November 9, 2009

Hey,How’s everyone doing? Cory got 5th in state? Haha that’s what I got my junior year. That’s funny. Tell him good job, and I bet he's glad that’s over with. Soccer would be sweet, tell him to do it, I wish I would have. Not too much happened this week. It was kind of a blur to me to tell you the truth. We work in the same area all week long, because it’s the only area that has Spanish people, and then at night time there is nobody outside except Russians. All the Spanish hate the cold and are nowhere to be found. We now know our area pretty well and are walking a ton just searching for people. I was going through the ward list trying to look up less actives we could visit in our area and found an older couple. We called them, made and appointment, and visited them Saturday night. Turns out this couple hasn’t been to church in 5 yrs or more. The husband still has a strong testimony, and says there is no reason why they don’t go. They get ready to go to church some days and then at the last minute get a bad feeling and end up not going.I shared some good scriptures in mosiah when King Benjamin is talking to his people giving his farewell speech. They mentioned they want to get sealed in the temple and they always have. They just for some reasons can’t make it to church. We had a powerful lesson and at the end they said see you tomorrow. The sister missionaries had always visited them in the past and they always said they would go to church, but never did. I told the sisters we visited them and they said yeah right, they won’t come. Ends up the older couple actually came to church. The first time in over 5 years. It was really cool to see them there and say they plan on coming back. I didn’t have anything to do with it, but I guess my bluntness comes in handy?We have a few investigators that are doing well. We were going through the area book with all former investigators a couple weeks ago and called all of them to get some appointments. We didn’t have any success, Last week a guy calls us and tells us sorry I couldn’t make it to church, I’ll come next week. I didn’t know who he was so I looked through the area book to see if his name was in there and it was, his name is Marcial.We scheduled an appt Saturday and went over with a member. We had a no show and left a message. He ended up calling us back and set another appt for last night. We went over there and he was there this time. We sat down, said a prayer, got to know him a bit, and then he pulls out the book of Mormon and the bible. He started teaching us about the book of Mormon and about all the prophets in it. He had read the entire thing and had all the verses marked and sticky notes throughout the book. He put in down and told us it goes hand in hand with the bible and supports everything it says. He had a baptismal date in July, as to what the records stated and he told us the sisters pushed him towards baptism and he didn’t even know what it was. He has been studying the book of Mormon for 5 months now and says; now I know why I need baptism. I need repentance and it’s through baptism. I will get baptized in your church. I committed him for the 29th of November but he said he doesn’t feel ready. We tried to tell him he is ready, he is more prepared than anyone I've ever seen but he said he needs a couple months. We read a lot of scriptures and our member we brought kinda ruined it for us. He’s a good member but handles things the wrong way. He would have accepted for the 29th but our member, or mission leader, killed the spirit. I tried to bring it back and then told him to pray and ask if he should be baptized the 29th. He wasn’t too excited about it but I'm praying he does it. I’m excited to see what happens with him. I guess he’s been to church in the past a few times so he can get baptized anytime, we just need him to feel more prepared which is why we're here and he will get to know that. Other than that there isn’t too much that’s new. My companion and I are getting along great. He’s a good guy and is starting to open up a little bit. He still gets home during lunch and at night and passes out when his head hits the pillow. I’m trying to work him hard, it’s pretty funny. He's already lost 10 pounds the past 2 week’s ha-ha. I love it. All is good and I’m excited for this week to see some more miracles. I’m learning allot more about the scriptures and trying to expand my knowledge of the gospel. I now have memorized over 50 scriptures in Spanish which helps a lot. The mission gave us 50 scriptures to memorize and nobody really does it but I’ve been making my district learn one a week and I’ve been trying my whole mission. Some are really long but I finally did it. My testimony is getting strengthened everyday. I never ever thought I would have such a strong testimony or even have such a close relationship with the lord. I guess that’s what happens when you go on a mission. I love you all and hope you have a great week.Elder Breinholt