"With investigators we are creating fertile territory for a brand new testimony and conversion. With inactives we are digging through old soil trying to find the lost seed of faith."

Ping Pong P-day! I've still got it! Beat my comp today, who is also pretty good.

Baptism of Christian 

Hiya there familia! 

Wow thanks Dad for sending me Haley and Connor's talks! That was such a treat to be able to read those! It amazes me the youth these days, such spiritual maturity in such young people. They are going to be that much prepared for the mission field! And your guy's group text things are just too funny, I'm sure that is just a ton of fun now that everyone is all iPhoned out, haha. And also was great to hear from Con man after just about a year's drought. I can always count on that kid for some great updates and some laughs for sure!

Well to get everyone caught up on where we are in the work... we had another great ZL Council this Thursday. Had to say goodbye to another one of my good friends Elder Edwards who goes home in 2 weeks. I looked around this council and realized that all the missionaries that were with me my first council are now gone! What a weird feeling that was... haha. Anyways in the council we talked about what will be taught in this month's zone conference and what we could include to implement our new vision of baptisms with rescued members. I shared my feelings about how I believe that it is a little different teaching inactives than teaching investigators. 

With investigators we are planting something new and creating fertile territory for a brand new testimony and conversion. With the inactives we are digging through old soil trying to find the lost seed of faith. We thought it would be great to have a practice to help the missionaries learn how to better teach the inactives. 

We also got to Skype with a legend of the mission, Elder Lynn Myckelson who when he was here the mission had their best accomplishments. It was a treat to be able to pick his brain on certain things that we could apply to help our mission.

We also had a baptism on Saturday! Christian was finally able to take the step. We had the interview on Tuesday and he felt great about it. So we set everything up for Saturday and everything went as planned! It was really cool because he invited a friend whose name is Alejandro and he felt the Spirit during the meeting and wanted to know more about our message! So we taught on the spot in the baptismal room with Christian. What a great lesson that was, the restoration was just what he needed to hear to spark his interest in the Gospel. 

We also have 2 new progressing investigators named Sara and Nancy. Mother daughter combo who we found through recent converts. We had been teaching them but they had trouble coming to church because of studying and work and what not. But they finally came and we took advantage that night to go watch the DVD of the restoration with almost our whole district to help them accept baptismal dates. It went so great and the Spirit was super thick at the end. Good future with these two.

Another thing that I have been studying this week is the power of the mind and how God wants us to use this tool to show our faith. It is hard as a missionary to train your mind to be 100% focused all the time. It becomes easier with more time in the mission and with more responsibility but is difficult. 

With all the planning and study sessions we do as missionaries a lot is required of our minds, "heart, might, mind and strength..." It takes faith not to let our minds wander and get thinking about other non important things. What has helped me is to think every morning as well as various times throughout the day... "what activities do I need to complete today?" And I write them down. Then I think, "How can I do that activity better than I did it last time?" And then make the according plans. It is this way that we can get the most out of our day and make sure nothing gets left undone.

Thanks for all the support!

Chau, Chau 

Elder Eliason