Dear family and friends,
First off I'd like to say, NATE!!!! You're going to ALPINE?!?!?!
That's so amazing! I'm so excited for you! I had a bit of an episode
when I read that. That's going to be so amazing. You'll love the mission
field so much.
Wow, so I feel like a lot has happened this past week! Monday was a
rough night. But we had an earthquake during nightly planning that
shook our room a bit. We're on the 11th floor, top floor of the
building. Last Tuesday we had Zone Training Meeting. I was beyond
excited because we meet in the Nantou chapel, my old building. So I had a
rush of memories flood in. I saw Elder Nickel. He's training in that
area where I was trained. So cool! We had a great meeting on getting
investigators baptismal goals and helping them accomplish their goals.
President Bishop gave us an invite to get 3 people Week C goals. Those
are people that have been to church at least once. So they either need
to be current investigators without goals, former investigators, or part
member families who have been to church before. This invitation can be
pretty tricky. Because the week after you get them the goal, they need
to have an interview so their baptism can be announced on Sunday. Then
their baptism will be the following Saturday. But it's possible!
Wednesday was also a little rough down in one of our secondary
areas, but at english class, we had a pretty alright turn out. One of
our new investigators came, so I got to meet him. He's really cool and
likes english. The spiritual share was really great. We shared about the
blessings of repentence and it wrapped into a few of the classmates
asking other questions about the gospel. They were all pretty involved
in the scriptures that night. So good!
Thursday we got to sit with our investigator that came to english
class. It's him and his wife. We go to their house to meet. They're
really great, a little older, and have many questions. We taught them
about the restoration. The husband had questions about the Word of
Wisdom because he had heard about it before. And then they said the next
few weeks are going to be pretty busy, so they can't come to church for
a bit. That's a downer... But they still could set up for another time
to meet during the week!
Friday was a great day of miracles! We had a lesson set up with a
guy that was contacted on the street the week before. When we met with
him, he was carrying the old chinese translation of the Book of Mormon.
The new translation came out 3 or 4 years ago. It's a much better
translation to understand. He said he had met with missionaries 16 years
earlier in Taizhong. So we shared about the restoration and he had
remembered a lot of it. He also said he had been to church before.
Recently he wanted to check out some Christian churches, and then he was
contacted by us a few weeks later. So we shared about baptism and got
him to commit to a Week C goal! He sadly dropped it because his mom
doesn't approve and didn't want him to go to church. So there's a little
problem to work around. But he's still really good.
That night another miracle happened. We were meeting with an
investigator that is progressing. He dropped his last goal because he
couldn't make it to church because of work. He's really good though. He
loves to read the Book of Mormon and is willing to keep all commitments.
We got him a Week C goal too!
Saturday we had another miracle! There is a husband of a member
that missionaries have been working with for quite some time. He's
extremely nice. He had heard the lessons a long time ago, has read the
Book of Mormon, and a bit of D&C. He's just not sure if he's felt
the feeling that it's true. He's not sure how to recognize it. That's
what us and the ward has been trying to help him recognize for a while.
So we met with him and went through the baptismal interview questions.
In the end, we got him to commit to a baptismal goal and helped him know
that God will help him prepare to reach the goal. He's trying his best.
We just need to help him know how to recognize the answer.
Sunday was a really great day. We got pretty nervous that none of
our investigators were going to show up, but right before Sacrament
meeting, our progressing investigator came. He likes church and is
making new friends. Afterwards, a member came up to me with this 13 year
old boy. She said he had come by himself to check out our church.
Apparently his school teacher gave an assignment to find a church? So he
came to ours. That's a miracle I'm so willing to take! He we sat with
him afterwards and also got to set up to meet his parents that night.
When we met them, they didn't have any huge opposition, but they want
him to try other churches as well and see if this one is the one he
wants. So we'll have to work with them a bit. But he loved it so far!
Also after church we got to sit with our progressing investigator and
set up a baptismal interview for this week! So good!
The week was so great! I had a lot of times of stretching my
patience and miracles to follow! You just need to endure, and endure it
with a smile and faith. Have miracles ceased? Not in the least bit. I
love you all! I love all the support from all of you. I keep you all in
my prayers.
Love, Elder Buckwalter
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