Big Events

Dear Friends and Family:

This Saturday, we had the opportunity as a mission to hear from Elder Quentin L. Cook. It was a terrific mission conference. We came early and took pictures - that part was very hot and uncomfortable, but it was probably worth it anyway.

Big events happening in the near future:

- May 3: The cultural celebration for the temple

- May 4: The dedication for the temple; doctrinally, the chapels become part of the temple for the dedication, and the dedication service is broadcast to them in several sessions throughout the day. Therefore, no nonmembers can enter the church, and so we will not be able to get investigators in church on this day

- May 9: My birthday

- May 11: A huge pile of baptisms (two weeks worth in a single day); also, mother's day, which means I get to call home. I have no details on when, or how long, but I'm hoping they'll have us do it on a different day because Sundays are always, always busy

- May 18: Haitian Flag Day

- May 21: Paul's birthday

- May 28: Another transfer meeting, which means (most likely) another companion and (potentially) another area

We had a very great experience just yesterday, while we were harvesting. It was especially meaningful to me for various reasons. This is what happened:

We had just finished harvesting for the day, and were riding back to be picked up at our apartment by our members. We noticed a man sitting down, smoking a cigarette behind his car. We stopped and offered to leave a blessing with him. He seemed very depressed and down, but he agreed. When we asked what he would like us to include in the prayer, the only thing he wanted was for God to help him get rid of cigarettes in his life. It was my turn to say the prayer, but before I started, he said, "Thanks for being obedient." I was confused at what he meant by that, but I said the prayer, we recognized the spirit, and invited him to be baptized. He agreed to a date on the 11th (mother's day). Before we left, I asked him why he had said that before. He told me that we had been obedient to the spirit by coming to pray with him. He said that he believed that many times, the things we think we do by ourselves are actually prompted by the spirit, and we would not have stopped to pray with him if we hadn't been obedient and willing to listen.

We were not able to get any dates yesterday. Also, none of the people we found throughout the week came to church. We had a few miracle people come to church, but they disappeared halfway through and we were not able to talk to them. But we may still be able to contact them today or tomorrow, and we'll do our best to follow the spirit and help them have a desire to be baptized.

Thanks,

Elder Slade