Before I begin... This is week five! If you don't send a letter by this Wednesday to me in Chandler you should send it to the mission office at :
1871 E. Del Rio Dr, Tempe AZ, 85282
Ok.
No one will ever guess what happened this week. No one. Except maybe someone who is familiar with miracles in the Bible.
With
that introduction, I'll give a little background on a family we found
this week. We were walking to visit a referral (who wasn't home) when a
man yelled us over. We went over and he asked for a blessing for his
wife. We were short on time so we set up an appointment and returned the
next day.
As we walked into his house he sat down and talked
to us a bit. His mother was there, his son, and his wife was elsewhere.
He told us a devastating story about his wife about how she has bone
cancer and how she has had seven strokes recently. She has lost major
control over her body and has not walked since January. He told us that
he has so much faith and that he knows God can heal his wife. He told us
that if it wasn't us that it would be someone else. Then he told us
that he had talked to missionaries the week before, set up an
appointment with them and then they never came back. Grrr. He said that
when he saw us something told him he had to call us over, that he felt
it in his heart. We prayed together. The spirit in the room was
ridiculously strong. There was so much love there too.
He left to bring his wife over, to carry her to her
wheel chair. It was heart breaking to see. He put her in the chair and
we gave her a priesthood blessing. We left with a return appointment for
the next day.
We returned the next night. The whole family was
outside.... and the wife was walking. She was walking. For the first
time in almost eight months she was walking on her own. Her muscles
shouldn't have been able to do that. It was a miracle. Through a
priesthood blessing she had been healed. There was not a dry eye in that
room that night. Not a single one. I'm still kind of in awe thinking
about it - not surprised, but impressed. Impressed at priesthood power.
After that lesson they gave us all their beer, all
their cigarettes, and all their lighters and said they are never going
back to that. They are on date to get baptized August 3rd.
They went to church yesterday and told the story in the gospel principles class and in priesthood. There was not a dry eye.
That
was what Jesus Christ did. He healed people. We were able to be a part
of that this week. A miracle that Christ did. I don't really know what
to say.
But you know what's crazy? That's not the only
amazing miracle we saw this week. As a zone we have zero baptisms this
month. ZERO. We are a brand new zone and not having a good start. So we
fasted, all 14 of us, Saturday through Sunday.
The first miracle of that fast was having eight
investigators at church just in our companionship. I've never heard of a
companionship having so many at church in just one ward. We had eight.
Among some of investigators at church was our investigator who has
supposed to get baptized July 1st who cancelled. He hasn't progressed
much since then and we haven't visited him much. But during a torrential
downpour on Saturday night we went by, soaked, and visited. We shared
one scripture and invited him to church. He went.
At church Elder Diaz and I spoke. It was probably
the best talk I've ever delivered which was interesting since it was in
Spanish. I put a lot of prayer into my talk and it came out pretty well.
I spoke on "a mighty change of heart." After sacrament meeting he
pulled us aside and the Bishop and said, "I'm sorry, but God has spoken
to me." We thought he was going to drop us. He continued, "and I'm
sorry, but...I want to get baptized next Saturday." BING BING BING BING! As a zone we fasted for a miracle and we had a miracle. We are going to be having two baptisms next Saturday
to finish off the month and the transfer. We are very excited and are
rushing to get everything figured out. That's my favorite problem to
have!!!
Everything is going so well right now. Of the eight
we had at church, five have a baptismal date for the next three weeks
and seven are progressing. EVERYTHING is going well. We're teaching in
unity, we're finding, we're inviting, they're accepting, and it's
raining! Things couldn't be any better!
Which is a shame since transfers are next week. I'm
pretty sure we're getting split up. Everyone is telling me I'm going to
Phoenix or Coolidge. It would be fun to go to Coolidge since Elder Myler
would be my companion again but I want to stay at least one more here
with Elder Diaz to get all those baptisms and see these miracles turn
into baptisms. But I go where I'm called.
This past week I was super tired as I wrote about.
President and Sister Toone found out and each individually pulled me
aside at Zone Conference to ask how I was doing. I was amazed how much
they cared and then they mentioned they had prayed for me specifically
and I felt even better haha. Ah, such great leaders.
It was interesting to watch President Toone at zone
conference. While he wasn't talking, he was getting up every 30 seconds
it seemed like to answer a phone call or respond to a text. They do so
much in that calling; I'm convinced it's the hardest in the church. He
gave us a little insight about what he's doing and how busy he has been
since transfers are coming up. We talked about meshing the phoenix zones
with the Tempe mission and he said, "both have unique mission songs, I
don't even know which mission song to use!" It let me realize and
appreciate a bit more the stress that he's dealing with right now.
Our other baptism this week is the funniest guy in
the world. His name is Jesus and he always uses it jokingly and quotes
the Bible but puts himself in for Jesus. Soooo funny. What's even better
is that his wife's name is Maria = Mary. We asked him in a lesson this
week what, "the door" was after reading a scripture describing it. He
went off on a tangent and said, "AND IF YOU SEE A LIGHT, IT'S EL
SENOR!!!!" Completely unrelated but so funny.
Oh, there was another miracle this week! The housing
coordinators brought me a waffle maker so I'm feasting on waffles for
breakfast! Lesser miracle, shhhhh.
After one of our lessons we realized that we hadn't chosen a commitment
to leave with one of our investigators. In a moment of inspired
forgetfulness I asked her what her favorite number was and what her
friend's favorite book in the Book of Mormon was. We came up with Alma
7. Perfeccctttt! That's a good chapter. She read it and received lots of
great insights.
We street contacted this guy this week who said he
didn't believe in the Holy Ghost. We quoted Christ and he left
questioning what he believed. Success.
Then we ran into someone who didn't believe in a judgement. We talked
about how no unholy thing can dwell in God's presence and asked if I
killed someone if I could live with God. She said no and then realized
she contradicted herself. She goes to Cornerstone, the church that has
anti-mormon classes during church. She was actually super nice though
and left with a Book of Mormon and Restoration pamphlet in hand and
committed to read them.
I'm going to baptize a Jehovah's Witness. The only
problem is she doesn't speak Spanish and we don't cover an English ward.
She is the third JW I've given a Book of Mormon to (miracle in and of
itself) and committed to read it. She's amazingly nice but lives with an
anti-mormon JW.
At dinner this past week, well one in specific, we
were given a TON of food. Elder Diaz was too full to eat all of it (but
ate dessert regardless) and offended the member. So, taking one for the
team and doing what the members love to see, I asked if she had any
chiles. She pulled out a bag and handed me a Chile de Arbol. I munched
slowly on it and her husband came out and said, "Take notes!" and ate
the whole thing. So I did too, not wanting to be one-upped. Her husband
saw my eyes watering and started laughing and said, (all in Spanish),
"DONT CRY!!" then turned around and ran to eat salt and limes to keep
the hotness down. He hid in the corner of the kitchen with his eyes
watering haha as I sat in my chair getting a feel for what hell is like.
That was one of the hottest chiles I've ever eaten! Not as bad as the
habanero, but eating it + being so full was dangerous. I had to sit for 4
minutes trying to keep myself from throwing up as everyone laughed at
us haha. It was successful and we left with more trust than was lost! I
felt sick the rest of the night.
Thanks for the letters Will, Mom, Eric, Scott, and the young women!
We got a ride last night in a mini cooper. Not a bad car! Lots of road noise though - probably wouldn't buy.
On that bombshell,
Thanks for all your support!
Con amor,
EJ
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