August 5, 2013

I don’t have much time!

Another great week. Here are some updates on people I’ve told you about. The Egyptian family is really nice and loves listening to us, but doesn’t want to change. The lifeguard who wanted to find Jesus won’t talk to us anymore. Jose and his daughter Ashley are probably going to need the Spanish elders, but they are doing pretty good. Jorge is still meeting with us and is very interested, but he loves all religion, so he doesn’t really want to limit himself to one church. Matt and his wife became our first progressing investigators because they are keeping their commitments and I’m pretty excited for them. We met another 24 year old guy who is pretty much in the same spot as Jorge because they love all religion and don’t want to be "limited" to being Mormon.

It’s rained pretty hard a few days this week. We got completely drenched one of the days on our way home because we were riding our bikes in a down pour. We had a member with us for a lesson and he offered to take us and our bikes home because it looked like it was about to rain. I gladly accepted the invitation, but Elder Littledike, for some reason, decided we would just ride our bikes. It started pouring right as we left, so we rode 20 minutes in a hurricane and were a little bit wet when we got home.

We are starting a 40 day program based on a talk given at a BYU Hawaii devotional in 2011 that is going to be awesome! The talk was about being constantly in the presence of the Holy Ghost, so that we can teach with more power. We fasted yesterday, wrote a list of specific things that "poke at our spirits". This could be actions, negative thoughts, and feelings. We pray about the list every morning and night and do all we can each day to not do the things that "poke our spirits". The end result should be that these negative thoughts will be eliminated completely and we will live constantly in the presence of God. I forgot who wrote the talk and the exact title, but I will try to remember to include that in my email next week so you can look it up and read it.

Yesterday we have a super fancy dinner with an older couple in the ward and the day before the ward mission leader and his wife took us to Longhorn Steakhouse. They said we could have anything we wanted, so I took them up on that. Meat is kind of in short supply around the apartment, so I got a 12 oz steak and it was amazing.

We are seeing more success every week and I can see tons of growth in me and my companionship. I love it here and I know this is the best thing I could possibly be doing with these two years. My testimony grows everyday and I am learning to recognize the spirit more and more. Time is flying by, but that’s what happens when you have fun. Some days are hard, but never bad! Wish I had more time to write! Love you all!

-Elder Miles