July 19, 2011

Well....this is gonna be a good one.

So this week was pretty sweet. Elder Prescott and I get along great and work together incredibly. For example, last week we reached all the mission stats standards. Its the first time that our area has gotten them since.............yeah.

We were really stoked. Then at District Meeting our Zone Leaders talked/bragged about their stats to the whole zone with their 41 lessons and their 125 I2Ls (Invite To Learn--its like every person you talk to in order to try and teach them). The mission standard is 140 a week and we got 160. So THIS week we decided to go big and just kind of stop the bragging for a week. So yesterday we busted out 238 I2Ls on top of our 45 for Monday! So now we have 283 I2Ls and 11 lessons for the last 2 days. Our goal is to break 400 I2Ls by the end of the week and still get the rest of the stats. At first it was all about showing our cocky Zone Leaders that they aren't the only ones who know how to get high stats but we witnessed something amazing. Seriously by lunchtime yesterday when we came home with 60 I2Ls, we had seen some incredible miracles! The Lord had paved the road for us to meet some people who were really interested in the gospel message! We had one of the most blessed days in my whole mission. I worked so hard along with my companions (four of us worked together yesterday due to certain circumstances) that I felt such a love for my investigators and for the Lord.

Like, its hard to explain. Since I've arrived here in Toledo 2, I've come home every night and just plopped down on my bed so pleased. So satisfied. So EXHAUSTED! Its so great to know that I was working my butt off all day long and not having to worry about any Zone Leader stuff. We've had some people ask me if I'm trunky being that I only have 4 months left. I love the fact that my companion can answer faster than I do. He says, "Not even CLOSE!" haha. Love that guy. He needed me and I needed him. He needed someone to push him harder and I needed someone to push harder. Its all been wonderful so far. He's really sensitive to the Spirit and the investigator's needs. I'm really good at helping people understand. We make a great team. The Lord is making some things HAPPEN here through us. I'm so grateful for that.

This morning (Yeah. Our schedule is so full right now that we have to teach people on our P-Day now. haha.) we taught this referral that came to church. It was so awesome. Her name is Rowena Makapobre and she felt the Spirit really strong at a church funeral on Saturday and really wanted to come to church on Sunday. We talked with her and set an appointment for today. Before we taught the lesson this morning I was talking with her a little bit and she said she had a question. She says, "Would it be alright if you guys teach me again after this time? I'd really like to keep going to church every week and eventually get baptized if that's not a problem. I'm just hoping that's okay." ....................................................................................................................YEAH!! THAT'S OKAY!! hahahahaha. So we were able to commit her to baptism before we even started the lesson. Pretty cool experience. She's got a baptismal date for August 20. STOKED! The Lord blessed us with that referral for our hard work. Make no mistake about that. It was the Lord. Not us.
We also had another great teaching appointment yesterday. We have this investigator named Lynn Lynn. She's been an investigator for almost 6 years but hasn't been able to get baptized because she isn't married to her boyfriend. They would be getting married but he works on another island and only comes home every 5 months or so. Anyway, we could tell that there was something wrong as of late. The first day I met her she said that she has a huge problem and she didn't want to tell us what it was. We just shared about the Atonement and then left her with that.

But yesterday we could tell that her problem had hit the tipping point and everything had blown up. I got revelation that it was about her boyfriend but felt like we needed to pray before I asked her about it. During the prayer I felt very strongly that I needed to ask questions to get her to tell us what was up. So I asked a few questions and she spilled it all out. She was just sobbing to us and telling us about how her boyfriend isn't coming back and how he met another woman out in Surigao. So then she showed us his texts and her texts and she laid it all out in front of us. I could tell that even though she has only known me for a week or so, she really trusted me.

So I thought for a second and felt very strongly that the Lord was preparing the way for her to finally get baptized. With him gone, she was now able to accept the gospel. I told her that even though it feels like every door was being closed to her, the Lord was opening the greatest door ever to her. We told her that she needed to pray, REALLY pray to the Lord and talk to him. Just close her eyes and talk as if He was standing there. I testified that that is how she will feel his peace. If she trusts in Him, We are going back tonight to listen to how it went. I've been praying really hard for her since we left. I have faith that whatever happens, the Lord is in it. I've really learned that over the last 20 months.
By the way. We found a restaurant run by an Australian in my area. We went with the other two Americans that worked with us yesterday in our big stats day. I had Chicken Cordon Bleu last night for dinner and this morning we had a 4 egg, bacon, cheese and sausage omelet with hash browns...amazing food. The best food I've eaten in the last couple years. A little on the expensive side. THe Chicken cordon blu cost me 5 American bucks. haha. Breakfast cost me 4. So....I'm open to chicken cordon blu fund donations. haha.

Yeah. That was seriously 1/10th of what happened this week. Best week ever.

See you guys in a couple months.
Love,

B-Rad