Transfers!

I found out last night: Elder Winslow is staying in Miami Shores Creole. I am transfering to a different area, and a different companion. But I don't know where, or who. I'll find out in transfer meeting tomorrow.

The transfer call last night was a big surprise to me. I didn't really consider the possibility that I might be leaving, it seemed so much more likely that Elder Winslow would be. But now I'm excited to go and meet my new companion and area, and I'm more and more confident that this is what I'm supposed to be doing right now. Although, that means that the stress of driving these last two weeks (in order to get to know the area better) pretty much went for nothing. Oh well, it was a growing experience.

This week, one thing that I learned in the Book of Mormon is that I think that the promised land is a symbol for the Plan of Salvation. The book of Ether, specifically, talks about how we will be free from "bondage" if we obey "The Lord of the Land" - similarly, as we obey God's commandments in this life on Earth, we will be free from "the chains of hell". The Lord goes before Jared + company in a cloud, leading them to the promised land, a land that He had prepared for them to live. Similarly, the Earth was created as a place for us all to remain. We all followed him here as we chose to accept the Plan of Salvation.

We went on another exchange with Elder Tesch this week. I went with Elders Cobabe and Lange. We harvested for a while, and then I sat in on an entirely Spanish meeting, trying my best to understand what everyone was saying. It was fun!

I'm glad to be done training. Elder Winslow was a great companion. I still don't feel ready to be let off the leash, so to speak, but I don't really think I'll ever feel comfortable or complacent in the mission field. There are always new experiences to be had, and there are always new people to meet.

We had another great experience with harvesting this last week. We knocked into a little girl. We asked what time the rest of her family would be there, because we didn't want to do it with her without any adults around. She understood Creole, so we thought that the family was Haitian. That is the only reason we chose to go back later that day to try to harvest bless her again. She wasn't there, and her parents weren't, but her older YSA sister was. We said the prayer with her. When we were done, she was silently crying. We committed her to be baptized, and she readily agreed. We finished the prayer and we left.

It turned out that her family wasn't Haitian anyway, but because we thought that they were, we went back and we had that awesome experience. It was an amazing miracle, and I'm very grateful that we had it.

We had stake conference this week. President Anderson said that all of us were required to attend both the adult session (the night before) as well as the actual conference on Sunday. This means that, since conference is at the stake center (45 minutes away), and it ended at 9, we returned to our house after 9:30 for the first time ever. But we had permission, so it wasn't disobedient, so that's all right.

The YSA elders, who live with us, had a baptism last Sunday. Their after-baptism party was amazing. The Latino members' families who were friends with the recent convert bought a ton of food and desserts, such as doughnuts, cheesecake, brownies, soda, etc. It was delicious. The best meal I've eaten since IHOP at Christmas.

Last thing, before I have to get off: many people have asked about Harvesting, so I'll talk about it a little more and go into more detail. This is the general procedure, although it is never rote in practice:

1. Knock on door. Someone answers. Say something along the lines of "Hello, we're representatives of Jesus Christ. He has sent us here to pray with you and your family [for such and such reason]. May we say this prayer with you?"

2. Continue, get to know the people, try to get everyone there to join in the prayer. If there in a man in the house, try to get invited in.

3. Ask them what they want you to pray for. (In so many words.)

4. If you are inside, kneel down for the prayer and offer a priesthood blessing on the house and the family. If not, reverently say a regular prayer.

5. Watch the spirit work. Connect the feelings of the spirit with baptism, and then invite them to be baptized. Whether they accept or not, continue to give doctrine and to testify, and invite them for a specific date. (The second Sunday from the date of the blessing.)

6. As the spirit directs, invite to church, accept missionary discussions, or a number of other things.

7. Leave. Follow up quickly, within the next few days, so that the feelings of the spirit are still fresh on their mind.

Thanks,

Elder Slade