You Win Some, You Lose Some

The only other Oregon fan in Dalton!

Buenos!

Well, this week was kind of up and down, but kind of flipped from last week. See, last week, we found a ton of new investigators, but couldn't meet with any of our progressing investigators. This week was the opposite. We had a few really solid lessons with some of our top investigators this week, but we could hardly find a new investigator to save our lives. We went out, tracted up a storm, but we found all the interested people last week haha. Well, you win some, you lose some, I guess. Here's what happened this week:

On Tuesday we had Zone Meeting in Chattanooga! It was pretty great, we had trainings by the ZL's and STL's, and then President Griffin gave a bomb training. He used the example of Samuel and Saul (in 1 Samuel 15) where Saul was commanded to utterly destroy the people of Amalek, and so he went up and destroyed the people, but he spared the life of the king, and took back the best spoils off the flocks. Anyways, just go read it. President was able to teach us a lot about obedience, breaking down every verse, it was cool. After the meeting, we got Pres. to throw up "ball is life" haha. Then, later that day, we met with some of our new investigators, a young couple, A and R. They seem super solid. They have been attending different churches, and praying to find the right one, but they just feel like they haven't found the right one yet. So, they were able to connect really well with the Joseph Smith story. They told us that they really want to attend church, but that they wouldn't be able to this week. Next week though!

On Saturday we were able to get back in with H, who is just eating up the Book of Mormon right now. Last time we met with him, he'd read the intro and the testimony of Joseph Smith, but now he's in 1 Nephi 16! He told us he had questions about Joseph Smith, but all of his questions were like, "So, Joseph Smith did this, this, and this, right?" Yup. "And then he did this, this, and this, right?" Yup. So yeah, he is just understanding everything super well too, it's awesome to see. Plus, when we went to see him, his mother-in-law was visiting from Honduras. She'd never heard of the Book of Mormon/Joseph Smith, so H started teaching her! He explained everything about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon to her perfectly. It was super cool.

Sunday was pretty great. The ward has been putting a big emphasis on home teaching lately, and it's working. Yesterday in sacrament meeting we had 15 less-active members come to church!! Hopefully we'll be able to catch up to the ward and have that many investigators at church too haha. We did have one investigator at church, E. He is the boyfriend of a less-active member, Hermana C, and he has a sincere desire to learn more about the church and to change. It worked out great, since the gospel principles lesson was on baptism, so we were able to a least softly commit him to be baptized during class. Later that evening we had dinner with O and his family, and they had invited the C's, so we got to teach E twice in one day. Then, we had another lesson with A! (Just A though, R wasn't feeling well). The lesson went great though. After teaching the Plan of Salvation, we committed him to baptism, and he said yes! He really wants to be baptized, but he wouldn't set a date right now, but told us that once he feels ready that he'll get baptized. It was great. It truly feels like the Lord is helping us to finding those who are prepared for the Gospel. We have a lot of people who are making the first steps of progression, and now hopefully we can get them working towards baptism. There are a lot of great things brewin' here in Dalton!

My ponderizer this week is Alma 31:34-35 which says, "O Lord, wilt thou grant unto us that we may have success in bringing them again unto thee in Christ. Behold, O Lord, their souls are precious, and many of them are our brethren; therefore, give unto us, O Lord, power and wisdom that we may bring these, our brethren, again unto thee." There are many who have not yet come unto Christ. They are our brothers and sisters, and their souls are precious. As we pray in faith, and labor diligently, the Lord will bless us with the power and wisdom to bring those lost sheep into the fold. Hope y'all have a great week! 

Love,
Elder Mitchell

Pres. Griffin throwing ball is life

There was a much needed rainstorm, but they got soaked.

So they got some pupusas while they dried off.

Some pics from around Dalton