April 27, 2015

"April 13th - April 26th"

Hey Y'all!!

So last week I did not send this...oops. Oh well. So I figured that it would be best if I just added onto this letter what happened this past week.

Man we had a great week this week! We were able to find a really solid family this week from the referrals that we have gotten. So on Tuesday we decided to go to the closest referral because we didn't want to bike too far because we were pretty tired. The referral ended up being a part member family. Ragan is the member and she hasn't been to church since she was 17 years old. She has been married and divorced and is living with her new boyfriend right now, Kevin. They are so cool! We ended up talking with them and they had requested us to come over because she wants to come back to church so her girls can get involved with the primary and also he is interested in joining the church. We had a great discussion about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how we can know that it actually happened. He loved it. So then they came to church on Sunday and was introduced to the Bishop and also a lot of the ward members as well. So the really cool thing is we went over that evening and talked about their experience at church. He kept mentioning that the daughters loved Primary and how they were really happy that they had found a church that they love. We ended up sharing the Restoration video with them and talked about baptism after the video. He said that he would like to be baptized! We didn't talk about a date yet because we didn't feel that we should set a date yet and also they are going to have to be married first. So we wanted to talk about that with them as well. But they are really solid and we are so happy to start working with them!

We were also able to contact another referral and I can't remember what her name is because it was really long and hard to pronounce. This person had requested a Bible and we came over and found out that she is from Jordan and is a Christian!  She wants to learn how to read better in English and she requested a Bible. The funny thing is, she thought that we were Baptist. Haha! So it got kinda awkward because she is technically Baptist and wasn't too happy when we said that we weren't. But we ended up having a good conversation and briefly told her about our church. She didn't seem too interested, but I did learn some Arabic.

So on Friday and Saturday we had some crazy storms roll in. I think out of the 2 of them, the one on Saturday was the worst by far. There was supposedly Tornado warnings and all sorts of Thunderstorm warnings going on. There was a lot of lightning going on as well. We were supposed to see the family that I mentioned earlier on Saturday evening, but right as we were about ready to leave the storm hit and there were trees leaning sideways because of the wind and the rain was just coming down. So if we would've left a little earlier then we would've been destroyed on our bikes. But that was one of the crazier storms I've seen on my mission. Other than that, that's all to report on this week. This is the last week of the transfer so next Monday I will probably know who my next companion will be. 

All right, so onto this past week. So about 6 weeks ago we attempted the 11 pound burrito challenge with 4 people and we missed the mark by like 4 minutes. So this past Monday we attempted this challenge again except with a 5th person, and we DESTROYED that burrito! So what the challenge is, we have to eat an 11 pound burrito in a certain amount of time in order to win the challenge and get the T-Shirt. So the time we had to beat was 5.40, and it was set by some other guys who did it in 2011. So after weeks of preparation, we finished the burrito in 4 minutes and 30 seconds! The manager of the store had the look of amazement on his face when we finished that burrito! It might have just been the best Family Home Evenings I've had! So after we ate the burrito, we then went out and got some ice cream to celebrate! It was pretty dang awesome! Next up on the list is their 9 pound burrito challenge. Haha!

This week we were also able to meet with Ragan and Kevin this week a couple times. Kevin is doing awesome! The only word to describe him that I can think of is exciting. He is always just so excited to learn and listen to what we have to share with him. This week we started talking about the Plan of Salvation with him and have loved learning about it. Yesterday we were talking about Our life on Earth and what we need to do to prepare to meet God. Baptism was brought up and he really has a desire to be baptized. We had a really good discussion about baptism and why it's important to be done properly and he wants to be baptized as soon as he can! We haven't set a date with him yet because they either have to get married or one of them has to move out because they can't be living together and boyfriend and girlfriend. We actually talked about that with them last night and a member of our ward came with us and talked about it with them as well. So we left them with a commitment to pray about that decision and see what they need to do. 

We are still getting a lot of referrals and it's going great! However, no one to be contacted though. Doors won't open and phones won't get picked up. So hopefully we will have success contacting people this week.This week is transfer week. Elder Smith is going to be leaving and I'm pretty bummed about that. I've really enjoyed serving with Elder Smith. My new companion is Elder Jacobsen, not the one who came out with me.I'm pretty concerned about this next transfer with him though. I know who he is and so do some other missionaries, and from what I know and from what other missionaries know, there are definitely issues with this guy. So hopefully all will go well. Oh and I'm also up to 194 pounds! That's what I weighed in at this week. The food is just too good to turn down here. Haha! Other than that,  that's all to report on for this week. Love y'all and have a great week!

Love,

Elder O'Brien