We had a fantastic week. It was so hot and humid, we had a broken bike (again, but still not mine), but we also set a third baptismal date and we found some new investigators that are super promising and will probably have a baptismal date this coming Wednesday when we have our first return appointment with them. Elder Allen and I are having lots of fun. People still stare at us because we are two giants that walk around in our beaming white shirts and ties. We also get asked if we are stupid for walking around like we do in the humidity, then I remind them that we also walk around in -50 in the winter and we are still doing the same thing. The short answer is yes, we are kind of weird, but I like it because I’m having fun, I'm studying the scriptures and learning so much. The Spirit of the Lord is continually teaching me and helping me along the way. I'm grateful for my Father in Heaven and his patience.

Tracting in City Park and goofing with the kids.

 

Some of the highlights of the week were: setting a baptismal date with G___, Spanish tracting, and a drug deal. But I'll go through them one at a time :)

 

On Tuesday we had an appointment with a less-active part-member family. The husband is a member but has not been to church in about 13 years, he is recently married to his second wife. She is not a member and was not home at the time the lesson took place. This member has two kids, the oldest is 11 (he is the guy that we have the baptismal date set with) and then a younger daughter who I think is 4 maybe 5. Right from the start I felt a very natural spirit, so I began to be bold. I asked the less active father about his conversion story then as he concluded that story I told him in a nice way, "That's really great and all, even cute, but now it’s time for a new chapter where you come to church and your son is baptized by you, and your wife hopefully too." I know that sounds very rude and very overbearing but take my word for it, it felt right, it felt natural and the father took it well by agreeing with us. The rest of the lesson was talking about our game plan to get him back to church and worthy so that he can baptize his son. We set a baptismal date for July 26th. What I loved about this baptismal invitation and what also made it different was that the invitation was so much more than a "will you be baptized by someone holding the Priesthood authority of God?" It also included a "will you Bro.J___ prepare yourself to baptize your son on July 26th, and are you yourself Bro.J___ committed to that date?" When his son G___ said yes, it came as no surprise because the kid has expressed interest in being baptized for a long time, what was more important was the father saying yes, and he did! We said a closing prayer and we had happy smiles all around. I loved that lesson, it was powerful and it will be a great turning point in the lives of Bro. J____ and his son G___! Our other baptismal dates as for right now are S___ for July 12th, M____ for July 19th, and G___ for July 26th. July and August should be very busy for Elder Allen and me.

 

The Spanish tracking is a short story and perhaps not as funny for you as it was for us. We were just tracting on a regular street, not much different than any other. We got to a door and the woman immediately told us in poor English that she could not speak English. So Elder Allen and I looked at each other and we thought and then we said to her “Hola”! Then we said to her that we are “los misioneros (missionaries). She said yes and hello back. She asked us something along the lines of "what church are you from?" This question really stumped us because neither of us knew the church's full name in Spanish (we do now). So to make do, I pulled out a Mormon.org card and said Mormon with a Spanish accent. She tried to tell us that she knew Mormons and pointed at her neighbor’s house who just so happened to be the first counselor in the Bishopric. J  Then we asked her if she would be okay with missionaries who spoke Spanish coming to her house and she agreed. We did have some language barrier problems because it took us a while to get her phone number and availability date. It all worked out and we sent the referral off to the Spanish Elders.

 

The drug deal (dun, dun, dunnnnnn)! On Friday we had a wonderful time riding the #15 bus three times totaling 3 hrs of bus riding. It made for a long day and a really long morning in particular. It was while we were on the #15 for the third time around 3pm. We were headed to a lesson with an investigator and Elder Allen and I were sitting in the back of the bus. Only two rows in front of us were a couple of guys. We could tell immediately that they knew each other because right as one climbed on the bus they began to yell and talk to each other. They had a long conversation which got more and more heated as time passed. There was a little bit of frustration and yelling between the two men and then before we really knew what was going on, they switched cell phones, made a few phone calls on each other’s phones, then they shared cigarettes, money got passed and a few other stuff that I can't identify. All of this took place two bus rows in front of the two of us. I couldn't believe it! Both of the guys got off at different stops and then we later saw them together when we got off the bus ourselves. It was obvious that they were together on something, but still funny. Drug deals in front of the Mormons, what will they come up with next?

 

I gave a talk on Sunday. The topic was receiving and identifying answers to prayers. I really enjoyed the talk and many of the members complimented me and thanked me. A rough outline of my talk goes as follows:

1) An introduction of who I am and where I am from, how long I have been on my mission.

2) I read two sentences from the bible Dictionary Prayers section. I expounded on them and why it’s important to recognize the Lord will when we pray for things.

3) The importance of listening instead of speaking

4) The miracles that can come by the power of prayer

5) The small and simple things such as daily prayer and scripture study, patience and keeping an eye open to the blessings of the Lord.

 

Scripture for the week: 1 Nephi 14:14

And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the power of the Lamb of God, that it descended upon the saints of the church of the Lamb, and upon the covenant people of the Lord, who were scattered upon all the face of the earth; and they were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory.

 

Thank you all so much, and enjoy your 4th of July and all that great stuff.

Love,

Elder Luymes