Bold but not Overbearing

 

Things in Florida are finally starting to get heated... haha. Punny.

We were able to get some excellent new investigators this week. We now are just trying to keep a grip on the old ones and BAPTIZE THEM! But yeah. One of them is named Marcotulio. They call him Tulito. He´s way cool. We just contacted him in the street on the way home late Tues night. Sunday night I told my comp around seven, "Elder, it´s diligence hour. The new investigators we find right now are the ones that are getting baptized." I remember the letter Sister Berbert sent me about going to the end of the street in all that you do, and I have found wisdom in that. Sometimes God holds the good stuff for very last. You´ve just got to get there.

So anyway, Tulito. He´s 20 years old and is studying in San Pedro. In the contact, I bore him my testimony and felt the Spirit really strong. I immediately knew, this one is going to be good. We went with later in the week, and he accepted a baptismal challenge. Then later on we taught the restoration. He had expressed to us desire to find a new church where he felt comfortable. He told us that he had read the pamphlet, and he seemed to understand tons. He had questions about the word, "atonement" and the two priesthoods, etc. By the time we started explaining prophetic dispensations, I was just too excited to keep a smile off my face. I just can´t wait to get to the first vision with this kid!!! We taught it all, and he accepted the date. He´s in the "pray to know the truth" process right now, but I can already tell that he has felt the Spirit. He went to church yesterday and brought his friend and another inactive kid of the same age. We are really pumped for this missionary!

So yeah, he´s awesome.

Denis and Anita went through some tough experiences this last week, dealing with two ridiculous white kids from the States telling them what to do. jaja. They are awesome! We taught them all sorts of great stuff from the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and they continue to read and pray like bosses. And we found out that he voted for Mitt Romney... which we assume is a positive sign. haha... jk. but really, he did.

They invited us over for dinner Sat night and it kind of freaked me out. They put a bunch of food on the table and then gave us our plates. We served ourselves and then ate. Wow! I haven´t seen that for over a year! haha. Normally meals here are every man for himself. Get you food. Pray. Eat whenever. He´s very American.

After dinner, we taught them the word of wisdom. Then we put a baptismal date. Knowing that he was going to leave the following Monday (today), we challenged them to be baptized.... the very next day. They were pretty dumb struck at first to be honest. We asked them to ask the Lord in prayer, and promised that they would know. The fact that they didn´t run immediately was pretty positive in and of itself. I know that they know it´s all true. But they prayed and yesterday they told us that they don´t feel ready yet. Honestly, I trust them in that decision, and I felt them same. But we didn´t regret the challenge. Doing it really helped them evaluate exactly where they were in their progression, and brought their doubts out in the open for us to be able to address. They still went to church the next day, and afterwards, we taught them about eternal families and gave Denis a triple combination because he wanted to learn more about D&C. He gave us a big hug when we left, and I trust that he´ll go to church in the states. We´re going to keep working with them, and I know that the both will get baptized very soon. They are very prepared, and all the members of the church here say so too.

I love this gospel! It´s the best! Keep livin´ it! If you´re not... do it. It´s what will make you happy. If you´re already happy, it´ll make you even happier.

The scriptures are the best. Conditions are perfect. It´s reading time! (shout out, Joe S.).

Sincerely,

Elder Kent Thalman

The FAMILY

Okay, so some cool stuff this week, but I will keep it limited.

On Tuesday this week, we had a lot of stuff fall through, and we weren´t able to visit a lot of people that we were planning on. So we started just talking with people close by, and then we decided to go on. We are always just trying to find families, and know that references are better than street contacts. But... God can send you anyone in anyform.

We were leaving the doorstep of a lady we contacted when I saw a couple sitting outside together, and there were some kids running around them... irresistible! So we turned around and bugged um. The husband is from Nicaragua, but spent most of his life in the states. He´s actually a legal citizen. She married him in the states, and then was deported. He came here to be with her and help her get papers. Denis and Ana. They are WAY cool! We started talking to them, and they are just a great family! It´s so cool. He seems to be really a good dad, and she´s a nice mom. We met them this week, and we´ve taught them the Restoration, Plan of Salvation, tithing, and they´ve already read the panflet on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They are also reading in the Book of Mormon pretty well. We´re super excited. they came to church yesterday, and everything just went smooth, which made us happy because we wanted them to have a good experience.

On Saturday, we felt that we really needed to focus on the Book of Mormon more with them. We got excited about all of their questions and kind of didn´t put enough imphasis on it. So we explained it more with them and read from the intro. We told him about how Chirst came to the Americas and his face just totally changed. My comp sincerely asked him, "what do you think about this, that Christ came to this continent?"

"Really surprised... but I don´t see how you could say that it didn´t happen because it´s obvious that God sent his Son to save the world and not just the middle eastern area. I´m just... surprised..."

It was SOOOO COOOL!!!! I love the Book of Mormon!!! It´s so cool to see how it really changes the lives of those who read it with an open heart. The Lord has prepared Denis and Ana so well, it´s almost unbelievable. He told us the first visit, "I´ve been looking for a clean ministry (church) for many years now, and I was thinking of visiting that church even before you guys talked to me. Now I´m definately going." And he did!!!

I know that this is Christ´s church that he had established when He was on the earth. It is the same Gospel yesterday, today, and forever. I know that He truly was and is the Lamb of God, a perfect sacrifice for sin. I love Him, and know that He lives.

Mucho Amor,

Elder Kent Thalman

Meekness.

 

This week was so great!!! We got some pretty good work done, and I´m really starting to learn how to not just reach goals, but get true work done that actually touches hearts and changes lives. It´s funny how as a missionary you constantly feel like you´re learning stuff that you wish you knew at the beginning of the mission. And ironically, I still haven´t had more success in comparison to those first few months. Well, success is measured in a lot of different ways, but yeah. I´m starting to ramble.

We are still moving right along with Edwin. He turned 17 this week. We went running with him at 5am one morning, which looking back was a dumb decision, but I think he really looks at us as his friends. haha. He came to church yesterday, and seemed like he learned a lot. He´s really smart, and knows him Bible well for someone who didn´t believe in God as of a few weeks. We convinced him by teaching lesson one. What ACTUALLY happened is the Spirit convinced him. haha. But that´s not how he says it.
We taught him the Plan of Salvation, which blew his mind! And then we taught him the Word of Wizzum, which is trying him because he LOVES coffee. haha. But he´s two days dry! He´s kind of funny because he always seems so doubtful about keeping commitments, but then keeps them better than anyone else in the end. We pray for him a lot, and I know that he will make it. He wants it now for himself. He´ll make a great missionary.

Our branch Pres. finally called a ward mission leader!!! Yes! It´s so nice to have one! His name is Solomon, who has been mentioned here in this blog before for his incredible testimony. He is the inspiration for this blog title.

Yesterday, we left to go work with him in the evening. First, a little about him. He is super poor. He´s been working on his mission papers for a while now, and is getting close now. He´s not too educated, but I´m not sure that anyone in this country could beat him out for having just a sure fire, powerful Spiritual witness of the truth.
 He´s very quite, but not shy at all. And when he bears testimony, you can honestly just watch him as he struggles for just a few moments, and then justs submits to the Spirit. I know that no human has taught him the steps, "teach, testify, invite, promise," but the Spirit has. Everytime I asked him to testify of anything in a lesson, he would just start speaking and you´d feel the Spirit. He´d share a really short experience with the investigator, bear pure testimony, and then promise blessing with all of his heart.

With a young 19 year old that we were teaching, he did that with the Book of Mormon. We challenged him to read the Intro of the book, and he neglected. He said that his eye sight was really bad, and if he read more than a few sentences, he got headaches and his eyes would water so that he couldn´t see. That´s a common problem here because people can´t afford to go get glasses, and no one is used to reading.

I sat for just a moment, pondering on what I could even say. Solutions....? Then I just hear a voice from beside me, "I promise you that the Lord can take that problem away." I quickly sat up and looked over at Solomon. He honestly just spoke so calmly, but there was literally a power that you could almost feel in his words. He wasn´t just talking to fill time.
 He continued, "I had the exact problem. I couldn´t read because of my eyesight, but I prayed and asked God to take the problem from off my eyes so that I could read the Book of Mormon, and He did it."
 My thought was honestly, this guy is unstoppable! I know that my companion was thinking the same. I almost want to send a letter to the First Presidency to let him skip the MTC. He already does everything so well, I want him to go just how he is right now. MEEK.

That kind of meekness, from what I can see in him, is a result of true humility and powerful convertion. Such attributes give one the key to unlock power from onhigh, and act as the Savior would. I love Solomon because he is such an example to me of a Christ like servant.

I´m all out of type in my fingers. I love and miss you all, and testify that if you´re not out here in the mission field, the you should be!!! :) Son bromas, quisas.

Love!

Elder Kent Thalman

Spiritually charged experiences!

We had a pretty normal week, which in mission terms means a week full or miracles and spiritually charged experiences! Haha. I´ll share a few.

On Thursday, we had a District Meeting with the zone leaders, and they talked to us about how we aren´t focusing enough on families, and that we need to do something to get things changing. One missionary gave the suggestion that we draw a picture of a family that we want to baptize, and then try and find it.

I knew that the mission had done that right before I got to the field, but had never done it. Elder Young and I drew one each, and then left to go work. My family was a family of four: a husband, wife, child, and baby. At about 5:30 we contacted a 19 year old who already has a wife and child. He seemed cool, so we gave a Book of Mormon. We told him to show up at the church in an hour, and we would read it with him and with the branch. Normal contact.

About 15min into reading the BOM with the branch, he showed up!! I was surprised, and he looked a little shy. He sat as we started the book from the beginning, and occasionally a member would comment on it or bear their testimonies.

I thought he looked kind of confused. Afterwards, we asked what he thought of it, and he said he really really enjoyed it. He said that he loved the discussion format of the activity, and said that he wanted to learn more.

We started showing him the church a bit, and then we got to the font. He immediately started asking about what would be the requirements to be baptized. We explained a bit, and he told us about his wife and kid. Then... the kicker.

His wife is pregnant!!! There it is! We drew it and found it the same day! And they both seem really really receptive. It was so cool. God really does just put his signature on things sometimes. If we baptize no one else, I hope that it´s this family.

On Sunday morning, we left to go pick people up for church, and no one wanted to go, or wouldn´t answer the door. Then we just started trying to get someone there. Anyone. We just started inviting everyone we saw, and not one person would come. That is kind of normal, but in this country I´ve seen success in pre church street contacts. But it wasn´t our day.

We went in, defeated, with zero investigators in church.

Then, Nolvia, a return missionary, came in with a friend.

Later, Krispel (recent convert) came in with her mom, Ligia!!!

Then this guy that we only knew via telephone came with his member friend. Javier.

Finally, Edwin (our 17 year old friend who said he wasn´t coming) showed up!!! In the end, God sent us five people, and I was so grateful because the Spirit was really strong in Sacrament meeting, and the Gospel Principles class we taught after was really good too. So, we have people to work with still, and some well progressing investigators. Next week, I really hope that our family will progress!

This work is the BEST! There is nothing better. It is as good as it gets, being a missionary. I don´t like to think that now it´s half over. Now I´m going down hill, and all it has done is scare me into wanting to baptize more now that I have so little time. FAMILIES!!!

Side note. We hit a group of inactives hard on Thurs with some hard truth about how they had been behaving in regards to going to church. It was tough, but the Spirit was there. All four of them showed up to church this week!!! They seemed re-determined to come back to church, and one of them could leave on the mission very soon. I would love to see that. So cool.

I love you all! Don´t miss me too much, I´ll be back all too soon.

Love,

Elder Thalman