It's been another great week.
On Tuesday we had Zone meeting and the spirit there was great. I left with a renewed desire to work and pray more earnestly, and work more effectively with members.
On Wednesday we had an exchange with the other Elders in 29 Palms. I was with Elder Howard. The day was great, despite many cancellations. At the end of the night we taught a man I'll call Paul. Paul has met with missionaries in the past and has been around the church for a while. He's friends with several of the leaders in the ward, and he feels like he'll be baptized eventually, but he hasn't wanted to commit to a date.
Well, as we taught him, he told us that he had been thinking of being baptized with his daughter later in the year (who will be turning 8 later in the year and her mom is a member) but he isn't sure. Both Elder Howard and I had strong feelings to explain that he could have the privilege of baptizing his own daughter by the authority of the priesthood after his own baptism. So we spoke the thoughts that came into our mind. The Spirit filled the room. I don't remember all that was said, but I remember Elder Howard saying that the Spirit was there, and a strong feeling told me that his words were true. We could see in Paul's eyes that something was working in him. That was something that he really wanted. He commit to be baptized on Feb 14. There was a mighty change. I felt filled with joy and love. And Paul has told us several times that he's Jazzed for the 14th.
On Saturday night we had dinner at our apartment. then just as were finishing, someone knocked on our door. It was a man I'll call Tim. He gave us a bag of fresh oranges he picked that day and then asked:
Do you have any literature? Like maybe a Book of Mormon or something?
We smiled and said: Yes! I think we have some of those.
Tim lives in the apartments down the street and he sees us all the time. He came to our home on Christmas and gave us homemade Greek pastries made by his Greek roommates. Last week we gave him a thank you card. When he came with the oranges he told us that he used to meet with missionaries and he's been looking in to the church since 1994. He loves Mormons and Mormon family beliefs. But he lost his copy of the Book of Mormon years ago. But now we'll been teaching him this Tuesday.
Just after he left, I remembered how we had prayed that we would be led to those God has prepared, or that they would be led to us. Prayer works!
Even when we feel alone or like life is hard, or like the harder we try the harder it gets, I know that we are never alone. You are never alone. we have a perfect Savior who made a perfect atonement. And we have a Father in Heaven who loves us.
Alofa atu,
Elder Judd
