8-5-13
Hey,
I’m really excited to hear about
Bailey’s mission call. Hopefully he goes to South America. South America is
generally more normal and civilized than Central America. But you'll have to
let me know where he'll be going. Now it’s just a waiting game.
So life has been pretty normal for me.
Nothing much new has happened, and we're just trying to move from
"families progressing" to "families baptized.” We have 2 awesome
families that we're teaching. H and K, and J and B. So yeah, H and K have been
to church 6 times, and J and B have been 3 times. Both of the families came to
church on Sunday. I know what you mean about weird doctrine being discussed
when we have investigators at church. During church this Sunday, there were
many members that got up and bore their testimonies, and only talked about
Temple work for the dead, and stuff like that. I just kind of was thinking,
"I really wish these members would shut up, and talk about something
normal, like the Bible...” But yeah, such is the church here. So hopefully the
families aren’t too worried about that. But life is good, and we are having
very spiritual lessons with our investigators each day. These families that we
are teaching right now are really positive, and we are just working with them
so that they can get baptized. I’m really stoked though, because I know that
they will be 100% solid members, and will be future bishops and stuff like
that. The cool families are never the easy ones to baptize. So that’s where
we're at right now. We had a spiritual lesson with J and B, and we arrived at a
point where they had a question for us, but couldn’t remember what it was. We
sat there for like 2 minutes while they were trying to remember. In this
moment, I got the chance to receive revelation, and to know what their question
was, and exactly what they were thinking. It felt pretty similar to what Ammon
must have felt in Alma 18 where it says:
14 Therefore Ammon turned himself unto the king, and said unto him:
What wilt thou that I should do for thee, O king? And the king answered him not
for the space of an hour,
according to their time, for he knew not what he should say unto him.
15 And it came to pass that Ammon said unto him again: What desirest
thou of me? But the king answered him not.
16 And it came to pass that Ammon, being filled with the Spirit of
God, therefore he perceived the thoughts of
the king. And he said unto him: Is it because thou hast heard that I defended
thy servants and thy flocks, and slew seven of
their brethren with the sling and with the sword, and smote off the arms of
others, in order to defend thy flocks and thy servants; behold, is it this that
causeth thy marvelings?
So this was a really cool moment for me,
because it felt like the Spirit really just told me what they were thinking. So
I asked them "Hermanos, saben ustedes como uno puede llegar a ser miembro
de la Iglesia?" (Do you know how someone can become a member of the
church?) They answered "No", and this opened the door to a very spiritual
lesson about baptism, and what they need to do in order to be baptized. This
family is really awesome. Right after explaining that a person needs a
spiritual answer from God to be baptized, B said "Ok. I’m going to pray
tonight, and I’ll have my answer from God tomorrow.” It was awesome. During the
closing prayer, B prayed that they would have their answer in that very night.
They have a lot of faith. So that night, B fasted and prayed, and got an
answer. We're now just working with her husband, J, so that he can quit smoking
and get his own answer. So yeah, life is good, and we're having spiritual
experiences/lessons, and the Spirit is guiding us each day.
So I really like the new mission
president and he is making things a lot better for us. With 300 extra Cordoba
every 15 days, we have a lot more money to buy food. I have been pounding
peanut butter. It’s pretty spendy here, but I love it. And yeah, we have been
bringing tons and tons of investigators to church each Sunday, so I have been
able o go all three hours. Our ward attendance is usually about 100, and it’s
awesome to see that just my comp and me are bringing like 10% of the whole ward
attendance each week in investigators. Nice right? We're "throwing
fire" and the gospel principles class is always full. Be sure to be nice
to the investigators in the ward each Sunday. Like maybe you can say something
from the pulpit like, "We would especially like to wish a warm welcome to
[so and so family]." Just stuff like that. And be sure to welcome the
investigators and shake their hands, and be extra friendly. The members here
are pretty lousy with the investigators, and don’t really do anything to make
them feel at home. So yeah, work hard so that the investigators in the
Edinburgh ward can have a good experience.
Life is good and I’m feeling great. I
hope that we can get these new families baptized. Anyways, I’m really stoked
about Bailey and his mission call. I've been praying that he will get called to
a place that will be best for him. Let me know! And be sure to congratulate him
on my part. Thanks for everything. You're the best!
Elder Stark
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