7 Mar 2011

Hello,
Well it was good to hear from you. I am glad you enjoyed my last email. I had kind of forgotten what I wrote so I went back and read it again. And yeah it was a pretty good email. Lol. It was definitely an experience that I wont forget, as you mentioned. This week has been pretty good.
One investigator that we have been working with that i have mentioned a few times is John C*ox. I havent been able to talk about him too much because I have had baptisms to talk about, but John is doing great. A couple weeks ago we had a lesson with him and what we wanted to get out of that lesson was for John to see the importance of baptism which would make getting his marriage situation worked out his first priority. And that is exactly what we were able to accomplish and we did it by explaining the priesthood and john told us that he believes and that he would get baptized tomorrow if he could, he just needs to get married. And then this past week Elder P*hillips and I split up cause we had double appointments and I went to go see john with a member.
Whenever we see John I feel like we talk a little bit about everything before the lesson starts, just cause he always has questions and then our answers lead to more questions. And they seem to be on subjects that I do not fully comprehend like zion and the gathering of that, and the lineage of Lehi, and they are all good qeustions and are from a sincere desire to learn, but I think that it was actually good I didnt really know the answers because it allowed us to focus on what we had planned to teach. I showed him where he can read about it in his gospel principles book instead. So our lesson was the Word of Wisdom. Even though we figured John couldn't get baptized yet we wanted to fully prepare for it by teaching him the commandments so he can start living them. So we taught him the word of wisdom, and he agreed to live it. We just read it straight from the word of wisdom pamphlet and he really agreed with it and then i decided that we might as well set a date for baptism. I just thought that if we didnt have a goal, or a deadline getting the marriage situation worked out would never happen. Besides, my time is short. So we talked about his concerns and the only concern he has is getting a divorce from his long past wife so he can marry the woman he has been with for years and calls her his fiancee. He didnt know when it would ever happen because he thinks that it costs around 1500 dollars and he has mentioned money is very tight for them.
So we decided to set a goal for April 22, that date just kind of jumped out at me as I was going through the calendar on the phone and when I said that day he just gave me this wide-eyed look and said there was no way, and I kind of knew he was going to say that and even kind of thought the same thing. But i said it anyway and then in my mind I was thinking I could do some type a fundraiser, or get the ward involved to help him, I was just thinking that I will do something and everything within my power to somehow raise this money and that I would make sure it would happen. And I didnt want to be too pushy cause I didnt want to get involved with his finances or make him feel bad that he didnt have the mony but, we were able to decide to have faith that it would happen and to set the goal and then the lesson ended after that. John calls me his spiritual leader cause I am the first mormon he met. It makes me happy. And then after that I went and met up with Elder P*hillips who was with a member. And when I got there I asked the member to look up how much a divorce would cost. And to put it simply we found a lawyer who will do it for only 250 dollars! How cool is that? John was really happy when he found that out and was like now that is in my price range. So, April 22nd is going to happen.
Its next transfer though so i could be gone. I would definitely come back for it though like Elder H*aley did for Kelton. Or who knows maybe we will move the date even closer. We will see but either way I am happy with it and just want to make sure he gets baptized and confirmed. If you are wondering what his fiancee thinks of the church, I asked John if his financee would be interested in coming church and what she thinks about him meeting with us, and he says that she asks questions and that soon she will come to church. So that made me happy to know that she is not against it at all. We have said hi to her when we see her but she has always been busy with grandkids when we meet with John so we havent really been able to teach her at all. We told the sisters to go over during the day to meet with her and teach her. It is really nice to have sister missionaries to work with cause it makes teaching females much easier.
Well our recent converts are doing great. Robert had a cool story where he didnt like his job and prayed for another one and he got a different that he loves and it pays much better. He called and told us. The nepales males have gotten the priesthood and are doing well. Kelton is doing good too and came to church yesterday. Next week elder jensen is coming to our building from the presidency of the seventy. Sorry this last part is rsuhed my time is up. Love you
Love
Elder Larson