Quite a lot happened in the past week, so this is going to be a little bit long of a letter, but it's a good one (hopefully). Hope that everyone had a great week. For us here, everyone was on spring break this past week, and it didn't seem to change the effectiveness of our proselyting, which was awesome. I continually pray for you all, and hope that you are doing well around the world.
Not Ready: This past week we have been teaching more repentance. I don't mean that we have been shouting for people to repent or they will be damned, but seeing if they are truly ready to change their lives at this time to bring their life in harmony with the teachings of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is instead of sharing messages constantly with those that are not ready to do so at this time. This does not mean that we are forgetting these people, or not loving them. But we are loving them enough to know that at a later time, they will be given the chance to accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ, whether they have heard and lived it before or not. But we know that there are people in other places, that are ready. Those that have the light of Christ and have been prepared by angels to receive the Gospel. It is sad to see though. When you understand that the only way to salvation is through obedience to the Laws and Ordinances of the Gospel, and you see people reject that, it isn't very happy. But I know that God is merciful, and that these people will continue be given chances to repent and come unto Christ until the last day. Two of the families that we found were not ready were a less active family and an investigator family. The less active family has a goal to eventually get to the temple, but they see that they will actually work towards that goal in about 5 years, when things aren't as busy, or hard. The other family is one that does not have faith enough to test the word, to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it is true. The promise of receiving an answer of the truthfulness of the Gospel is based upon the need for the one asking to have real intent, a sincere heart, and have faith in Jesus Christ. If anyone of these three things are absent, the answer ill not come.
Carillo's: The Carillo's are a family that have these attributes. They have 3 children, and two are baptized. They themselves are unmarried and have heard the gospel many times. One of our past lesson, we asked if they wanted to be baptized and if they did, what was stopping them. After learning it was that they needed to be married, turns out that it is simple of a process. They have true desire to accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ and be baptized, and you can see it when you ask about their past spiritual experiences. When one of the members we were with asked about how they felt at the baptism of their Oldest Son, the father described an overwhelming feeling of peace, and the mother (we are pretty sure), has already received witness from the Holy Ghost that the church is true. The thing we are now focusing with them is to have them read and pray, individually and as a family. Something that a member of the Bishopric who came with us said on the ride over explains why we focus on those primary answers, "For investigators to progress, they have to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. For members to stay active, they have to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. The same fundamental pieces of the gospel are applicable to all people". We are very excited to have them become a united family, and eventually be sealed together in the Temple of our God.
Transfers: Nothing is changing for me this transfer, because we are in training. So Elder Velarde and I get to work in the Oakland Valley branch together for at least another 6 weeks. After that, I don't know what will happen, but everyone can wait to excited for about another 5 weeks, haha. And one of the cool things is that one of the missionaries I became good friends with in Rexburg is whitewash training in Arco, which is part of our district. And our ZL is training as well, so we have a lot of newer missionaries that are going to be in the Zone, which is always very very exciting.
Exchanges: On Tuesday after our district meeting, I went on Exchanges with the Elders in Arco. The Elder that came to my area for the day was Elder Rowland, and interestingly enough, he is from Gainesville, Georgia. After doing studies and planning and having lunch, we went out working. One of the very interesting people that we met was a man who had grown up in Salt Lake and told us how much he knew about the church. Even when inviting him to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, he repeated how much he knows and how he does not believe in Organized Religion. Just reminds me of the scripture about knowing things, but not feeling them. Then for the rest of the night after dinner, even though 2 of our appointments cancelled we were able to find some people at home, one of the being the Trejo's. We had an appointment that we though also cancelled, but after deciding what we would do with the member we were with outside, he showed up and we continued to talk to him for an hour. After we got back before bed, I was able to talk to Elder Rowland and help him know what was going on back home, because he is finishing his mission tomorrow. Then in the morning he went on a departing temple trip and I went with our Zone Leader for the morning.
Saturday: This past Saturday was a incredibly busy and crazy day. It started out at 9:00 in the morning with some service. A senior missionary couples' storage unit had been broken into and we were helping the ward move the rest of the things out. Then at 10:00 we went to do service that was scheduled for one of our investigators, but they were not there. But we heard some noise from the members home just next door (of the branch) and the branch service project that was scheduled for 2 had apparently been moved to 10, and we just happened to be there. After finishing helping them we went back and did studies and had lunch. Because it was Saturday, we sent off our progress records and then had dinner. After dinner we had 2 cancelled appointments, which wasn't very fun, but with the member of the branch presidency that came with us, we discussed how to help the Spanish work and planned together about how to accomplish our goals. Then, since it was a couple minutes before we had to be at home, we stopped by Reed's dairy. Reed's dairy is one of the most amazing ice cream, milk shops there is in the world. And the weirdest thing that happened was after getting inside the door, a man came and asked me if I was the Elder from Georgia. I said I was. He then introduced me to a red head that he said used to be in my ward. It was a member from the Hanks family, who lived in the Johns Creek ward many years ago. She had apparently recognized me immediately and she told me that her brother Albert was on a mission in Canada. It was a great end to a great day, and it is weird how small the world is.
Study: One of things to quickly share is just my invitation for y'all in preparation of General Conference this weekend. General Conference is where all people can listen to what our Prophet on the earth, Thomas S. Monson, and the apostles who hold the keys of the kingdom, along with other church leaders, have received revelation on what the world needs to hear. You can listen to the session this Saturday and Sunday at Lds.org. I invite all of you to prayerfully select questions that you would like answered, and then tune in to conference with a prayer, and your questions will be answered.
Picture:A nice view.
Love you all and hope that everyone has a great week. It's been very exciting to hear about everyone's mission calls. Have a great day!!!
Love,
Elder Carson Maurice Baker
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