Revelação= Milagres!

September 3, 2012   

Rain=HOT!

So this week was nuts! Last Sunday, President O called us to talk about the baptisms. We’ve been having a lot of problems with falling baptism dates and it needs to stop! So, President took action and set a goal for the entire mission: 10 new investigators with baptismal dates by the end of the week! You’ve got to understand that we just finished finding 12 new investigators last week and almost all of them have a baptismal date. But when President sets a goal, you just do it. We’ve really been having a lot of success lately finding people. Mostly because we haven’t been forcing things and the Spirit has just been dropping these people in our laps. I really don’t know how to explain what we have been doing because to me it seems like we aren’t doing anything special. We’ve slowed things down a little and are really being guided in everything we do. These people that we are finding are ready and when we invite them to pray, they do it! Not only do they do it but they get an answer! We’ve been really blessed lately so we weren’t too worried about meeting the goal. Things went pretty good and by Wednesday we had 5 new investigators. Then we went a couple days without finding anyone! So Sunday came along and we needed to find 5 new people before 9:30. We went out to teach after church but NOBODY was home! Things were looking pretty slim and we hit 7:00 with 4 people left to find. As the zone leaders we HAD to meet this goal. I still don’t know how it happened but from 7-9:15 we found 4 sweet new investigators, had some pretty sweet lessons and marked 4 baptismal dates. In 4 separate lessons!!! Talk about miracles. There is no possible way that we could have planned things so perfectly. All I can say is we had a pretty awesome experience and we were really blessed by the Lord. So as a mission, we found 268 new investigators and marked 178 dates with them in the last week. Talk about an inspired goal.

So, at the moment our teaching pool is MASSIVE! We have 20 people with a marked baptismal date and I don’t know how many other people we have. We have a couple families that we are working with and some other people that just need dates re-marked. We have no time to teach these people! Our next open appointment isn’t until Saturday!! But I know that the Lord is going to make it so that we can take care of all these people and help them enter the waters of baptism. We have two people getting ready for baptism this week and dates marked for the first 5 weeks of next transfer. Lots of work but that’s the way I like it. Hence, I don’t want to be transferred!

Another crazy thing that happened this week. So Saturday we were at the baptisms (unfortunately ours fell so we didn’t have one). There was a wedding at the other chapel and someone forgot to fill the font! And you know how long it takes to fill one of those things. We turned it on but we were already late because it took us a long time to get the keys and it wasn’t filling fast enough. So we found an old hose in the back closet, hooked it up to the sink in the bathroom and ran water from there for about half an hour. Elder H and I had to hold the hose so that it would work but we had enough water to do the baptisms. They started over an hour late and they had to do them from their knees but it worked. Just another one of those random stories that happen on your mission.

Anyways, I hope everything keeps going well at home. Enjoy school and have a good week!

Love, Elder Dola

August 27

Another week gone but no transfers have not happened yet. We still have another two weeks left in the transfer so I am still with Elder Hill. I don’t really want to get transferred but I also don’t really have a say in that. Whatever happens, happens, and I’ll go where I’m needed most. It’s actually been raining off and on all week, although that just means it is super humid. It hasn’t been too bad though. Things are going pretty good though.

This week we had two baptisms, D and F. Both super prepared by Heavenly Father and, as a result, I don’t feel like we really did much. We taught them what they needed to know, they accepted and the Spirit did the rest. We are finding more and more people like this and it really makes missionary work fun. It’s a blessing though and I feel like I am slowly figuring things out. I still have a lot to learn but thankfully, I still have over a year! Our two baptisms this week were pretty sweet though. D may be the funniest guy I have ever met here. But also, one of the most prepared. He had talked to missionaries a couple years ago but didn’t have much interest. We baptized one of his friends though and something just struck a spark in him. Sunday after his baptism, he showed up for church in a shirt and tie with a less active member at his side!! This guy is AWESOME!!! F is pretty cool and is now helping us with her family. Her brother is preparing to get baptized at the end of the transfer and we are going to start working with her parents. She kind of just came out of nowhere though. Her member friend came up to us one day and told us that she had a friend who wanted to go to church. So, she brought her to church. We started teaching her, and two weeks later she was baptized. So all in all, a pretty good weekend.

Other than that, we have been finding a lot of sweet new investigators. At the moment we have five people preparing for baptism on September 8 and a bunch of new people to start working with for next transfer. The family that we have been working with since last transfer FINALLY came to church together!!! This has been the biggest hurdle for this family. They both have strong testimonies and are both progressing well. The only problem is they have been doing it separately!! It doesn’t work that way!! So we have really been focusing on working together as a family and things are going a lot better because of that.

That’s about it though. Things are going pretty good but not too much out of the ordinary has happened. Too bad you have to go back to school already. Time goes by way too fast! It’s like someone put the world on fast-forward. Crazy. Anyways, enjoy the first week of school!

We também is poor...

Hey family!

So this week was pretty good. No we did not get robbed again. Already learned that lesson and we will no longer be leaving the balcony door open at night. I haven’t heard from the new Canadian since he left two weeks ago. They don’t waste any time getting them to their new area although I’m sure he’s doing well. I did hear that he had an unfortunate experience with the Fast Ferry though... I hope I never have to take that boat. If I do, it won’t be for a long time because I don’t feel like I’m gonna be leaving this island any time soon.

So not much to report this week. We had zone conference on Wednesday which was AWESOME!!! President Oliveira is an inspired man called of God and he knows EXACTLY what the Lord wants us to do. All we have to do is do it. We are putting a lot of focus on learning the basic doctrines taught in Preach My Gospel and as a result, President challenged us to memorize 30 scriptures from PMG in the next two transfers. Elder Hill and I decided that we wanted to up the challenge so we are going to memorize a scripture a day from now until the deadline. I am not going to be familiar with my English scriptures when I get home. But that’s ok! I’m really seeing an improvement in my teaching because of this and I know that it’s only going to get better. Also we gave a training in Zone Conference on the role of the Spirit in Conversion. 

So unfortunately, our wedding may have to be postponed for a bit. We are having trouble finding a time when we can go to the registry with them and we have been feeling that they need a bit more time. It WILL happen though, but maybe not till next transfer. Other than that though, things are looking good. We have four people preparing for baptism for this upcoming week and have been finding some awesome new investigators. Two of the four for this week are going solid but the other two don’t have permission from their parents yet. BUT that will all change tonight. We both feel like things are going to go well and tonight we are going to talk to their parents again. We had a really good lesson with them last night and the Spirit really touched their mom. So our lack of baptisms is going to end this week and we are really feeling good about the end of the transfer. We are receiving a lot of help from the members and Heavenly Father keeps sending us His prepared children.

Not much else to report. I can’t believe you guys go back to school already!! Craziness... enjoy the end of summer and have a good week!

Elder Dola