Monday, November 17, 2014

Thanks Mom video JJ and Lavanda and Raph

Hey family!
This week has been great! We have been booked with a ton of meetings.
From stake conference to zone meeting just meeting meeting meetings
haha. I think the motive for all of those meetings were for us to
realize the work is hastening. The work is truly changing and more and
more people are accepting the gospel. At times we can't really see it
because we are looking from the inside out but from the outside in...
Whew!

When I say more people are accepting it I mean it. We currently are
serving in two different wards and so we have our plates full. The
Cascade Park Ward which is a family ward is incredible! Everyone wants
us to go teach some of their friends and always have people they want
us to try by. That area has three people on date for baptism right now
as well. Two of those are Jj and Lavanda Jones. They are ex convicts and
are so spiritual. We just recently started teaching them and we
invited them to be baptized and they accepted. They are just eating up
everything we have given them and they continue to want more. It's
incredible! We were able to take them to the temple visitors center
and to tour the grounds and it worked out so well. Jj and Lavanda
couldn't help but feel the spirit consistently and the thing that
amazed me is that they recognized it. They are so knowledgeable. The
member asked Jj why Moroni was on top of the temple and he said that
he was proclaiming a message to the world that this is where "it's"
at. It was amazing. That's not all. The member was being gutsy and
asked him who performed one of the first things by proxy. Jj said
Jesus Christ. I never thought of it that way until just then and it
blew me away. At that moment I could see Jj's potential. At least a
little bit of it. Maybe God grants us little specs of that information
or little flashes of his view and it takes us back. Luckily we get to
see Jj and Lavanda tonight! It's going to be great. We are teaching
the plan of salvation.

Another cool story is of Raph Garza. He is about 20 years old and he
was on the edge of atheism. He is taking philosophy in college and he
knows that that isn't the path to go. We continued to meet with him
until he received an answer in such a weird way. He related to all of
this philosophical terms that I had no idea the meaning of but he
knows that the Book of Mormon is true and has began sharing it with
his family. His dad met with us last week and at first he was
skeptical until we described to him how everything fits into God's
scheme perfectly. If God's love is real, He wouldn't leave us here
alone. He has such a bigger plan for us. He is now reading the Book of
Mormon and meeting with us this next week.

Being a zone leader is a lot of fun but stressful at the same time.
Lots of responsibility and lots of things going on but it's good. It's
almost been a whole transfer since I've been called. Time flies when
your having fun! The cd is awesome! I'm probably going to be listening
to Christmas music for the next month straight because my companion
loves it. Haha thank you!
Love,
E. Archibald

Saturday, November 8, 2014

JJ and Lavanda Jones and Ralph the philosopher

Hey mom!
 
I bet it's starting to get a little cold back there. It's starting to cool off up here as well and we are starting to wear our jackets to protect us from the cold and the rain. More the rain than the cold though. It's been raining for the past couple days. At first lightly and then heavy. I enjoy it sometimes just because we have a car. 

This past week has been incredible. We have had a few miracles in the YSA ward and the Cascade Park Ward as well. We have been asked to cover two wards because we are low on missionaries at the moment. Kind of sounds weird since we are almost at 90,000 missionaries. But this week we met with JJ and Lavanda Jones. They recent have gotten married and are looking for some direction. Luckily we stumbled upon them and started teaching them. This last time we saw them we were able to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and invite them both to be baptized in the beginning of December. They accepted! They also came to church this last week as well. From what they've said they already believe what we teach them already. We're just waiting for them to realize how everything plays together. We have the opportunity to go to the temple with them this Friday. It's going to be great!

In the YSA ward we are teaching a few guys that are the same age as us and at first it was different. Now it's a lot of fun! We are teaching this guy named Ralph and he is so smart. Going to school for philosophy and has a different way of looking at things obviously. So recently we have been trying to teach him as simply as possible so that he has the correct principles understood and in his mind. In other words he likes the deep doctrine. He recently received a witness of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. And he is now planning to be baptized on the 22nd of this month! 

The work is great and I love the new calling. We are always flying around doing something and going to meetings. But it had been great to serve. 
 
Thank you for the shoes and socks. The socks are stellar! Good upgrade mmmm. 
 
Thanks for all that you guys do! We will talk to you in a week!
E. Archibald 

With great power comes great responsibility.