Hello! I am super excited to tell you that this week has been great! We are being so blessed by the Lord in our efforts to find those people that are PREPARED. I have been very anxious to tell you about Courtney Gonzales! She is the lady that we picked up a few weeks ago because she referred herself to be taught on mormon.org! Unfortunatly Not much has changed in her situation. She is still receiving lots of negative feedback about her investigation of the church. Her husband has worsened. She is receiving calls from her mother about false rumors and ideas that she has heard about the church. This week she had planned on coming to church with her husband, Jeremy, but that planned changed as he refused and from what she told me he threatened that he would leave her if she became a mormon. She also told us that he would go to other churches just not our church. Stupid right? He doesn't even care! So there must be something else that is deeper. But! The coolest thing ever happened. First, after she told us all that she seemed to be dropping us by saying she needs to slow down and not push religion so much So my heart was in my stomach and I felt sick for a few minutes as I listened. Luckily The spirit was my guide as I testified to her of the blessings that come from the gospel and the peace that can be found in obedience to Gods laws.. She told us then that she still wanted to meet with us weekly and learn and read! So that was good! We hadn't lost her completly! But she did say that she was going to ease off of pushing her husband and that she wouldn't be coming to church on sunday. We were happy to be able to still teach her but bummed that she wouldnt be coming to church for a while.... So here is the cool part. After hearing all the crap that she is having to fight through and all the opposition that she is facing we did not expect to see her at church...but she came. I dont think words will ever express what I felt when I saw her walking up to the doors looking very nervous and in jeans and a t shirt! I was overwhelmed with love and admiration for her and for her determination to Learn the Gospel! It was such a sweet moment. It was especially cool because as she walked up amidst throngs of people looking very uncomfortableI made eye contact with her and we just had this connection! I was smiling like a fool because i was so happy she was there and when she saw me she started smiling and you could see immediatly that she relaxed and No one knew what was going on except for me my companion and her! Well, and God. But all around us no one knew what she had to do to get to church. But she knew that we knew and we knew that she knew which gave a very dramatic feel! Almost like a movie! It was pretty sweet! But obviously above and beyond that it was just so awesome to see her walk through those doors with a big huge smile even though the storms were raging back home! The Gospel and the church are truly harbors of peace and safety and joy. I love Courtney so much!
We had a Zone conference this week! It was us(woodland) Fairfield and Vacaville. We all met at a stake center in Vacaville and had a sweet meeting! President Alba gave us some very good motivation and taught us alot. He is a very inspired man! The things he taught I felt were directed exactly at me! So that was really fun! It lasted from about nine to four so it was long but good.
We have Two Baptismal dates!! Finally!! It has been awhile since I have had a progressing investigator with a baptismal date! The first one is a new investigator that we found while tracting! His name was Wallace Solomon! He is an 86(yes 86 year old man that we talked to on the doorstep for about fifteen minutes! We talked about fishing most of the time and ended up giving him a restoration pamphlet and getting a return appointment! We went back and taught heim about the restoration. The spirit was really strong especially as we taught the great apostasy! He seemed to be very atttentive. After the lesson he asked us again to explain the great apostasy and asked the question? "why are there so many churches?" I love that question! We have the answer! After I re taught it to him he said "wow I have asked a lot of pastors and friends throughout my life that exact question and none of them had an answer for me like that! Thank you" It was so sweet! We had another appointment with him this week and taught him the plan of salvation! He loved that especilly the three kingdoms. And I invited him to be baptized towards the end! He readily agreed and when we set his date for Feb 23rd he said ill do my best to be ready! We told him we would make sure of that! Ha it is amazing to be a missionary! All of the bad you have to go through to find the one good is totally worth it. "today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth" (Like that dad?)
So that is my week(s) in a nut shell!
Have a great week!!
Love Elder Nelson!
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