Our investigators are doing well.
We met with Vanessa again this week and finished talking about the Plan of Salvation. She is still praying to get an answer about whether to be baptized or not, mostly because that involves choosing between "Christianity and Catholicism" (her words not mine). It's so funny because of all the mainstream, born-again Christian churches, all these other Christians don't identify as Christians. But anyway, she has been going to FHE and really enjoys it. She wasn't able to come to church though because her family was having a birthday party that she wasn't able to skip.
We met with Vanessa again this week and finished talking about the Plan of Salvation. She is still praying to get an answer about whether to be baptized or not, mostly because that involves choosing between "Christianity and Catholicism" (her words not mine). It's so funny because of all the mainstream, born-again Christian churches, all these other Christians don't identify as Christians. But anyway, she has been going to FHE and really enjoys it. She wasn't able to come to church though because her family was having a birthday party that she wasn't able to skip.
Anthony is also doing really well. We met with him twice and talked about the Plan of Salvation and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He is super excited to be baptized on the 14th. He has some Word of Wisdom issues though. We'll be teaching him about that this Wednesday, so we'll see how the lesson is received it. But if he truly has the desire and is committed for the right reason, no hurdle is too great.
Harry also was able to come to church this week. He was feeling a lot better from his surgery, though he's in a sling most of the time and only stayed for the first hour. He's excited to be baptized on the 14th as well, assuming he continues progressing and learning and is physically well enough to get baptized then. His grandson who is 9 also came to church, but we're not sure if he'll be able to be baptized. Apparently his mom threw away his Book of Mormon because she doesn't believe in that kind of stuff. We're not sure if she's anti-Mormon, or anti-religion, but we figure she probably wouldn't be too happy about him being baptized. I guess we'll just see what happens.
ZDM went really well. It goes a lot faster when you are the one presenting the training. You're more involved, I guess. I hope we were able to keep it interesting, and the Zone is actually seeing a lot of success since then. People are finding more new investigators, and we have already had 2 baptisms this month, with at least 1 more that is solid, and 1 or 2 others that are potentials. So their areas are all growing right now, which will be good for the arriving missionaries coming in the next few transfers.
The baptism on Sunday was super good as well. All of the missionaries that have taught Marcos over the past year were there. You see, he used to live in Jurupa, and he was being taught by missionaries there about 9 months ago, then they moved to Riverside, and because of the move things got busy and the missionaries here had to drop him. But they gave him another try about 6 months later after they had time to settle in and they were able to focus on the baptism for Marcos. They had a lot of family attend the baptism, and we went over there for dinner afterward as well. So we were able to answer a lot of their relative's questions and that was really cool.
From Elder Young I've learned a lot about setting goals and keeping yourself accountable to them. I learned a lot about that with Elder Murphy last transfer when he was my District Leader, but Elder Young has taken it to a whole new level. We're setting really high goals, and because of that we have to do everything we can to achieve them each and every day. It's hard work, but it's worth it!
As for my testimony, I'll just leave you with this. 2 Nephi 33:1. "And now I, Nephi, cannot write all the things which were taught among my people; neither am I mighty in writing, like unto speaking; for when a man speaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost the power of the Holy Ghost carrieth it unto the hearts of the children of men."
See you soon,
Elder Cornaby