Monday, November 24, 2014

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

I don't know why but I am in such a good mood right now! Maybe because I am a missionary?? I dunno. We had a great week this past week! 
     
Tuesday we ended up meeting with Jordan and we had a great lesson. We reviewed the Plan of Salvation and we taught her about Family History and the importance of it. It went really well and she accepted the baptismal date for December 13th! Her mom works on the weekends though, so we may be rescheduling it for during the week prior or after the Saturday the 13th. We will work that out as we get a little closer! Tuesday night, we also met a really solid potential investigator that we met at the dollar store! We had like 15 minutes until 9, but we both made a promise to never go in before 9 so we went to the dollar store about a half mile away to go and talk with people. We didn't have much success in the store but as we were leaving, we met a lady outside! We started talking to her and she was asking questions and we were asking her questions and it was so cool. We extended a baptismal invitation right there and she said yes! Wait it gets even better! She lives at our apartment complex!! We have never seen her before, but we have an appointment with her tomorrow at 7:30
     
Wednesday, we met with Kona and this was sweet. We taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ lesson and it went so well. She is seriously progressing so much and you can truly see a different person in her. It is so neat to watch. We explained that to her too and she said that she is so much happier because she is living the gospel! How sweet is that!? She also said that she used to have not the cleanest language but she is doing so much better to the point to where she "cringes when she hears her friends use bad language". I was like, "Wow, Kona!" We have seen such a big change in her life and we see that she is so much happier. She wants to be baptized right now but she also wants her active grandma to be at her baptism. We told her that it is an option for her to travel to Utah and be baptized there so her grandma doesn't have to travel, but she was like, "No, I want you guys there."  That was super cool!
 
After Kona we went to the church because we had a lesson with another investigator Anthony who we haven't had contact with in a while. Right when we got to the church we saw a priest from the ward that said Kona had just texted him and said that our lesson was awesome and very inspirational! We were like, "We were just there!"  Anyways, our lesson with Anthony went really well too. We re-taught the Restoration lesson and we extended a baptismal date for December 20th! He came to church yesterday too. He is 11 and his mom is not very supportive of him meeting with us, so we had to have a member go pick him up. He is so young and has been through so much. He is a stud! Please keep him in your prayers. 
     
Friday, we had a Zone Conference and President Mortensen threw it down hard! He is so inspiring. I have never met anyone who has such a great knowledge of the gospel. There was much learned but one thing I want to share is what Sister Mortensen talked to us about. She went over the topic of dress for both Elders and Sisters and one thing was on my mind. My little sister and my bracelet. Last Thanksgiving in St. Louis, Bailley and I got some matching bracelets and we promised to never take them off. When I entered the MTC I found out that Elders are not supposed to wear bracelets and I ignored it. I kept mine on because I made a promise to Bailley and I did not want to break that promise. For months, I never really thought of my bracelet as me sinning, but in reality, I was. It wasn't until just two weeks ago that Elder Lythgoe and I went through things that we could do in order to have the spirit to be with us more and he realized that he needed to send some unauthorized books home. They were good church books, but they were not missionary-approved. I kept having a thought to take off my bracelet but I didn't want to say anything. About 2 or 3 minutes went by and I finally said it and he was like, "I actually noticed that right when I met you but I didn't say anything." I took it off and I literally wanted to cry. I wrote Bailley a letter and told her that I had to take it off because I am trying my very best to be the best missionary I can be. I did not know about this rule before I was a missionary, but I promised the Lord to follow the rules and so I had to take it off. Guess what? She emailed me the following Monday and she was proud of me for doing that! I just know that no matter what, as we do what the Lord has asked us to do, everything works out. It is as simple as that. I went up to President and Sister Mortensen and shared that experience with them and I actually cried. I have my bracelet in my side bag, so you are still always with me, Buddah. I love you! 
     
I want to thank you all for, literally, everything you do for me. I am so thankful to be able to be part of such a wonderful family, and to have such amazing friends. I hope you all have the best Thanksgiving ever! Don't eat too much turkey! 

Love,

Elder DeLuca 


We got to do some more service at Brother Bravenic's! 


I got to see Elder Thomas at Zone Conference! He is a stud. He goes home in one week!!!!



No comments:

Post a Comment