Happy 23rd Birthday, Robert! Hope it's great!
Well I have a lot more time this week, which is nice for a change. I usually feel rushed when I do emails, especially by the time I get to write you guys!
Here's the answers to your questions:
- Yes Mom, I would definitely like info on what I need for replacements regarding: that one pair of pants, and the shoes
- The pants did arrive at the mission office, but they can't forward it to me. So I will have to wait until this Thursday, when we will have Zone Conference.
- I said a little bit about transfers last time, but things are the same here except for Elder Balagna leaving. It feels weird with him being gone, he was a character. I'm happy that I'm here with Elder Knowles. We get along well. It's funny sometimes though, we're similar, but at the same time we're really different. The important thing is that we work together well. The new Elder who came in is Elder Wiznewski. He's cool, I don't know much about him though.
- Sonoma Chapel, on La Grama which runs into El Portola it should be around 95476 area code, technically it's in the Agua Caliente town boundaries. Have fun googling it.
- We get a lot of good food here. Mexican food is pretty general since Elder Knowles and I get fed by Mexican people a lot. They really are generous. They have been partying a lot recently too... it'll be interesting to see the craziness with the world cup and Cinco de Mayo. We had home grilled burgers for dinner. It was good stuff.
I think it's great that the Popes are at BYU. I'm not sure if they'll remember me, but I'll probably look them up, especially since I probably will have to take a Eco. class for Gen Ed.
Congratulations Jenna! (Getting into the Alpha-Beta club – Mark) I hope you enjoy it! It'll be good for when you apply for colleges.
Don't worry Josh, I have a better looking hair cut now. That last one was one I did myself. I know I must have looked pretty crazy. When you guys send me a new SD card I'll take more pictures. I'm pretty much giving up on the other one. I have no clue where it could have gone... I'll keep praying to find where my old camera and SD card went to.
Anyways here's what's been happening in my week:
This week has been great! Elder Knowles and I have been teaching more than we have in the past weeks, and we feel like we're making a good deal of progress with our investigators! We're still facing some opposition with many of our investigators canceling, but we're working on passing by everyone more often and increasing our daily contact with them so that we have less problems with our appointments falling through.
Investigators:
Sara Perez is still on for May 1st, although if she can't make a secure time to meet with us at least 2 a week for these next 2 weeks then we might have to push it back. She loves what we're teaching her, and it makes sense to her. She hasn't been as steady to coming to church as she was in the beginning, but we're going to help her realize that it's something important, and that she'll be blessed in all aspects of her life, job included, as she obeys the commandments like keeping the Sabbath Day holy.
Velia still has some doubts, and so this past week we taught her that all we can really do is help her find that testimony. The actual work and effort will come from her own efforts to pray to know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, just like the Bible. We committed her to pray to know about the Book of Mormon, to truly know. We're also still trying to get Velia and her family out to church. They said they were coming this week, but they didn't make it. We'll keep trying.
Juan and Clara Saabedra are doing good, they were also going to come out to church, but their son has been down with a nasty cough for the past couple of days, bad enough that they canceled our appoinment later Sunday evening to take him to the hospital to see what's wrong. We're going to see them today, and if things haven't improved we've offered to give their son a blessing. We're going to get them working on their testimonies and show them that that's what they need to get baptized, and how it will bless their lives. I look forward to seeing how that will go tonight.
We taught Erika yesterday as well. She had doubts about the Book of Mormon being the word of God, even though she thinks that it helps people come closer to God and the path that He has appointed for us to walk. We committed her to find that testimony through study and prayer. We plan to commit her to baptism with our next lesson with her.
Luis is a relatively new investigator. We taught him, and the rest of his family last Sat. we talked about prophets and God's plan for us, and then watched the Restoration video. Luis seems to be into it, but his wife Angelica doesn't seem so interested. We commited them all to read, and we'll work hard with the spirit to get the flames of faith burning. We are very excited for them.
We also have Martin Alverez. He's a non-member in a less active part-member family. He was doing great when he was being taught a few years back, but someone offended him at church, and things have been slow moving since. He doesn't seem to hold anything against whomever it was who insulted him... but something still seems to be holding him back from being baptized. We're teaching them again, and he's sharp. He remembers a lot of what he was taught, and understands a lot. We just need the spirit's guidance on what he needs. We'll be seeing him today. We'll see how it goes.
It's been a good week. We've found some solid looking contacts and have made progress with some of our investigators! I hope to make this week a better week than the last as I work hard to make myself a Christ-like missionary and not just someone whose doing missionary things.
Your Missionary,
Elder Mackelprang
PS - I finished Jesus the Christ and am starting on the other books in the missionary library. It's awesome to be able to read from the apostles and the insights that they have had from studying the scriptures! I hope to be able to be a scriptorian like that someday!
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