Zarahemla week 10

Me with Elder Drysdale

This week was awesome, and super busy. It's slowly getting colder and colder, and on Sunday it finally snowed! I'm now going to see nothing but white outside for the next 6 or 7 months!

Last Tuesday, after all the P-day stuff, we got to see the Garcia family again. We had an amazing lesson, and gave Nicole a baptismal date for the 9th! We're super excited for her! She's been progressing a ton, and really wants to be baptized. She came to church on Sunday, and absolutely loved it. Our members are so awesome, and were beyond helpful in fellowshipping her. She already has a few friends in the church! It's so awesome to see her progress.

Wednesday was pretty decent, and fairly typical. We had District meeting, which was great as always, and we had the opportunity to get a bit prepared for Saturday, which I will explain why later. We also had the chance to see Mauricio again, and he's doing awesome! Apparently, he used to make pizzas for a living in a pretty fancy Italian restaurant nearby! He's such a funny guy, and we love seeing him. We then had the chance to go eat at an elderly member couple's house for dinner, which was super good. We got to share a little message with them and did some service for them as well. I love the members of our ward!

The Montreal Oratory

Thursday was fairly slow. Got weekly planning done, which as always took a long time. Then we went and passed by a referral, and then met the other Elders in our district to start an exchange. I went with Elder Drysdale again, and we went right away to visit Javier and Christine. It was a great lesson, and we were able to give Christine a baptismal date for the 23rd! Hopefully she'll be ready by then, but we know she can be if she tries. We then headed down to Elder Drysdale's apartment, ate some food, did some studies, and went to bed.

Friday was interesting, as exchanges always are. Woke up, did our studies, and then made a pretty good lunch. Elder Drysdale really likes cooking, so he made some really cool but easy meatballs that were super good. We then left to pass by a less active family, then had a lesson with one of his new investigators which went well. We then went back to his apartment after contacting on the metro a little bit, then we headed back to meet with the Elders. Then Elder Colunga and I went and passed by Luis and Yanet, who I had yet to see since they haven't been available. We shared a short message with them, followed up on how everything was going, then went home.

Saturday was such an amazing day. We woke up at 5:00 and left right away to get to the other end of the island for a special meeting with Elder Renlund from the Quorum of the 12 Apostles! All of the missionaries in the mission, about 145, were there, which very rarely happens. He came, we were able to each shake his hand and talk to him a little bit, and then he talked to us from about 9:00 until noon. It was so amazing! The spirit was so strong and he had such amazing insights on how our mission can specifically improve. It was such an amazing experience that I will never forget. We then went all the way back home which took a while, ate a bit, then left to a member’s house for some service. Then we went and visited Francisco, which went as it usually does; he talked a LOT. But it was so much fun. We then headed over to a family who was referred to us, and we were able to do a bit of service for them and teach them a bit. They're really interested! We are going to be seeing them a couple times this week, and they want to come to church already! Super cool experience.

Sunday was awesome; it started snowing early in the morning and got pretty bad! But church was great. We had a couple of investigators there, and we were able to help them understand a few things and meet a bunch of members. Our members really are amazing, it's such a help! We then went home, ate some food, then had to do a mini exchange with the other Elders for a baptismal interview that Elder Colunga had to do. I went with Elder Torres, who just got into the mission this transfer. I was able to go contacting on the metro with him and pass by a potential investigator, and I got to know him a bit. It was cool to be with him for a little bit! Then we met back up and Elder Colunga and I headed over to the Lemus family's house (who I absolutely love, they're so nice) to watch a broadcast for YSA from Elder Oaks and Elder Ballard. That was super cool (although I had to watch it in Spanish so didn't understand everything).

Monday was also pretty decent. Elder Colunga had to call a few people in the morning, so we left a little late, but were able to pass by Hermano Mendoza and share a bit with him. We read out of the Book of Mormon, and watched a Mormon Messages video by Elder Bednar, which really applied to him in his position. We then went and contacted a little bit, met with a potential from Columbia who was super nice but not really interested. Then we went to the Garcia family's house again, but they had apparently forgotten that we had an appointment, and Nicole wasn't there, but we got to still give a little message and visited a bit. We'll see them soon though!

Well, it's been an amazing week, and it's been great to see so many miracles as always. I hope everyone is doing well! Love you all so much!

Elder James