Amazing Week

So October is almost over... I'll be at 14 months in about 2 weeks. Time just keeps ticking.

So we've had an amazing week. This week we've set 4 baptism dates. One was an investigator who's been making progress, but been having a few issues (mostly drinking, but I don't think he's had a drink in a week). But we've just kept visiting him, and he finally set a date for the 24th on November. He's a guy I've built a really good relationship with.

 

The other 3 were people we use to teach, but then dropped us, then came back around. One is a 20 year old kid who after the 1st meeting didn't look promising at all. We called to set up another appointment and he said he wasn't ready to meet with missionaries. Over the course of 2-4 weeks, whatever it was, we got a call saying that he wanted to meet again. This time he was completely changed. Everything was the exact opposite what it was in the 1st meeting, and the change was amazing. He's been dating an LDS girl and I'm sure she had something to do with that. But he's not doing it for her, she leaves for a mission soon, I feel he's truly feeling it. But the change in him was the most amazing part of it all. Committed to baptism for the 24th of November.

 

The 3rd and 4th were referrals from the bishop. This family came in to get some help, and he invited them to meet with us and they agreed. So we tried to stop by for like, a month, but not response. They had some major health issues and it was never a good time. Just as I was ready to give up and stop trying to visit them, I had the prompting to give it one last shot. This time, we had a good visit and set up an appointment for the next day. They've both had a rough life, so we shared a message on the atonement and how Jesus Christ can help us with whatever problems we have. They said they wanted to do this and committed to baptism on the 24th of November. We're visiting them about twice a week at least and are taking them to the temple open house tomorrow night. They're not married yet, and they have a smoking problem, but those are minor issues.

 

The 24th should be a wet day for us as we say. We got 4 baptism lined up for that day. Gonna be busy, but gonna be good. Our area's just exploded this week. We're busy working with these 4 people, keeping them strong, keeping up on their commitments, getting them to church, etc. Constantly trying to find new people to teach, but we're pretty busy at the moment.

Nothing exciting for Halloween. I've been getting a costume made, I'm gonna be the Jack in the Box guy. Hopefully it's done now, been having a member make it, but I haven't heard back yet. There's a ward activity in one of our wards going on, stake president doesn't want any ward functions going on due to the temple open house, he doesn't want to detract from that, but some wards are some wards aren't doing that.

That's pretty much been this week. Been so busy and I've been so tired. That's why I haven't responded to any letters yet. I have them on my desk all ready to write, but 've just been so beat I've not been motivated to write them. Hopefully soon I'll find some energy = P

So... there's one last thing... I give you full permission to laugh or facepalm, or whatever you wanna do. There are some stories you don't write home about, but I think you'll get a kick outta this one... So for a district meeting and elder brought some nerf swords for an activity he was doing. After the meeting, we had a little fun. This elder and I (elder Nicholls from Zimbabwe) took turns bending over the car and whacking each other as hard as we could on the rump. Can you believe we we re the only ones who wanted to do this? No one else wanted to participate... We each got 2 good whacks on each other, and let me tell ya, those nerf swords hurt! For the rest of the day it hurt to sit. We sat on a couch for an hour long lesson and I had to stand up right quick afterwards it hurt pretty bad. Checked it out and I have a bruise a little bigger than a baseball sittin there on my rump. Friday and Saturday it hurt, Sunday it was feeling better, and now it doesn't hurt at all. IT was fun, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. But like I said, you can laugh if ya want, just thought you'd get a kick outta this story.

Take care everyone!

Elder Blomquist