Elder Brock DeLuca: Spiritual Experiences, Future Missionary Training & iPads

Hello everyone! I missed talking to you yesterday but I am grateful for those who have served our country!

Last Tuesday was transfers and as we all know I will be staying here for a little while longer! we had a good lunch with our Relief Society President at Chick-Fil-A that afternoon and then we had a lesson with a part member family that went really well.

Wednesday, we volunteered at TEAM resale shop here in Tomball in the morning and we just helped them organize some of the clothing that they are getting ready for the summer. We had dinner with the Bean family that night and then we knocked their apartment complex for a while to try to find some more gators. After that we went back over to their place to head to a lesson with Cynthia and Dante with them. We finished teaching them the Plan of Salvation and set a baptismal date with them for June 13th! Cynthia is pumped, but Dante is still a little hesitant because he needs to work through a few addictions before he gets baptized. Please keep him in your prayers!

Friday, we had a sweet district meeting with our new district leader, Elder Roberts. He did a really nice job. We had a lesson with Orion that afternoon with some of the Bikman boys in our ward. They are two brothers that we hunted down at the dollar store to come out with us. We called their dad and he told us where they were but that he couldn't get a hold of them so we went there ourselves! They were happy to come and teach with us and they did an incredible job with making Orion aware that he has many friends that are there for him and that care about him. We also met with Dustin that evening. he is the grandson of Sandy who we talked with a while back and she was not interested, but he was. We had a great first lesson with him and his other grandma! They both were really interested to meet with us again yesterday but it turned out that he was busy.

Saturday was sweet! We had Timothy Pope come out with us in the morning. He is going to be leaving for his mission in a month or so to Independence Missouri! We were planning on seeing a man by the name of William but he ended up not being there so we went to visit a lady who we tracted into the day before. She needed some help with taking down her blinds to repaint them and we helped her out with that. We needed a drill so we went over to Rick and Corban's house and they had one. Corban came with us and we were able to help her out pretty fast with a power drill. After that we went over to see Cynthia and Dante with timothy and we taught them about temples and family history. We then invited them to attend a baptism in the stake that night. The Bishop, which is Timothy's dad, ended up going with his wife to pick up Cynthia that evening to go to the baptism. The stake is our zone, so if we have investigators going, we can attend the baptismal services as well. We showed up and came to find out that Beth who was going to be baptized this Wednesday was there along with Elijah. There was two at one service! So sweet! Cynthia liked it and she got to see what it will be like at her baptism next month.

Sunday, we had a great time at church but Dante didn't come with Cynthia. Sunday evening, we had the opportunity to go and speak to the youth in the stake that are preparing to serve missions. Elder Petersen and I were asked to speak for 5 minutes each about what was beneficial for us in preparing for a mission. I just told them that I never really planned on serving a mission until i found out for myself that the Book of Mormon was true. I told them that daily prayer and scripture study are key in preparing. Right along with that, Preach My Gospel has every tool a missionary need to be successful. I made mention of the adversary and then shared Helaman 5:12 with them and told them that it was really beneficial for me to go on splits with the missionaries. Shout out to Elder Michael Costello; you are a boss, man! I am grateful that I was able to go out and teach with you. There was a young man by the name of Kamerin Spahr there that evening who is from Mesa!! We went to school together so I was able to talk with him for a little bit and that was really sweet. He is two years younger than me, but we were at Shepherd Jr. High together.

Today was such a spirit-felt morning. We had the opportunity to go to a mission conference and Elder Brent H. Nielson of the Seventy was there to train us on the iPads that are here! We will have them in just a couple of weeks. They are going to help the work so much. I am grateful for the training that we had on using technology how the Lord intended. There were so many different things that stuck out to me today but I will share 1 or 2. He said that he has been present when they assign missionaries to their call and sometimes they assign missionaries to the mission president. He said I want you all to know that President and Sister Mortensen are called of God and I want you to think about what the Lord wants you to learn from the Mortensens. That was really powerful when he said that. The two biggest concerns the church had with distributing Ipads were 1: We would forget our purpose; and 2: The dark side to the internet. We had a lot of training on how we can protect us and our companions from all of the garbage that is so easily accessible. We have filters on our iPads to help keep us safe, but when we take them home that filter is taken out. They taught us on how we can stay clear of things online even after we go home. They said the best filter is YOU. Know what you are going online. Don't go online when you are bored or if you have no purpose because that is when we could look at something that we shouldn't. It was a really good meeting!

We that is our week. It was great! Looking forward to another great week. I love you guys!

Love,

Elder DeLuca