again on Saturday and she came up to me and told me that she had finished moving and was getting sleep again!
I
really enjoyed General Conference. It is so cool that we are able to
hear from our Prophet and other church leaders in a big broadcast every
six months. I really enjoyed the talks that had to do with missionary
work. My favorite talk was by Elder Oaks on the second Saturday session. It gave me ideas on how the missionaries and the members can work together to help others come unto Christ.
So
the best news is that we do have one Spanish speaking investigator. He
was referred to us by the Temple Square Sisters. His cousin introduced
him to the church and sent him a copy of the Book of Mormon and sent
videos for him to watch. His cousin is on the High-Council somewhere in
Mexico. He came to church the week before conference and also again
yesterday for conference. We hadn't had much contact with him before
last week but we started talking to him by text and one morning he sent
us a text saying that he wanted to be baptized by us!!! We had our first
lesson with him yesterday after the first Sunday
session of Conference. He doesn't know much about our teachings but he
is so open to everything we tell him and he has already made it halfway
through the Book of Mormon on his own! He is a Golden Investigator. We
set his baptismal date for October 21st. He said yes and we are going to help him be prepared to be baptized!
