Niiiice!

Hey everyone!

This week was pretty bomb if you ask me. So it all started on Wednesday. I went to the temple with my zone for zone training meeting. It was a wonderful experience. I actually received an answer on where I need to go to school when I get back. And that answer is good ol' BYU-H. I feel like I just signed my next letter of intent over there, nice. I kept thinking of SUU or UVU but BYU-H just kept running through my head and that was my answer. So, Megan, your wish has been fullfilled. Now we can go to Kualoa Ranch! And hopefully I can have you for English because I stink at that. Give me health class anyday. So anyway, after the temple, we had zone training meeting on "master planning." We talked about how we need to get investigators to church and have members be there. He says the adversary is crushing us in that. We try really hard, it's just that people have agency. And people, even though we get a ride for them and everything, don't want to come to church because 10 am is so early. So after that, Elder Billings and I went over to see an investigator that has a baptismal date and he wasn't home, so we went back to the car that the other Elders were in and they were gone! We told them we would come right back. So after that, we called the Elders and said they were halfway to the church. And all of our supplies were in there. Our suit coats, our scriptures, everything. So we decided to go knock on a potential that we had named Devon. Devon is a stud! We talked to him for a little bit about music and everything and so after that, we asked him if he still had the Book of Mormon and Restoration pamphlet we gave him. So he went and brought it out. We read the pamphlet with him and gave him the Restoration lesson right there on the door step. After the lesson, we invited him to be baptized on the 28th of September. He got so excited and ask, "How do I even prepare." In my mind, I'm like, "Yes!" And so we tell him to come to church, read and pray. Sadly, he didn't come to church, but he is ready and so excited to be baptized.

The next day, Elder Billings and I went on splits with a couple members that are about to go serve missions. Elder Billings was with a guy named Dupond Merlin. And while there were together, they did a new member lesson with a young woman that was just baptized. And the young woman's name is Kennedy. And Kennedy brought over a friend named Hailey. Hailey said she might be a member of the church, but she isn't sure. But, Elder Billings asked her that if she wasn't a member would she be baptized. And she said she would! So we are just waiting for her records to come in and see if she is a member. If not, she could be baptized next week!

The next day, we chose to tract this street called Rock Creek Dr. Really rich neighborhood. So we were kind of intimidated. The second door we knock on we met this older lady named Merlyn. Merlyn is from New Orleans and lived in Sacramento for a while. She actually still has the good ol' 916 area code. I was pretty excited about that. But she talked to us for about an hour! Just about her life and some church stuff. The thing that got her interested was that we said we have a living prophet on the Earth today. So after she talked to us for an hour, she invited us to dinner sometime! She said she would cook us really Louisiana gumbo! Niiiice! We have an appt with her on Tuesday.

Then comes Sunday. Sunday, the day started off kind of slow. We didn't see very many people and we are slow walkers so... Anyways, we go over to an apartment complex that we really like named "Cameron Landing." First door we knock on is a lady named Nilsa. Nilsa is going to retire from the army soon. In two weeks to be exact. We asked her if we could say a prayer with her. (That's how we do door approaches) And she said that would be great and we asked her if there was anything or anybody that she wanted to include in the prayer. She said that she would like some guidance in her life. So, we prayed and the Spirit was really strong and it got her to start crying a little. And she was saying that she was just going through a hard time just about 2 seconds ago and then we knocked on her door. She said it's crazy how God works. So we are going to call her on Tuesday and see if everything is okay and when we can come back.

I have started to read the Book of Mormon in Spanish this week to work on my "native" language. And what I have learned so far is that Nephi really loved his brothers. He did everything he could to make them happy, but his brothers decided to choose evil and that leads on to the rest of Book of Mormon. It has gotten me to realize that people have agency. And that if we plant the seed. Everything will work out. It says in the Book of Mormon that the Lamanites will be lifted up at the last day. And now, Hispanics and most of Georgia are accepting the Gospel. We had 56 baptisms in our mission last month. Our goal for this month is 101. People are accepting the Gospel left and right. It is so great! I love you all and pray for you guys every prayer I have. Write me back! I love you all! Remember that the church is true. And follow the prophet! Read the Ensign.

 

Con amor,

Elder Grant Evans