First off, Happy Birthday to Sam and congratulations on getting the Priesthood!
Second off, some bad news. Our investigator Jonathan, who was supposed to get baptized this Saturday dropped us the night before his interview. He apparently talked to his girlfriend and decided it wasn't best to join the church. That bummed me out. I mean, he was SO happy! The first time we met him, he was just miserable. Absolutely miserable. He never smiled, he was always mopey and tired and nothing was working out for him. But then this last weekend when we met with him he was all smiles! It's slowly grown to that point, him getting happier and happier, things working out more and more, etc. But alas, the vicious cycle we see in the Book of Mormon caught hold. And who can blame him? It happens to all of us! We make mistakes and turn from God->Life get's harder->We turn to God for help->We get blessed->We are happy and think we don't need God anymore->aaaaand, repeat.
So hopefully we will be able to talk to him and help him see this and he will decide to get baptized some time down the road.
AND THIRDLY: Dan has fully committed himself to baptism! It is 100% official! September 17th the many prayers for him and his family from missionaries, members here and you guys will be answered and he will enter the Waters of Baptism!
We first met them in March and it's so cool to look back and see the progression from when we first started just spending time on P-days with them doing wood working and being told that they're not interested to this day! And in a year they'll be able to go to the temple together and be sealed. I am so grateful for our Father for he truly is the one behind all of this. I think a few months ago I would have wanted some of the credit, but genuinely I see now that this was a gift of God's Grace!
He told us that Tuesday Morning he decided to get his answer and so he said a little prayer and opened up the Book of Mormon. He read us the scripture he opened to... And reading it I thought: "This has literally nothing to do with baptism. This doesn't fit at all." And he said: "And reading that, it just fit! And I knew I had to get baptized." Thank heavens it's the Spirit that truly teaches and not us. The spirit revealed something to him and touched his heart and now he'll be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! What a joy!
FUNNY STORY/SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:
We tracted into a guy who is a Buddhist. A devout Buddhist at that, and on top of that he is/was a religion professor and told us he knew a lot about our religion and could sit down and explain all of our beliefs to us with a Book of Mormon in hand. Elder Jensen then asked "well what has your experience been with the church?" And the man replied "Amazing. And you know what I tell my colleagues when they try and talk bad about the Mormon's? I say the Mormons have some weird beliefs, that's for sure. But the Mormon Church is the greatest organization in the world for families."
We were both a bit surprised, and Elder Jensen said "Yeah, we believe that too!"
To which the man said "Oh no, it's a FACT."
And ultimately that is the truth! Every reason I'm on a mission is for my current and future family. All programs in the church are designed to strengthen the family! And I add my testimony to that of the Buddhist! The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the greatest organization in THE WORLD for families, and that's a FACT!
Love you all! Church is true!!
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