Bro, Can We Bounce?

Buenos!

I hope you all had a great week, and that you enjoyed Conference! I thought Conference was great, but I'll get to that in a minute. First off, this week, I hit my 14-Month mark, and that was really weird. I'm beginning to feel like one of those old missionaries, especially since after this incoming transfer next week, a third of our mission will be greenies, so that'll be fun. Anyways, the work was a little hard this week. We faced some opposition and had nearly every appointment fall through, but we still worked as hard as we could, and we still had a lot of positives this week.

Although, we weren't able to see most of our main investigators this week, we were able to get in with D. We have seen a big change in her over the last few weeks. In the past when we would commit her to do things, she'd say things like, "Well, I'll try," or, "Yeah, I guess if I can." Things have turned around with her. She reads from the Book of Mormon, she prays, and now when we invite her to things, she always responds with her classic phrase, "Primeramente Dios." (God first). This Sunday D came to General Conference, and brought the rest of her family too, so that was awesome!

Despite our challenges this week, we saw a little miracle. It was late at night, and we had just gone to back-to-back missed appointments. We still wanted to salvage something out of the night, so we started trying a bunch of potentials in the area. As we did so, we felt that we weren't in the right area, so we prayed again, and felt that we needed to go try these two potentials in a part of town that I'd never been to before. Well, it was dark out, and we got lost on the way there, but we made it, and it was one of the most sketchy neighborhoods I've seen. We tried both potentials, but neither was home. Now, at this point, it was 8:55, and we needed to get home, but we decided to try one more house. We knocked, and as we waited for the door to answer, Elder M noticed a doll staring at us through the window, so that freaked us out haha. Elder M said, "I don't know if I'm feeling this house anymore, Bro, can we bounce?" Well, then the door opened, so we were stuck. We met this nice, older lady named A. We introduced ourselves, talked about what we did as missionaries, and she said she'd be interested in learning more. Then, she told us that she knew our bishop, Obispo Torres, and that she'd actually been to our church before! Well, we invited her to attend General Conference, and she came with her husband! We are really hoping we can keep working with her, she could be solid.

My ponderizer this week is Jarom 1:7 which says, "And it came to pass that they came many times against us, the Nephites, to battle. But our kings and our leaders were mighty men in the faith of the Lord; and they taught the people the ways of the Lord; wherefore, we withstood the Lamanites and swept them away out of our lands, and began to fortify our cities, or whatsoever place of our inheritance." This weekend we have had the incredible opportunity to hear from the prophets and apostles of the church. I loved this conference, I didn't have a favorite talk, but I loved lots of different parts from every talk. We have received marvelous counsel, and now it is up to us to apply the things that we have learned. As we do so, we will find the power to "sweep away" the challenges and temptations that beset us. How grateful I am for leaders who are inspired by God. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, that through him the Church of Jesus Christ was restored in its fullness with prophets and apostles, and that Thomas S. Monson is our living prophet today! In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. I hope y'all have a great week!

Love,
Elder Mitchell