Monday, January 13, 2014

Dayton Forever!!!

Family!

That's right, I'm still here in wonderful Dayton!  1 transfer closer to my 1 year goal!!!  A lot of people were surprised that I'm still here.  A few investigators were shocked that Elder Elbaba left and not me; they told me that I've been here for a long time.  Also, you know when you've been in an area a while when the Elders Quorum President asks you for the number for one of the members in the Elders Quorum...  After that he told me that they might just have to transfer my records here...  I wonder what they'll all be saying when I've been here for a year........... =)  But seriously, it's such a good area, and I'm super glad I get to be here for one more transfer (at least), because so many good things are starting to happen here!  I'd like to tell you about some of them...

 So we received a referral from some other missionaries, and when we went to contact it, the lady (A…..) was there, but she said that she didn't have time to talk to us then and that we could come back another time. We set up a return appointment, and when we got there, she was ready for us. She told us about her experiences with religion, and she had some amazing stories. When she lived back in Mexico, missionaries from our church visited with her and her family frequently, and her family even attended church fairly often. After a while, her son was baptized at the age of 11. He was the only one in the family baptized. A few years later, he ended up dying of cancer. She went through a very rough time, and she told us that she knows the Lord protected her through it all. Through some truly miraculous circumstances, she was able to come to the U.S. and begin a new life here. She has more faith than a lot of investigators that I have met, and she told us that her one desire is to return to live with her God. We are very excited for the opportunity to teach her how to do that!

Another miracle happened this week that was really amazing. A while back we had asked a man if he knew of any Hispanic people in the area, and he told us of a few doors in the area. We were knocking them, and a lady opened and let us in. We started to speak with her, and after a little while a guy came out of the back room and joined in the conversation. They had both met with missionaries before, and they were completely willing to let us come back. They also told us that they wanted to attend church with us that Sunday, which has never happened to me before. We left them with a Book of Mormon and told them we would come back later. We came back on Saturday night and talked with them again. He (B….) told us that after we left, he took the Book of Mormon in his hands and prayed. In his prayer he asked God if the book was true and if this was the path that he should take. Then he opened up the book and started to read. He told us that the first verse he read talked about how the Book of Mormon supported the Bible, and if you believe in the Bible, you will believe in the Book of Mormon. He loves reading the Bible, and he took this as an answer from God, and I know it was. When we asked him what his thoughts about the Book of Mormon were, he told us that he knows it's true because God told him it was!  We also read Moroni 10: 4-5 with him, and he told us that was exactly what had happened with him!  They both came to church yesterday, and we'll be teaching them again tonight!

Oh, my new companion is named Elder Wells.  He has been out for one transfer less than I have, and his Spanish is amazing.  This is going to be the transfer where my Spanish skills improve like crazy!  He is a great teacher and extremely obedient.  I keep getting blessed with amazing companions!

Other than those few things, not much else out of the ordinary happened.  The temperature this past week has gone from -7 to the mid 40's, and at the moment all the snow is gone because of all the rain we've gotten.  Crazy!

Sounds like things are going well over there, thanks for all of the updates!  I love you, and I hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Foote