Week 6 already!!!

Wow, this 2nd transfer has just flown by. This is week six meaning that next Sunday Elder Harrington and I will figure out who's staying, and who's going from the area. Possibly we'll both stay, but you can't really tell.

With the 100 dollars that grandma sent, I made a pretty big purchase today. Hopefully you approve, but I purchased a GPS today for the car for about $128. I figured it will help me around here because I still have a hard time learning the roads and it's something that I can for sure use after my mission. The only problem is, is that more worldly treasures equal more worry. Now I'm going to have to worry about the car being locked and the GPS hidden whenever we leave the car. That's probably another reason why we shouldn't lay up for ourselves treasures where moths doth corrupt and things can get stolen. It should be OK here in Dover at least. If I get transferred to Newark or something like that, I might just have to leave it in the apartment.

This week has been an OK week for me and Elder Harrington. Last Monday we went and taught Freddy (who we actually reset his baptismal date for the 23rd of January, and he wants to invite his parents and everything). It was a good lesson. We watched the restoration with him, so I think he understands Joseph Smith a little better. Freddy is a good guy, probably at like his mid 40's. He lives with some members and is originally from Peru. But we're excited that he's progressing, and in fact, he is kinda our only solid progressing investigator.

On Tuesday we had our zone meeting which was pretty great. We are now this month working on being challenging and testifying missionaries. Meaning we need to learn to contact and open our mouths more, and bare testimony to those around us. For these first 2 weeks, we are suppose to contact 20 people a day, and for the last 2 weeks, we need to invite 4 people to be baptized each day. It should be interesting, but hopefully we'll see some good success from it, and find more people.

Elder Harrington and I haven't been very good about doing contacts, but we are going to try to do better. We realized this week, that maybe we are wasting our time with some of our investigators. We spend a good amount of time teaching people that might not have a ton of potential. It's just kinda hard for me to drop investigators I guess, cause you just never know what could happen. But dropping them could be an act of faith, and hopefully if me and Elder Harrington drop a lot of our investigators, we'll be able to find some new ones.

We went and saw a former investigator named Joaquin. He let us in and we talked to him more about the Book of Mormon. He's been to church tons of times, but then just kinda stopped progressing. Hopefully we'll be able to get somewhere with him.

We did have a pretty good experience this week though. We picked up Edwin and he took us to these referals he had. The main person he wanted to see was gone out of town, but we went to the people downstairs that he knows. (because he tutors one of them) They all gathered in as a family and we taught them the first. I think they are from Ecuador and they seem like pretty religious people. Their 10 year old daughter probably has more potential than either of the parents, but I guess we'll just have to see. We went to Newton again to see Ider (who we thought had some great potential). Unfortunately they haven't really answer their phones when we've called. We decided to go at the time we scheduled and hoped he would be there. We went and unfortunately he wasn't. So we didn't see a lot in Newton, but we're going to have the Spart Elders check on Ider from time to time so that we don't have to drive up there in hopes of seeing him.

On Wednesday, we went to go visit this guy named Frank who we've been trying to get an appointment with for awhile, but everytime we set a time, either him or us had to cancel. Frank speaks English so we turned him over the the English Elders but we had a pretty good lesson at his parents house. He was asking what being a Mormon entails, so I explained a little bit of the word of wisdom, the law of chastity and all that, and then we taught him the first. He accepted to be baptized when he knows these things are true, and I think he has a lot of potential.

On Thursday Elder Harrington and basically all of the other Elders in our apartment complex had to go to leadership training, except for Elder Althouse. So of course, I got to be companions with Elder Althouse for Thursday and Friday. We went and had a lesson with Edwin and watched "Our Heavenly Father's Plan", then we headed to Elder Althouses area. We went and taught this progressing investigator named Richie who really wants to be baptized but his mom won't give him permission. We taught him the word of wisdom and he seemed to really understand it. He picked out different points in the blessings part of D&C 89 that were way good as well. Richie is pretty awesome for sure, and hopefully he can get permission from his mom. I think they have a date set for him next Sunday. When we were done, we went and met with the other Elders who came back from the Leadership training. We had an Elder from New Brunswick staying with us for the night because of the trainings on Thursday, so all 3 of us went out together and contacted and knocked. One guy we contacted, I did a soft baptismal commitment and he said yes which was pretty awesome.

On Friday me and Elder Althouse worked together again which was pretty great. During comp study, he gave me some reallly good pointers and answered questions that I had. He talked to me about making goals, and making a baptismal goal for my mission. I hadn't even made mission goals for myself, which was definitely not smart of me, but I did make some the next day. Here is a list of my goals, or at least some of them

- 1 to 2 Baptisms each month: but do my best to invite others to come unto Christ
- Pick a Christlike attribute every Monday to work on for the week
- Read PMG every day either before bed or during lunch.
- Complete all of the standard works
- Read 15 minutes from the Book of Mormon each day.
- Read the mission Library
- Help every companion I have grow and have a more fulfilling mission
- Gain a greater love for the people and a greater desire to serve them
- Obey with Exactness
- Run out of Fuel every day, work until I can't work anymore
- Sincerely get to know the members
- Memorize a new scripture each week in Spanish and English
And of course I had to include... * Have Fun!! *

So I'll do my best to accomplish these goals and of course they are subject to change, but it at least gives me something to work towards right?

Anyway, Me and Elder Althouse spent a lot of the day shoveling walks for some people he knew. I actually got to use a snow blower for my first time, but when I was using it, I was kinda thinking that I probably wasn't allowed to be using it as a missionary. It was pretty hard to figure out how to get it started and working and everything. Maybe I'll just stick to shovels. Later we went and taught Freddy about the Word of Wisdom and about Reading and Praying every day. He commited to live those commandments, so he's looking pretty good to be baptized next week.

On Saturday we went and taught Yetlenessi who is a member, but we're going to meet with her more because her son is going to turn 8 in about a month and she wants him to get baptized.

Elder Harrington and I had a pretty rough experience on Saturday though. We had found this guy named Jose Antonio about a week before and had taught him the first lesson and gave them a Book of Mormon to read. We returned to their house and wanted to teach them, but they said they had read at least a little bit, and his wife looked up stuff about our church online. They were asking us questions concerning baptisms for the dead (and how it doesn't say it in the bible) and then they asked us about the 3 kingdoms (and how it doesn't really say it in the bible). Well they know that it says it in the bible but they have different interpretations of the meanings. Elder Harrington talked to them while I was looking in the back of the Book of Mormon for bible references to those topics. We found them and showed them to them, but it wasn't doing much good. We think maybe the wife read some anti-mormon stuff online, but we're not all too sure. As we were leaving, we left their copy of the Book of Mormon on the table and walked out, but they stopped us and gave it back. We said they could have it still, but they were saying something about how somebody else could better use it. That was pretty hurtful. To get the Book of Mormon back from somebody is some pretty serious rejection. Well, maybe some other day they'll be more prepared for the Gospel.

On Sunday the missionaries in the branch had the opportunity to give talks. Elder Harrington talked about the Armor of God, I talked about the power of prayer, Elder Christopher talked about the Book of Mormon, and Elder Holmes talked about the sacrament. It went pretty well, and I also had the opportunity to translate during Elder Harrington's talk, which is always good practice.

Fausta was also confirmed during church which was pretty awesome as well. After church we went out knocking and after a number of doors, this guy named Jorge let us in. We taught him the first and he commited to read and pray, and also accept a soft baptismal commitment, but me and Elder Harrington didn't feel super awesome about the lesson. I think we were in there for way to long, and it wasn't super simple. I guess we're both still learning, but hopefully Jorge will progress. Last night we took Edwin out with us to teach. First we went to Fausta's and taught her about Service and about missionary work. Edwin included a powerful testimony about a missionary experience he had earlier in the week. We then went and taught Joaquin and taught about faith from Alma 32, and again Edwin shared a strong testimony of faith and another awesome experience with people in his family.

That brings us back to today. This week My Christlike Attribute is virtue. I studied it for a little bit today, and this week I'm going to try and keep my thoughts more focused and try to be more pure in all things. It's been a good week though, although our numbers for this week were a little rough. We'll have to do better this week, especially as it is the last week of the Transfer.

Thanks for all your support and letters and everything. It's kinda weird thinking about home and family and stuff. That's just like another world, another life in a far away place. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but I think it helps me to stay a little more focused. Time is pretty crazy on the mission. As is always said, the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days. I feel like it gets faster as I get farther into my mission.

The Gospel is true! I love learning how to be a better person, a better missionary and a better person. I'm still working to get things figured out and to better recognize the voice of the spirit, vs my own thoughts. I'm happy to be here, and I'm happy to continue growing and becoming the person I'm meant to become.

Today I was studying in Alma 32 about Faith. One thing that I picked out that I've seen before but is worth mentioning, is that we need to continue nourishing the seed through diligence, but also through patience as well. Just like when you plant a tree, it's not like you can just put the seed in the ground, water it, and then an explosion of tree comes. We must wait patiently day by day for the little seed to grow as we nourish it. I know that I can gain greater faith as I continually nourish the seed and be patient with myself and not feel so discouraged that I don't have the greatest faith ever. I know that we can learn so much in the Book of Mormon as we seek to liken all scriptures to ourselves, and I know that Heavenly Father is always there for us, whenever we feel like there is no one else. I'm grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and that when I fall because of my weaknesses and imperfections, I can use the atonement and try to do better the next day.

I'm happy to be on a mission and serving others, and thanks again for all your support.
I love all of you!!