Yesterday it was so great to Skype my family. I hope everyone let their mothers know how much they are appreciated! Sister Pazmino and I attended 3 great sacrament meetings where we heard some wonderful tributes and testimonies about moms.
During our time together Sister Pazmino and I have tried very hard to reach our mission standards of excellence and this week we finally did!
Last Monday night for family home evening we went to see Meet the Mormons with Joseph and the Smith family and Joseph really liked it. It really helped him understand that you can be a Mormon and still embrace your culture (he's the one with the Native background). At the end of the movie he said "All those people are baptized?" He told us that the movie gave him a lot to think about. I think that seeing this movie was perfect for him. I love this movie and the barriers it helps us break and the things people can learn about us by watching it. You can see people all over the country and world living the Gospel. It gives a larger perspective than what he sees at church in Mesa, AZ. Our follow up lesson with him we more thoroughly explained what baptism and confirmation mean- remission of sins, covenant with God, receiving the Holy Ghost, etc and we had a really good discussion. I'm not sure what Joseph thinks but it seems as though he thinks baptism is not achievable and he honestly believes he's a bad kid with no hope but we're trying to help him see that through faith in Christ and repentance he can have peace and happiness in his life. Yesterday he came to church by himself! We didn't have to go knock on his door and get him. He also sang the hymns and even took the sacrament. These things are all major progress!
Amada is one of our other progressing investigators. She came to all three hours of church yesterday! We taught the word of wisdom to her this week and she has committed to stop smoking and drinking coffee. She desires to quit smoking but not coffee because she doesn't see the harm and her doctor has prescribed it as good for her liver. We need to have a follow up with 'God's ways are higher than our ways'. She's also starting to make friends in the ward which is awesome!
Cindy dropped us. I felt like perhaps she wasn't progressing because we had given up on her and that it was our fault for not working harder to guide her but then she told us what we taught is wrong, that she saw an angel and that the Mormon church wasn't for her. She's no longer receptive but we boldly testified that the church is true and she didn't listen to us. She said she's going back to her old church and she asked us not to come back. She just wants to show up to church on Sunday listen to a good sermon and go home. She wouldn't make or keep commitments or the commandments. Living the Gospel isn't a Sunday thing, it's always. "Every day, every day, every day." It's sad because it really seemed she had received a witness that what we taught her was true.
Tabby is a young girl we just started teaching. She has been coming to church with a friend who watches her. She loves coming to church and she loves young womens. She is doing really well as far as keeping her commitments. She's reading all the Book of Mormon assignments and the pamphlets that we leave her. She has great questions. She seems to be understanding what we teach her and what she's reading in the Book of Mormon. Mer our recent convert came to one of our lessons with us and she shared why she decided to be baptized. The Elders in our district just baptized a 12 year old girl and are baptizing another 10 year old girl this week. It's so cool to see these youth accepting the Gospel. They are so prepared and just grasp onto it while their parents usually aren't too interested and not wanting to change.
I hope you all make it a great week! :)
Sister Richards
Our little missionary Mer!
During all of our flood craziness we didn't have a door on our bathroom for two days so we used the shower curtain for privacy... fun times. hahaha
This is Elder and Sister Dale, they serve in our mission and are in the Riverview ward! They are so wonderful and do so much for us!
These past two weeks our complex was baptized by water and by fire. These 8 units right in front of our front door were destroyed by an attic fire that couldn't be contained. One of our YSA members lives in one of these and a lot of her stuff was smoke damaged.
IT'S TIME TO MOVE I THINK.
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