Great week!
On Monday we prayed that we would find someone to teach. In the evening after dark we rode by a guy putting his bike and little makeshift bike trailer away. We talked with him and his name is Omar. He said we could come back.
We also taught a family I'll call the Sweetwater family. The Sweetwaters are members of the church but haven't been to church in a long while. We taught them about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They have family and siblings who have served and are serving missions. The message wasn't new to them, but as we talked with them and they shared their thoughts about it, a spirit of peace was there. We testified that Joseph Smith saw heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and I felt God confirm that it was true--I felt a powerful peace and calmness.
We invited Bro. Sweetwater to say the closing prayer and we knelt with their family. He looked to his wife and seemed like he didn't want to. but something moved him to say yes. It was a great prayer. And as we stood and were about to leave he said:
Kudos to you guys. You got me to pray. I've had missionaries come over here for years and they've never gotten me to pray.
I was so happy and smiley all night. Filled with joy.
On wednesday we met a samoan family that was in their garage. We didn't realize they were in the branch. We found out a son in the family had passed away that morning. Really sad. They gave us a ride to a Priesthood meeting last night, and as we drove home the remaining brothers practiced a song they wrote for their brother's funeral next week. They sing really well.
We had zone conference on Friday and it was focused on the process of conversion.
On Saturday we went to meet a family that past missionaries had been teaching, but accidentally went to the wrong address. We ended up semi-lost in the middle of the desert on sand roads. We prayed that we would not get stuck in the sand. Just really funny adventure.
Last night we had a stake priesthood meeting. we have a really great stake president. He is really young. we sang "Praise to the Man" and the spirit was powerful and uplifting. the stake president spoke of one time the priesthood sang that song when he was a bishop. They started to sing, but were sort of lame and didn't have energy. he stopped them and said:
If we're going to sing 'Praise to the Man who communed with Jehovah' we need to sing it as if the Priesthood of God has been restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith.
They sang again, this time with vigor.
I know that Joesph Smith is a prophet of God!
Love,
Elder Judd
