Sept 10, 2018 Staying and Training

Well transfers happened and I will be staying another here. But will be training a new missionary so that will be a new and exciting experience for sure. It is crazy to think its been six more weeks and now am going on 12 weeks here in St. Thomas. We have some super solid people so Im so excited to see them progress. For sure am pumped to see what comes from this next six weeks here. We were able to find a really awesome family to start teaching from knocking the other day before a dinner appointment. That family I'm very excited for. Another lady with three kids we found this week. She was in a rough situation and so she just got out of a bad place and now is really looking for comfort. We taught her once and she is very receptive and truly felt the spirit. Another one is that door a couple weeks ago we felt prompted to knock on is progressing and should be coming out to church next week!! Then of course we have a 9 year old on date for baptism in Oct. Which is so exciting! So the work here is going very well!! I had a very special experience the other day and it was really a testimony builder for me that I would like to share with you. I had the opportunity to interview an individual for baptism on Saturday and I would like to share a little bit of his background. I won't use his name as it is confidential but I'll share a little bit about his background. He was extremely into drugs, smoking and has a kid. He is covered in tattoos and just had a rough life. About two months ago he looked up scriptures and came across a free Book of Mormon add that the church had put out. He requested one as he had never heard of or read the Book of Mormon before and was very interested. He grew up Catholic and was a dedicated member until he left home. Anyway he was tight on money so he was on a pay as you go plan on his phone. Which means he only would get a text or phone call when he pays which at that time was only every couple of weeks for a few days he would have a phone that he could receive messages on. Keep in mind if anyone would text him when he hadn't paid he wouldn't get it. So one week about 3 months ago he decided to pay for a couple of days. That day he got a text from the missionaries asking if they could drop off the Book of Mormon sometime that day. He said he would love that and from there they kept in contact and now he's at the point of baptism!! So insane how fast lives can change when they finally find the gospel. Smoking was a very hard thing for him, not because he liked smoking (as he hated that he did) but because he was so addicted. He was able to get a priesthood blessing and turn to the scriptures and prayer when he needed help and got through this very hard trial and quit!!! He will be getting baptized next Saturday. As we went through the baptismal interview and I heard his testimony at one point I said to him "man you have stronger faith than me man!" he laughed, but to hear all that he had been through and still is going through amazes me how positive and how much he cherishes the gospel! Its amazing to see how spiritual and strong so many of these new members are. Honestly they are the elect!  They are the ones that were searching for something they just didn't know where to find that something they felt was missing! So that was super amazing to have met that man. Young dude too so I know how hard it would be telling friends and family as many aren't too thrilled with his choice. Like I said before, we are seeing miracles and the work is going amazing! I am pretty excited to see what the future holds and know God is here pushing His work forward. The weather for half the weeks was so insanely brutal as it was so humid. But now its cooling off but suppose to go back to high 20's again so that's good stuff. Hope everyone back home is doing well!! Love you all have a great week!!