Week 32 - The Church is True!

Hey everyone!

Our week was pretty intense. We taught a bunch of lessons and were able to see one of our investigators progress a ton!

In one of our lessons, we taught the church sponsored Stop Smoking program to the couple we had set for baptism. Part of that lesson involved having them crush their cigarettes to get the program started on the right foot. Then after that, we told them that they'd need things like unsweetened grapefruit juice, cinnamon flavored mouthwash, and some healthy snacks so that they can avoid smoking for a week. The boyfriend accepted no problem, but the girlfriend said she isn't ready to quit smoking yet. We'll see how that goes this week. We gave him a picture that a missionary in our district drew. The picture is of a "fat, unpleasant man". Above the picture, the missionary wrote that the fat, unpleasant man will "lick the inside of his ears" if he smokes. Our investigator thought it was hilarious. I'm attaching a picture of it.

Our 19 year-old investigator came to church and had an awesome experience. He wanted to bear his testimony (since it was fast & testimony meeting), but was a little nervous. The lady sitting in front of us told him that one of us could go up with him to make him more comfortable. The row included me, Elder Crabb, a friend of his in our ward, and the investigator. When the person speaking sat down, our whole row stood up and walked onto the stand. He then bore his testimony of how he had a bit of a troubled past, but when he moved here 4 or 5 years ago and began meeting with the missionaries, his life has gradually gotten better (considering that I extended the baptismal commitment, and have taught him all the lessons so far, I felt pretty good). He also talked about Christ and how he was excited to be a part of the church. After that, his friend bore his testimony, then me, then Elder Crabb. After that, we all sat down and the ward went into missionary mode. Almost every testimony after that was about missionary work, and how they were excited that this young man has chosen to be baptized. It was an awesome sacrament meeting. It's really amazing to see the Lord's hand in this guy's life. He is a smoker and has been struggling with quitting, but he told us that his desire to be baptized is greater than his desire to smoke. We're pretty dang excited.

Other than that, we have transfers coming up. Elder Crabb is pretty sure he's leaving but I'm pretty nervous as well. You never know with transfers...

Anyway, love you all! Make sure to keep in touch! And look for missionary opportunities as much as you can!

Elder Jones