Things are looking up here!
We have had a great week finding, we started teaching 16 new people! It's always a struggle to stay in contact with people when you find a lot, but we're excited with the potential it brings! None of them came to church, but we did have two others come. I really am looking forward to having some new faces come with us! Wards get excited when they see missionaries bring new people to church - they're supportive and great! :)
Life is continuing to settle. It feels like things are going a million miles an hour with how many ways our attention is pulled, between finding more people so our area is productive, teaching, planning, studying and practicing lessons, helping other struggling missionaries, and keeping life together. It is all starting to improve, but there is still a lot to be done. :) The trickiest but most interesting part of life is that lots of things depend on other people and their choices. And, to other people, we are their "other people"!
We had an amazing experience this week teaching a man named G. who we found last week. He is from Jamaica and we met him at an indoor soccer field. We taught him on the sidelines about the restoration which really excited him. He desired to learn more and even said he would probably read in the Book of Mormon that night so he could see if it was true! :) We have a had a hard time getting back in contact with him, but we'll stop by this week and see him.
We met some amazing people this week, one with an autistic son, one family who were going to head to the hospital in an hour so the mom could get induced to have a baby, and others in different stages of life. We met two 19 year-olds who could really benefit from the message we share, a young couple who were disillusioned with religions proselytizing but realized we're regular people and could benefit their family, and even an older lady who has kids who are members of the church and had heard some false information. I have come to know that God really has a plan for us, and no matter what is going on in life, if we do what he asks, we can help others change their lives. This week wasn't all easy though. Yesterday Elder Powell and I invited 12 people to learn who said no, and tried to invite others who slammed doors or turned and walked away. One thing was in common with all those people. They had never heard the true message of the restored gospel and tried to find out for themselves if it was real.
I know for myself it is. I love to tell people we meet that as missionaries we are here to invite and to help. We don't force things on people. If you just listen to what we say, you'll never know if it's true. Rather, we invite you to find out for yourself, from God, if what we share is true. Listening to Him is a lot more reliable than two 20 year-olds you met on the street.
Hope you all have an great week!
Love, Elder Branch :)
