Monday, September 30, 2013

October is looking mighty fine... ;)

My companion's recent convert has got us 2 referrals, he's determined to baptized everyone he works with. Haha, we taught his young friend, W last week. Hes really quiet and shy and we made the mistake of not making sure he understood what prophets was. So I'm pretty sure he didn't hear anything else we said because he was stuck on prophets so when we shared the first vision he was like wait whos Joseph Smith? Whats a prophet? FAIL. Live and learn haha we'll clear it up tonight.
 
We ate sushi with R and he started scaring me. He told us he needed to tell us something but we would be mad. He made us pray first so we would be more calm... haha So he told us that he's not getting baptized.... but then said he was kidding. And then told us he went with his friend to a Jehovah's Witness church, and he hadn't been to our church in 2 weeks. :/ He said he told his friend he's happy where he is and he still wants to be baptized. So that's good! He hasn't smoked in 6 days but he's still struggling with coffee. We bought him some fake coffee I guess Utah Mormons use, but he said it'll still take some getting used to. Then he canceled our appointment later that night. I worry about him so much. I just know how hard Satan works the weeks before someone's baptism and I just can't let him fall. He's come to far and I've come so far with him. Both of my companions wanted to give up on because we could never get appointments with him but something was tugging on my heart not to let him go. He's grown so much since the day he chased us down for a Book of Mormon almost 5 months ago. I've been able to witness the changes in his life and how different he is, how much closer he is to the Savior. Sometimes I just watch him interact with others and I can see in him the light of Christ, I can see him doing the things Christ would do. He's not afraid to help people or share the gospel. He truly is becoming like his Savior.
I know that the years I had been preparing for a mission, God was preparing R to hear the message I would share with him. R was born Catholic, was Atheist, and recently developed a faith in Christ when he found us. I was the one to help him strengthen his faith and now he's just 3 weeks from baptism. I know I was sent here for him, Heavenly Father has kept me in this area for 5 transfers because of him and I'm doing everything I can to help him stay converted to the gospel.
We finished teaching him all the lessons and now we're just helping him overcome his doubts and fears. 3 more weeks! We fasted with him friday-Saturday to help him stop drinking coffee.
 
We finally had a lesson with E. We haven't been able to see her for like 2 weeks since we set her baptismal date. I was so worried that she would have changed her mind but she didnt! She has been keeping all her commitments but I know Satan has a lot of temptations to throw in her path. We have two more lessons and she'll be interviewed for her baptism this weekend and baptized the following. I love her so much! She is pretty much a dry-mormon, she goes to church faithfully without us bugging her about it. She reads and prays with her 3 girls every night, we just had to show her a lot of love and patience to build her confidence to overcome her problems. We fasted with her Saturday-Sunday for the health of her little girl. It was the first time she's fasted because she's heard a lot of different things about fasting from other religions. Yes, my companion and I fast one day, ate dinner with Reyes, and then started another fast. Not the healthiest thing in the world but hey, im willing to do anything to help these two amazing people!
 
Friday night the other sisters investigators, K, was baptized. Instead of watching videos or something while they are changing into dry clothes, our mission president has asked the missionaries to use that time to teach because that brings the spirit stronger than anything else. We were asked to teach during this time and i was so nervous. Im fine teaching in Spanish but i get nervous in front of a lot of people because... well, my Spanish isn't THAT good. Needless to say, I prayed a lot. I prayed for the gift of tongues, I prayed that the Lord would guide my lips to say what I needed to say, I prayed that the Spirit would testify to the people there, through me. And God answered my prayers. Although still a little nervous, my companion and I went to the front and began teaching. I was amazed at how fluent I was and I literally felt the Lord guiding my mouth. I know it wasn't me because I was saying things I had never even thought to say before, things Ive never said before, and the looks on the peoples faces confirmed that they felt the Spirit. One of the best experiences Ive had with the language so far on my mission. And afterwards, a little girl came to me and said "Hermana Gutknecht! Your pronuncation in Spanish is so good now! You don't have an American accent anymore!" hahaha gracias a Dios!
 
We have assignments to find less active people for Bishop so we can find out if they moved or not. We went to one house and no one was home. Hermana Moffit felt impressed that we should stay. So we sat in the car for a few more minutes when a truck pulled up! After he went inside we went to knock on the door (yes missionaries are professional stalkers) and the guy named F answered. He gave us some info about the member we were looking for and I felt impressed to invite him to listen to our message. He said yes I would love to! YEAHHH! We took down his info and we asked if there was anything else we could do for him and he said "how bout a handshake" haha we're teaching him tonight!
 
Sunday... oh Sunday. On the way to church it was bright and sunny, we had the windows down, listening to MoTab.. and I just had the thought, "today is going to be a great day." And it was! Three of our investigators were at church, one old investigator that we had dropped, a less active recent convert, AND a referral we've been trying to find for 6 MONTHS!!!!!!!!!! So F, we've had his name and address for months and it says "GOLDEN. Anxiously waiting for missionaries. FIND HIM! GOLDEN!!!" So obviously we couldn't just throw it away! So we've tried on and off for the past few months. Hna Moffit have tried every week since we've been together- Heavenly Father rewards diligence and persistence. F showed up at the church on Saturday looking for service times, our Ward Mission Leader happened to be there and told him all the information. Sunday morning we were sitting in the foyer making phone calls when the Elders come to us super excited rambling about some guy who showed up to church who's in our area. We met him, asked his name and when he said F, hna Moffitt and I just turned and looked at each other. I asked him if he lived in the apt complex of the guy we've been trying and he said YES! We told him we've been trying to find him but so happy he found us! A member shook his hand and asked if he was a member he said no and they said oh, but you will be right? He said yes! hahaha He stayed for all three hours and loved it. R made friends with him and showed him around. He's coming to watch General Conference this weekend! I can't wait to teach him! He's so cool! R asked us who he was and we told him and he said he must be good, he came to church in a suit! :p
 
MISSIONARY WORK! MISSIONARY WORK! LA OBRA MISIONAL ES LO MEJOR! :D Escondido... la tierra de los milagros!
 

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