10/18 E-Mail: Finding, Miracles, and Cheese

     Hey everybody! We had a really great week this week. There were a lot of ups and downs and disappointments too, but over all it was a great week. We have been focusing a lot on finding lately and really been blessed with a lot of success. We had quite a few new investigators this week. I have to tell you about one miracle in particular. On Thursday we went to go see an investigator named Doug. He wasn't home for our appointment at 2, so we decided to work in his area a little bit. While we were tracting the first door we knocked on the man let us right in and we were able to teach him, he was awesome, then outside we talked to another really great lady named Janet who told us that though she was raised Catholic she really had no idea what that even means and wanted to just learn more about Christ and His teachings. She also was interested in being baptized. We set up an appointment for the next day (which went really well, she's awesome) then had to leave for our next appointment. Well around 5 we felt prompted to go back to Doug's and see if he was home. When we got there he was sitting outside with his friend Justin. He invited us in, then right then a phone call came and he stepped out to answer it, leaving us inside with his friend for about the next 15 minutes. As we started to talk to Justin we found out that he had actually had a good friend in high school (Justin is now 20) that he had gone to church with a few times and had gone to seminary with every morning for several months. He really enjoyed the church and the people there and the way he felt there, more then any other church he had ever been too, but he had a lot of doctrinal concerns and questions, and he didn't feel like anyone there took the time to answer his questions. So he stopped going. He told us what questions he had, just little things he had heard and things he didn't understand, and we were able to answer them and then transition into teaching the Restoration. He was just eating it all up! Literally he was on the edge of his seat the whole time, very excited about what he was hearing. Near the end of the lesson, before we even had the chance to ask, he asked us, "Can you guys take down my address and everything so you can come back and teach me more?" Of course, we were happy to! So we got his information then asked when we could come back. "Can you come tomorrow?"
     We told him that unfortunately we were extremely busy the next day (we really did have appointments all day) so then immediately he asked "well what about the next day?" We set up an appointment for noon on Saturday. On Saturday we went over there with BJ, a member of the singles branch, for our appointment and Justin couldn't wait to tell us what had just happened. He said that when he got up in the morning he had completely forgotten about our appointment, and a friend of his called at about 11:30 asking if he wanted to come over and play XBOX with him. So he said he got on his bike and started heading over there, and he didn't get half way down the street before he had the biggest shiver down his spine. He said he's never felt anything like it, he just knew that for some reason he wasn't supposed to go to his friends. Then all of a sudden it hit him - our appointment! So he called his friend and told him he couldn't come, and we had an awesome lesson. Unfortunately he had to work Sunday so he couldn't come to church, but we called him on Sunday and he said that he talked to his boss and asked for Sundays off so he could go to church, and his boss said from now on he'll do his best to not work him on Sundays again! So he's doing great. He'll be baptized within the next month. That will probably be my last person I get to see baptized before I go home... Things are going great though. I love you all! Have a great week!
     P.S. Your comment, Dad, about melted cheese in your letter a couple of weeks ago was way funny. If you could see me now... I'll eat anything! Actually I would say that my two absolute favorite foods now are Enchiladas and Lasagna. But I love all food. I can't believe I was missing out on so much all my life! I am trying to eat healthy though (hard to do when every night we're at the mercy of whatever the members feed us) but for breakfast and lunch I'm trying really hard to be healthy and exercising a lot too. Lots of ab stuff and push ups and stuff (getting ready for military) and on my morning runs I'm up to 4 miles. I would be doing more but we don't really have time. But I've gotten rid of most of the weight that I had gained on my mission, so I look great, and honestly I feel better (health wise) then I have at any other time.