Well! I"m super excited for my birthday XD' I'm gonna miss you guys for sure, but luckily I've got a really cool family, The Lopez family (my carnal ((Mexican slang for cuz))) who wants us to come over Sunday to celebrate! I'm super stoked for that and then on the 19th we're gonna have a sweet Noche de Hogar with a great family that's investigating!
So the week was killer. Starting Wednesday I got a new companion. Elder Jensen... Umm... He's... Ya know... THE GREATEST!!! Him and I are getting along so great. He's one of the most humble people I've met out here and he just cares about the work. Doesn't matter about other stupid small stuff, just as long as we're baptizing and helping others come unto Christ, we're good! And boy has it paid off! We had 7 people (2 families) to church yesterday! That's the most I've ever seen at church yet on my mission and its a great blessing.
A really cool thing happened. We had a family of 5 there but we knew that that wasn't all the Lord wanted there. We knew there was a family of 2 Kenya and Jenny that needed to come. So we prayed out in the hallway and about 5 minutes later they showed up RIGHT at the end of the first hour. It was amazing! Kenya and Jenny are sisters. They're SOLID and we're hoping Kenya will be baptized on the 24th, but she needs to pray more about it. Jenny on the other hand it was her first week and she fell in LOVE with the church! And it's nothing we did. There's a member here that's like 18 the same age as Jenny and her name is Brenda. SUPER solid member. So we just turned her over to Brenda and Brenda took care of her. Talk about a great ward huh? But is that all that the ward did? Nope! You bet not! They also took care of Kenya while she was here for her 2nd time. Victor (a recent convert) showed her all around and got her to all the classes that she needed to. What the MAN! And is that all? NO!!! We had that family of 5, the Hernandez family. It used to be that the four (mom 2 daughters and a son) were the only interested, but all of the sudden the dad and I just clicked and so we joked and he is coming. He was super chill and interested in it too! And the ward? Invited them to dinner right after, directed them to classes, took the girls to the right classes, invited them to a noche de hogar, offered rides, made sure they felt at home! That's a great ward right there! We couldn't do this alone, that's for sure! So the Hernandez family and Mendoza family are rock solid and hopefully most will be baptized October 1st or 8th. We're not sure when yet. They've all been to church twice except the dad and Jenny. SUPER cool!
A really cool thing happened. We had a family of 5 there but we knew that that wasn't all the Lord wanted there. We knew there was a family of 2 Kenya and Jenny that needed to come. So we prayed out in the hallway and about 5 minutes later they showed up RIGHT at the end of the first hour. It was amazing! Kenya and Jenny are sisters. They're SOLID and we're hoping Kenya will be baptized on the 24th, but she needs to pray more about it. Jenny on the other hand it was her first week and she fell in LOVE with the church! And it's nothing we did. There's a member here that's like 18 the same age as Jenny and her name is Brenda. SUPER solid member. So we just turned her over to Brenda and Brenda took care of her. Talk about a great ward huh? But is that all that the ward did? Nope! You bet not! They also took care of Kenya while she was here for her 2nd time. Victor (a recent convert) showed her all around and got her to all the classes that she needed to. What the MAN! And is that all? NO!!! We had that family of 5, the Hernandez family. It used to be that the four (mom 2 daughters and a son) were the only interested, but all of the sudden the dad and I just clicked and so we joked and he is coming. He was super chill and interested in it too! And the ward? Invited them to dinner right after, directed them to classes, took the girls to the right classes, invited them to a noche de hogar, offered rides, made sure they felt at home! That's a great ward right there! We couldn't do this alone, that's for sure! So the Hernandez family and Mendoza family are rock solid and hopefully most will be baptized October 1st or 8th. We're not sure when yet. They've all been to church twice except the dad and Jenny. SUPER cool!
Alrighty now onto the other parts of the week! So we went over to teach Kenya on Wednesday and turns out she LOVES soccer. And so do her 2, 17 year old cousins! Girls AND soccer? Let's just say the members didn't object. We had a great turn out that night of our single guys in the ward. Kenya and her family had a great time and met the great guys of the ward. They want to come next week too! Also we added as investigators Kenya's 2 cousins, Rosa and Esperanza! They're super cool! And Kenya told us since Rosa has been listening in she's changed and ROSA has noticed it! She told Kenya about how she's nicer and really wants to be an example to her friends and sisters. Umm, solid? YES!
The work is progressing and quickly. One thing I've learned is that WE have to keep up THEIR conversion. If we stop and get cocky and don't work as hard in finding or if we stop studying as hard and just think we've got baptisms, we're good, it becomes a numbers game and not something that's about eternal salvation. It's not about HOW many baptisms you helped with but HOW many truly converted people you helped come unto Christ. Having 100 baptisms is awesome! That's great and that's 100 more people that have mad that special covenant with God. But how many are active? How many still want the church? How many have the Priesthood? If we're not helping them get those great things and keep on that path, they're going to be held more responsible at the last day. They've made a HUGE covenant and if they don't continue, they're worse than before because they've made that step. President Lewis says our goal is to baptize many TRULY CONVERTED children of God. Not just baptize. I LOVE that because it helps me understand that if they aren't ready, we can't just baptize. So what if they only kept the word of wisdom for 6 days in stead of 7... It's only 1 day right? Wrong. The fact is they failed to keep a commitment. If they only endure for 99.9 percent of the time they're going to have a tough time repenting for that .1. None of us are perfect, but the rules are here for a reason. We MUST follow them with 100% obedience or as close as we can. We can save people through baptism or hurt them. I hope I never am in the situation where I hurt someone, that's for sure!
The work is progressing and quickly. One thing I've learned is that WE have to keep up THEIR conversion. If we stop and get cocky and don't work as hard in finding or if we stop studying as hard and just think we've got baptisms, we're good, it becomes a numbers game and not something that's about eternal salvation. It's not about HOW many baptisms you helped with but HOW many truly converted people you helped come unto Christ. Having 100 baptisms is awesome! That's great and that's 100 more people that have mad that special covenant with God. But how many are active? How many still want the church? How many have the Priesthood? If we're not helping them get those great things and keep on that path, they're going to be held more responsible at the last day. They've made a HUGE covenant and if they don't continue, they're worse than before because they've made that step. President Lewis says our goal is to baptize many TRULY CONVERTED children of God. Not just baptize. I LOVE that because it helps me understand that if they aren't ready, we can't just baptize. So what if they only kept the word of wisdom for 6 days in stead of 7... It's only 1 day right? Wrong. The fact is they failed to keep a commitment. If they only endure for 99.9 percent of the time they're going to have a tough time repenting for that .1. None of us are perfect, but the rules are here for a reason. We MUST follow them with 100% obedience or as close as we can. We can save people through baptism or hurt them. I hope I never am in the situation where I hurt someone, that's for sure!
Well, love yall!!!! Have a great week GO COUGS!!! BEAT THEM UTES :DDDDDD XD XD XD XD yeeeehaaaaw!
Love,
Elder Walker
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