Week 8

So I know last week I said Week 7 passed by really slow, and now I can't believe I wrote that a week ago. This week has gone by so fast. I keep getting the days mixed up...hopefully I can get back on track.

This entry may be fairly short because quite honestly there hasn't been a lot going on. We're still trying to find new investigators without much success, so we need to come up with fresh ideas on how to find people. Hopefully this next week will go a lot better than the last two have gone.

We haven't had a chance to see Daniel in a while. We had an appointment scheduled with him on Tuesday but his Dad punched it because they had to do something (I can't remember what it was). We should see him tomorrow, though, so hopefully we can set up a baptisimal date with him then.

Wednesday we got a new investigator! He's a 15-year-old named Christian and there's a funny story behind him. We had actually knocked on his door about a week before that and he asked us if we knew Cheyenne. Cheyenne is a recent convert (baptized in May) and is about 14. Apparently they have been talking a lot on MySpace (or Facebook or something) about the church and he was really excited to see us there. We couldn't come in at the moment because he was leaving, but we set up an appointment for the next day. He no-showed that, but called us later that evening and set up an appointment with us for that Wednesday. So we showed up and taught him about prophets, the Savior's earthly ministry and Atonement, and the Apostasy. He seemed to take it well and said he wanted to go to church on Sunday. He didn't show up for whatever reason, but we will see him tomorrow and teach him more.

We went and saw James and Jessica again (after they had punched like 3 appointments) and this time it went really well. We watched the Restoration DVD and she really liked it. Last time we got her a children's Book of Mormon and she's read that a lot too. She believes in the Book of Mormon now and believes Joseph Smith was a prophet! There's still a lot to teach and we'll have to go slow, but she has progressed a lot since the last time we saw her. Sadly she didn't show up to church even though we had commited her, so the next time we see them we'll bring it up and hopefully get her to church.

We saw J.J. again after a long time. He's pretty much ready for baptism--his parents are just waiting for a day where his grandmother can be in town for it. He and his 8-year-old brother Hayden will get baptized on the same day.

Friday we went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders, Elders Facer and Lusk. An exchange is where we switch companions for the day. I went to the Frisco area and Elder Facer went to Little Elm and The Colony with Elder Hatfield. Elder Lusk and myself had an enjoyable time, but sadly enough a lot of the appointments he had set up fell through. Elder Hatfield didn't have a lot of success either, but we did get another investigator. Her name is Mendi and she moved here about 7 weeks ago. She is going through a really tough financial perod right now but has been going to church for the entire time she's been here. Apparently her grandmother took her when she was young but she ws never baptized. On Friday, Elder Hatfield had dinner with the Alleman family and they invited her over. They taught her about the Book of Mormon and she said she was ready to know more, so we will go teach her this week and hopefully see her baptized in the coming weeks.

We saw Liz again this week, and apparently she and Trever have broken up; however, as we taught her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we had a really spiritual lesson and at the end she said she wanted to be baptized! The only thing holding her back at this point was her parents. They are not big fans of the Church at all and would probably be really upset if she got baptized (at that point she hasn't even told them about the lessons she'd been having with us) so she'll probably get baptized sometime next month or October. I'm really excited for her though. She has become so much happier and more at peace since we started teaching her. At first, I suspect she took the lessons to keep Trevor and his family happy, but it's great to see how that has shifted to her truly wanting to know and to become a part of this wonderful Church. I have been so blessed to see that change in her life.
Sadly, the missionaries in the singles ward have requested that they start teaching her for some odd reason (it's too much to explain...and it's just annoying) so we won't finish teaching her but we will definitely be at her baptism.

We haven't seen Kelly & Melissa in a while because Kelly was sick on Wednesday when we had scheduled an appointment and they went to pick up Branden from the airport. We do have an appointment with them tonite, though, so that should go well and hopefully Branden will sit in, 'cause if he does we could see him baptized at the same time as his father. =D

We had a blitz in one of the areas on Saturday and it went well. We got the missionaries serving there 6 new investigators! It was a lot of fun and a couple of those investigators have a lot of potential to be baptized.

Well I guess that's it. I miss you all and hope to hear from you!

Love, peace, and Taco Grease (courtesy of Josh ;])

Elder Grondel