This week has been really amazing. I've definitely been blessed with a lot of success. We got in contact with a lot of people and we found new people to teach too. The weather has been really great too. Well, the pollen everywhere makes my eyes itch and water all the time, and the bugs are starting to come out (especially bees...) but I'm still having fun all the time! (Sean hates bees! Like he screams and runs for his life when he sees a bee.)
So first I guess is that we got in contact with Cory again. We talked to him and he explained that he was afraid of what his family would think of him if he joined the church pretty much. He's a really sensitive and anxious guy and I can understand how he might feel. Learning and living this stuff is a huge change. We are still teaching him though. We have been going over to his house for a little while to just read the Book of Mormon with him to show him that we're his friends and that we want him to really know if it's a book inspired by God. He's just such a super nice guy I would hate to give up on him. He sewed Elder Welty's pants because he had a rip on his ankle it was pretty awkward for him haha.
Then we also got in contact with Carl and Dory again. We went over there twice this week to teach them that they really need to commit and that Carl needs to be the example between them. dory expressed that she feels like she wants the idea of Christ being our Savior and the Book of Mormon being God's word to be true (she grew up Jewish), but because Carl hasn't ever committed or shown any change she can't really understand how the Gospel can effect her life. She's right too. Carl hasn't kept any commitment we've given him, and he hasn't been progressing anywhere. When we were with them I got really bold I guess with him and we read Alma chapter 34. I explained that Carl needs to stop procrastinating the time to change for the better because he won't if he does. When Carl read a certain verse he felt the Spirit really strongly and cried that he didn't want to be miserable anymore and that he wanted to commit and change. I think in that lesson we really got Carl to understand that he needs to commit and change and we got Dory to gain a little bit of faith in Christ. We asked her to try praying and asking for help in her life and she said she would. We also 100% committed them to church that night. Carl said to me that no matter what he was coming to church on Sunday. Well when church came around I called him before to see if he was still coming and he refused to come. I tried everything that I could say to get him to come and he wouldn't do it. He chose not to follow through again. I really wish he would. I know that he can be happier if he did. His alcoholism is stopping him from being happy and from a lot of other things. I know that I have to just be patient with him and if I'm persistent then he will start to change. We are so close in a break through with him. I really care for his well being and I want him to be able to be changed for the better as he lives the Gospel. He could get married, have a better job, and so many other things if he would just start to commit to church. I wish I could do more for him. That was a little lame that he didn't come to church, but other great things happened this week.
We met a lady named Sherry this week. She's around 60 years old and we saw her sitting out with her granddaughter in her yard. We approached her and got to know her, and then taught her about what we share as missionaries. We told her that we teach about Christ and how his restored Gospel can help us have happiness and faith throughout life. She was so happy for us to come by and talk about it with her. We taught her the full Restoration lesson and all she had to say was "wow" as she teared up and smiled. We asked her if she had been baptized in another church around here and she has never been baptized! She says that she wants to so bad and she knows that she wants to do it. I asked her to be baptized and before I could even finish my invitation she said yes. She was so ready to hear about The Gospel. She was ecstatic when we gave her a Book of Mormon to read and we're seeing her in the next couple of days to see what she read. I don't think I've ever seen anyone more excited to hear about this than Sherry was. She wants to live it so bad and she hasn't been able to. I can't wait to teach her more.
So yeah this week was really awesome. We taught a lot and worked hard this week and I know that I was blessed for my patience by God. I wouldn't ever be successful without Him. I'm glad I didn't quit when I was in a slump.
Thank you for the emails everyone I really like reading them. I hope you have a good week
Love
Elder Bills
This was in response to some questions I asked him:
Okay I'll try and answer these the best I can.
1. What do you think is the most important thing Elder Welty has taught you:
Probably just little stuff that I didn't know before honestly. And he's mostly taught me that getting to know the members and having them help out is the best way to have success in a lot of things.
2. What is the funniest thing that happened this week?
So we got into a bash with this Pentacostal guy who was only like 20 years old. And he said he knows for a fact that the Trinity is right and the thought that God and Christ and the spirit are separate isn't. Well after he said that he said that God is perfect and has absolutely zero sin and he can't have sin and that Christ was perfect also just like Him except when he took our sins upon himself. Well after he said that Elder Welty looked at him and went "Wait, if God can't sin then how could he be Jesus Christ since he had our sins in Gethsemane?" And the guy just had this crazy mind blown face and was silent for awhile and he was totally just blown away because he'd never thought of it before. that was just funny to me hahaha I don't know why.
3. What's the weirdest thing you ate this week?
Um I ate a blueberry bagel...? I haven't eaten anything weird
4. What's the hardest thing that happened this week?
The hardest was that Carl didn't keep his commitment. He's a pill
5. Where will you be spending Easter?
I don't know. I'm gonna be out working most of the day but I'm sure I'll have dinner at a member's house