Here and there!

Kissing Dogs

Another Trip to the Liberty Bell

New Shiny Suit.  Hmmmm

We had a pretty good week. Elder Acosta was super sick yesterday from something that he ate while he was on exchanges, so that kind of sucked being in all day, but that's ok. We are excited beyond belief for Conference. It is better than Christmas for missionaries. We are so stoked to have our investigators listen to real apostles and prophets of God! They speak with real power and authority. Their words can sometimes do a better job than ours, and we are excited for it. To prepare for conference, I went through my patriarchal blessing with the idea of making some questions/things that I want to improve on. It was an awesome experience and I highly recommend it for everyone! Great way to get some personal revelation!

We went down to Philly last Monday. There is a man who owns a suit shop down there, not a member, but nonetheless loves the missionaries. He basically gives them half off and sometimes more. Today, I went in to buy a suit. He has these suits that are shiny and super cool looking. I go in, and he charges me $99.99. I only had $45 cash, and was gonna do the rest on my card. After about 4 tries my card doesn't work. He says, "Don't worry about it. Get the $55 to me whenever you can. No rush." Literally completely trusted me. I am thankful that missionaries have developed that trust with him so that he completely trusts us. It made me think a lot about my own actions. Am I doing things that would cause people to trust me completely? I think so. It was a good lesson I learned, plus I got a nice new suit!

So we met with a former investigator a few days back. His name is Teodoro, Theodore in Spanish. His wife (I hope they are married) is Frances. We had tried to contact the guy for forever, but he always blew us off. Finally, we knocked the other day and Frances came to the door, when she instantly set up an appointment for us to come back, and when we went back, they actually kept their appointment!! That's always nice. Teodoro was way nicer to us while his wife was around... Weird. During our lesson, she expressed that she grew up in a church, but she always felt like there was something missing. Hopefully her heart will be open so that she can come to know for herself that the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ is true! We are super stoked for their progress!

We had a good lesson with Onasi. He is the investigator that is the only one in his family that is not a member. When I was here the first time, we started teaching him a little, but nothing happened after I left. That's one of the reasons why I was sent back here I think. We clarified the Restoration with him. He believes the Gospel is true. He says he has recognized and felt the Spirit, and he says he felt it in the lesson. We both recognized it. He said that it is time for change. He prayed at the end of the lesson too! He literally spoke with God. There was no eloquent wording, no words to please the missionaries, simply speaking with his Father in Heaven. He committed to read, and was super excited to hear about prophets and apostles. He understands why they are important, and the great opportunity that we have to listen to then in General Conference coming up next week. We are super excited and optimistic about Onasi. I think Heavenly Father is even more excited that one of his sons is coming back.

It is FINALLY starting to warm up a little bit. We gotta catch up with Utah. It has been raining for the whole weekend but I think it is stopping and should be pretty dang beautiful coming up here. It's about time. I am so stoked for short sleeve shirt weather. Not sure if my short sleeve shirts are though. They are kind of faded and a little grayish yellow color. They will probably be brown by the end of this summer. That's the goal.

Well, this guy is super stoked about life right now. I'm a missionary, I'm in Allentown, Conference is coming, I have the Gospel, but most importantly, I'm a child of God!! That's the most amazing truth that I know. He wants me to one day be like Him! That is amazing in and of itself. He wants the very same thing for each one of His children, even you! I love you all! It is my prayer that we all listen to conference intently for what we need to hear. What is said isn't as important as what we hear and what we feel. Be in an environment where the Spirit can testify to you of what you need to do. I know that if we invite the Spirit, He will be there. Love you all. Get excited for Conference Review next week. Be excited.

Elder Mike Dial