Week #92- working hard to find new people to teach!

This week was good but hard. Almost all of our appointments fell through so we had to work really hard to find people in their houses to teach them. We have really good investigators and we are working hard to find new people to teach. We really progressed with one of our investigators this week as he really opened up to us. He told us about what his life style was in the past and that he really wants to change. He really surprised me because he is only 16. He really wants to do things right. He came to the church on his own, looking for help and he wants to get baptized. He has many friends in church and is going to be a great convert. His family is less active, and I know that he is going to help his family a lot. Today I was reading in The Book of Mormon about the King Lamoni. Today when I read it, I saw the real power of a recent convert. In this story it said that as King Lamoni shared his testimony with everyone that everyone in his house was converted. It was really cool to understand that after reading that story many times. Recent converts are a great help in missionary work, and I want to bring more recent converts with us to visit our investigators. They went through the same process so they understand how they feel and they know what they need. The Book of Mormon helps us in so many ways!
Love, Elder Monson

Week #91- new companion: Elder Murcia!

This week was great. My companion had transfers, so now I am with Elder Murcia. He has 13 months in the mission and he is the district leader now. He was born in Colombia, but lives in Portland, Oregon, so he knows Spanish and English. It’s really fun being able to talk in English all day. I feel really good guiding the area and I feel like we are having a lot of success. My new companion is really great. He helps me a lot and is just a really good missionary. He works really hard, and has shown me how to serve others. We were able to focus a lot more on the investigators this week and we have invited many of them to get baptized. We have a family of four that wants to do everything as a family. The dad wants more peace in his family and we taught him that is what the gospel will bring his family. He accepted a baptismal date for the 26th of December so we are really excited. He is really humble and ready to listen. We promised him many blessings as he listens to this message and applies it in his life. This area has a lot of potential. We have been trying to find new investigators, but it has been hard, the people here do not want to listen to our message and many reject us. This has been my hardest area for contacts. We will continue to work hard and find some way to get new investigators. We should be having a baptism pretty soon and we want to keep adding on to the investigators. This week has been awesome and I have learned so much from my companion. I want to finish my mission strong, and I am really glad that I am with him so that he can push me, when I am not pushing myself.
Love, Elder Monson

Week #90- God puts us in the path to help!

This week was good, we were able to progress pretty good with the investigators that we have. We should be having a baptism this week. The members are helping a lot with our investigators and they help them feel welcome in the church activities. We have a great ward mission leader who does his job well and really cares about the people that we are teaching. He does his best with the little time that he has. The Bishop helps a lot as well. The ward has 3 families that are going to get sealed this month and the bishop has played a large role in helping them. We have been doing many service projects lately and the members really trust in us to help them with everything. We were able to get to a members house right in time as she really needed help with her son who is pretty sick. We got there right in the hour of need. She called us angels, I know that God loves all of his children and will send others to help them. I love the documentary of Thomas S. Monson and that he is always ready to do errands for Heavenly Father. It makes me feel so good to help others, especially when God puts us in the path to help them.
Love, Elder Monson

Week #89- how big of a blessing the priesthood is!

This week was good, we were able to find a new family that is really awesome. We got to know them on Thursday and they came to church this week. It’s a family of 4 and they are all really awesome, and want to listen. We have been able to focus more on investigators this week so we have improved a lot in what we are doing in our area. Me and my companion have made some plans to be able to focus on finding new investigators, which means we will have to contact a lot more this week. We hope to finish the transfer strong with the best week that we have ever had. This week we have given many blessings, and it’s made me think of how big of a blessing the priesthood is in our lives and all of the miracles that it can bring in our lives. We gave blessings to a family whose little baby who was born a week ago had to have heart surgery. Everything turned out okay and the father wants to get baptized. His mom is a member and she invited us to help them. He lives in another area, but I know that the priesthood has blessed this family.
Love, Elder Monson

Week #88- recognized the spirit testify!

This week was awesome. I was able to go back to Carapongo for a few baptisms. I was finally able to baptize Belen. It was amazing, after she was baptized, she stood in the water for a few minutes crying as she recognized the spirit testify to her that this is true. She later told us that after I had left her husband didn’t want to receive the missionaries anymore and he actually threw them out of the house. He did not want to give her permission to get baptized, but she told us that she had a lot of faith that he would change. And he did. She talked to him and the whole family talked him in to it. This family is amazing and I am so happy that I was able to go to her baptism. I could see and feel her happiness and her testimony in her baptism. I was also able to baptize another investigator that was there. They had 3 baptisms that day so it was even better. I know that they are strong converts to the gospel and that this will help them forever. They have strong testimonies and will help their families to do the same.
Love, Elder Monson

Week #87- maintain a good attitude and to focus!

This week was pretty good, I’ve been more focused on helping the people here, now that I am getting used to it. My companion has helped me a lot to maintain a good attitude and to focus. I am getting to know my area little by little. Yesterday we did divisions and we were able to have a successful day. I was contacting with a member and when I told my companion where we were contacting, he told me that I should never go there again because it’s dangerous, so I still need to figure out where I shouldn’t go, but everything has gone good so far. I have seen that we need to focus more on investigators; many of our lessons are for less active members and recent converts. I want to concentrate on our investigators and finding new investigators. This should help us have more success and we will be able to help more people.
Love, Elder Monson

Week #86- Emergency transfer to San Luis & New Companion: Elder Alvarado!

This week has been a little hard, with Emergency transfers on Friday and everything, but our area had 2 baptisms on Saturday and I am getting used to the area now. My area is named Canada in the zone San Luis. The area is more city and there are a lot of people that know English here. It really surprised me. The members are really nice and help a lot. The area is a little bit more dangerous, but I’m not too worried. My new companion is Elder Alvarado from Peru and is really funny. He is from my group. It has been a little hard leaving Carapongo, but I know that with time I will get used to my new area and my new companion. This area has a lot more people to contact so it gives me more energy to contact everyone so that we can help them come unto Christ.
Love, Elder Monson