Great to be writing yet again! It is just not even funny how time is flying by now a days! Good to know that nothing really is happening over there... at least there are no troubles!
Well for me there has been a lot going on. First of all we had a baptism this past week, Ana Maria was as ready as ever to take the step of baptism! It was a great service full of members willingly giving of their love and support. The sad thing was her sister Mabel couldn't be there because she had to go to Bogota to get ready for a job she will be taking overseas. The Spirit was really thick after the baptism, it is something that is somewhat ineffable. I can't find the words to describe how a missionary feels when the people he teaches accepts the first ordinance and covenant of the Gospel. You are with them when they first start to recognize the Spirit, when they pass through the difficulties that always seem to arise, until finally they are ready to start their way to eternal life. It makes all the blood sweat and tears worth it!
We have also been trying to help the zone this past week with a bunch of trainings and divisions trying to raise the vision of the missionaries. This week we really focused on finding quality investigators to share the Gospel with. We shared a few ideas about working with members and showing that the key of achieving true conversion with more people is helping the members understand their role in missionary work and guiding them through what they need to do. It actually worked out because the number of referrals received and contacted went up! This week we are planning to do the same type of thing but with getting the investigators to come to church! Should be a lot of fun!
I would like to share a quick a experience I had this week! I was proselyting in my area on a division last Thursday and we were teaching one of our progressing investigators and we noticed there was 2 people we hadn't before seen. We began talking to them and found out they were the mother and sister of José our investigator. We introduced ourselves and invited them to join in the lesson. They immediately (and somewhat smugly) told us that they were devoted and committed in another church. We said we just wanted to share a message about Christ that would strengthen their faith in Him and somehow we got them to stay.
It was almost awkward how uninterested they were in listening to us. I had a thought come into my head that we should just share something on faith and get outta there... but then came to my mind a quote from Preach My Gospel (PMG) that says something like have faith that the Spirit will testify of the truth of the message of the Restoration to all who will listen to it. And so we shared with them the message of the restoration. It was easy to recognize how the Spirit wanted that lesson to be taught, as we asked inspired questions the doctrine that needed to be taught flowed from our mouths. It turns out that the sister was looking for real spiritual steadiness in a religion with real concrete standards who she could know that God is at the head of. She was looking for something without knowing that she was looking for it.
At the end of the lesson we asked her if she would like to know for herself that the Book of Mormon is true, and she accepted with a huge smile on her face. Her face had changed tenfold from the beginning, being originally shut off to completely touched by the Spirit. Now I have also been in similar situations that haven't resulted so well... the point is is that we should always open our mouths to share what we know is true. And for that God-given testimony that I hold I am eternally grateful.
Well that's it for this week, We look to have some more baptisms lined up for this weekend for the last week of my comp's mission! We are gonna send him out on a good note!
Have a great week!
Elder Eliason
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