I'm just going to jump right into it.
Roger's run into some more challenges now in that his mom says he can't get baptized for another 2 years due to some custom regarding the death of his grandfather. She really likes the church's principles and believes the members are good, but says he can't be baptized right now. But we're not giving up. We fasted with him yesterday and he said it was a really cool experience and we're hoping for miracles to come out of it. Pray for him!!
Jason is doing great, but he slept in again yesterday. Cursed LOL! We'll have to be more straight laced with him in the future. But he really is doing awesome and his mom doesn't oppose him being baptized! That's a first!
Doug is looking pretty solid to be baptized next week. He gave some really good answers in gospel principles class yesterday and it seems like his sincerity and his testimony is growing consistently. Also, we found out yesterday that he's read the New Testament before all the way through and he's now reading it again along with the Old Testament and the Book of Mormon. That's super impressive considering he's a busy aerospace engineer and works every day except Sunday from 7/8am to 8pm. Good guy.
We had some fun contacting this week. Tuesday and Wednesday, we didn't have a lot of appointments set up and thus spent a lot of time finding. My nose got pretty sunburned. But anyways, on Wednesday, we were contacting and everyone was rejecting us and we were getting a little bummed, but Elder Chen, being the determined, optimistic guy he is said out of no where, "Alright, I want to tell someone about Joseph Smith." So, at the next light, we stopped next to a young man and Elder Chen said, "Hey! We want to share a story about a boy named Joseph Smith with you. Can we pull over to the side of the road and tell you about it." And he pulled over! And he listened to the whole thing, left his number and said the missionaries in his area could teach him. Then, 2 more times in a row, we thought of a topic like our family picture or the word of wisdom and met 2 awesome kids, one who came to basketball last Saturday, and one who met with us and expressed a lot of interest in the church. It really strengthened my testimony that as we open our mouths and share our testimonies instead of just shooting the breeze and hoping for an opportunity to share the gospel, people really respond. I'm so grateful for Elder Chen.
We also had Zone Conference this week, where we learned how to really discern whether or not someone is ready for baptism and how we can focus our efforts in order to help them prepare. I also gave my reflection. It didn't feel like it though. It just felt like a normal testimony. I feel like everyone understands I'm going home soon but me.
I'm so grateful to be a missionary. These last few weeks have been incredible and I feel confident that I'll be able to carry that momentum throughout the last two weeks as well. The Lord is with me. I'm confident that I'll see miracles before I leave.
Love you guys! See you in a few.
-Elder Smith
Today's song is one I heard in sacrament meeting yesterday that I've never sung before, but enjoyed quite a bit. I only did one take this morning, so my voice cracks a couple times, but just ignore that and enjoy the words and the melody:)
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