The Gift of Tongues?

Family,

It's been yet another extremely busy week.  We worked all week long to get a young investigator ready for baptism, and when Saturday rolled around, everything was set up and things looked like they were going to go great.  Then we got a call from  his dad saying that he was sick and wasn't going to be able to get baptized that day.  We offered to go give him a blessing, but his Dad wouldn't work anything out with us and was pretty set on him not getting baptized that evening.  I did everything I could without being too pushy (that is to say, I stopped pushing the issue when his Dad was almost yelling at me), but finally we had to accept that he wasn't getting baptized that evening.  It was pretty discouraging, but he is all ready to go, so we'll work with everyone to make sure the baptism happens.

In my past area there were 3 baptisms this past weekend!  The guy that wanted me to baptize him didn't end up getting baptized this past weekend, but it should happen in the near future.  But it was super cool see the fruits of my work in Hamilton.  I didn't end up going, but I heard all about it.

This week we had two super solid lessons with families that I found over 14 months ago when I was here for the first time.  Both of them talked about the changes they've seen in their lives since the missionaries started coming by, and they have both recognized the Spirit as they've read and met with us.  They've just got to come to church!  Story of my life. =)  But both of these families have a bunch of potential, and I've made it my goal to get them baptized in the next 2 months. 

We got stopped by a Pentecostal guy in the street the other day, and he spent a good while trying to get us to stop preaching the Book of Mormon.  We bore our testimonies, and as we started to leave he started "speaking in tongues" at us, which sounded a lot like Harry Potter snake language.  Kind of creepy...

I think that's about it.  Thanks for everything.  Hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Foote  

Best Enchiladas in the Whole World!!

Family,

It's been a super busy week.  We went to the temple, which was amazing!  We also had interviews, which went really well.

I think last week I told you about a guy who we found who told us he had gone to church in North Carolina.  Well this week we met with him and had a pretty interesting experience.  We taught him, and for the whole lesson I had a really good feeling about him.  At the end I invited him to by baptized, and partway through the extension he said no, but very forcefully.  He then explained that he had already been baptized (which is what most people we teach say), but then he went on to explain that when he was baptized they put him under the water and brought him back out, and then he was baptized by fire and the holy ghost when they put their hands on this head.  Well that sounded a little familiar...  So turns out he was baptized in North Carolina in our church!  We found yet another long lost less active!   

This week we had a huge miracle.  We have been trying to get in contact with a less active family ever since we got here, and this pastSunday they came to church.  We were having a tough time contacting them during this week, but we finally caught them home on Thursday.  They have a 10 year old son who isn't baptized, and a month ago they had been talking about having him baptized on his birthday, which is this week.  We asked them if they were still planning on that, and they said they were, so we started teaching him again and got him reading in the Book of Mormon.  He's now going to be baptized this Saturday!  We're super excited!

We also had a great lesson with a less active and her friend this week.  It was a great lesson, and the friend is seriously considering baptism for the 18th of April!  They also made us the best enchiladas in the whole world!

That's about it.  Nice job Trevor on mowing the lawn!  Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Foote

P.S.  Yes I got your package.  This neighborhood is a lot safer than the one I was living in before. =)  Thanks so much!

Elders Having the Best Enchiladas in the Whole World!

Dayton, Ohio Spanish District at the Columbus, Ohio Temple

Miracles! (in Dayton)

Family!

Miracles are happening everywhere!  I've seen them all over the place this past week.  I'm so excited for the work here in Dayton!

On P-day last week we were at a thrift store looking for an Ohio shirt when a big American man with a Santa beard caught our attention and waved us over.  He started talking to us in Spanish (!!!!) and told us that he was a member of the church, but his wife wasn't, but that she was in his car outside and we should go talk to her.  So we did, and she was really nice, and we got her info to go meet with her in the future.  It was a super random experience, but it was miracle!

We got in contact with an investigator I was teaching here over a year ago who we had lost contact with.  When we knocked on his door, he opened up and let us right in like we had never lost contact, and we had a great lesson with him and his son.

We had one of the most powerful lessons I've ever had on the Book of Mormon with a family we recently found, and Elder Adams bore an amazing testimony that brought the Spirit very strong.

At the end of one of our lessons Elder Adams bore his testimony and talked about why he chose to serve a mission.  When he was done, the father of the family said that even though his Spanish wasn't perfect (yet) and they didn't understand all of the words that Elder Adams had used, they understood what he was trying to tell them because they "could feel it."  The Holy Ghost is the real teacher, and He breaches any language barriers.

The husband of a recent convert has all of the sudden showed a lot more interest in the church and has come the past two weeks.  We extended baptism to him for the 28th and he said he'd think about it, which isn't a yes, but it sure isn't a no, which is huge for this guy!

We met multiple people this week who had the question of why Christ had never come to Mexico.  Perfect opportunity to testify of the Book of Mormon!

I was goalie against a bunch of middle-aged men from Honduras in our soccer game on Saturday, and I didn't do too bad!  (that might be one of the biggest miracles of all =) )

We met a new family who invited us right in and talked about how just the other day they had been talking about how they needed to start attending a church.  They weren't able to make it yesterday, but they should be there this coming Sunday!

We went out after church with Elian (the guy we helped to get baptized last August!)  and taught an amazing lesson to a less-active and her non-member friend!  They invited us back next Sunday for enchiladas.

We saw tons of miracles this week, but one that really impacted me happened when I was on exchanges with Elder Seegmiller.  We were walking back to our car when I man drove past us in his truck and waved at us as he passed by.  I thought it was kind of weird because most Hispanics don't wave at us unless they know us really well.  I kind of shrugged it off and we got into the car and started to drive away.  As we passed by the house that the truck had stopped at, I was hit with a flashback from my first weeks of the mission of talking to a man on the same street that we were currently on.  It hit me so vividly that I stopped the car and just sat there thinking about it, trying to remember if the man I remembered talking to was the same man who had waved at us.  After thinking for a few seconds, I decided that if I was this was weighing so much on my mind, we had better just go and knock the man's door and talk to him.  So we knocked his door, he answered, came out of the house and started talking to us like he already knew us!  We found out that missionaries had lived in his house in Mexico and that he had been to church a few times in North Carolina.  In the past 5 years he has stopped drinking and smoking.  It's like he has been completely prepared to receive the gospel!  We talked to him for a few minutes, invited him to church, and set up another time to meet with him.  I feel like I have gotten better at recognizing promptings and following them, and as I have done my best to follow them consistently, more and more keep coming.  I know that the Lord guides His work.

I'm super excited for another amazing week!

Hope all is going well out there!

Love you all a ton,

Elder Foote

P.S. 4 people that I was teaching in my last area are getting baptized in the next 2 weeks, and one of them (Junior) wants me to come back and baptize him this Saturday!  So there might be a baptismal picture in next weeks email...

Picture: Me with the brother Roque

 

Elder Foote and Brother Roque

El Hijo Prodigo ha Regresado!

Buenas tardes family mia!

Well it's been a pretty crazy week, but I made it to Monday, so that's good!  So last week I was called to be a trainer and district leader, and Elder Elbaba and I were doubled out of our area.  So we spent the day saying goodbye to everyone, had an amazing family home evening with a family we're teaching and a member of the stake presidency, then came home and spent a ton of time packing and getting the area all ready for the new missionaries to take over.  Based on who else was leaving in the Spanish zone, I was prepped to return to Dayton to train mi hijito.  So I wasn't all that surprised when I was called to train Elder Adams in.... Dayton Spanish 1.  That's right, I'm training my son in the last years of my life in the place I was born!  And now I will die here.  So yeah, basically this week has just been going around visiting all of the members here and picking up all the investigators that were being taught by the past missionaries.  It kind of felt like a dream the first few days; it didn't feel real.  I was once again in the same apartment, same car, and same area as I was when I started the mission over a year and a half ago.  Crazy!  But it was so good to see everyone again.  And it was super crazy to see all of the change that's happened since I've left.  It's only been 4 1/2 months since I was in the branch, but so much has changed!  It's just been a really weird week.

Elder Adams is super amazing!  He's from Sacramento, and one week ago was in the Provo MTC.  It's brought back a lot of memories as we've gone through his first week in the mission field...  But yeah, he works really hard, has a great desire to serve, and isn't afraid to share in the lessons, even though he's still pretty new to Spanish.  I got a super good companion.

Also in Dayton is Elder Bradford and another new missionary, Elder Seegmiller.  Turns out that Elder Elbaba and Elder Bradford were both told they were leaving their areas, but they both were sent right back to where they left.  So I didn't get doubled out after all.

We had some amazing lessons, including one with a family that I was teaching when I was in this area.  The missionaries have kept on working with them, and when we went be to see them the other day, they were in Jacob 4 in the Book of Mormon!  We had a powerful lesson about the blessings that come from reading the Book of Mormon, and the Spirit was there very strong.  We also went to visit Martha (a recent convert who Elder Chandler and I found and started teaching) and her husband, and we had a great lesson with them where we invited him to be baptized.  He said yes!  So yeah, it's been a great week back in Dayton!

Sunday I had to go to a basically all-day meeting after church with the stake president, mission president, and the zone leaders in this stake.  I was the Spanish branch rep.  It was a great meeting, and it was pretty cool to see how missionary work is viewed by the local area leaders.

I also got asked to give a talk on Sunday.  I got up in front of all the people who I've seen basically every day for over 18 months of my mission and started my talk with "For those of you who don't know me, my name is Elder Foote..."  When Presidente Vilches introduced the new missionaries in Priesthood meeting, he got to me and said "El hijo prodigo ha regresado!"  It's pretty good to be back.

Well, I think that's about it!  Tell Ben and Jack congrats from me!  Hope you all have a great week! 

Elder Foote and new companion Elder Adams

Elder Foote at Transfers

My Final Area?

Family,

We had a super busy week this past week.  We kept working with all of the people that had committed to come to church last week, and all of our hard work paid off.  We saw a ton of miracles, and 9 people ended up coming to church.  Every one of them that came was part of a family!  Everyone was so excited to see so many new families!

Sorry, I'm not super focused right now.  We just got a call from President Porter, and he called me to be a trainer and a district leader.  So I'm pretty stressed right now.  But I'm pretty excited too.  Elder Elbaba is also training.  We're being doubled out of this area, so that means I'll probably get doubled into an area tomorrow.  It's not certain, but from the other things that are happening in the Spanish zone, I'll most likely be going back to Dayton to train and finish my mission.  We'll know for sure tomorrow.

So yeah, I've got a lot to do now, so I'll finish this up.  I've got to get this area ready to hand over to other missionaries, pack, and say goodbye to a ton of people.  I took a lot of pictures this week, so I'll send them to you.

Hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Foote

P.S. I got accepted to BYU, so now I've got to make the decision...

picture: my first time at Skyline chili...

SNOW

Family,

It snowed this past week.  It also got pretty cold.  It was bad enough that they cancelled school all week long.  It actually wasn't that bad of a storm, I just don't think that Ohio is quite as prepared for snowstorms as Utah...

This week we put a huge focus on having members come out with us to teach.  We also focused on having those members extend invitations to come to church.  We saw so many miracles because of it.  We had a amazing lesson with one of our most progressing families that was one of the more powerful lessons I've had in the past few months.  We found a long lost less-active who everyone thought was in Peru, but it turns out she has been living in Kentucky for the past 6 months!  We were called up by members and investigators to give blessings.  We met many new people who have a lot of desire to come to church and learn more.  We had a great tour of the chapel with a few of our investigators who are preparing to be baptized on March 21st.  I found an extremely prepared family while on splits with our branch president, and now he is super excited about the work in our area.  Really it was just a super miraculous week.  

It was also super busy.  We made so many plans all week in order to coordinate our efforts with the members.  I learned that if we put in our best effort, the Lord will pick up the slack.  We had a member set to come out with us for a few hours one day, and we really needed his help in order to reach our goals.  But when we woke up that morning, it was snowing super hard.  The member texted us and said that because of the snow he wouldn't be able to come out.  We weren't sure what we would do to get our goals, so we started making calls.  After a little bit, we found someone who was able to come out with us who we never would have guessed would be available at that time.  Really we saw the Lord's hand in our work this week.

But we also saw lots of opposition.  The biggest opposition we saw was the weather.  I messed up a lot of our plans on Saturday, but it really messed things up on Sunday.  Sunday morning we got a call that church was cancelled because of the weather.  We were super disappointed because we had 15 investigators that were committed to come!  So we had to call them all and tell them not to come to church...  It was pretty sad.  It was tough to see all of our work during the week lead up to no one coming to church, but it was comforting to know that we did everything in our power to make it happen.  And they should all be coming next week!

But yeah, it was a super good week.  I've really learned a lot about how with the Lord's help we can accomplish things we never thought possible.  I'm amazed every day at what He is doing here.

Hope you all have a good week!

Love,

Elder Foote

Slang, Spain, and Furnace Repairs

Family!!

Greetings from snowy Ohio.  It's been snowing all day today.

This week our mission had a huge focus on baptismal extensions.  We ended up extending baptism to 55 people in our area.  The focus really helped increase my testimony of the importance of inviting people to be baptized.  Baptism by the correct authority is essential, therefore, for a person to be saved in the celestial kingdom it is essential that they be invited to be baptized.  I know that is true.

We found a lot of new people to teach this week, and also because of the increased focus on extending, we found a few people who have real desires to be baptized and learn more.  Our Spaniard/Dominican friends came to church again yesterday and are all working towards a baptismal date of March 21st!  We've got a few other people we're working with that have shown a lot of interest as well.

One of the more exciting things that happened this week was the part we played in fixing the furnace of a part-member family.  They called us up Saturday morning to see if we knew anyone who could fix their furnace.  It had been out for two days, and we were their last hope in fixing it.  We made 4 phone calls and found a member that was able to come over and fix it within a few hours.  We translated for him when he came, and in about half an hour he had it running again.  So I'm basically a furnace repairman now...  Or I guess I'm just good at making phone calls...  But something I've learned on my mission is that the church really is a very strong support network.  With just a few phone calls you can find a member who can help you with basically any problem you have.  It really is like a huge family.

Well, I don't have too much more time today, so I'll wrap this up.  Hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Foote

Elder Elbaba and Elder Foote

Elder Foote