So it's been a little while. This week our P-Day was changed to Wednesday due to our temple trip and we had exchanges on Tuesday so everything feels a little weird since our weekly routine was changed up quite a bit. We should be back to the regular Monday P-Day next week.
The best dinner appointment this week was probably last night. Like I said we were on exchanges this week, and I went into Elder Vang's area. It was Samoan week for dinner. Last time they took us out and we got Chinese food. This time we had it with the 1st counselor in the bishopric and they had cooked a Samoan feast! There was rice and potato salad and green salad and soup and chicken and cake and so much of everything! And they keep asking you to eat more. I made the mistake of eating too fast, so I had seconds and thirds. That was probably the most full I've been on my entire mission! It was super good though. They also gave me a Samoan name. It's Elder Saga (pronounce Sanga), because that means corn in Samoan.
For teaching this week, it was really amazing! We met to teach the Dotsons for the first time on Tuesday night. I went over there with a team-up while Elder Andrew was doing Bible Study. The member got along with them really well, and then we taught the Restoration. It's really nice to have members along, because they can talk about their callings and Primary, as well as share their testimonies. It went really well, though they wouldn't accept a baptismal date and she didn't want to pray. We set up another appointment with them for Saturday at the Stake Center so that they would know what to do for Stake Conference the next day. We show up to the Stake Center a little early for the lesson, and the first thing we hear when we walk in is President Mullen's voice! We hadn't really thought about it, but there are all sorts of meetings for auxiliaries on Saturday and he was meeting with them. So we had to find an open classroom for the lesson. We had thought we were going to have the run of the building because the adult session didn't start until 6. But the primary room in the back was open so we set up in there. Our team-up and investigators showed up at about the same time and we headed back there. They have these little backpack child carriers that are pretty cool, both their kids were asleep at the time. For the lesson we just read through 3 Nephi 11 where it talks about Christ's first appearance, conferring the priesthood, and then explaining the doctrine of Christ. They said the language is kind of hard for them to read but other than that it was okay. They had read the first couple chapters of the Book of Mormon together as a family already as well, so that was super cool! At the end of the lesson we tried to commit them to baptism again, and she said she still wasn't sure, so we read 2 Nephi 31:17 and explained that it's just the beginning and she seemed a little more okay with it. But she did feel comfortable praying at the end of the lesson, and she prayed about the baptismal date and the Spirit was super strong! We've also started doing kneeling prayers with our investigators this week so that has been really good. After the lesson on the way out we introduced them to the Bishop, but when we stole him out of the meeting, President Shumway and President Mullen came too, so that was good but probably kind of overwhelming for them! The next day the Dotsons actually beat us to stake conference, but they went right in and found a row and saved us some seats. The first thing they said to us is that they wanted to get baptized! They changed the date to the 11th though because their family will be traveling for it so Saturday would be better, but we were okay with it. She spent most of the time in the nursery with the two kids, so she just had to hear a video feed, but Edwin and Emily stayed in there the whole time. It was kind of long though. President Mullen saw us talking to them by their car afterward and he came and asked what they thought of it, and she just straight up told President Mullen that she didn't really enjoy it! That was kind of scary! They had like 12 people tell them that next week will be different and better for the kids and all that kind of stuff though, and they're committed anyway. We're having dinner and a lesson with them and the Bishop tonight.
As for other teaching experiences this week, we were able to meet with Jonna once. We took our Gospel Doctrine teacher over there because he's a really awesome team-up. He got to know her and then just kind of jumped into the lesson all on his own. But when she had some questions about the Book of Mormon he kind of went off on a big huge tangent about the Bible and the Book of Mormon and he kept switching back and forth really fast and she got kind of confused there for a bit. But in the end I think it made more sense than when we got there so it was all okay. She also accepted a date for June 12th, and as long as she starts coming to church she'll be able to make that date easily.
We also caught up with Elvis again one night. He has started school here, the electrician training in San Diego didn't pan out, so he's just as busy, but for a different reason. We talked to him, and it ended up being a conversation about the Word of Wisdom. We told him about it, so he asked where it was and he just read it while we kind of awkwardly stood there. At the end though he decided that it was pretty reasonable and logical, though he didn't really know if he would be able to live it right away. He was going to think about it and pray about it first. He's still been really hard to catch though, so we'll see how things go. Slowly but surely.
That pretty much sums up the highlights of the week. Things are going really well here, we're staying busy as much as we can, and it's working pretty well. Hope everything is going alright at home.
See you soon,
Elder Cornaby
"Get on your knees and pray, then get on your feet and work." -Gordon B. Hinckley