This week has been amazing! First off, thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday. Special shout outs to all who went the extra mile and sent a package. Aunt Melissa, Sister Smith, Terah, and my family for sending a package AND a big box of Bluebell ice cream... still frozen.
Pooh Bear and WhatABurger shirt from Terah
Birthday tie from either Aunt Melissa or Sister Smith
Some missionaries threw a little birthday party for me with the help of Brother Ninalga, who is a way cool member here. So that day was pretty cool.
Birthday party - missionary style (sin drink is Dr. Pepper)
The first couple weeks in this area have been horrible as far as missionary work goes. And I began to get pretty frustrated, as last week's email showed. But I also said that the Lord was going to bless our hard work.... and he did.
We were able to get a father and his 2 daughters baptized finally. He had something holding him back, but this week the Bannister family got dunked.
The Bannister Family with Bro. Ningala, Elder Pearson and Elder Brown
I was able to baptize and confirm Aspen. The little one in the picture.
They were the only people we had that were preparing to be baptized. But now we have 2 more individuals with dates they are working toward getting baptized on. One will hopefully get baptized in 2 weeks. We've also had miracles fall from the sky all week long. We've suddenly run into people who want to learn more about the church. So we've had a lot of lessons with new friends investigating the church, and quite a few coming up this week. We've also found multiple people who are going to invite their friends to meet with us (the ideal situation). One lady, actually stopped us to tell us she was planning on inviting someone that week. It's hard to imagine that this is the same are I've been in the few weeks before. It's been a polar opposite. I'm so excited to dig into all this work that God has given us. His children that he's trusted us to help and teach.
This transfer, Elder Brown and I have been trying to look for a daily miracle to write down in our planner. At first we had to think hard to find something. But lately we've been having to put at least 3 a day. It's really been great. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for this area. I do not doubt we wouldn't have had the same success if it were not for yall. Now just pray we can handle everyone we've talked to and help them to come unto Christ.
Elder Pearson and Elder Brown
One cool story from the week is from the Christensons. They are a married couple. The wife was baptized a year ago, and the husband has always been a member, but returned to going to church. We've been meeting with them for a while and helping them understand the scriptures. We hadn't had a lesson for a while because Sister Christenson was in the hospital for a bit. After she got out we tried a time or two to come over, but when we had set something up she hadn't felt good or been asleep.
We went by Thursday morning to set up a lesson. She wasn't feeling good, and told us to come back in a few days. Luckily later that night we saw them again, just walking around the neighborhood. She had felt better and told us to come by the next day. So we went by Friday evening and she was asleep when we were supposed to have the lesson. Brother Christenson didn't want to wake her up, so he told us to come by in a day or 2. While walking out of the apartments, we stopped and talked to some people. Then we saw Bro Christenson sprinting toward us and told us she woke up and was mad he didn't wake her up.
So we ended up having the lesson and at the beginning, their upstairs neighbor happened to knock on the door, saw we were there, and asked if she could sit in with us. Now she wants to start taking the lessons with us to learn more. It was way cool to see all the little things that kept that lesson alive so we could meet Kim.
That's all I have for today. This week has been awesome. Thanks again for all the support. Love yall
--
Elder Pearson
Utah, Ogden Mission
