May 17, 2015

Hey Y'all!

So this week was pretty dang awesome! Kevin and Ragan are solid! This week we talked about the Temple with them and what happens there. He had a lot of questions about it and I'm glad he did. I would've have worried a little bit if he didn't just because of his religious background. But he loved it and is planning on going to the Temple after he is baptized! We are also teaching Ragan's daughters who are 10 and 8. We talked about the Plan of Salvation with them and they are really smart! Holy Cow! We tried to dumb it down a bit so that they would be able to understand what we were talking about, but they were dancing circles around the lesson. They are really excited about getting baptized. On Sunday, we had our monthly mission president fireside and they went and got to meet President Ames!  They really enjoyed it and also enjoyed the testimonies of others as well. This week is going to be really big for this family! On Thursday, Kevin will be finished with the missionary lessons and that will also be the day he is done with smoking and drinking. Friday Kevin and Ragan are going to be married so that they are living the commandments and then right after that, Kevin will be interviewed for baptism for the 30th. We are so excited for him! He is ready and super excited!

This week we were able to meet with an guy who has been meeting with missionaries for about 2 years. His name is Ken. He has almost been baptized 3 times within those 2 years but concerns keep popping up and he has kept turning down the opportunity. So we had met with him the first week Elder Jacobson was here and we read out of the book of Ether. He really enjoys history and he really liked the Jaredites and how they came to be. So this week we read out of 2 Nephi 2 and talked about Adam and Eve and how they tie into the Plan of Salvation. He loved it! He stopped reading a few times during it and you could just see that there was light bulbs turning on in his head. He is pretty awesome and we have hopefully sparked that interest again. We invited him to be baptized at the end of the lesson and we didn't set a date, but he said that he would consider being baptized in July. So we are excited to start helping him out.

We were also able to get in contact with a Less Active member this week who was baptized a couple years ago. He has social anxiety and has had a really hard time coming to church for the past couple months. He is a single guy and there is another single guy in the ward that comes out with us every week and we went over and they were talking as if they had been friends for years! It was pretty awesome to see that connection. But we talked with him and we set up a plan to have him done smoking and Temple worthy by the end of June. He agreed that that's what he needed to do. So him and the member decided to read every day and text back and forth what they read and what they got out of it. He also came to church on Sunday and he seemed really happy to be there. So we are excited to start working with him. 

And lastly, we were able to do some more service this week! No we weren't moving 2 1100 pound rocks, but we were helping the same family organize their garage and help clean it out. It looked tons better when we were done organizing it! They even took us out to Logan's and bought us dinner! Which was super good! I had some really good chicken there! They are an awesome family! I also bought me some cowboy boots on Monday and they look really nice! I'm pretty excited about that! Hope yall have a great week and thanks for the emails!

Love,

Elder O'Brien