Monday, January 15th 2018

This was a fun week. I have a cool story to tell about a member. We went over to this man's house for dinner. He is from Barbados and almost 80 years old and a super kind guy. He told us "I hope you like fish because that is what we are having tonight." I was imagining like salmon or tilapia, but no, he pulls out this whole fish out of the oven, and it is huge. I thought it was delicious. He told us, he used to spearfish these fish back in his country. He said he would dive 30 feet under the water to get them. This one time he was out spearfishing and there was a shark swimming towards him, and it kept on coming. He was trying to avoid it, but it kept on coming after him. When it got close enough he through his spear through its head, and dragged it to shore. It was a 90 pound shark, and it fed a lot of people. I thought that was just a really cool story. 

There is a man who we were teaching who was on date, and we told him he needs to ask his wife if he can be baptized. He asked her and she said no. It was a really sad experience for us, but one of the members of our ward decided to go over to meet with the man we were teaching. The member was let in their house by the man's wife, without the husband there, and they talked for an hour. He told us it went well and they had a great conversation about the church. That gave us a lot of hope, and we are hoping that her heart will be softened, and he will be able to be baptized. 

This Sunday we had our Ward Conference. It was very missionary focused. The Stake President encouraged the members to read chapters 3 and 11 of Preach my Gospel. Chapter 3 is the lessons that missionaries teach, and chapter 11 is on helping people to make and keep commitments. I don't think preach my gospel is meant just for full-time missionaries, but also for members. The reason we commit people to do things is because someone's conversion will come after action, like reading the Book Of Mormon, Praying, Going to church, or going to the visitors center. It is important to bear testimony and promise blessings while committing people. It is just as important to follow up with the person on their commitment as it is to make a commitment. 

I can't even stress the importance of members in missionary work. While it is a missionaries responsibility to teach people, it is a member's responsibility to find people. If you know someone who could use the gospel in their lives, get in contact with the missionaries. 

Love you all,

Elder Spurgeon