I'll face myself to cross out what I've become - 10/14/13

Things are going pretty well! We are super happy that a bunch of our investigators came to church this week. The eternagator from the canyon is getting interviewed this week and is on track for her baptism on 26 October. Her son is also expressing interest in baptism but may take a little extra time to get ready (having recently served time may prove to be problematic). 

Our softball star also came to church for the first time since we started teaching her! I was super impressed with her craftiness, actually. Initially when she told her father that she wanted to skip one of her three softball games on Sunday to go to church, Dad said no, because she needed to keep her spot on the team. Well, since one of the coaches for her team is a member, we got her set up to play in games two and three instead of game one. And then she waits until her dad goes on a date, and calls him on his date and gives him that news and asks if she can go to church. Of course he was much sweeter to her in front of his date. I'm reminded of King Lamoni being caught with guile in Alma 18. :D 

We had a super great lesson with the guy we got from the Spanish sisters. He's our resident Hispanic musician. We taught him all the commandments in one big marathon lesson. Our YSA teamups were great and he accepted and understood all of the commandments and committed to live them. He still has hangups, though. We were going to tackle those in our lesson on Sunday after church, but he didn't come to church. Sad. Really hope that we can get in touch with him and schedule another lesson soon. 

We are no longer teaching our 7th Day Adventist friend because her inactive LDS husband pitched a total fit about her joining the church. We are praying that he will stop being so stubborn and let her do what is right. Hopefully it's soon enough that we can pick right up where we left off, but it might take until their baby is born before he has a change of heart. She's read a lot of the Book of Mormon, and she's still reading and talking to her friend about it, but she told us through her friend that she can't come to church or meet with us while it's causing so much tension in her marriage. Totally stinks. But that's what happens in missionary work. 

I have been thinking a lot about the temple recently. I kind of wish I could take a day off and go do temple work all day long, but that's not what I'm here to do. It sure would make me feel awesome, though. I'm really looking forward to doing initiatories again and sealings. I've never done a proxy sealing but I really want to! But yeah, I'm supposed to focus on saving the living, and not the dead. 

We got an awesome pamphlet from Salt Lake called "Adjusting to Missionary Life" that's training all of the missionaries how to handle stress on a mission. I really enjoyed reading it. I can tell the leadership put a lot of effort into putting together a resource for their rapidly growing and increasingly youthful missionary force to deal with the stresses of being a missionary. I really would have liked to see this used in my past companionships! But oh well. 

"Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed." Doctrine and Covenants 123:17