Week 39

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Dear Mom,

I hit 9 months today!!! I can't believe that I have been out on my mission for that long already! I feel that I was home not too long ago but at the same time I feel that a year's worth of stuff has occurred in that time.

Monday, we had a normal P-day and that night we had dinner with the Valenzuela family.

Tuesday, we met briefly with an investigator of ours in the morning and then we went tot he ZL's pad(apartment) at 12:00 for exchanges. I was with Elder Worlton and we were able to visit a few of the people we attempted that day. We visited a less-active member and shared a really cool video with her about a stone cutter who worked on the Salt Lake temple. Later, we were also able to visit one of their investigators. She and her family were awesome. We had a really good lesson with her and she felt the spirit strongly to the point of tears, which she said she never shows emotions like that in front of people. As we were leaving, it started to rain really hard and we got soaked from the house to the car...a big lightning and thunder storm hit so instead of tracting, since we didn't have any kind of rain gear, we tried to visit multiple other investigators and less-actives. Afterwards, we drove to a member's house in my area because we had a dinner with them that night. His wife wasn't able to be there and the investigator we had invited wasn't able to come so he took us to the restaurant that the investigator works at. The storm continued all evening and we couldn't see very far in front of us because it was raining so hard and also causing so much mist.
Wednesday, we left the ZL's pad early so that I could get back and finish up the last bit of District Meeting planning I needed to do. Then we had District Meeting and the ZL's attended this one. The lesson went well and then afterward I handed it over to the Sisters for our practice because I had asked them in advance to do that part of District Meeting. My favorite part of planning District Meeting is getting to choose the songs in advance to best teach the topic and invite the spirit because music is one of the best ways to invite the spirit. We then brought Brother Tanner Sperry with us and went to visit some of our investigators. We had a really good lesson with one of our investigators who has a goal to be baptized on a specific date. Everyone else was busy, and one of our investigators told us they would be busy with family and work for May, June, and July and wouldn't be able to meet with us at all, or in other words doesn't want us coming back. . .Then that night we went to the Youth Volleyball Activity that they invited all the missionaries to and we played some fun games of volleyball. We had some investigators who were going to come but didn't make it.
Thursday, we visited some places in Hattiesburg that we might be able to do service at but had no luck. We had a lesson with someone we met just recently and they speak Spanish form the Dominican Republic which is harder to understand because they pronounce things differently but they're really cool. Then we went to Sumrall and had dinner with the Cardenas family and we had pesole which was really good. Afterward, we had a lesson with one of our investigators.
Friday, we tried to visit one of our investigators in the morning but for the 3rd time this week it happened to just be really bad timing which is frustrating. We hope to actually be able to visit her next week. We did our weekly planning and then we had Brother Sperry with us as usual and we had another lesson with our investigator Earline(pronounced Erlyn) and she is doing well. Then we went to Laurel and had dinner with the Garcia family. She made us empanadas that were really good. Then we came back and visited an investigator that we haven't been able to see in like a month, which was really good.
Saturday, we were going to be able to attend the Birmingham Alabama Temple with our Branch but they were going to get back at 9:00pm and we would have to be back by 6:00pm. Sadly, we were not able to go, but that was okay, we were able to go to a baptism that morning. So cool story; We were in Walmart and I walked down an isle to get something while Elder Christensen waited at the end because of congestion. Anyway while in the isle a worker turned and said "hello" to me and I said "hi" back and asked how his day was and stuff. He asked how my preparation day was going. I answered him and then asked how he knew it was our preparation day and if he was a member. He said "no", but I'm a Wanna-Be-Member!!! I wasn't for sure if I heard that correctly and so I found out more about him, why he wants to be a member and why he isn't. Turns out he was being taught by missionaries a while ago but didn't go to church or get baptized partly because the ward he would be going to was full of old people and he is 23. I basically told him there are other options and younger wards and asked him if he would like us to come and start teaching him again. He said "of course" (he had such an excited and strong desire!). I got his info and told him I would send him the info he needed. Turned out he wasn't in our area, and then since he would be going to the Young Single Adults Branch, it was the YSA Sister's area, so we handed him over to them. Long story short (shorter) a little over a week later the YSA Sisters got transferred out and the Zone Leaders now cover the YSA. After another week or so went by, I thought I should check up with him and see how he was doing. He told me how he had attended institute, church, and was going to be baptized that Saturday! So, the baptism that we were able to attend was his!! It was Awesome! We were not the ones to baptize him but nonetheless he was baptized and we have become good friends. It was a pretty cool experience and he is on fire and ready to continue to progress. I love seeing the work of the Lord being carried out in the lives of those around me. Later that day the Oak Grove Elders invited the ZL's and us to help with some service. We all went down to Purvis and helped some people move a lot of stuff out of their mother's house. It was great to be able to help them. It took about 4 hours or so. The guys that we were with were super cool and a lot of fun to work with. That night we had a lesson with one of our investigators and their kids.
Sunday, we had one of our investigators come to church in the Hattiesburg ward for her second time and she really enjoyed it. Then we went to the Branch and it was a really good Sunday with some really good talks and the spirit was extra strong. Then we tried to visit multiple people but had no luck. We then had dinner at our pad and did some studies.
Monday, we went down to Purvis and tracted some apartments where a lot of Hispanics live to see if we could find more Spanish investigators to help strengthen the Branch. We then had dinner and then tried some people and then had a lesson with some investigators. Also, in  honor of Memorial Day we listened to the National Anthem since there was not really anything else we could do, lol.
Tuesday, this morning, we played some basketball and had some pretty intense games and then we came home and did some cleaning. So far it has been a pretty good day and it was also a great week! Until next week!

Love,
Elder Acton