Zone meetings, NGI's, and Sharon Jones

Hey family! 

Elder Williams and Matthew

This past week has flown! It's crazy how I hit a year this week. It's been a good one and it's going to be interesting to see if I've changed very much. I'm going to be reading a few journal entries from the beginning of my mission and see where I'm at. This next year I will be video logging each month on my camera so that when I'm done with my mission I will hopefully and about 12 25 min videos of me talking about people and I will see how far I have come. 

This past week we had our zone meeting with our really young zone. Everyone that we train are below 8 months except the APs. Elder Williams and I are so excited for this next transfer. We have a lot of obedient and hard working elders and sisters. Something new that we have been pushing is called and NGI. An NGI is a new statistic that we came up with that is a new investigator invite. Where we invite our new investigator to baptism on the first lesson so that we will be covering all the aspects of the work. Inviting to baptism, teaching lessons, finding, and setting the expectation in one statistic. It's pretty awesome we think. Hopefully it will work out. 

I had the opportunity to train the zone on our identity. I pulled some scriptures firm doctrine and covenants 138 about how there were noble and great ones before we came to earth and that we received our first lessons so that we could bring salvation to those of the world. It's really interesting because a cross refernce was made to Abraham 3 where it talks about how there were noble and great ones and that God stood among us and said, "these will I make rulers..." And that he saw that we were good. That reminded me of the earths creations and that when everything was the way God wanted it says that they is was so or good. God thinks the world of us. He loves us and knows us all so well. I know this because imagine the war in heaven and how a third of the host of heaven was cast out. God prepared all of those children as much as he prepared us and to see them rebel and us fighting for God really must have meant something. I know it did. 

Right now we are teaching Sharon jones. JJ and lavaughnda jones mother. She is eating the gospel up. She is on date for the 21st of February and wants her son to baptize her as well. It's been incredible to think that about a month ago Jj and LaVaughnda were just baptized and 3-4 months ago they were on their driveway smoking and drinking. The gospel changes our desires and sanctifies even the most troubled or dirty soul. I know that this is true and that it is because of our savior Jesus Christ. That through the Book of Mormon we can know almost all the mysteries of God. That he speaks today just as he did a couple thousand years ago. I love you and hope the next week is full of fun. Have a great week.

E. Archibald