Dear Family,
Life is great here in Midland. The trading deadline has past for the second time and once again I survived the chopping block and will be staying here in Midland for at least another 6 weeks. My companion however wasn’t so lucky. He got traded to some place up north. He will be leaving tomorrow afternoon and I will get my new companion either when he leaves or Wednesday afternoon.
One worldly thing to get out of the way, for those of you who don’t like worldly things, you can skip this paragraph, but my letters from Mom, Bruce, and Joe all talked about the American Idol finale so that’s all I have to respond to. Something of note to those of you who haven’t jumped the American Idol bandwagon yet, you better jump, because even Mom has become addicted from what I read, even though she doesn’t want to accept it. And if mom likes American Idol, then that means you will too. By the way, Mom, I was laughing out loud when I read your reaction to David Archuleta losing. It would’ve been cool for him to win, but let me justify David Cook. The way I judge American Idol is I try to picture myself listening to their music after they are finished with American Idol is finished and I ask myself, would I listen to their album that they put out? I’ll root for whoever sings closer to my taste and that person was David Cook this year and it’s about time that America gets it right for the first time in 6 seasons. Thanks for recording all the episodes for me. That’ll be fun when I get home. But anyway, Bruce brings up an interesting point. David Archuleta is a member of the church and only in high school. Maybe he’ll go on a mission. That would be cool, Elder Archuleta. One problem though, they’d have to send him to some foreign country that knows nothing about American media or else there would be people that would join the church just because of him and that is the wrong reason.
I heard from Joe that you guys are all going on all kinds of fun trips now that I’m gone. Not only are you going to the big vacation this summer, but you all decided to take off to Zion’s canyon. That’s no fair… Don’t worry, I don’t need vacations. I’m on a better vacation so ha!
Bruce – In answer to your question, I’m sorry that that video we made got deleted. I’m not sure if it’s on my flash drive or not. I can’t remember. Greg and Wendy have that flash drive so talk to them and make them check. Sorry. I hope it is. Let me know what you find out.
Anyway, about me talking more about my experiences, I’ll promise that I’ll talk about anyone who might go anywhere that we’ve taught more than once. Cody Chambers is at a standstill right now. We did teach him about opposition so I hope that helps and he did bring up that he has slipped up with smoking, so that is something we’ll have to work with. He has had an incredibly hectic work schedule, so we haven’t met with him in a while and he hasn’t been to church in a few weeks due to his work. Melissa is pretty serious about coming back, but she has had some medical issues and hasn’t made it to church the last two weeks because of it. She has pushed Cody a lot to get baptized, so that shows her desire.
A few others worth mentioning: First, Chris. He is a guy that has done a lot of bad things in his life. He has tattoos up and down his arms and had a house arrest ankle bracelet on the first time we met him. However, he does want to change his ways and become a better person. He is familiar with the Bible, so that is also good. We read 2 Nephi 31 with him and talked a lot about baptism. We found he wasn’t on parole and has never been to prison, so we extended a hard baptismal commitment, that is where we set a specific date, and he accepted it, but the problem is he said he wants to get baptized in his mom’s church when he does get baptized. Hmmm, wrong answer. We’ll have to teach him about that more.
The second person we taught a second lesson to is a guy named Jonathan Alcantara. He is about 20 years old. He grew up catholic but it didn’t feel right to him so he turned atheist. Recently though, his girlfriend re-sparked a religious interest in him so he no longer feels atheist, but he is confused and in the dark about which religion is true. That is the type of situation we like. He was actually a referral given to us by a member, so that is even better. The first two lessons, the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation, made a ton of sense to him, we just need to get him to read the Book of Mormon and come to church and we’ll get him.
Last, but not least is a young Hispanic couple, Junior and Lupé, that we have taught a few times. They have never been much on religion, but they like us coming and talking with them. He, like everyone else, works in the oil field, the same type of work Cody Chambers does. They do huge 12 – 16 hour shifts with very few days off. It is horrible and hard to teach and get them to come to church. He is always working and she doesn’t want to come alone. We’ll see what happens with them, but at least they invite us in, so that’s a step forward.
That’s about everyone right now that has real potential. Everyone else is people we’ve taught once and never seen again or are trying to get back in. I’ll keep you updated. The opposition discourse from President Rose will have to wait because of the fact that I had people to talk about so keep in touch.
So I thought my scripture last week was going to be harder to get, but Wendy nailed it, so I have to try harder. Here’s my best shot for now:
“Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the Lord, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever: and serve the Lord your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you. For if ye turn again unto the Lord, your brethren and your children shall find compassion before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land: for the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him.”
Try to get that one. Until next time, peace out!
DrogeTheElder Adam R
PS - someone give me Joe's email address. The one I have right now isn't working.
Elder Adam R Droge Alienator345
No comments:
Post a Comment