Hey Mom,
we have had a good week. lots of things are going well. zone conference is tommorow. having good times.
sorry that i forgot to thank you about the birthday package. i really appreciated it and i made that cake that you sent and after we started eating it i realized that we could have had candles... but i forgot to put them on.
as for all the things that i am grateful for ill just update you on my week and everyone can know that i am grateful for all the things that happened.
lee got his cast off yesterday and he is excited about his baptism on the fifth. hopefully henry is going to be baptized on the same day in mission viejo. we will see him tommorow and we are going to set the program for his baptism with him. after not being able to go to Church for so long i hope that he makes it to Church this sunday.
last week Elder Roddy and i spoke in Church. they told us to pick our topics and i chose to speak about the power of baptism and Elder Roddy spoke about the Book of Mormon. i also got to teach my favorite Gospel Essentials lesson: Chastity. i do like teaching though so we were able to get through it pretty well.
we challenged leonard to be baptized this week and he accepted. he missed reading a commitment that we left with him: 3 Ne 27 so we read it with him instead of teaching what we had planned. it all worked out well though because the Spirit guided me to tell him about some of the thoughts i have had lately about how days that you never think are coming eventually happen. i talked about how i hoped that when the day came for me to stand before Christ and be judged that i could look back on all my days before and be comfortable in front of Him through His cleansing power. then i asked him to be baptized and we are set for the 2nd of january. he needs to go to Church 3 times before then we told him. i think this week will be it because we got his girls some dresses from the ward members. bro buelna got the shoes that we need for them. everything is in place if they want to go. we taught him about missionary work last night and leonard wants us to teach his kids. hopefully we can start that and get them baptized on the same day.
this week we learned that fran has a smoking problem. and it will be difficult for her to pay tithing and her boss is still scheduling her on sundays. (we taught her tithing this week.) she said that she is going to get a better job so that she can make that happen. we also taught her the Word of Wisdom after we found out that she smokes. we had a pretty cool lesson out of a cool scripture connection that i have found lately. we read about david shadrek meeshek and abed-nego (spelled wrong i know) (Daniel 1) and when they chose to eat pulse rather than the king's meat. they were healthier as a result of following the health law given them at the time. i also thought it was interesting that it says in there that they were given knowledge as another result just like we are promised in the Word of Wisdom. anyways with fran we set back her date to the 9th of january to give her time to sort that out. we commited her to make a plan to be off cigerettes 1 week before then for good. we are going to spend some time with her on Thanksgiving because she has nowhere to go. we are real proud of her--- she is making really tough changes to be in harmony with the new truth she is recieving. she actually told us that she admired Elder Roddy and i that we were able to ask difficult things of people. we took it as a compliment because she wouldnt have said that if she didnt think that we cared about her.
hunter (9 year old) we commited to baptism on friday for the 19th of december. but he hadnt read what we left with him (parent's fault) and he wasnt at Church (parent's fault). tonight we are teaching him again and we are going to have to let them feel some of our dissapointment. i hate doing that but we cant baptize him unless they go to Church and read the scriptures and pray.
we are teaching a bunch of millitary part member families. it seems like for alot of them they are newly married and looking to start thier families right. none of them are very far along but there seems to be alot of potential here. i think by january we might baptize someone every weekend.
the people are hundreds of times more receptive here.
anyways, that is probably all i have time for (Elder Roddy doesnt email for very long).
i am grateful for this family and love you all a ton.
Love your favorite missionary,
Elder Taylor Barron
2 comments:
Happy Late Thanksgiving, Elder! Hope you had a good one. You'll have to tell us what you did. I imagine you weren't out shopping with the rest of the world today :-). Neither were we. We had lunch with Grandpa Stan and Charlotte. They asked about you. Then we came home and Grandpa Ron raked leaves while I cleaned up the house.
We enjoyed our day yesterday. All the family was here except Ryan's and of course the three of you. We look forward to happy times during the holidays next year when you will be home. We had a wonderful meal with everyone contributing and lots of leftovers today. BJ, Rochelle and Gabe came by and joined in eating leftovers with us.
I can tell from your email that you are super excited about your progress and possibilities in Oceanside. I hope all of your investigators take advantage of the amazing opportunity you and your companion are presenting to them. I can attest to the fact that joining this church is life changing. So many of my friends from high school have had problems because they didn't have the gospel. I am so grateful for it and for you and all you are doing. I sincerely hope and pray that you will have the success you desire.
Please take care and next time maybe share more about your living situation and meals. Are you eating enough? Are you maintaining your weight? Just wondering! We love you. Until next time, Grandma Sue
Elder B.,
If things worked out as you had them planned you must of had a very busy and productive holiday. Fran is right when she recognized that you (and the Lord) care about her because you do ask those hard questions and expect hard things from her. Otherwise, what's the point? That's why the straight and narrow path isn't it. Other churches tend to let their members wander wherever they want. I hope she is able to take hold of the truths you are teaching her and stay with it.
It sounds like you are doing a wonderful work with her and the ohters you are teaching. I wish I could drop in sometime and just watch. It would be a real thrill to see you teach the gospel. Maybe sometime in the future I'll have that opportunity after you come home.
As you already know our prayers are always with you.
I hope you are able to baptize every single weekend in January.
My thoughts are coming out a bit disjointed and rambling.
Have a wonderful week. Maybe I can do better next week.
Love you.
Grandpa Ron
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