Aug. 26, 2009

Hey everybody. How is everything going? I hope that everything is going good. Things have been going pretty good around here and a lot of things have been changing as well. But is sure is summer and the hottest month of the year is coming up next Month......September, it gives me chills. But things have been going really good. I am feeling a little sad right now because i am missing my last area a lot. I got transfered on Tuesday so i am now back in the big city and i really miss my last area. Maues was the best area that i served in. I am not going to lie, i cried a ton when i left. At church they let me bear my testimony to everyone in the front and i cried. I had to say good bye to a lot of people that i have grown to love. That are almost like family, i would have to say that i miss Carlas family the most. They are awesome! And they cried so much when i left too, when me and this other elder, elder teixeira left, everyone in the branch went to the airport to say goodbye. And the branch is so cool that they even gave my presents to give to Mom and Kaya. It was hard to have to leave them, but it seems like i am needed in some other place. My new area is pretty cool, it is called the City of God(Cidade de Deus). There is only one problem.......TONS of hills. I have met quiet a few of the members and they seem really cool and i think that i am going to like this area. I also live with the Zone Leaders and one of the Zone leaders who just barely got called to be Zone leader is my old companion from the MTC Elder Mills. So i am now sleeping in the same room as him once again and it has been really cool. But when we arived yesterday i was priviledge to see the dirtiest house in the mission. We spent almost the entire day today scrubbing the entire house. I was on my hands and knees scrubbing the floor because it was so dirty. We also renewed our visas today and that took up half of the day. But we had a pretty good day. We had the devotional last week also on Saturday and it turned out awesome. The spirit was there so strong the entire time. The members thanked us and said that it was really good. And it seemed to help them out, because for the first time in a really long time. I think since i got there the Elders President went visiting and it was really good. We as had Princesas Baptism and it went really good. I was able to baptize and it went really well. I really will miss that area a lot. But what can i do, some day i will be able to go there again. I hope that that day will be here in 7 months when i finish my mission.......hint.......hint.But i really dont have anymore time to be able to write you guys. My new companions name is Elder Cook from Fort Collins, Colorado. He is pretty cool and i think that things are going to go prety good this transfer. We already have a family that is going to get married and baptized on the 24th of September. But yeah i hope that all is well and that things can start getting better for everyone. I love you all and i will talk to you all next week. Sorry that my letter wasnt very long, but i didnt have a lot of time today to be able to tell you all about everything that has gone on. I love you all and MOM......stop crying about me being gone. I will home in 7 months. It is coming up really fast. Until next week! With all the love in the world from the white gangsta and the man of the streets.......
ELDER JORY B SPOTTS

Aug. 19, 2009

Good Morning!!! I hope that all is well. I hope that things are able to cool down for you all. This letter might be a little short because i am not exactly sure what to write but i will do my best to fill you all in. But things have been getting better and worse at the same time. We are going to have a baptism on Saturday and we are also going to have that devotional that i was telling you all about. Which is going to be awesome. Things have been slow but they keep going. Nothing new has really been going on. We just keep doing the same things everyday...Sleep, study, work, sleep, and everything all over again. I am hoping to leave this area soon. I really like the members and everything but i feel like i am ready to move on. But right now we are working with a few people that are progressing pretty well. A few investigators have baptismal dates already marked and things are looking pretty good in that area. But we are now trying to find some new people to teach so that when these people get baptized we have some other people ready to be baptized right afterwards. Saturday we will baptize Carla´s cousin that has been progressing really well and is really cool. Her name is Vanilsa but everyone calls her Princesa(Princess).We are teaching on investigator that has been having trouble believing that the church is true but she does everything that we ask her. So we decided to try and teach her the first lesson again and we did with a little bit of a twist. We decided to read Joseph Smith History with her to help her understand the story better from Joseph Smith´s point of veiw and it turned out to be a pretty good lesson. It was actually my companion´s idea to use Joseph Smith History and it turned out to help a lot. But i am still not sure if it will help her see the truth. But we will have to see we are going to go back to her house on Friday i think. But yeah.....that is about all that i have to say about this week. I know that it wasnt much, but i really dont have anything to say. I am really not having a good day today. I really need your guys prays. I am struggling to be a good trainer and a good companion. My companion and i are having some problems and i dont know what to do. You all know how i am.....a little prideful. So pray for me to be able to learn to be more humble. And to have a little bit of patience as well. I love you all and i thank you so much for everything that you have all have done, or are going, or that you will do to help me out. i love you grandma and grandpa norton and i miss you guys and you are always in my prayers. I love you all and hope that everything is going for everyone. Mom, i am glad to hear that Juanita is going to serve a mission. You will have to congradulate her on her calling and send a good luck from me. And tell her that i said that it is going to be an amazing experience that she will love. I hope that all is going for you mom and just keep saving dont give up now. I have already been telling everyone that you are going to come. Just have faith and keep saving. Keep going your best and everything will work out. i really want you to come and meet all the people that i have taught and met. You will love the experience. Just keep working at it. DON`T GIVE UP!!!! And tell kaya that she is never going to figure it out. the only way that she will figure it out is if she asks and i tell her. But transfers are coming up and i dont know how it is going to end up. We will find out what happens on Saturday. But i have a feeling i am going to stay here for atleast one more transfer. But everything is in the Lord´s hands. I love you all and i hope that everything calms down a little bit at home. Give hugs to grandma and grandpa norton and to grandma roberts for me as well. And i think that Grandma Roberts birthday is coming up next week so i will try to send her a letter but i am not sure if it will arrive on time. So buy her a birthday card and then Put this message inside it. Dear Grandma,It seems like you are starting to get pretty old. I have already lost count on my fingers. But i hope that you know that i love you and that i miss you. And i hope that you have a fantastic birthday. I am going to try and write you a letter soon. But Happy Birthday!!!!!! I love you Grandma!Your pain in the rear grandson, Elder Jory Brent SpottsBut i love you mom and just hand in there and keep going. Try not to get discouraged. Everything has a time and everything will work out.
With Love,Elder Spotts

Aug. 12,2009

Well........One more week has gone by......A few more struggles and a few more experiences. The mission isn’t easy. A lot of things happen that you wish wouldn’t, and a lot of things dont happen that you wish would happen. It has been really difficult in this area and especially this transfer. I haven’t been able to baptize in over a month and that is a very discouraging thing at times, because missionaries have the tendency of looking at their baptisms as a success mark. Which really isn’t the mark of success. And we end up comparing ourselves with other elders that are having a lot more success. But I am struggling and trying to get through it.We have been having a little bit of trouble with the branch here. The members are becoming very unexcited and I don’t understand it. We work so hard and have been doing our best to help the branch but a few things have been happening and the members are becoming very unexcited and the attendance at church has been very low. So this Monday we sat as a district and decided to chat about what we could do to help the members. Because I haven’t been having a lot of success with the non-members, so I figured that I should try and do something to strengthen the branch. So we decided to start planning a devotional that we are going to have next week. We are going to try and mark a slide show and talk about the church and the history of the church and how it all started. Because I don’t think that very many of the members understand what the early saints went through to be able to have the gospel. So we are going to try and help them understand that they are the pioneers of this city and this branch and that what they do today will have an effect on the future of the church and the gospel in this city. So we have been working on that are hoping that it will help them get a little excited about the gospel and the work. But that is a work in progress. So you will hear more about that a little later.We had a pretty interesting week. It has been really hot lately so the work has been very tiresome but we keep at it every day. We were able to start teaching a bunch of people and we are also in the process of stopping to teach a few people. Trying to find the people that are waiting and have been prepared for the gospel isn’t an easy task. It is actually the hardest part of the work, because you have to be rejected so many times to be accepted once. But we are teaching a few new investigators and one family of old investigators that once again didn’t go to church to they cannot be baptized this week. But I got some ideas from my Zone Leader to help them. Because they do everything that we ask but it is hard for him to go to church because he plays soccer on a team and almost all the games are on Sunday. But we are going to see what we can do to help them out. The struggles continue as a trainer as well. I am in the process of teaching him how to plan and all those things and I am going to let him be the senior companion on Thursday so he will plan everything and do all those things. You know how it is mom; you have already down it once. But it is just so hard to try and teach someone to do all these things when you yourself aren’t even sure that you know what you are doing. I am still having trouble in the lessons because I don’t think that the investigators are understanding what he is teaching and I don’t feel the spirit in the lessons like I did with my last companion because my last companion and I taught so well together. We flowed so well together, but I don’t have the same thing with my son. I just hope that it ends soon and I don’t have to do it again. But yeah, I feeling like president is going to leave me here for at least one more transfer so we will have to see how things continue. But yeah………That is just about all that I can think of right now, I don’t know what else to write. But that is really what has been going on. I am struggling right now so I really need your prayers right now. But I love you all and I hope that everything continues to go well. I am still in the dark with what is all happening with Grandma and Grandpa Norton. I got a letter from them that says that Grandpa is going through chemotherapy but nobody is telling me anything and I would really like to know what is going on. But yeah tell them that I love them and I miss them and that they are in my prayers. I am really thankful for all that they have been doing to help me while I have been on the mission. But I love you all and I hope that all is well. Mom, keep strong and always remember that somewhere in the world there is someone that is struggling more than you. But we are both in the same boat, I feel inadequate. I don’t feel like I am qualified to be doing what I am doing. But God loves you and so do I. the storm will pass soon and the winds will calm and the sun will shine. And will how have things been going? How is the family? How is work? How has the weather been? What are you guys doing to start and prepare for winter? Man do I miss the snow!!!! Kaya, stay out of trouble and be careful. Logan might be an awesome guy and might treat you right and might really care about you. But you have got to think of your eternal future. Is he going to take you to the Temple? Is he going to take you to the Celestial Kingdom? Encourage him to go to church and prepare to be able to do that for you. I love you and I want the best for you. And as for the music……..I wrote it for a girl. Why do you want to know? And yes you know this girl? She has been writing me on the mission and is an amazing girl. And no she doesn’t know that I wrote that music for her. But she does know that I like her. But anyways……….if you give me a good enough reason to tell her name I will tell you, but it has got to be a really good reason. But I love you guys and I will talk to you all next week. Pray for me and I will pray for you all. Have a great week!With all the Love in the World,
Elder Jory Brent Spotts

Aug 8,2009

Well.....Hope that you all had a good week this week. I am sorry that I wasn’t able to write a good letter to you guys last week. But I was in a hurry and I really didn’t have time to write a letter. We actually almost missed the boat so if I would have sent you a letter I wouldn’t have made it back to my area on time. But I am now here and things are going pretty good. But quite a few things have gone on since that last good letter you all received. But things have cooled down and are a lot better. Zone conference was really good. We received a few trainings from President and the Assistants and it was really good. We learned about how we need to find more new investigators through the members and our own efforts. They talked a lot about doing contacts in the streets and President has now made a new goal for all of the missionaries. He wants us to do at least 25 contacts every week. Which probably doesn’t seem like that much, but for our mission it is. So I now have to try and accomplish this every week as well and I am not very good at that, because we have a ton of people to teach. And tons of things to do and now president is asking for more. But I will have to see I am not able to do so. But the best part about the Conference was the last talk that one of the assistants gave. He talked about the value of time. And it really got me to thinking….I only have eight months left. It seems like yesterday I arrived on the mission and all this time has already passed by. I felt like I am running out of time and really need to do the best that I can to be able to finish off with my head held high knowing that I did all that I could. But yeah….the conference was great!After the conference Elder Milkanin, Elder Teixeira, Elder Oxborrow (my son), and I snuck off and we took the bus to my last area where Elder Milkanin and I served together and we went to visit some of the people that we met there and everything. And it was awesome. We visited a few members that we learned to love in the area and we also went to visit João and Franciane, the amazing family that I was able to teach and baptized. And when I knocked on the door he came to the door all surprised and let me in and I was able to chat with them and take some pictures. It was really good, I really enjoyed be able to see them. And they are doing really good, they are firm in the church still and João got his first calling in the church the Sunday before I passed by. He is going to be the first or second counselor in the Sunday school. But I can’t remember exactly which one it is. But I really enjoyed visiting our last area. We should up at one ladies house and we scared her and she started crying because she was so happy to see us and I couldn’t help it. She had done so much to help us so we both gave her a hug. I know that it was breaking rules, but she deserved the hug for all the she does for the missionaries. We also tried going to the center of the city to buy some things that they don’t have here but I weren’t able to because of the traffic, which is why we almost lost the boat. So we went but to the mission office and we packed up and we left. But it was a good trip and I really enjoyed it. The only part that sucked was the boat ride, because it is a 25 hour trip. It was rough and you know that I am not exactly a real patient person so I didn’t really love the boat ride. But the moon was gorgeous and so were the stars, so we stayed on top story on the boat the entire night. And the boat was packed so I ended up practically sleeping in the same hammock as an old lady because she decided to put her hammock so close to mine. I got a little upset with that and thought about talking one side of her hammock of and letting her fall on the floor while she was sleeping. But I thought that might be a little rude, so I didn’t. But yeah after a huge trip on the boat we made it back into the city.And that is when the work started again and everything was awesome until we started finding out that some of the members starting talking bad a bout us and saying that we are in love with Carla and her sisters and planning on returning to marry them. This really pissed me off. They have a little problem in the branch with gossip and well somebody started this rumor up and so we passed a good week trying to fix that problem and on Sunday we were able to, but we lost a couple of investigators because of it. Carla´s parents no longer want to go to church because all the young women are saying all the things. And Carla’s mom told me it would be better if I don’t pass by her house anymore. So I can’t even teach her daughters anymore at their house, I have to teach them at their grandma´s house. It just caused a ton of problems. But yeah……it sucked and I was super pissed off at the branch for a few days before I was able to talk with the branch president and it seems like we are going to be able to get it under control. But we are looking to have a baptism next week if everything goes the way it is planned. We have been teaching a family for a while and they have been progressing but they just have a problem with going to church so if they go to church on Sunday we are going to baptize them but if they don’t then I won´t baptize them. Because I didn’t come on the mission to baptize people that are not doing to stay strong. We also have a couple of other people that are progressing and I am hoping to be able to mark their baptismal dates here pretty soon. But we will have to see how their progress goes.We saw a dead monkey yesterday and training is still the hardest thing that I have done on the mission. He struggles a lot with the language and I have to teach everything and do everything. I have been hoping that this is the first and last time that I train someone because I have no idea how to train and I feel like a chicken trying to swim. I have no idea how to do it and I wasn’t made to do it. So I am trying to do the best that I can, but I think that I am going to drown here pretty soon. But with the help of the Lord I just hope that my son can at least learn something from me. So pray for him if you can. But that is about all that as been going on; I hope that this letter makes up for last weeks. But I love you all and I hope that everyone has a great week. But I as able to have a little bit of a cool experience this past week. My companion and I gave a blessing to a really sick lady and after two days she said that she is feeling ton better. She had a huge pain in her stomach for the longest time, but said that she is finally starting to feel better after the blessing that we gave her and we are now teaching her and it is going pretty good with her.And mom…….as for the day that I am set to go home……..let my call the secretary and I will tell here in a second…………..I called the secretary and he isn’t a hundred percent sure yet because it hasn’t been planned yet, but I did the math and looked at the calendar and it looks like my last day on the mission will be the 23rd of March. So you could plan on arriving one day before or on the same day. It is up to you or sometime around there. And I loved the idea of Camille coming too. That would be awesome and what about Juston, how are things looking for him to be able to come as well. And I will be waiting your package with my glasses and the ensign and the goodies. And I never got that package yet, I think that it must be a different one, but I have no idea who it is from. Because I did receive one from you with my shorts and the jump rope and guess what? I am starting to lose a ton of weight last night I was looking to in the mirror and I saw my six pack for the first time in two years. Which is awesome! But I love you and I hope that Steven can get better, he is in my prayers and I tell him that I love him and have Camille give him a hug and a kiss on the forehead for me. I love you him and I hope that he can start feeling better soon. Give Kaya a hug for me and tell her that I love her and I miss you as well. And say hi to the ward for me, I love you and I miss you tons. Sorry I didn’t have any cool stories, but we are kinda low on those right now. But I love you and I will talk to you next week. LOVE YA!!!!With Love, Elder Jory B. Spotts

July 22, 2009

Olá, eu espero que todo mundo esteja bem. Tivemos mais uma semana de trabalho, mas não foi uma semana tão boa. Mas estamos trabalhando e tentando fazer nosso melhor, mas eu sinto muito saudade de todo mundo. E não ajuda quando ouço que todo mundo está viajando e se divertindo sem mim. Well there is a little bit of Portuguese for you guys, but I will now in English so that you can all understand what I am saying. So this last week hasn’t been a really exciting week, it has actually been a difficult week. But we are making the best out of what we are given and we are trying to keep our heads up. I really don’t even know where to start. But let me think of what I can tell you all that is going on. We have been working a ton and really staying busy, but I am not going to lie. It doesn’t seem like things are going our way. We have been teaching a bunch but we aren’t having any amazing experiences. And being a trainer isn’t the easiest thing to do on the mission. You have to have a lot patience to be a good trainer. And I know that everyone at home knows that I am not the most patient person and I get frustrated quiet easily. So I am thinking that I have been called to be a trainer so that I can develop patience or at least try and develop it. My companion doesn’t know really how to do anything; he is trying to learn everything right now. He is just starting to get the hang of things and I have to do almost everything alone. It is just something that I am not used to doing. I am used to having somebody by my side that knows how everything works and supports me and helps me. But I am now trying to teach almost all the lessons alone and it is difficult, but I am learning and slowing trying to teach my companion. So with patience and a little bit of time things will start to get better. But I am being a little tested right now and am learning. I got sick on Thursday last week as well, but mom nothing to worry about, it is just a cold. I have been coughing; I have a sore throat, a stuffy nose, and at times a runny nose. And I have and a headache for the past few days. So that puts a little bit more stress on me. And I have been really exhausted lately because of the work and the sickness. But yesterday I was able to rest a little bit, because Elder Teixeira, he lives with me, decided to put his hand in the fan and it cut his hand all up. So we had got to the hospital and my companion with Elder Milkanin because they had appointments. So we went to the hospital and decided to return home and wait the other elders and I took a nap that I needed. And then I started feeling a lot better and am starting to feel a little bit better.And you will never believe what happened on Saturday, we went to this guy’s house and he was drunk. But he wanted to talk with us so we entered and I had no idea what to teach the guy because he was drunk. So I just asked him if we could start with a pray and I said the prayer, at least I think I said the prayer. But anyways during the prayer I felt like I should teach the word of wisdom, so I did. But the drunk didn’t like to be told that he shouldn’t drink. So he told me that God governs his life and I was going to tell him that God does govern his life and that God is telling him to stop drinking but he didn’t give me the chance. He threw us out of his house. On my son´s third day he got thrown out of a house and it was the first time for the two of us. But I have already been here for almost 1 year and 4 months and he has only been here for a few days. So it was an interesting experience for us both. But on Sunday we had a few great investigators go to church, we were able to take 9 people to church which is good. And I also got invited to visit the Seventh Day Adventist church so we are going to go to another church on Saturday morning just to see how false this ladies church is. But we have a few investigators that are progressing and will be baptized on the third of next month, or next week. We also found out the Carla´s parents believe that we are anti-Christ because she prefers to believe all the crap that she hears from everyone. But there is nothing that I can do, we will continue to pass by there because of the girls but I don’t think that I am going to teach he parents anymore because I am tired of looking at her face. But I love her and I hope that some other elders can pass by there in the future and help her feel the truth, because I have tried everything. But that was about the summary of our week. It was a difficult but interesting week. Hopefully this week will be a little bit better. But I hope that everyone is doing well. I am shocked to hear that Whitney has a kid……when I left she was single…..and now she has a family. It is just really weird for me to have to see things changing without being a part of it all. But the next time that you see her, give her a hug for me and tell her that I love her and tell her congrats as well. If possible, visit Adam for me and tell him that he is in my prayers and that I love him. I feel bad that he has to go through this; I wish that I could take the suffering away from him. But it is good that he is repentant and is willing to change his life. But give Grandma Norton and Roberts a hug for me and send a hug to Camille and Becky as well. I am way jealous that you get to spend time with them. I sure do miss them and love them too. But I will let you go and I will stop talking, but I love you mom and I miss you………..8 more months and I am going to give you the biggest hug a kiss ever. I love you tons mom. Send Kaya a hug and tell her to stay out of trouble. Love you ALL!!!!! Until next week.
With All the Love in the World,Elder Jory Brent Spotts

July 15, 2009

Hey! How is everyone doing this week? I hope that everything is going well. It sure does sound like everyone is doing well. And so am i…things have been going pretty good here. We have been having some success and things have also been a little slow at the same time. But not a whole lot is going different. We had a pretty normal week this week. But let me fill you all in on everything. The assistants decided to come and visit us and work with us a little bit this week, so we worked with them for half of the week. Which was pretty cool. On Thursday we went to the jungle and we helped one of the members out. He just got down buying some land so we went to the land that he bought and we cleaned it up a little. We cleaned the house and we painted it and we cut the weeds in the front and we just cleaned up the yard a little bit. We actually ended up staying there almost the entire day. We even did some exploring in the jungle it was way rad. We cut down a bunch of bananas and we ate a ton of coconut and we had a blast. I was hoping to send some pictures but they are on my camera and I can’t take them off yet. But I will try and send some pictures some time soon. And I also forgot to tell you about some things that I ate these past few days. I ate Rocky Mountain Oysters, alligator, and cow tail. But I would have to say that alligator is the best out of the three. I actually think that alligator is one of the best meats that I have eaten in my life. I really liked it a lot; I even ate a ton of it…things that only happen in the Brazil Manaus Mission.And on Friday I had the best teaching day of the entire mission, I don’t know how…..but I managed to teach 13 lessons in one day. And usually I struggle to teach 5 or 6. I was also able to teach a few people that were really interested in our message. And one of my investigators said that he wants to be baptized and so does his wife. But they have to get married first, so we will have to help them out with that. But the work has been going good. I hope that it can keep going as good as it has.On Saturday we had three baptisms and the ward had two baptisms. Jessica, Jane Kelly, and Alzicleide we all baptized. They are Carla´s sisters and cousin. It was an awesome baptismal service; the only problem was that during the day some time the church ran out of water so the font didn’t fill up all the way. But we managed to get a hose and we pumped water from outside into the font so everything went great. The only problems with Carla’s family now are the parents. Apparently Carla´s testimony wasn’t enough. The parents have now started looking at the internet sites that talk bad about the church. So I am going to have some problems pretty soon, but hopefully sometime the mother will be touched by the spirit a little bit stronger. But I am not too worried because the girls have been showing a great example to their mother, they have been going to seminary and everything is going great with them. So I am excited about their progress and am a little bit worried about the parents.And well as of Saturday I also found out the Elder A. Oliveira wasn’t going to be my companion anymore. He got transferred on Monday and my new companion´s name is Elder Oxborrow, he is from Vegas and he just barely arrived from the MTC. I am his first companion and that means that I am training. I have now received the greatest responsibility that there is as a missionary, trainer. I am really nervous for that but I am also excited, it will be a new experience. But it is also going to be very difficult, because he doesn’t know anything; he only speaks a little bit of Portuguese. So I really need your prayers, so pray for me.But that is just about all that has been going on lately. My new companion arrived today and well that is just about it. But I am glad to hear that you were given the time off to be able to come and get me and I hope that Juston is able to come as well. I really wanted him to come too, because he really needs it. I just hope that he will be able to come, but we will see how everything turns out. And I am also glad to hear that Kaya is back with you, it sounds like she had a bunch of fun with Dad and his family in Alaska, but I hope that everything is going good for you guys and that you guys have a great trip to Blanding. Take some pictures and send them to me. Oh, and that reminds me that I need you to send me some things. My glasses broke and I think that I might need a new pair, I also wanted a copy of the May Ensign because I wasn’t able to get that from the Mission Office and they already ran out. But I think that is all that I need, but I hope that everything is going good and I wanted to tell you guys that I love you and I hope that everything goes great for you guys. Everything is awesome here; I am really enjoying the mission a lot more now. I love you and I miss you!
With Love, Elder Spotts
PS-Sorry this letter wasn´t as good as the last

July 8, 2009

Well, one more week has gone by and things are going pretty good. We had a pretty good week this week. We received some pretty good blessings but we also had some difficult days. And right about now I am trying to remember just exactly what happened this week. But what I can remember was that it was a pretty good week. But I hope that everyone doing good. It seems like everyone had a great pretty good Fourth of July. I wish that I could have been there with you all but it isn’t exactly an option as a missionary. But I think that I did have a pretty good Fourth, Elder Milkanin and I sang the National Anthem which is just about all that we can do to celebrate. But yeah….on to the news of the weekThis week we started teaching a new investigator, Brisola. He is a young man that is really interested in the gospel and believes that the church is true. He went to church with us and is progressing really well and is wanting to join the church. So we are going to continue to work with him and see if we cant mark is baptismal date here pretty soon. The only problem is that he lives with his girl friend and she is pregnant so they will have to get married if he wants to be baptized. But things have been going great with him.We did have a great week with Carla´s family. They are starting to make more progress. Alzenira, the mother, really liked the message about the family and then on Sunday we decided to follow the guidance of our president. I received an email from president on Wednesday last week and he recommended that we read the Book of Mormon with them and pray about the Book of Mormon with them. The lesson actually started out horrible with them saying a bunch of ridiculous crap about the church and spirit wasn’t there. We answered their questions and stupid comments about the Book of Mormon. But it wasn’t helping because the spirit wasn’t there. But out of no where I don’t even remember what my companion said, but he said something and when we said it the spirit entered into the room. We testified about the Book of Mormon and with the spirit still in the room I asked Sildo, the father, to offer a prayer and asked God if the Book of Mormon is true. He did as I asked and the spirit was so strong. Even I received another answer that the Book of Mormon is true. I actually have never felt the spirit testify to me so strong about the BOM. After the prayer the girls were crying and I know that they felt and so do they. It was an amazing experience. But the parents didn’t feel anything. I even asked them if they were going to go to church and they said I don’t know. But the girls said yes. After the lesson we went home to grab some things for church. And we went to church. We passed a few houses first to grab some people but no one wanted to come with us. And when we arrived the Carla´s parents hadn’t arrived yet. So I figured they weren’t going to come but they did after the first hour. And well as it was fast and testimony meeting everyone bore their testimonies. I went up and I bore my testimony about the mission and how I have never felt so much joy in my life and sadness at the same time because of the people that accept and reject the gospel. And afterwards I sat down next to Alzenira and she turned to me and asked me if I feel sad after leaving their house sometimes and I told her yes. And I bore my testimony again to just her and after I got done talking with her, her daughter, Carla, got up to bear her testimony. And while Carla was talking, her mother started to cry. Her mother for the first time was touched by the spirit. It was awesome. We went back to their house last night to have her mother sign the paper for the girls to be baptized because the girls want to be baptized. Her mother said that she isn’t sure if the church is true. But she has a lot more of an interest in learning about the church she asked for the Church´s internet site and she even kept one of the Baptismal Papers and signed it. After signing it she looked at me and said I am going to keep this one. So that when I get baptized it is already signed. So she admitted that one day she will get baptized. So things have been going well. The girls will get baptized on Saturday and sometime in the future that parents will as well. Things have been going great. After she signed the papers my companion and I stayed there just talking with her for the longest time. And it was an awesome talk. I have to thank my Father in Heaven for touching her heart. After trying for so long He finally succeeded and I am receiving the blessings.I also had the opportunity to teach a little bit of the gospel in English. For the first time in forever, and boy was that hard. It has been forever since the last time that I spoke English to an American and I struggled A LOT. We ran into the American from Kansas on Monday night outside the house of a member waiting for our family night to start. And he told me that he was on a mission and he just wanted to argue with me but I didn’t let him. I just chatted with him and then started to teach after he said what he wanted. I struggled but was able to teach a little bit of the gospel in English. And it was a little bit interesting. He said a lot of truth as he talked with me, but he was missing a lot of the truth as well. Where just a lot of holes in what he taught, missing a lot of the truth. He believes that he are saved by the grace of Jesus Christ, which is true. But he doesn’t understand that we are saved by His grace after ALL that we can do. But I didn’t want to argue with him, I know that it was just going to cause problems. So I didn’t say anything about that. Just bore my testimony about Jesus Christ. But things have been going really well.We are also having some great success with the guy on the bike´s, Rosemir´s, family. The last time I was at their house I felt like I needed to invite them to be baptized, so I did and everyone accepted. So they are going to be baptized on the 25th of this month. They have been progressing pretty well. Even a member that has been helping us with them went to their house and had a family night with them without even warning us. But it turned out to help a ton. Things have been started to go a little bit better here. But that could change at any second. Because not everything is going perfect, the branch hasn’t been helping us very much and we have been having problems with the leaders. They just like to tell us what to do and just wait for us to break a little rule to judge us and criticize us. They worry way to much about what we do and not enough about the branch. But we are trying to work things out with them. But yeah things have been going good. I don’t really have time to go into details of the problems. But it has been difficult.But I hope that everything is going good for you mom. I sure do miss you and I wish that I could have been with you on the Fourth. But next year I will be there. And it sounds like Kaya will be coming home pretty soon so you won´t be alone any more. But I enjoyed you letter and the pictures. The city looks gorgeous and so does timpanogas. My companion enjoyed the pics too. But I love you and I miss you and just try and send the memory card when you can. I love you and I will talk to you next week. And send Melissa Louder a hug for me.
Thanks love you mom and send everyone else hugs as well.