Bleh, Katelyn's going to be 18. Weird. She's going to be like making her own choices and dating and stuff. Bleh. She's still a puju though.
It's especially different to hear about Kylee getting married. I thought it wasn't going to be till June or something like that but it seems they've pushed it up. It'll be fun to see how she's changed since I've left and how everything will be going. It's quite strange to think that the world will be different than what you left it. You always have this vision of picking up right back where you started when you go home from your mission and the more and more you walk down the road you see that there's no going back to where you started. It's left you far behind and you can either dwell on the past or look towards the future. It makes me more and more apprehensive for the transition. Why can't missions just be for like ten years?
It's good that Maleah is still taking on challenges. Hard work reveals capacity and she can gauge how far she can go and grow. Help her to remember that her possibilities are endless but that reaching greater and greater heights takes time and patience. I think what held me back in school so much is that I lacked the patience to stick with something important. I fooled around with the fickle things in life and lost sight of the goal. Keep your eye on the ball and our short comings and weaknesses won't matter. Remember that when we come unto Christ, or try to do better, we are shown our weakness first. In fact the more we work at it the more aware we become of our falls and blemishes. We are promised that through Christ our weaknesses can become strengths. (Ether 12:27) Christ suffered so that we might overcome the world and have peace in him. (John 16:33) Pres. Hinckley said, "Things will work out! Be believing, be happy, don't get discouraged. Things will work out!"
That's really been one phrase that Elder Summerhays and I have been applying a lot this week. We haven't been able to find as much success as we'd hoped for with some of the people that we've been working with but we've been working our tails off, praying our hearts out, and planning our brains out! We were able to find some really awesome people this week and our one baptismal candidate for the 27th was able to overcome his addiction and he's super excited for baptism!
We've decided to focus our finding efforts in an area that we haven't really exercised any faith to find in and it turned up some amazing success. The area around our church, Journal Square, is EXTRAORDINARILY densely populated. You have thousands of people who all come from different countries and everyone has a different story. We started working there a lot and in just a few days we met some great people who are excited or have come to church already and who really have an incredible thirst for the truths of the Gospel. One we met who's been looking for the right church for a while and another is a scientist who's just been looking for a way to reconcile her belief in God with the things that seem to conflict at work. All of them are different and yet they all are tied together by their need for the gift we have. It's been really cool to see how the Lord does prepare people where ever we may be.
One in particular was amazing as we just went out of our comfort zone to talk with a child of God. One of our backups had fallen through and we were about to leave when we saw a guy about to go up the stairs with a ton of groceries. We offered to help but he declined the offer. He was one of the scariest looking guys you ever could see. He had several piercings and tattoos, three of which were large screws in his mouth right below his lower lip. He definitely looked like he's killed several people. Even so I felt that he was a child of God and I started talking with him. He struggled to talk because he kept having to adjust the piercings in his mouth but he invited us in to talk to him. After a few short minutes of meeting his wonderful wife and their two young daughters he was telling us about how he's been living a lie and he really wants to turn his life around and feel forgiven of his sins. He really felt the spirit and he committed to be baptized at the end of the month! It's wonderful what the Spirit does when we obey those promptings!
I hope that everyone looks this week for the Spirit to prompt them to do something they've never done before. Something that takes them out of their comfort zone but will do something that will help, or even potentially help, another person this week. I know that the Spirit of the Lord will lead us in to all truth and guide us in the way that is right and will bless His children.
-Elder Guinto
Monday, February 14, 2011
Monday, February 7, 2011
E-mail received 02/07/2011
My daze I haven't made pound cake since I've been in Fairlawn!
Yeah it's not the same car that we got crashed in to, that was the van, but this car has seriously been bad luck for us. We actually were supposed to get it back today but I talked with the Elder who manages the cars for us and told him how much the car seems to be a problem for us and he gave us a brand new 2010 Ford Fusion instead. So now we have a much nicer car that hopefully will rid us of the curse. I think I'll do fine without a gps. Several other missionaries have them now and I'll be fine while I'm in Jersey City because I know the area pretty well and how to get to all the major mission locations from it.
Yeah, just goes to show I wasn't kidding when I said you guys might want to rethink picking me up. Jersey isn't a playground. Although there are some places that are pretty good. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it though.
It's weird that you've been having all these dreams about me coming home. I had a weird dream the other night that I came home but it was because all of you guys had gotten into a huge accident and died! Hopefully none of this comes true but it had me a little on edge coming to do emails!
Katelyn, you are a spaz. Face it.
I did get your package and I did get the message about Mitchell and Jacob getting their calls. That's so cool that Jacob is going on a mission. I couldn't believe it when you guys told me on Christmas. It sounds like he's come a long way and I'm really wondering what made the change or the difference. I can't wait to see him after he gets home from his mission. The Lord truly shapes us and molds us into the best that we can be.
I really do wonder what new calling they would give Bro. Renda. He's a scriptural champion! He'd be perfect for primary or some calling with the young men. Whatever it is it'll be inspired.
The weather here's been pretty bad but nothing that's stopped us from working. We've gotten more snow and freezing rain as well, which is miserable, but we worked through it all. We actually had a pretty good week this week. We've really been working with this one investigator who's from Sierra Leone and he's really working hard to turn his life around. It's really cool to see how much the scriptures mean to him now and see someone just love them. He takes it with him everywhere he goes now and he loves the Spirit he gets from them.
We also taught a new investigator this week who's from Haiti and he already had a firm knowledge that after the death of Jesus Christ the church fell and that all the other churches were just churches built by men. When we taught him about the apostasy and the Restoration it just really clicked with him and he told us that he really thought that Joseph Smith might be a prophet. He committed to be baptized when he gains a testimony of the Book of Mormon and he'll be coming to church this Sunday!
We had an awesome opportunity to have Elder Paul V. Johnson of the first quorum of the Seventy meet with us in a zone conference on Saturday. He's a great speaker and it was an excellent conference. We learned a lot about being a consecrated missionary and also in teaching to the level of our investigators. He did a funny example where he had two Spanish-speaking missionaries come and role-play knocking his door. When they answered the door he started speaking in Norwegian to them. The Elders thought for a second that he was kidding and one of them responded in German. When Elder Johnson responded back in Norwegian they we stunned. Their faces were priceless. They did a good job of handling the situation but he wanted to show us that even though we both speak English, that kind of miscommunication happens more than we think it does. We're really focusing on teaching to the needs of our investigators now.
Elder Summerhays and I have been working really hard at finding some new people and we found some great ones in a building with golden hallways. It was funny when we walked in and there was a chandelier in the hallway and the walls were white with gold woodwork. It looked like the hallways of a temple! We were even more amazed when the people there just opened their doors to us and talked cordially, politely and with great interest in what we had to say. It was a testament that we can be guided to those who are searching and they are out there.
Well I hope that you guys have a great week. Hopefully no one gets robbed and the weather stays mild!
-Elder Guinto
Yeah it's not the same car that we got crashed in to, that was the van, but this car has seriously been bad luck for us. We actually were supposed to get it back today but I talked with the Elder who manages the cars for us and told him how much the car seems to be a problem for us and he gave us a brand new 2010 Ford Fusion instead. So now we have a much nicer car that hopefully will rid us of the curse. I think I'll do fine without a gps. Several other missionaries have them now and I'll be fine while I'm in Jersey City because I know the area pretty well and how to get to all the major mission locations from it.
Yeah, just goes to show I wasn't kidding when I said you guys might want to rethink picking me up. Jersey isn't a playground. Although there are some places that are pretty good. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it though.
It's weird that you've been having all these dreams about me coming home. I had a weird dream the other night that I came home but it was because all of you guys had gotten into a huge accident and died! Hopefully none of this comes true but it had me a little on edge coming to do emails!
Katelyn, you are a spaz. Face it.
I did get your package and I did get the message about Mitchell and Jacob getting their calls. That's so cool that Jacob is going on a mission. I couldn't believe it when you guys told me on Christmas. It sounds like he's come a long way and I'm really wondering what made the change or the difference. I can't wait to see him after he gets home from his mission. The Lord truly shapes us and molds us into the best that we can be.
I really do wonder what new calling they would give Bro. Renda. He's a scriptural champion! He'd be perfect for primary or some calling with the young men. Whatever it is it'll be inspired.
The weather here's been pretty bad but nothing that's stopped us from working. We've gotten more snow and freezing rain as well, which is miserable, but we worked through it all. We actually had a pretty good week this week. We've really been working with this one investigator who's from Sierra Leone and he's really working hard to turn his life around. It's really cool to see how much the scriptures mean to him now and see someone just love them. He takes it with him everywhere he goes now and he loves the Spirit he gets from them.
We also taught a new investigator this week who's from Haiti and he already had a firm knowledge that after the death of Jesus Christ the church fell and that all the other churches were just churches built by men. When we taught him about the apostasy and the Restoration it just really clicked with him and he told us that he really thought that Joseph Smith might be a prophet. He committed to be baptized when he gains a testimony of the Book of Mormon and he'll be coming to church this Sunday!
We had an awesome opportunity to have Elder Paul V. Johnson of the first quorum of the Seventy meet with us in a zone conference on Saturday. He's a great speaker and it was an excellent conference. We learned a lot about being a consecrated missionary and also in teaching to the level of our investigators. He did a funny example where he had two Spanish-speaking missionaries come and role-play knocking his door. When they answered the door he started speaking in Norwegian to them. The Elders thought for a second that he was kidding and one of them responded in German. When Elder Johnson responded back in Norwegian they we stunned. Their faces were priceless. They did a good job of handling the situation but he wanted to show us that even though we both speak English, that kind of miscommunication happens more than we think it does. We're really focusing on teaching to the needs of our investigators now.
Elder Summerhays and I have been working really hard at finding some new people and we found some great ones in a building with golden hallways. It was funny when we walked in and there was a chandelier in the hallway and the walls were white with gold woodwork. It looked like the hallways of a temple! We were even more amazed when the people there just opened their doors to us and talked cordially, politely and with great interest in what we had to say. It was a testament that we can be guided to those who are searching and they are out there.
Well I hope that you guys have a great week. Hopefully no one gets robbed and the weather stays mild!
-Elder Guinto
Monday, January 31, 2011
E-mail sent 9/21/2010, but that thankfully I didn't read until 1/31/2011
This message was a P.S. that Kyle somehow sent to my gmail account which I never check. I used it once when we were on vacation in July so I'm not sure why this got sent to this address. After reading it, I'm kind of glad I hadn't read it before. Now I just have to hope that Kyle never gets transferred to Newark!
P.S. Also just as a note I thought you'd like to hear. In Newark, the next city over, a couple missionaries got mugged! My old companion Elder Quist and his companion got attacked from behind in broad daylight. The other missionary took the first hit to the back of the head from a lead pipe and had his pockets empties and his backpack gone in seconds. Elder Quist didn't get anything stolen because his companion came to in time to chase them off but he got beat in the face with canes and fists. They're fine now after a couple staples and stitches and they're still working the streets of New Jersey! I love the city!
E-mail received 01/31/2011
Wow that sounds like a super specific dream about me coming home. Weird. I am glad to say though that that hasn't happened and all is pretty well out here in New Jersey. We missed out on P-day last week because we woke up Monday morning and our car had a flat frozen tire so we had to drive out to pep boys and were stuck there all day. But everything worked out.
That's super sad about Brother Chapman! He was a really great guy and he always had a love for those he worked with. He died very young but he will always be remembered for his charity to others and the great boys he raised.
This past few weeks have been pretty eventful here in Jersey City. My new companion's name is Elder Summerhays. He's from Pleasant Grove, UT and he's got a major attitude! He's so much fun to work with! He just lays it out for the investigators in the plainest, bluntest, bravest way possible and it just works for the level the people are at. He's got the least fear of any missionary I've ever worked with and he's only been out a transfer! He's definitely going to do a lot of great things in leadership because he's valiant in every activity that he does. He sets great goals and he sticks to them.
We've been having a lot of success because we've really been focused and attentive. There were a couple big storms this week but we didn't let them stop us. We hit the road, ran through the snow, even threw a few snowballs at each other and taught as we went.
We've been able to find a few great people this week. There was one particular investigator who I met the first transfer that I'd been here. We lost contact with her a long time ago but for some strange reason I always felt prompted to keep writing her name in the back of the new planners I would get. She's the only potential from September that's still in there. Anyway we decided to stop by this week and we met them and set them with baptismal dates! Within five minutes they were asking us when they could get baptized! It was a really cool miracle and awesome to see how humble and prepared they really are.
One funny cool experience that we did have this week that I just have to tell you about is that we got robbed! It happened yesterday. We went into an appointment and Elder Summberhays noticed some guys who were just hanging out around the park. When we came out of our appointment I noticed things were moved around in the car a little bit and Elder Summerhays was the one to notice the smashed in window. They stole my gps. Don't worry dad, everything was packed away and there was no evidence that they could've seen to know that we had one so we weren't robbed out of any negligence on our part. The cops just said, "I guess tonight was your night." It was kind of a funny, awkward experience. I think Elder Summerhays was more devastated than I was when he found out they took his gloves. But that was all they took was the gloves and the gps. They left the 2 bags of food that were in there, the gas card, our supplies. Very odd, but whatever.
Things have been getting pretty exciting and we're in for more. There's supposed to be a big storm tomorrow but we're really hoping that it just blows over. Elder Summerhays is just as big of a fan of snow as I am so we're both just really hoping it ends up being nothing. I hope that everything works out for you guys and remember how important sleep is! (No matter what Elder Summerhays refuses to wake up early with me!)
-Elder Guinto
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
E-mail received 1/18/2011
I'm glad that you didn't forget!
We weren't able to write yesterday because of Martin Luther King Jr. day but we got on today just before transfer conference so that we can get emails off.
Sounds like work continues to be super special awesome! It's funny because work's going to be so much less fulfilling when I get home after doing missionary work for two years.
I'm excited to see the videos. I'll probably send you a package soon with the card that I have now and some clothes. If not next p-day then the one after that. I returned the beige pants that you bought me, because we can't wear that light of a color, and finally bought a good pair of shoes! Yay! I've needed them for so long and now I finally have them so it's good to have good shoes to exercise in. Thanks so much!
That makes me feel old knowing that Tanar is getting ready to go out on his mission. I still have him in my mind of when he was 12! I wonder if he's still the same mop-headed little kid he was so long ago. Crazy!
So yeah you guessed right. I need to learn how to write stuff faster. It's not so much stories that Jaron and I exchange so much as stuff that's useful in missionary work, so it gets me jazzed and I write a lot and then there's just no time to write. Plus I've been writing Chris and Steph too so there's even less time. You're still priority one though! Has everyone been pretty good at coming to church?
Don't know if I approve of this sweet stuff from Caleb but if it brightens KT's day that's fine. He'll leave on his mission before too long anyway so I'm not worried.
This week was pretty fun. I got a letter from Miranda so that was fun and exciting and we also did a lot of exchanges this week so unfortunately there isn't much news from Jersey City since I've been gone from it all week.
We really have some amazing district leaders we're working with so it's really exciting to see everyone improve drastically the last week of transfers.
Speaking of transfers, I'm staying for my fourth transfer in Jersey City! Elder Calderoni is being transferred but we're pretty sure we know where he's going. I also know exactly who my companion is but we'll wait till next week to tell you, just to be sure. I'm no longer a zone leader, which I'm soooooo happy about, but I'm training (or rather as president described it: doing the second phase of training) a newer missionary. I'm so excited! You really love being a leader and it's so cool to see all the blessings in the zone but it's a super big relief when it's over because there's just too much for us to do and only 24 hours in the day! Seriously, we need more!!
We're preparing one great guy for baptism this Sunday. He's really an amazing story. He read the Book of Mormon and just after reading the introduction the Spirit filled him and he received an undeniable impression that the Book was true. Whenever we taught him anything after that he has such faith in it because he always prays about it and gets a firm spiritual answer. We're so excited to see him baptized this Sunday.
I'm so stoked for what the new transfer will bring and what new surprises that Jersey City has in store. We're really going to focus on a new area in the City that I've never gone proselyting in because it's mostly Americans and, as a unwritten code, most missionaries here don't like teaching Americans. But we're going to swallow our pride and laziness and go to work! Hope you guys have a great week!
-Elder Guinto
We weren't able to write yesterday because of Martin Luther King Jr. day but we got on today just before transfer conference so that we can get emails off.
Sounds like work continues to be super special awesome! It's funny because work's going to be so much less fulfilling when I get home after doing missionary work for two years.
I'm excited to see the videos. I'll probably send you a package soon with the card that I have now and some clothes. If not next p-day then the one after that. I returned the beige pants that you bought me, because we can't wear that light of a color, and finally bought a good pair of shoes! Yay! I've needed them for so long and now I finally have them so it's good to have good shoes to exercise in. Thanks so much!
That makes me feel old knowing that Tanar is getting ready to go out on his mission. I still have him in my mind of when he was 12! I wonder if he's still the same mop-headed little kid he was so long ago. Crazy!
So yeah you guessed right. I need to learn how to write stuff faster. It's not so much stories that Jaron and I exchange so much as stuff that's useful in missionary work, so it gets me jazzed and I write a lot and then there's just no time to write. Plus I've been writing Chris and Steph too so there's even less time. You're still priority one though! Has everyone been pretty good at coming to church?
Don't know if I approve of this sweet stuff from Caleb but if it brightens KT's day that's fine. He'll leave on his mission before too long anyway so I'm not worried.
This week was pretty fun. I got a letter from Miranda so that was fun and exciting and we also did a lot of exchanges this week so unfortunately there isn't much news from Jersey City since I've been gone from it all week.
We really have some amazing district leaders we're working with so it's really exciting to see everyone improve drastically the last week of transfers.
Speaking of transfers, I'm staying for my fourth transfer in Jersey City! Elder Calderoni is being transferred but we're pretty sure we know where he's going. I also know exactly who my companion is but we'll wait till next week to tell you, just to be sure. I'm no longer a zone leader, which I'm soooooo happy about, but I'm training (or rather as president described it: doing the second phase of training) a newer missionary. I'm so excited! You really love being a leader and it's so cool to see all the blessings in the zone but it's a super big relief when it's over because there's just too much for us to do and only 24 hours in the day! Seriously, we need more!!
We're preparing one great guy for baptism this Sunday. He's really an amazing story. He read the Book of Mormon and just after reading the introduction the Spirit filled him and he received an undeniable impression that the Book was true. Whenever we taught him anything after that he has such faith in it because he always prays about it and gets a firm spiritual answer. We're so excited to see him baptized this Sunday.
I'm so stoked for what the new transfer will bring and what new surprises that Jersey City has in store. We're really going to focus on a new area in the City that I've never gone proselyting in because it's mostly Americans and, as a unwritten code, most missionaries here don't like teaching Americans. But we're going to swallow our pride and laziness and go to work! Hope you guys have a great week!
-Elder Guinto
Monday, January 10, 2011
E-mail received 1/10/2011
Katelyn would go lazer tagging on tolo.
I can't think of any other requests for the package. I'm pretty stable for now.
We did finally get our car working. The trouble was that it died in our very congested parking lot and it was super hard just getting a car in there to jump it. We finally had the opportunity to get some missionaries in there to jump it. Strangely enough, none of our neighbors had jumper cables but we didn't mind walking for the week.
Sounds like your job's going to be pretty exciting. I'm feeling pretty seguro that I want to be working for an airline doing finances. Sounds pretty straightforward and it can't vary that much. Plus benefits are amazing! But that's like 8 years out so I don't really have to worry about that at all yet.
Our week was pretty good this week. We set the great zone goal to fill up the church and everything with everyone and the zone exploded this week. Numbers shot far higher than we'd expected and everyone's doing awesome! Right in time for transfers as always! One of these times I'll have to do something right that's not on week 5 or 6.
We had a great week this week as we've really been working with this one guy from Sierra Leone who's living with his aunt who's a recent convert. He received an answer that it's true and has just dived in head first! He's really being an example to everyone in the house and his family. It's really awesome!
Hey did I tell you that Jaron and I are emailing now? It's super cool and fun to share our experiences! He's such a stud missionary!
Well not much to report here either but I hope that you all keep to those new year resolutions! Hopefully one is to improve scripture study!
-Elder Guinto
I can't think of any other requests for the package. I'm pretty stable for now.
We did finally get our car working. The trouble was that it died in our very congested parking lot and it was super hard just getting a car in there to jump it. We finally had the opportunity to get some missionaries in there to jump it. Strangely enough, none of our neighbors had jumper cables but we didn't mind walking for the week.
Sounds like your job's going to be pretty exciting. I'm feeling pretty seguro that I want to be working for an airline doing finances. Sounds pretty straightforward and it can't vary that much. Plus benefits are amazing! But that's like 8 years out so I don't really have to worry about that at all yet.
Our week was pretty good this week. We set the great zone goal to fill up the church and everything with everyone and the zone exploded this week. Numbers shot far higher than we'd expected and everyone's doing awesome! Right in time for transfers as always! One of these times I'll have to do something right that's not on week 5 or 6.
We had a great week this week as we've really been working with this one guy from Sierra Leone who's living with his aunt who's a recent convert. He received an answer that it's true and has just dived in head first! He's really being an example to everyone in the house and his family. It's really awesome!
Hey did I tell you that Jaron and I are emailing now? It's super cool and fun to share our experiences! He's such a stud missionary!
Well not much to report here either but I hope that you all keep to those new year resolutions! Hopefully one is to improve scripture study!
-Elder Guinto
Monday, January 3, 2011
E-mail received 1/2/2011 - Happy New Year!
I'll share the other story in this letter. Last week I helped a lady who was on the computer next to me figure out some things with her resume so I didn't have much time.
Tell Kt, "Sounds like a plan." I don't know what "tangled" is but I'm willing to see it in a few months. Hey what's all this hanging out at guys' house nonsense I keep hearing about?!
The storms at the beginning of the week were insane! The bulk of the storm all happened on Sunday and it was gail winds, crazy snow and then thunder and lightning. It burried our car under 5' of snow and then when our landlord snowblew the lot he piled it on to our car and then we had over 6' of snow on our car! It took us 4 hours to dig it out and when we finally dug it out the car battery was totally dead! I'd accidentally left my gps charging in the car because we'd used it on Sunday. So we walked all week. It was actually quite enjoyable but we couldn't be nearly as effective as if we'd had a car. Most, basically all, of our investigators live in the "more humble" parts of Jersey City called the Greenville district which is the southern 1/3 of the City. We live in Journal Square which is the just below the heights so it takes a while to walk down to Greenville. It was hecktic but fun.
That's got to be real exciting starting a new job. I guess what I can equate it to is getting transferred into a new area. You don't know anyone there, let alone the person you work and live with and you have really not much of an idea the experiences that you'll have there but you know that God has put you there for a purpose. You always know that He's going to be right there with you every step of the way and that you can always count on Him no matter what happens. I'm sure you'll do great things there and you'll fit right in. Be outgoing even though it may be uncomfortable.
I was reading a talk this morning from Clayton Christensen and he was talking about how some of the most valuable and lasting friendships that he's gained were born of a chance taken to share the Gospel. In his experience he said that every time he's invited someone to learn about the Book of Mormon they haven't been offended or damaged their relationship but rather enhanced it as they've felt the sincere love from someone who's been blessed with something great trying to share it with others.
I have one small request. I don't know why but my childhood sense was tingled this week and I have no idea where to find them, but if you could send me a bag of those animal crackers that are covered with the white and pink frosting and sprinkles with the sd card and pictures that would be awesome! I know that's a super odd request but I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask.
Not much happened this week with not having the car. We did have cool experiences with one of our investigators receiving an answer from the Spirit that the Book of Mormon is in fact the word of God and Joseph Smith was a prophet. It's really kind of cool to see how once someone really knows for a fact that those two things are true everything else falls into place. We taught him about the word of wisdom this week and he started telling us how it just came at the right time. There are a few things that he's been trying to kick for a while and this was just the thing that he needed, to know that not just others but God wanted him to stop, in order to get everything together. He's really powerfully driven by the Spirit and he's ready to do everything. We're so excited for him.
Alright the story that I had to share was the recent convert's, who got baptized last week, conversion story. We met him on the street one day and we gave him a pass-a-long card for the Book of Mormon. That month we had set a goal for the zone to fulfill the talk given by Pres. Ezra Taft Benson (awesome guy) entitled, "Flooding the Earth with the Book of Mormon." We were contacting massive amounts of people and testifying of the divinity of this testament of Jesus Christ and the impact that it's had in our own lives. He went and called the number to get the Book for free and the referral accidentally went to the wrong area so they gave it to us after about a week. We go to the address of the referral and the guy with the name that we got answered at the window and we set an appointment to get him copies in French and also Spanish and English. The hour before we met with him was when we got towed and we had all those miracles happen that were able to get us on his front step in time. The guy we scheduled the appointment with started yelling at us and telling us that we were from the devil, that he'd read about us on the internet and we worshipped Joseph Smith. We tried to explain what we really believed but he was in no mood to hear anything and just kept yelling at us. We were about to go when the door to the apartment opens and out walks the guy we contacted a week ago who has the same name as the guy who was yelling at us but he was the Jr. We talked to him and within seconds he received a testimony that the Book of Mormon was true and he was testifying to his dad that he knew it and that we were sent from God. We come to find out a little later that Sr. is a pastor from a pentacostal church and that turns out to be a big struggle because he fought us the whole way as we taught Jr. Jr.'s had some amazing experiences as we've been teaching him, from dreams where God told him to follow the Restoration to seeing worlds of opportunities open up for him as he does what God asks. One thing that impressed me about him is just how much he's sacrificed beyond anyone to be baptized. He's truly fulfilled the scripture in where we must forsake family to follow Christ. Or rather his family is forsaking him for the choices that he's made. It was tough, for us and him, to get him baptized but, eternally, we all know it's been worth it.
We're really excited for our next zone goal, we're going to be focusing on getting our investigators to church and we've created all kinds of cool things, like a miniature of a church with people and everything, to get everyone pumped up for it and we're just ready to see what the Lord has in store for all of us!
-Elder Guinto
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