Transfer Week

 TRANSFER WEEK 

Helloooooo everybodyyyy these last few weeks have been pretty wild and filled with a lot of crazy stuff so lets get right into it haha! 

First, we met this awesome guy named Alejandro who referred himself to the missionaries from Facebook and from the beginning it was clear he was diligently searching for more. He left us a voicemail one night basically saying he felt a darker presence in his life and he wanted to take the next steps necessary to receive more light in his life. After a couple solid lessons with Alejandro explaining the blessings of repentance and baptism he committed to a baptismal date!! Woohooo!!

Well some sad news to break is that Angel did not get baptized :(( He just did not feel it was the right timing and he insisted he should wait. After many long talks and teachings and earnest prayer he still felt the same. However, over the course of this experience we have gotten very close with David his dad. In the beginning he was a little hesitant to sit in with us and learn more but he said he could see very clearly a change in Angel as he was learning. So that led him to open up to us a bit more and now we are teaching him! Aaaaaand he committed to a baptismal date as well!!! 

Also, pretty cool experience we had was finding and teaching this girl named Gladiss. We were walking down an alley of apartments just because we felt we should and as we passed a door she opened it and saw us. We struck up a conversation and even though she said she wasn't religious at all and didn't really know or believe in Jesus Christ or God she was down to talk again. It was crazy teaching someone with no knowledge or belief in a higher power but it honestly went amazing. As we followed the spirit it was clear the words were being put in our mouths of exactly what we needed to say! She is now totally open to the idea of God and is willing to try grow her faith and keep meeting with us. 

We had our interviews with our mission president this week and it went great! He emphasized the need for us and the zone to always seek to do things in the Lord's way. I love how he mentioned the story of Nephi building the boat in 1 NE 17 and how he built the boat not after the manner of men but through the knowledge and guidance of God. I also love Proverbs 3:5 going along with this principle that we should "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding" There are so many instances in the scriptures that show the necessity of seeking to do things the Lords way rather than through their own understanding. In missionary work I have seen that this is the key. We must always seek the guidance and council of the lord for every possible circumstance we may encounter. 

Also some funny stories from this week: 

-We ran into a completely wasted drunk lady who actually had a lot of interest in the church and what we believe. She told us what apartment she lived in so we will try and follow up one of these days... hopefully she remembers our interaction. 

-OH MY GOSH so one Saturday night we had plans to have some lessons and contact some people but nothing seemed to be panning out. Also, to our surprise the entire latino population of Hillsboro seemed to just be gone. It was very strange. But we remembered that some other missionaries told us of a Spanish rodeo that sometimes happened over by where they lived. We looked it up and sure enough the rodeo was going on that night. Soooo we did what any normal missionary would do and went right to the source HAHA! We managed to get some parking and made our way into what was one of the craziest and wildest fiestas I have ever seen haha! We got in there and just started chatting it up with EVERYONE and we ended up getting a good amount of phone numbers of people who were interested! Again... hopefully they will remember our interaction since a good majority was definitely pretty drunk haha. 

Everyone we are teaching is still progressing and moving along at a good pace!! We are definitely trying to emphasize the urgency of this message and the importance of baptism to those we teach. A lot of times people seem very complacent and not super willing to keep commitments or change. However, I have seen that it is SO IMPORTANT that they do so. When we commit ourselves to truly change to form new habits and turn away from old ones, that is the essence of repentance! And that principle applies to investigators, missionaries, and members! I have truly seen the impact that daily repentance and change can have in my life. And with that knowledge I can have the boldness to testify powerfully of the blessings and joys of the atonement! 

This gospel is amazing and I love not only being able to teach it but to live it!! 

Elder Ross