Jason

Deseo, la fe, y el fruto

(desire, faith, fruit)

Hey everyone!

oh man, this week was SO much better! we had lots of fun and success, and learned even more how important it is to rely on the lord in ALL that we do. we are finding more work, and more and more teaching opportunities are being made known unto us as the Lord is preparing more and more people in our little city. we are getting to know our area better, as well as the members and who they are and everything. The members are so wonderful here. theres not too many that are really strong and active, but the ones who are are so helpful and support the lord in his missionary work. life is good :)

Also, we are so excited for general conference this wekend, as well as for our birthdays on the 25th! im pretty sure i mentioned, but My companion Elder Perez and I have the same birthday! haha its awesome. and we eat with my favorite member family that day! 

As the week went on, we had some great lessons with our investigators. Here are a few updates as to how some are doing: 

ANDRES: andres is technically not an investigator, because he wont get baptized (he is mentally special and so there is no need - only came here to earth to get a body :), but we did go and visit him and his mom wants us to visit him cause she knows what our church is about and so cause he stays at home all day, we came and took him over to the park and we taught him about the restoration as we all ate popsicles. im sure he loved it - hes a great guy. 

FELIX: felix is 9, and is part of a less active  family, but he never got baptized. He loves it when we come over and this week we were actually able to teach him all of lesson 1: the restoration. Im so proud of him for having sat through the whole thing, and actually was amazed at how he understood what the difference is between apostasy and dispensation. hes such s champ...when we asked him "so, felix, for you, who is God?" and hes said "Hes my dad. well, ok so actually i have 3 dads: Santa clause, My real dad, and God". haha we got a kick out of that one. 

LULY/PEDRO: Luly is the sister of one of the really strong members. She is cathiloc and has told her sister that she will never change religion. but, by all means, she wanted us to come over and give her house and her a blessing. we ended up giving her whole family blessings, and the house, and they said we can come back whenever we wanted. its so nice and comforting to hear people say that. "cuando gusta, este es su casa" ah. love it. anyway, also so her husband is a reporter and he interviewed us, being young people, and asked us about what we thought about the recent tragedies that are happening in the world, teenage suicide, etc. we bore testimony of the Atonement, and how Christ already suffered for our sins, pains, affirmities, afflictions, sicknesses, sadnessses, etc., so that we wouldnt have to. and we dont have to. 

DELFINA AND DIEGO: this was a miracle for sure. so, the week prior to last week, delfina had told us that she wants to get separated in order to be baptized, and we werent really sure what to do, until she had told us that she had changed her mind and that she was thinking it would be better to get married in place of getting separated. So, after much of taking initiative and trusting in the Lord with all our hearts, "and leaning now unto our own understanding" (proverbs 3:5-6), we were able to get all the papers and signatures together and we got them married. then, even more of a miracle, instead of getting Baptized on october 11th, they changed their mind and decided it would be better to get baptized on the 27th of september. we got a little baptismal service thrown together for them and even bought cake for everyone. it was great and I felt honored to know that Diego asked me to baptize him. it was a crazy weekend. 

phew. lots of typing. ok so we got permission from the goverment building to put up a table and pamphlets and such, to be able to preach in the plaza. it was a lot better this time, because we had a white board with the plan of salvation all laid out, and it attracted more attention. we got 10 contacts in, and will be passing by for all of them this next week. it was a lot of fun and i truly felt like a representative of the Lord as we sang hymns, Elder Perez and I, while waiting for people to come. 

OK, Last thing, so this morning Elder Perez and I studied a little bit more in depth the question "what role does faith play in the life of an investigator" and we came to the conclusion that its much more than faith that is shown from an investigator, rather that before faith can be displayed and shown, a DESIRE (a want to change) is needed. this is when we have the seed in our hand. then, once we have a desire to learn, the actual process of learning (taking the lessons) is where the FAITH is shown (keeping commitments, praying, studying, etc.) This is when we have to plant the seed, water it, care for it, give it fertilizer, sunlight, etc. then, as we know, the FRUITs of our labor will be shown (baptism, other covenants, etc.), and we will be able to partake of that fruit, which is a fruit that is so delicious. This is a principle that can be applied to anything in our lives, and not just to investigators. (See alma chapter 32)

I know the Lord lives and Loves us, and that we are his children. he wants the best for us, which is exhaltation, and he has provided the way for us to have that. its called the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and its only through Jesus Christ who makes the entire plan of God even possible. 

Have a great week, everyone. I love you all! 

Jason 

-- 

**Elder Newman**