Friday, September 15, 2017

Hail Mary!

with Elder Sharp and Elder Lecheminant
We've had such a great week, everyone.  We bought a stove. Got our bikes fixed. Knocked doors.  Had some great visits.  Met goals, set baptismal dates, and have a nice group of investigators to-boot.

Give it Another Go
So, a couple of weeks ago while knocking doors, we visited a former Catholic priest who is now married with a family.  He told us back then to not return. Well, we decided that we'd ignore his suggestion and give a visit another go.  We returned on Tuesday. When he was about to send us on our way, my comp said, "Hey, we just want to sing a hymn with you."

They let us in.

We sang and talked which naturally led to our inviting them to a church activity. "Oh no," says the wife, "You try to get people to go to your activities and you are sneaky about it."

Sneaky!? We were a little confused.  "I know," she said, "because that is how I got baptized into your church!"

Whuuuut?  We ended up having a lesson WITH A MEMBER PRESENT. YESSSS!

Church Activity with the youth

Ana Maria, Missionary
We visited Ana Maria and taught about Patriarchal Blessings. She is doing great and so full of love for the gospel and her family that she's bent on seeing to it that her entire family is baptized.  Many of them attended her baptism (it is always great when there is family support for something life changing).  Anyway, we set up a family home evening with her family. Fingers crossed.

Maria and Maria
The other night my comp decides he wants some brain food, so we stopped by a place to buy him something, and as we were leaving the story, a lady calls out, "Hi Elders!"  A group of ladies are standing there, so we go over and introduce ourselves and my comp begins talking to one, whose name was Maria, and I make conversation with another, who also happens to be named Maria.

The Maria I talk with turns to her friends and says, "These guys baptize like Jesus was baptized - by immersion. And, I have heard that when you go to their church you feel a warm comfortable feeling."

Turns out, Maria had friends in another town who were members of the church. So we talk a little more and bear testimony.  The Maria that my comp talked to happened to be a less-active member who we had never met. SO WE HAD ANOTHER LESSON WITH A MEMBER PRESENT!

Sharp Dressed Man
Sometimes investigators feel the spirit strongly in discussions, but honestly have a hard time making it to church on Sundays. Christofer is one of them. Well, we finally caught up with him and were direct about needing to attend church. And, guess what?  He came - in full-on suit and tie!

People thought he was a member. Hermano Correa befriended him and stuck by his side for all three hours.  During church we taught him and he set a baptismal date.


Speaking of church - we had 5 investigators show up to church.  That was awesome.  Since we had reached our goals by Saturday, Sharp and I were able to spend Sunday visiting members for referrals.

Cinnamon Incentive
We set up a friendly competition between adults and kids. Whoever wins receives a cinnamon roll from me.  Hopefully it's an incentive. I mean, it is for me.

It's one of the reasons I look forward to General Conference.  My family's tradition is making cinnamon rolls every conference - a tradition I have continued out here. Though, I will need to be careful this time, because last Conference I ended up eating 25 rolls.

Like I said, the week has been fantastic. Hit goals.  People came to church.  Thank you for your prayers.  Parral is seeing the results of that, and I am blessed to be a part of it.

Love to All,
Elder Connor Nef










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