First of all, I want to make something clear. As of a few
months ago, they changed the rules for emailing. I am now allowed to email
everyone, regardless of gender/relationship, as long as they are not girls who
live in the boundaries of my mission. This confusion occurred because the
change happened while I was in the MTC, so for the first few months of my
mission I was under the impression that it was still in effect. But since that
is no longer the case, everybody can contact me at:
brandon.slade@myldsmail.net
On to other matters.
Transfer information: we found out last night, neither Elder
Van Wagenen or I are transferring. As a matter of fact, only two people in the
entire zone are leaving (one of them is dying, in fact) which is completely
unheard of. Usually 35-45% of missionaries change every transfer in this
mission. It is unusual to have the same companion for more than one transfer,
other than your trainer. But I am very grateful for the chance to serve with
Elder Van Wagenen for another six weeks. We haven't had enough fun yet!
New family member: I'm excited to hear about baby Liv! I
love her name. In Creole, 'liv' means 'book'. (But it's pronounced 'leave', not
'live', which is how I'm guessing you pronounce 'Liv'.)
Fact of the day: God lives in a gated community.
Fact of the latter-days: everybody is crazy!
I thought I'd talk about the two investigators that I'm most
excited about.
First is Charles, the son of a less active member. He came
to church two days ago, and he is excited to be baptized this Sunday. He speaks
Haitian Creole and English. He's awesome.
Next is Ed. He has been an investigator for a while, but for
the last two weeks he has been unable to come to church because of health
issues. He was even put in the hospital last Saturday. He's seen missionaries
in the past, but for some reason he is ready to accept the gospel this time. He
tells everybody he meets that he is LDS, and he has been very excited to read
in the Book of Mormon. He always comes prepared to lessons with favorite
scriptures and things that he learned. He's awesome.
An inactive member named Gregory L. came to church last
week. We found out that it was the first time he was coming to church in
several years, and we set up a time to come and pray with him. (A harvest
blessing. They are for members as well, not just nonmembers. We just focus on
member missionary work as opposed to baptism.) We came and we said the
blessing. We all felt the spirit very strongly, and he said that it was the strongest
he had felt it in his entire adult life. Since then, we have started teaching
him the missionary lessons.
The first time we went to teach about the restoration, an
interesting story came out. Two weeks ago, his brother read a scripture which
reminded him of something he asked in a prayer a long time ago: he asked God to
show him what his life would be like without God. Now that he had lived for
most of his life outside of the church, he decided to find out what life would
be like with God. That's why he came to church that first time, and he met us,
and we scheduled that prayer.
It really was a miracle. Not just that part, but also that
if we had had an investigator come to church that week, then we would have been
in a different classroom for Sunday School, and we would never have met him. I
can imagine he would have come to church that one time, and then given up, and
the opportunity would be lost. But God knows what he's doing!
Thanks,
Elder Slade
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