Monday, July 12, 2010

Ocala, FL Letter #21 July 12 , 2010

Well another week that has gone by all too fast,
This upcoming week we have a zone conference, with the new president. I am told it will be 5 hours long! (Holy cow big, big change from the 3 hour zone conferences), also from what I hear President Barry will be leaving Elder's in area's longer. Something he mentioned to the Zone Leaders was that 9 months in an area will be common… so my next area could very well be my last... how crazy is that?? Also coming up soon is Leadership Training meeting, in these meetings President will give the leaders in the Jacksonville mission in depth trainings, (all Zone Leaders and District Leaders and Trainers will be going to it) and it will take about 3 days! Kinda long, but I will get the chance to hang with my old companion Tall Porter! So that will be awesome!!

As for the work, this week it was really good. We have 4 dates this week set up for the 24th (I hope and pray they will go through...) we got a man named Karl who lives as a roommate at a member’s house; he is a swell guy. We had a really amazing spiritual lesson with him this week, and were able to talk to him about what he wants out of life. We tied it all into the gospel and set him on a track to be baptized on the 24th of July. He has already given up smoking and is more than willing to live the law of chastity. He wants to be a great Dad for his future kids! Really, a cool guy. I hope he holds strong until his baptismal date. He also came to church this week; however, he could only stay for the first hour because he had work. But he said he really enjoyed it, so that is a good sign.

Another new investigator we had this week was Emilao. He is a 16-year-old kid with whom we found tracting last week. We had the first lesson with him already. He said it has been awhile since he went to church and he knew he needed to come back. We taught him the lesson and then gave him a Book of Mormon, and brought him to church this Sunday. He said he really enjoyed it as well, and he loves the young men! They were a really great with him and he enjoyed the fellowshipping opportunity. He wants to come to church this next week! He is also planning on getting baptized on the 24th as well!! I really pray all of these people are baptized, because I really want Elder Day to see some miracles his first transfer out. Also, I want these people to find the peace the Gospel can bring into their lives.

The other two dates for the 24th are Michael and Katlin. We set a date with them, but I am not sure if they are quite ready for it. Just seeing them and talking to them, Katlin is now having second thoughts about getting married and they both have not quit smoking yet so... I don't know- we might have to drop them this week..., which is sad, but it might have to be done.

Well that’s all the information I have now. So I think that’s all. I got g-ma's package it was really neat! I liked it a lot. I think I would have to say one of the things I liked the best in her package was the lovely pictures of Bryce Canyon and other places in Utah. Yep that was the best! Florida is nothing like Utah.

I did get the letter talking about President Barry's farewell, so that was good. And Sister Berry remembers meeting mom at the farewell. When she saw me she said, “You know I think I met your mother and little sister at our farewell.” And I said, “Yeah that would be my mom” Ha-ha!! But hey, I gotta go there are other missionaries here that have to e-mail their families now; so I gotta get running.

Sorry I can't stay on long to write to everyone, I am at a family history library in Palatka and I took the first part of my computer time writing my weekly letter to the President. I might write you a letter later, but for sure, I will “talk” to you next week in an e-mail.
Well I love you guys, take care of each other.

Love,
The Elder who is praying for 4 baptism dates…Blair!!

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