Hey everyone. I dont have too much time today, because I have to head out to Zacatecas later in the afternoon for an interview with an Investigator, so It will be a shorter letter today.
We had a great week, and got to do what I love most. Focus on the progressing investigators. This week, the focus was on, Fernando, a 9 year old, and his less active family. We had some minor difficulties, like always in a week before the baptism. But with faith and prayer, everything went well. The family went to church for the third time this sunday, so they are ofically going active. Fernando is a great kid, and is really smart. Hes quiet, but always listens and understands. He surprised me a lot by reading the book of mormon every single day this last week. Something that adults almost never do. He told us about the story of Nephi and Laban, using their names, and told us how Lehi had a dream and that they had to leave Jerusalem. I was very impressed. He says he wants to set an example in his family and one day serve a mission. His Grandma, Sister Moreno, is the one who has been supporting us the most. She just wants all her kids to be active in church. Its easy to tell that its hard for her. Shes always been the one pushing all her children to stay strong in the church, and gets tired. We shared a few scriptures with her, and I mentioned the story of building the walls of Jerusalem, pretty much the Talk that President Uctdorf gave a couple years ago about building our salvation and not letting anything have us come down and stop that. She has been a great help, and we are going to keep activating the family, and I think there may be a baptismal opportunity or 2 in the process.
Araseli also keep progressing just great. We had a family home evening in the Chapel on saturday, and it was nice to see Fernando and her and her family in the church. We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For every principle, we had an activity to help learn and understand it. Elder Morales taught about Faith, and blindfolded Fernando. Fernando had to trust a person he couldnt see and that he didnt know when the person tried to give him a piece of chocolate. Everyone else in the room started yelling, saying that it was disgusting and that we couldnt believe he was going to eat it. It really was a great example of our lives that sometimes the world will yell at us, but we have to trust in a person that, physically, we have never seen.
Elder Felix taught about Repentance, using paper balls and throwing them in the trash. It was fun for the little children to play, and they all understood it well. My turn came with Baptism. We didnt have an activity or anything, because we wanted it to be a moment when the spirit could come and testify. Ricardo, the young man who practically lives with us, taught with me and it was a great moment, standing in front of the baptismal font, to testify and to help the investigators feel the spirit again.
Elder Lopez, my son, taught about the holy ghost and did a similar blindfold activity and to finish it all, we did a relay race for Endure to the end.
Sister Araseli made quesadillas after, and it ended up being a great, wholesome night. I liked it a lot. And the investigators were able to learn about the gospel and feel the spirit a little. We are going to try and do a family home evening every saturday with our investigators and recent converts. Its always a lot of fun.
Well, the baptism with Fernando went just fine, eventhough I was totally stressed out. In Sacrament Meeting, it was our turn to give talks. My son, Elder Lopez, decided that he would memorize his talk and went up without papers or scriptures. He spoke for 4 minutes....yeah I know. I looked over at the clock and just smirked a little bit. It felt like Sombrerete all over again. 25 Minutes. As I was about to start, the 1st counselor leaned over and told me that he would fill whatever I left. So, with that, I started and managed about 18 minutes. I focused on a scripture in 1 Nephi 8:15. Thats the dream that Lehi had. I focused on two things in that scripture. I havent read it in english so im gonna try to translate. It says something like I signaled to them or I showed them signs. And the other part is "I shouted for them to come to the tree and partake of the fruit". I talked about how we need to show our loved ones and friends through examples and through being a light, and how we need to testify to them about christ. I talked about how this is the biggest obligation we have as members of the church. I felt that it went great. I liked the theme, and at the end I had a good moment to testify of what I knew....but it completely stressed me out. After that, I had to go look for some white pants for Fernando. Lopez disapeared for a bit to go wash his feet, because he says they stink and WHOOOWEEEE does he stink. I filled up the font, and planned out the Baptismal Service. At the moment of the service, Fernando´s Grandma hadnt arrived yet. All the members started complaining to me about what we should do, and that just got me a little more stressed out. His grandma arrived about a half an hour late, with one of her daughters that was going to talk, Berenice. When Berenice said hi to me, she also told me that she wasnt going to give a talk.... more stress. But we started, and figured things out. The baptism went smoothe and thats what matters. I tried to make it a good experience for Lopez. He got to baptize, so that went well. After the service, we started our focus on the investigators that are going to be baptized this sunday. If all goes well it will be 3.
That was my week and I just wrote a really long letter. I hope you all have a great week. Love you!
Con amor, Elder Turley
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