December, 23rd 2012

I have a book that you might like to read.  I saw it at the house of a member and that was his assignment for his English class.  I read a few pages and thought it was great, then as Elder Sta.Ana was reading the Liahona conference addition he noticed the book was quoted by President Uchdorf.  'The Little Prince' by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.  

      We have had a pretty good week.  We have one great investigator right now named Eddie.  He heard the announcements in church and said he was going to attend all the activities they mentioned.  There was the Christmas party, a baptism and other activities.  One of them was a funeral, and he reaffirmed to us that he was definitely going to be there.  I didn't really know what to say to him.  He is going to the funeral and it will be a good experience I'm sure but I didn't think he'd attend that one.  The party yes, but the funeral I didn't expect.  I am by the way supposed to speak at that funeral. Anyway he is a good investigator.  It's interesting teaching because he is always busy.  What happens is we teach his wife at the place where she works sometime during the week and then they both come to church and then after church we teach them both together.  

       We had an experience this week in which we saw an investigators mind opened unto understanding.  We taught a very short lesson about the restoration to an investigator.  She understood very well and the Spirit was great.  When we showed her the picture of Heavenly Father and Jesus appearing to Joseph Smith she asked 'Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are 2 beings?'  We answered affirmatively and then she said 'I thought they were one' and then she just paused and thought for a while.  Then she said "you know that makes a lot more sense that they are 2'  And then she brought up bible scriptures that show they are two.  After using the bible scriptures she said she didn't know why she didn't realize that before.  It was interesting because as she was talking to us she was the one answering her own questions.  That lesson we also had her less active neighbor present, who answered most of her other questions.  Essentially all the questions were answered by the investigator or the less active in the lesson. 

     We taught another returning member family about Christmas this week.  We read them the Christmas story and talked about what Jesus wants from us.  Then we moved on and talked about what Mom would want from them for Christmas.  We eventually committed 2 little girls to give their mom a special gift this Christmas. We committed them to tell their mom 'I love you' every day.  Before we left too we made sure they told their mom 'I love you'. it was a pretty fun lesson. It felt good too.

    It is a little bit difficult right now because a lot of people are going out of town for Christmas.  Well not a lot, just a few but it includes some of our investigators which is hard.  We can't teach them and help them come to church when they aren't in town.  But overall it is great here in Lingayen. 

Keep your head up and smile,

Elder Nathaniel J. Merrill