Golden Plates

Gloria

We met with Gloria outside her house Friday morning and had a great

lesson. It was a little weird starting out, "so we want to help you

achieve your goal of getting baptized... how does the 20th sound?" One

thing that threw us off was when she told us that she quit her job so

she could keep going to church and went to another who was offering a

position. However they told her she needed to learn English first. She

told us she was going to be frequently traveling to Mexico to help her 

family sell things so she can stay afloat. We let her know about the 

English classes and told her that the Lord will help her as she does 

all she can to make this work. Promising that made me reflect. Do I 

believe that? If someone told me that would I follow? It's incredible 

to see how believing these humble people are. It strengthens my faith.

La familia Soto

Teaching their family is awesome. The kids ask great questions and

read every night together out of the children Book of Mormon. The best

part was seeing them walk into church. The light we're always looking

for in progressing investigators is found in the Soto family. When

Mikey asked us when he was going to be baptized, it was the icing on

the cake. Now we have Gloria one week and Mikey the following. Getting

people to these lessons so they can see the Atonement at work is our

big focus right now. When members see these guys, they'll only want

more.

Zone Conference

Best zone conference I've had. We focused on the training given from

last week. At one point President called three random people to lead

discussions for each speaker. No better way to keep people focused and

participating then the fear of potentially having to teach the

missionaries in zone conference at a moments notice. I loved it! One

of the take-aways was if we are honest, we can change. Our vision and

culture we want can happen if we start at the individual level. Much

goodness.

With vehicle inspections, our car got #1 in the zone. Normally this

wouldn't be super cool but they brought back the license plate

holders. "#1 car in zone; the Golden Plates" for the next few

transfers, I get to roll around with that.

Remember in the "Other Side of Heaven", when elder Johnson(?) is

reading the bible in both languages for several days to learn the

language? Well, there's a promise that if you read the Book of Mormon

in your mission language out loud, you'll be fluent. Right now I'm at

good old Jacob 5 chapter and I've seen an immense improvement. It

doesn't take the place of my language study rather an add-on. I think

it's working because I'm showing more effort and the Lord is helping

me retain what I study.

On a random note, I walked out of the shower one morning to find a

refrigerator blocking my view. Since I couldn't get out, it migrated

to the living room and there it has stayed. The breaker in the kitchen

went out or something because everything has been switching on and off

for hours at a time. Until the apartment office can help us

troubleshoot we get the pleasure of having our kitchen scattered

throughout our rooms. We have the toaster in ours :)

It's cloudy but warm, all you need is a light jacket. The work is

incredible. The people are the best.

I love you guys,

Elder Bryan