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| BBQ with our zone by the Hudson River |
Hola Familia,
What a week! This week my companion had leadership training because he is a newer missionary for two days and I stayed in anEnglish area with Elder Ayres from Canada in Emerson, New Jersey. Emerson is a very wealthy area and what they have to resort to is a lot of door contacting. Elder Ayres just has a way with connecting with people especially with the elderly. We knocked doors for a good two hours and contacted many prepared people. We contacted a lot of Catholic teachers but met one that was investigating the Jehovah's Witness church. She said she is open to all religion and gladly accepted a Book of Mormon to study. She was really nice and said they could come back. We then went to visit a less active at a rest home and ended up contacting an elderly lady named Betty who said she has not been to a church for a couple years because she has no transportation. She said that her daughter is a Mormon but is less active. She said she just wants to attend a church does not matter what kind. She got excited when we told her that someone can come and pick her up. We ended up singing "I am a child of God" and she absolutely loved it.
On Thursday we had the opportunity to watch "Meet the Mormons." I loved it! My favorite was of course the Navy coach and the Candy bomber. They were all really good especially the missionary mom. This is how our investigators are doing:
Iris: We retaught the restoration in a more spiritually conducive environment. It went very well and really liked the first vision and said she believes it. She had some very good questions and she had been reading the BOM consistently everyday. Her husband does not like our church for some reason so she has asked us to come early afternoons when he is not there.
Alejandro: He is the husband of Rosa and we taught him the restoration last Tuesday. The spirit was present and strong and was very attentive to our message. We invited him to be baptized and he accepted! We then taught him again last Saturday the Gospel of Jesus Christ and had another great lesson. He was less attentive but understood and felt the truthfulness of our message. We invited him to be baptized on November 16th and he accepted! He committed him to pray about it first and also with his wife so they can be baptized together.
Kaylee: We had a quick door lesson with her because she was in a hurry but said she has been reading only a little bit in the BOM and has been very busy with her children. We will see her this week.
Justin: He has been reading the BOM every day but only a little bit. We taught him the restoration and tried to ask him some questions to get him to participate but just gave couple word answers. He was very attentive and sincere. He is a great guy that is a little shy but wants to do what is right.
Filadelfo: We taught him the commandment to read the scriptures, say his prayers and attend church by using an object lesson with pennies. We made a triangle out of 10 pennies pointing the opposite direction of a picture of Jesus Christ. We asked them to move the triangle pointing at Christ by only moving three pennies. It took them a while to figure it out but turned out a member that accompanied us figured it out. He just moved the three outer pennies to have it point at Christ. We related this object lesson by saying if you do the three simple things of reading, praying and attending church you will be following Christ and does not matter what crazy, busy things we have to do as long as we put those three things first. They really like the lesson and felt a great spirit.
Rosalino: We taught him the gospel of Jesus Christ and went very well. He had a lot of great insights about following Christ. We had our Haitian member present and shared some great insights on the holy ghost as well. We invited him to be baptized again but said he still needs to prepare and get his life in more in order. We explained to him that to be baptized is only a goal and that we would help him get to the level of preparation. He is so awesome and loving.
Natalia: We visited her last Saturday and told us she has been having a lot of pain in her chest. We offered her a blessing of comfort and accepted. The spirit was strong after we gave it and shared Alma 7: 11-12 about Christ suffering for us. We have decided to drop her because she is not keeping commitments and has lost interest as well. We will still visit her periodically to see how she is doing.
Mario: He just recover from a chemical exposure and has been doing better. We taught him the Plan of Salvation with a great diagram that my companion had. He said that it all made sense to him and feels like he has a better direction on where he is going. He said that he is going to read more in the BOM. He was also talking with us about how he likes our standards of no smoking and drinking and that we follow them and really wants to follow them as well. He is awesome.
Moses: Went over law of chastity and talked about mutual with him and his mom. He responded well to the law of chastity lesson and would like to attend mutual. We told him and his mom and that we could get a brother to come and take him to mutual. She said she first wants to meet him and she will think about it as well. So we are going to set up an appointment with her and Hermano Pena. Moses is progressing well. So awesome!
Bicente & Dora: We taught Bicente the restoration and the gospel of Jesus Christ yesterday without Dora because she was on her way out the door to Queens. He said that he has been taught by missionaries before in the DR and remembered a lot about the restoration and the gospel of Jesus Christ. He said he still wants to be baptized and we committed him to pray with Dora for a date to get baptized. They have been reading a lot and have been sharing the BOM with all there family members that have come to her house. They are an awesome couple.
Last night we visited Sister Mendez who came to church yesterday for the first time in a while due to breast cancer. She has not been getting better but had a great positive attitude and read the Beattitudes in Mathew with her with Hermano Pena. It was a great visit with her and could feel her awesome spirit with her four little kids.
We also visited the Vargus family. We first taught Sister Vargus right outside her door and she was telling us the hard time she is having with her husband. She is very active in the church and served a mission but Hermano Vargus is not. She started to cry and we tried to comfort her. Her husband came back and we had a great lesson on Helamen 5:12 with a object lesson. We had a can and asked them what would they think would happen if someone throw a can at my fingers. They said that it would break them. But them asked what would happen if I smashed my fingers on a table with a can. They said the damage would be worse. I them smashed my fingers with the can and nothing happened because there is a little air in the can that conforms to the shape of your fingers. We related that by saying we need to be build upon the rock of Christ so when the trials come, the blow will not be drastic. They really liked the lesson and we had a great chat with them after. They are a great family. I really love them. I am so grateful to be a missionary and see how the gospel changes lives. Well, I love you Dad, Mom, Tanner and Mckay all so much! Thank you for your unfailing love and prayers in my behalf.
Love,
Elder Plummer
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