Monday, July 27, 2015

July 20, 2015

Alright, so I don’t have much time to write today, sorry about that :)

This week I was losing a little bit of steam, but was able to pick
back up again with a special Conference that we had with President
Bird. We learned about and practiced asking good, thought provoking
questions and how to present ourselves and the Book of Mormon better
in contacts. I could really feel the spirit there, especially as we
practices asking good questions. It allows the person to think about
it and allows the Spirit to teach them, because He can only teach an
inquiring mind.

We didn’t have as many prospects to go to church this week, and we have
dropped a lot of investigators. But, 9 year old Helaman is
progressing well towards his baptism, he loved the illustrated Book of
Mormon Stories book that we gave him, and Hermano Nelson, whose wife
is a member, is progressing well too. We feel that he already knows
that it is true, and all he wants is just to learn more before he
makes the decision. His wife gave a talk on Sunday about Families, and
shared her hope of having an eternal family with her husband, so they
are progressing well too. And Jaime downloaded the Book of Mormon on
his phone and is listening to it, but couldn’t come to church. So, we
are seeing progress :)

Looks like I need to renew my temple recommend already!
We have high hopes for the upcoming week.
Hope that everyone is doing great!


Elder Redford

Hermano Nelson‏ - July 13, 2015

Well, this week we felt we were on fire. We were looking at our investigators on Thursday during weekly planning and we realized that we had a potential of 10 Investigators in church for this week, and that all 10 had said yes, that they would go. We were feeling super blessed, and excited to see so many in church. But, by Saturday, two had dropped out in us, and Sunday morning another 2 canceled on us, and then when we got to church, there were only 2 that showed up. Helaman and Hermano Nelson. Hermano Nelson has quite a story though :) 

On Tuesday Night, we were told that Hno Nelson wanted to take the lessons, which is a huge miracle. He is the husband of a member in the ward. He has had many many missionaries pass by, and many have tried to teach him, but it never went very well. So, my companion and his companion before me stopped pressuring him, and just stopped by to visit the family, without any pressure on him to go to church or be baptized. Then, all of a sudden, he went to church. We didn’t think much of it, as he had gone before with his family, but had made it clear that he as apart from it. But last week during testimony meeting, the members´ testimonies about the temple got to him. And he felt like the lord was calling him, telling him it was time. On Wednesday night we went to the church to talk to him, and he told us that the Lord had already called him like 3 times like this, and he felt that now he needed to act. So, my companion´s testimony of Patience has grown, and mine too, and as we have seen the Lord´s hand in preparing him to finally join his family in the Gospel. So that was a special experience. 

A family that we had been waiting for to arrive was Alfredo and his wife. We contacted him on the street, and I asked what the most important thing for him in his life. He responded that it had been money, and talked about how in his past life he had been a workaholic and a party-er, and tried to buy his family´s love. But now that he has accepted Christ thanks to a Christian church, he realizes that God and Family are the priorities. So we scheduled to see him. 
The day that we saw him I was in Exchanges, and Elder Oliveros came to my area for the day. It was a hard day of mostly just walking looking for addresses, and no lessons. In the night we had the appointment with Alfredo, and he invited us in and offered us each a glass bottle of coke :) We talked with him and taught him about how his family could be sealed in the Temple for all eternity, and then invited him and his wife to baptism, and they both said yes, and agreed to going to church. We were super sure that they would come, but we are going to need to check up on them and see what happened. 

This week we were also able to contact a lot, we got to 97, just 3 short of our goal! We made a goal that if we didn’t meet our daily goal of contacts, we wouldn’t eat dinner (we eat lunch with the members instead of dinner). And, as you could see, we didn’t eat dinner one night :) It was a little incentive to contact more, I it helped us to talk to more people :) 
This morning we also did a little housework, pulling weeds in front of the house and behind in the patio :) That was fun :)  

I am also reading the part in 3 Nephi when Christ visited the Americas, trying to analyze it a little more, breaking up what he taught in each day, and paying a little more attention. It has been really good. I invite you to do the same as well, it is the most impacting part of the Book of Mormon :) 
Well, those are the events of the week.

I hope all is good at home :) 

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD!!!!!! 
(Hey, it just so happens that your anniversary is the day that the Canicula starts, which as the 40 hottest days of summer here! Wupee! Sunblock is a very dear Amigo :)

With Love, 
Elder Redford

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

People in Church! - July 6, 2015

After church yesterday, I felt really good. At last, we actually had investigators in church. And, Hermana Guera and Edgar, my first converts, came to our ward today to say hi to me! It was great to see them; Edgar has grown a ton in the year and a little bit since I saw him last. We didn’t get to talk much, which I knew would happen, so I wrote them a card, encouraging them to go to the temple and to keep on staying active and to keep on sharing their testimony with the husband who isn’t a member. She also have me a couple Chile Rellenos to eat in the house ;) 

Also! We didn’t hear a complaint from the Relief Society Sisters in our Correlation meeting with the Ward Mission Leader, which is good progress. They had been complaining a lot to him. So, in these past two weeks, my companion and I have made a special effort to arrive on time every day, and I have been writing a thank you note with a little message to each family that we eat with, and leaving it behind on their table. Things have gone smoother little by little. For small and simple things are great things come to pass. I realized that that is a little talent that I have, writing letters, so I decided that I would put it to good use; with the Sisters in the Ward and with Hermana Guera :). 

We are still finding lots of good people, but many of them look really awesome the first visit, and then we find a road bump, and many still lack the faith to get over them, such as using work schedules and visiting families as excuses for not going to church, etc. But we hope in the Lord that we will help us find those who are truly ready and prepared to receive the restored gospel. 

On Friday we had Zone Conference with President Bird, which as really good. We Learned about Beginning with the End in Mind, and he wants us to talk about Eternal Families and Temples with people from the first lessons or contacts, and offering them to learn more and how they can achieve an eternal family, and also that we invite people to baptism as we talk about the temple; that we teach that families can be eternal if they are sealed in the temple, and that the first step to enter the temple is baptism. So, will you be baptized? It is cool idea that we practiced and I liked it a lot. He also reminded us about the importance of the Sacrament reading a story about how a general authority went to camp of soldiers during Ward War II and about how much they appreciated the Sacrament Meeting that he organized for them, and how spiritual it was, and Invited us to do a self-analysis during the Sacrament to make it more meaningful for us. It was a good conference. =) 

Well, those are the happenings here Montecristal. Hope all is well at home!


Love, Elder Hayden Redford