On friday and saturday we taught our last two investigators. It was a great experience. We were really struggling with an investigator named Diego. Whenever we would go and teach him you could just tell that he was taking it in but he just didn't care. We had been praying all day friday that the spirit would guide us and direct us on how to teach the investigator. Diego is played by our teacher Brother Moreno by the way. It's really cool! Heavenly Father really works with us to have these experiences be real. So when we started the lesson it was just going ok. The spirit wasn't there because you could tell that Diego just didnt care. As we got talking we finally found out why he wasn't really into it. We asked him why he keeps having us back but doesn't want to progress. He said that he didn't understand what the importance of the Book of Mormon was and he didn't know why it mattered if he found out if it was true because he already felt like alot of other Churches had the truth. I have never felt the spirit so strong in my life! I kept feeling in my heart and in my head "Talk about Priesthood, Talk about Priesthood!" I was wrestling with that thought in my head because I thought it might be too big of a topic to bring up in only the third lesson. We are promised that if we will just follow the Spirit and open our mouths Heavenly Father will help us. He sure did. We started to talk about the priesthood, and that during the apostasy and the death of the apostles, the keys of the priesthood and that power from God were lost. We told him that's what our church had, that the others didn't. After we simply explained why it is important to have the priesthood the room went silent. We waited and waited so the spirit would work on him and testify of its truth to him. His eyes got big and after a minute he said "I get it!" It was amazing to realize with him the power of the Spirit! He committed to being baptized next month! It was really amazing! I know that it was only simulated but the MTC does an amazing job in this new program of making it real! You truly can't tell the difference so its great to learn how to teach these lessons before we enter the field!
On Tuesday we had the best devotional I have ever heard! I honestly can say that I have never heard that good of a talk in my life! Elder Richard G. Scott came! Two apostles in one week! We are soo lucky, the only tuesdays we were here were apostles! We hear it hasn't happened in years! His talk was called "To Be Led by the Spirit". He literally summarized his life experiences on to a front and back sheet of paper of bullet points and talked about them! One of my main goals for my mission was to be able to better understand and realize the Spirit in my life so that I can be a better dad, husband, and be successful in the mission. This talk I felt was just for me. I couldn't have wanted to hear anything more! He said that sometimes we need to be thankful that God let's us struggle with things, our character and faith will grow more than be can realize. He said that seldom does that answer that we are seeking come while on our knees. It comes in little packets in time so that we can be able to grow and learn. How true is that? It changed my life! I'll talk more later on that!
On wednesday we brought in our last district! It was really great to take them on a tour and teach them what we have learned from our experience here! It was great. Its going to be really hard to leave! We have become really close to the two districts we have been Zone Leaders for. It's amazing how close you become after just three weeks here! I am sad to be leaving. I feel like I have made life long friends! Sunday we had to conduct the priesthood meeting! Our branch presidency was out for that hour because of meetings! I was so nervous because I had to conduct and there were a good ten Senior Missionaries that were attending as guests! We assigned 8 elders to teach a five minute lesson! It turned out amazing! The Elders all did such a great job! At the end I bore my testimony before closing and I think we all wanted to cry because it was our last sunday together and we seriously all have become best friends. The topic was on charity so I briefly shared the story from my farewell talk about the kid with cerebral palsy and literally all the elders started crying because I think we realized that's what we need to have when we enter the field! Sunday was such a great day we were on a spiritual high!
I leave here a different person. My testimony isn't even the same. I know this church is true with all my heart and I know that it changes lives. I leave here ready to live my life on an upward curve hoping that my last day will be my best! Seattle here we come! Get r' done. Love you all and miss you more than you know.
Wow. He is already changing so much- so amazing what the spirit does!! That last paragraph made me cry. He is going to be amazing. Can't WAIT to hear about seattle!
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