Week 80 Mini Miracles

Monday March 11, 2019

Dear Mom,

This week has been full of little miracles. Miracles involving food and also miracles regarding people to teach.
Monday was a good P-day with the District. We went to TopGolf and spent some time hitting golf balls. the Gonzalez Elders know the guy that owns it and he let us go for free. That night Elder Parker and I went to visit people down in Gonzalez. We were able to talk to a decent about of people in a trailer park as we tracted but we didn't have any crazy success. We tried to visit a former investigator in another trailer park and at the end f it there was a dirt road into the woods. It was dark, cold, and rainy but we decided to follow it briefly. It soon turned into a mud bog so we turned around. On the way back our light rested on a very spooky looking building in the woods with graffiti and creepy stuff on it. Mini Miracle #1; nothing bad happened, lol.
Tuesday after studies and lunch we did our weekly planning. We got some really good plans in for some of the people we are teaching. That evening we went up into the northern part of our area and contacted former investigators up there. We tracted a little bit and talked to some people that said we could come back but we didn't have any lessons. We met some people outside cooking some Chicharron. They had met missionaries before and came to church a few times. They gave us a little bit of the Chicharron and we set a time to come back. We then went to a Hispanic store called Ideal to do some store contacting. While there we checked out their food cause we were hungry but it was a little expensive, we decided against it. Then while standing back a bit just looking, a guy asks us why we are not getting anything to eat. We told him it was a bit too expensive and he told us he would pay for us. He was a super cool guy who was a member of the Catholic church. He had us get a big plate of food and bought us a nice meal and an horchata to drink. He didn't want to hear a message and said he wasn't interested but he has talked with missionaries before and wanted to do something nice for us because he respects us. Mini Miracle #2; A nice guy blessin us with food :) We ate our dinner and then we drove to the hospital and met the Sisters there so we could give a lady a blessing.
Wednesday we had District Council. That morning we got a call from Brother Foster, the President of the Elder's Quorum in Lafayette and also the Ward Mission Leader. He asked if we could help a lady move into an apartment because no one in the ward was available. After our District council our whole District drove up and we helped him and the Lafayette Bishop, Bishop Nelson, move all this lady's stuff into her apartment. It was awesome to see them again and then afterward they took our whole district to lunch at P.F. Changs, an expensive Oriental Restaurant. The food was great! I got Bibimbpa which I ejnoyed very much. Mini Miracle #3; Our whole District getting treated to expensive oriental food. We then came back to the apartment and did our studies. That evening we spent contacting former investigators and had some lessons with people we had met the week before. There was one lady we had met who had previously said we could come by the next week and she let us in for a lesson. This time instead of teaching the restoration or plan of salvation or anything like that, we showed her Family History and talked about what it is. It is a very different and weird feeling approach and almost feels like you aren't actually teaching them like you should be, but that is because it is a little bit more of a long term better result than a short term not as high probability result. She is kind of our guinea pig for our Family History efforts. We then drove to another area/apartment complex where we are teaching people and we had a few really good lessons there. Mini Miracle #4; a night full of lessons.
Thursday we went to the Church and learned from the Stake Family History Consultants how to do more of Family History and how to help other people do theirs. It was cool to learn how to do some of that stuff and at the same time do some work on our own lines. Mini Miracle #5; Family History Work. That evening we spent our time contacting people in the south part of our area and then we drove out to give a less active member a Come Follow Me book. We didn't have hardly any success and it was a pretty bleh night.
Friday we had to make a quick emergency run to Walmart because we were scrubs and with poor planning forgot to go to the store on P-day. . . We then stopped at the Church and I started preparing my talk for Sunday. We then came home and I did a little more preparation. We then received a call from a guy that Elder Parker had met 3 months ago and briefly talked to and gave a card. The guy said he wanted us to come over and teach him. Mini Miracle #6 (Part A); someone actually calling our number from the cards we give out and requesting a visit from us.We did the rest of our studies and ate dinner, because our dinner fell through, and then we visited people in the north part of our area. We had little success that night.
Saturday we walked over to a member of the English ward's apartment in our complex and he trained us in how to take care of his dog while he is gone for a week. We then came back for studies and lunch. We then drove out to Gonzalez for a lesson and we had a YSA sister who is a return missionary meet us there to teach with us and fellowship the family. We had a really good lesson on prayer and they are really solid people. Mini Miracle #7; an awesome member-present lesson with a great family. We then stayed in Gonzalez and drove to some potential investigators we felt we should contact and found some new areas where we can find more Hispanics to teach. We then headed back to the south end of Baton Rouge and contacted people over there. We then came home a little early and I worked on my talk more. And admittedly I ended up spending most of the night on it too. . .I was up til 3:16 working on it. . .and since it was daylight savings time it was totally like 4:16. . .lets just say my battery was a little low on Sunday, lol.
Sunday went well even though I was a bit tired. Mini Miracle #8; I was not near as tired as I shoulda been. My talk ended up going really well even though I felt it wasn't going to. I was able to speak the language very well as I read my talk. Mini Miracle #9; the Gift of Tongues. After church we came home and did studies and again admittedly during our comp study, while laying on the couch, we joked about studying a legos dream and our nap ended up taking up our whole study. . .Elder Parker was tired too because he had stayed up with me until about 12:00. We then ate dinner and went out to make some visits for the night. We ended up meeting a number of cool people and having some great conversations/lessons with them. We then had a super awesome convo/mini lesson with the guy that had called and requested a visit from us. Mini Miracle #6(part B); the guy that called was super solid!!! We then ended the night by taking dramatic pics in front of the most lit Chinese buffet sign ever!
It was a great week and I look forward to another great one!

Love,
Elder Acton