Alright first off, the girls were only in the car with me one time when I was going fast, second off that was the summer when I was 17, two years ago! I'm the safest driver there is. Let it go! I never go over the speed limit, especially out here where the mission cars make it impossible to go over the speed limit. I've long grown out of the phase where I thought going fast was fun or even indulging in such childish pleasures as unnecessary risks or feats that simply satisfy the adolescent need for adrenaline. If you ever attend a funeral for one of your children who dies in an accident due to carelessness it won't be me. Of that you can be sure. (This was in response to my telling him about a North Thurston senior that was killed in a car accident last week. He was attempting to get up to 100 mph but lost control of the car at about 60 mph and hit a telephone pole and a iron and concrete fence. The girls told me about times when Kyle would try to reach a 100mph on a stretch of road just around the corner from where the accident occurred.)
I do know who Cody Hachtel is and I must admit I'm pretty surprised that they're dating. If he's who I think he is he's more of a country type, gruff, hunting kind of guy and Kim's, let's be honest here, pretty girly and high maintenance. But whatever. He's a pretty cool guy. I do remember he can be pretty worldly and go with the crowd sometimes but he seemed cool. Good lineman.
That's crazy that Maleah is driving. I can't imagine riding in the car with her and her driving me somewhere. That's just an odd thought. So much will have changed once I get back.
It's pretty weird looking back on how different I used to be. Sister Black and I were looking at some old pictures of my first transfer and second transfer and she said, "Man do you remember when you were a chunk?" I said yes... it was pretty weird looking at old pictures. I'm going to send you the memory card probably today with a bunch of stuff on it. It's full this time! There's also a video of a musical number we did this last Sunday. Sister Black and Sister Cope sang and I accompanied them so you can enjoy that.
So we had probably our best week ever to end the transfer off. We had 3 baptisms! It was an amazing service and it was my first time getting to perform the ordinance. Pres. Bahr and his wife were able to attend which always makes the service that much more meaningful. I also played the piano for the sisters in a special musical number, "I Know that My Redeemer Lives." It was a very nice arrangement.
Thankfully the church had pants that I could use. I need to see if I can get my baptismal pants altered. I'm still losing weight, by the way, but much slower. I'm at 194.2 right now. 11.4% body fat. I'm all skin & bones! Not really, I'm actually really healthy. Eating a good balanced diet and doing a lot of exercise pays off.
We had a lot of cool finding miracles this week. We worked really hard at preparing our candidates for baptism but the Lord really led us to those who were really prepared. One case was we were trying to get in contact with this one girl that we'd set with a baptismal date several times but she would all of a sudden drop off the map when her baptismal date would come up. We were talking with her aunt who had answered the door to their apartment building but we weren't going to go in because it was just her that was home. Another couple walks in with stuff from the store and the guy stops and tells her to invite us in. She, not speaking much English, didn't really understand and looked puzzled to him. He, in response to her puzzled looks, told her that we were servants of God and that she should never reject us because when God sends angels it's up to us to receive them. She walked away, probably because she couldn't understand a word he was saying, but we asked him how he knew that we were servants of God. He recognized us as missionaries from the church because he'd met with the missionaries in his home island in the Caribbean. He told us that he had heard of the message of Joseph Smith and that he loved to read and understand the scriptures. We asked him how he felt about Joseph Smith and he said that he had really thought and prayed about what he heard. He didn't know the reference but he knew that somewhere in the Bible, the Lord said to Peter that the fulness of the Gospel was not on the earth yet but that it would be revealed by the mouth of His prophet. He then told us that he believed that Joseph Smith was that prophet and he knew that what Joseph said was true because he was a prophet of God. Elder Roper and I just about fainted when he said that but the Spirit was so strong when he really bore his testimony to us about the things that he had come to know through prayerful study of the Bible. He gave us his information and we set up a time to visit with him again. We gave him a pamphlet with the church information and the Plan of Salvation and he committed to coming to church next week. After we'd prayed with him and as we were about to go, he said that he knew that our meeting there at that time and in that place and talking about and feeling the Spirit there had been appointed by God and His angels long ago. It was amazing!
We're seeing many miracles here in Jersey City. Transfers are this week. Almost the whole zone is undergoing some big changes. My companion Elder Roper is leaving and president Bahr told him that he will be going to help out a struggling area. Elder Yates and Elder De La Cruz will both be training new missionaries and Elder De La Cruz will be opening a new area in our zone! So many new and exciting things are happening in the New Jersey Morristown Mission. We'll be receiving 18 new missionaries and our whole apartment will have the opportunity of participating in the Fear Buster. The experience where, within hours of getting off the plane, the new missionaries go with one of the experienced missionaries, in the middle of downtown Newark, and go street contacting. It's going to be so much fun.
I'm looking forward to this new transfer and whatever God will bless me with. Hope you all have a great week!
-Elder Guinto
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