Well this week was interesting. We had MLC this past Wednesday which was pretty good. We talked a lot about how to work with members and how to make role playing more effective. It really got me pumped to work with the members of the ward more effectively. My companion has had success from working with members in the past. I, however have not had too much success, but hopefully we can start getting some referrals and some new investigators from the members. I honestly just like finding the old fashioned way. Street contacting and knocking and talking with everyone you see! It's fun (if you make it) and I just always feel successful, even if we don't find anyone to teach from it. But I do need to work with members more. I just have a tendency to do things on my own, and if members aren't referring people, you might as well go find them yourself, but that's not the point. We're supposed to strengthen the members and help them do missionary work. I've always known that and that's always been the goal when I visit members, but I haven't seen much come from it. Anyways, that's going to be a new focus for this transfer.
Zone Training meeting was alright. I felt like a lot of the missionaries felt like they had heard it all before and didn't take to much from it though. Those that actually came prepared and seeking revelation got it though. They told us.
Tuesday our investigator Shamal was supposed to get married to his roommate at the church, but they weren't answering our calls or texts, so we decided to stop by the home an hour before the wedding. We talked to Stacy his less active roommate and she told us that Shamal left on Saturday and hasn't been back since and she doesn't know where he is. So the wedding was canceled and we later found out that he was in jail for driving without a license. So he's probably not getting baptized anymore.
Our investigator Richard dropped us on Thursday. His girlfriend who has been meeting with the Spanish missionaries has been exhibiting behavior that he doesn't like. He blames it on what the missionaries are teaching her. Apparently she's been a lot meaner and is making stupid decisions. She is going to get baptized though. He told us that he's willing to meet with us and talk to us since he likes us, but he's not going to do anything with what we teach him. You meet a lot of those in Van Nuys.
I didn't tell you before, but we've been teaching a less active named Grant Davis. He's living an actively gay lifestyle, and is going to be on America's Got Talent this coming season. He is awesome. he recently had a breakup with his boyfriend that he' been living with and has wanted to learn more about the church and how it can help him. He grew up in the church. He's 18 and is living alone. We've taught him the first three lessons and he has been keeping all of his commitments and has told us as of Sunday that he has gained a strong testimony. He feels closer to the savior and that he finally has a relationship with his father in heaven. We had a lesson with him on Thursday and his mom and his friend were visiting from his hometown in Carson City Nevada. His mom is still active and his friend is a non member. She was super interested in learning what we were teaching and Grant taught her the restoration! We filled in some gaps and then we taught Grant and her the whole plan of Salvation. She had a lot of great questions that we answered and she told us that she felt so good about what we were saying. We asked her if she thinks that what we told her is true and she said yes so we committed her to baptism right there! it was so cool! The spirit was so strong and she was crying. Grants mom and friend have left back to Carson city, but we sent them out as a referral. hopefully Whitney, (Grants friend) will follow through on her commitment. She is awesome. Grant asked us a question in one of our lessons about whether or not he could embrace the full gospel while living an actively gay lifestyle. We brought a talk to one of our lessons by President Monson called The Peril of The Wedges. We read through a part of it with him and he told us that from reading that, it was the first time he had questioned his sexuality in a long time. It answered his question correctly and directly and helped him know what he needed to do. He came to church on Sunday and we had a lesson with him after church. He sung what he was going to sing on America's got Talent for us and he is sooooo flippin good! vote for him when the show starts! Ya he's making a lot of changes in his life and its an amazing thing to see.
I went on an exchange with Elder Stead in Mission Hills on Friday. It wasn't my best exchange. He's a great guy and we're good friends, but I didn't feel like I trained very well. He didn't like ZTM too much and my focus was on improving role plays and making them effective. We had a good time, but the focus wasn't there. All well. I took what I learned from it and I'll do better next time!
Sunday we found a new investigator and taught a lesson to our basher investigator Sister Boddy. Sister Boddy was super good this lesson. We talked about the sacrament and how Christ instituted the sacrament in America in 3 Nephi 18. She was super into it and committed to start reading again.
The rest of the week was a lot of driving around the zone to help out missionaries and what not. We had a couple of other investigators drop us, but we'll just find more! Ihings are good! I'm a little tired of being a zone leader, but I'm doing what I can! I do cover Lindsy's stake by the way. We'll probably see each other at Stake Conference again!
Love ya!
Elder Nelson
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