Week 99: In which Roxana sets a goal, I get a haircut, and we eat s'mores

3
(written 16 April 2018)

Hello, everyone!

This has been a hallmark week. By far the most exciting thing has been that Roxana agreed to work towards baptism on May 5th! We were on her doorstep, reviewing the Plan of Salvation, and we had felt that morning like we needed to invite her to work towards a specific date for baptism. Well, she said yes! We gave her a copy of The Lord Jesus Christ, a beautiful artistic rendition of the Savior, and we wrote May 5th on the back (in pencil, so she understood it was flexible if needed). 

Roxana's doing really well. We now just have to frantically find a solution to her biggest obstacle: before she can live one of the commandments, she has to work, but she can't work because she needs to give her son rides every day. That's a challenge, but we're trying to find people who can give him rides so she can work and figure it all out for good. Honestly, there is nothing else standing in her way!

Monday, we had a Family Home Evening with the Morenos, a family who lives in our area. They are amazing! We roasted marshmallows and made s'mores. Delicious! We then had a great lesson later that evening with Jackie, a relatively recent convert to the Gospel. We talked about the Doctrine of Christ and what she can do to figure out how to come back to church more regularly and re-commit to the Gospel.

We've also been finding several promising new investigators to work with. We're extremely excited, for example, to now be working with Mario, who lives with Jackie. He is so amazing! He's really nice, and also very interested in learning more. We've also been working with another lady, Lorena, so we're very excited to see where that goes.

We have been trying to prepare for Zone Conference this Friday, which is a big deal. We have car inspections, but that is also the day we are receiving our new smartphones! It's seriously going to change so much about how we do things. Everything we do is going to be so much more efficient! To prepare, we had a lot of things to do today. First of all, we did a deep-clean of our car. We also got haircuts. It has been a seriously crazy day.

This next week is going to be crazy! Love you all!

Elder Adams

Questions from Editor Mom

Are you still happy and working hard? - Yes! Things have just been getting better and better!

How can we help you this week? - I'm not entirely sure, honestly. There's not a lot more to do. I just need to stop procrastinating sending things home to prepare for the often grueling packing process.

How's everything with your companion? - Elder Kopp and I are doing really well! We've been getting along just magically, and he and I have been seeing a lot more happen here lately! It's really exciting.

How's your area? Are you staying safe? - Yes, I'm staying safe. Our area is honestly not even that bad, it just includes parts that are bad for Moses Lake. I have been in MUCH worse areas. Also, we try very hard to be careful. I figure that if we honestly do our best to stay safe, God will take care of the rest.

Our area has really started to do very well, though! Roxana is getting very, very, close to being ready for baptism! It's really exciting. We're just working on sorting out a few final things before we're pretty much ready.

Are you driving safely and feeling confident about that? - Yes, I feel like I'm used to driving again, and I'm feeling pretty confident with my abilities to not get pancaked.

Have you been taking lots of pictures? - Not this last week, not as much. Sorry. :-/ I carry my camera everywhere, it's just that I really find it hard to know when I should take a picture. There are not a lot of opportunities, especially since I can't take any while actually doing missionary work. :-/

Love you!

Elder Ben Adams

Pictures

 

Each missionary was asked something about their goals, and Ben wrote:
Elder Adams:  I want to be more meek in every encounter, especially taking advice.  I want to never miss a chance to serve those around me and truly minister to them.