June 30, 2009

Hey family,
**** Note about his response about the news about his Tae Kwon Do students last belt test...
First of all: YAY FOR OLIVER, SABRINA, AND RICK!!! (I asume it's the brown belt Rick, as that's the only one I know who's not a black belt ;] ). Tell them a I said they're way awesome and congrats. :-) Our little Tae Kwon Do students are getting all growed up. :-) (Well, that sounds funny if you include Rick in that statement. . . lol) Bro. Saley is a 5th degree black belt?! No way! WOW! TELL HIM CONGRATS!!!

Now on to the weekly letter...

Anyway, my week was. . . . interesting. I'll start with the good stuff.
On Sunday I got to do the confirmation for Milton, as well as the Priesthood ordination for him. That was really neat. I was pretty well prepared for the confirmation-- I reviewed the prayer all week and what-not-- but then they asked Milton in Elders Quorum who he wanted to ordain him as a priest, and he pointed to me. So I had like 60 seconds to figure out how to do that! Thank you so much for giving me that card with all the different blessings on it, because it saved my life! lol. Brother Thompson came up to me after church, and it was funny. He said "That was a great blessing. Some people get carried away with stuff like 'we're so proud of you' and all that in the blessing; but not you! You were like we bless you with this, this, this, and this." lol. Anyway, Milton is really excited and he's doing great.
We've also been getting a less active to church. Missionaries have been working on getting this guy to church for years, but never with any luck. He kept telling us he was thinking about leaving the church. But we decided he justed needed a friend to talk to (he's in his 70's) so we go over a few times a week to just talk to him. And this past Sunday, and the Sunday before he came to church! And he really likes it a lot. He's totally changing. I don't want to sound like I'm bragging, 'cause truth be told I don't think he really likes me all that much (he likes Elder Turner better) but WOW! It's really neat.
Another guy came to church, which is really great. He's struggling to quit smoking, though. He's down to 7 cigerettes, but can't seem to go any lower. We talked to him for a while on Sunday and just brainstormed some ideas on how he can keep dropping down. We'll see how it goes. He's still one of the greatest guys I've ever taught, and he's doing great.
So, these other 2 girls, I think I told you about them last time. One is 14 and the other is 18 and they both have a baby under 6 months old. We fasted and prayed all week that all of them would come to church. We taught the girls about church, prayed they would come, talked to them more about church, prayed more, invited them to tour the church building, prayed some more. And they sent us a text Saturday morning: "We won't be able to make it today. Also, we don't want to see you again. So sorry." We were so confuised. We gave them a call and talked to them. They said she talked to her pastor and she told them to stop meeting with us. So they dropped us. I'm not sure you can really imagine the heart break. :-(
That same morning another investigater dropped us due to work conflicts. So, that was a real bummer. One of the worst things that's happened on my mission so far since Rick, if you can remember that far back.
But we found another great investigater who really wants to get baptized and we got several referrals for really solid people as well. I think Heavenly Father knows when you need a pick-me-up. :-) He seems pretty good at that.
Yesterday we also got into a horrible bash with someone. It was going okay until Elder Turner got frustrated. They the investigater got frustrated and wouldn't let us talk. Then I got frustrated that he wouldn't let us talk. So we walked out. Good times. . . .
Anyway, we had a great lesson with another investigater right after that, so our day ended on a really good note.
Again, the rule seems to be after every bad thing that happens, something good will happen. :-)
Oh, and the temp here has been a great +/- 111 degrees. And we get to walk around in it. I hope I get tranferred north!!! lol. We drink tons of water and take breaks as needed, so don't worry. :-)
We've discovered here that all of us Elders like to play the Magic: the Gathering. You probably don't remember what that is, but it's that trading card game that Nathan got me into many moons ago. Everyone bought a deck and we've been playing on P-Days.
Love you and hope your week is going good,
--Jason