Dear Folks,
The weather here has been pretty hot, the smoke has lightened up a bit so the sun gets through a lot more. They say the fire should be contained within the next couple weeks and then out a little after that. I have not returned the shoes yet, I haven't had the time or a ride. The ward is getting kinda sick of being our chauffeurs, haha, so it's getting harder to get around.
Transfers are later today and I'm still staying here. Elder Bm is headed out to Carson City and my new companion is going to be Elder Hh.
This week went pretty well. Sorry my letter last week wasn't very long, the only time we could have gotten a ride back home cut our email time in half. We have been staying pretty busy but the work is kinda slowing down. We did finally get the Si's to come to Church after weeks of trying and they had a really good experience which was great. They also agreed to take the lessons again and to let us teach their kids, which are between the ages of 2 and 11 and the older two have not been baptized yet.
Cs is not happy with the Jewish religion still but he is still too afraid of his sister. Hopefully we can start working with him again, he still wants to get baptized but Sy just wont let go.
We haven't seen Dl at all this week, he has been at school and out most of the day. However, Me, another guy we are teaching, is awesome. We committed him to baptism and he accepted. He felt that God placed us in his path just has he moved to Reno to start a new life, he used to be involved in a lot of drugs and stuff in the past. Unfortunately, he lives in the Cold Springs Ward so we will have to turn him over to the Cold Springs Elders which kinda sucks, he's a really cool kid.
A couple weeks ago we ran into this girl named Mn on the street that we found out was a returned missionary that left the church. She didn't really elaborate on why but she invited us over to visit her and her boyfriend Chad, who also used to be a member but started reading anti-Mormon stuff at 16 and then became an atheist. We went over last Friday for dinner and ended up getting on the topic of why she had left after serving a mission. It's hard to describe the feeling we felt when she shared her story, it was like pure sadness, I've never felt anything like and I really don't want to feel it again, it was almost like a taste of what I'm sure Heavenly Father felt about it. Basically, she came to a point where she said she had started to have big problems with the church and that even though she prayed and prayed she didn't get an answer. What we feel happened based on previous information we had heard is that she started living a lifestyle that was not conducive to the spirit or receiving any sort of inspiration from it and that her boyfriend that she met shortly after returning from her mission has had a big effect on her opinions and perceptions, especially when it comes to the nature of God and receiving answers to prayer. The depression and the hurt and the confusion in her voice as she shared the story was unmistakable as well as her desire for us to help her, she is still very open to the gospel and the spirit that was there when we had the discussion was very strong. She said if we ever stopped by that we should have a lesson prepared because, according to her, she loves having lessons but I think she really wants us to talk her out of her decision. When we went home we reflected on how we had even come to meet her because we remembered it was unusual. What happened was we visited Ts but we wasn't home so we started walking back the other way and came to McDonald's. We both thought it was a good idea to go inside and get a drink of water, something we have never done and haven't felt like doing since. We sat by a window and saw her walk from her apartment to the street, then for some reason she walked back to her apartment and then at the same time we left McDonald's she walked past us back to the street just in time for us to run into her. I think it happened for a reason, we are pretty hopeful for her. he experience also made me realize how important the little things are like daily scripture study, church attendance, and prayer. Everyone seems to think as long as they aren't breaking big commandments they are fine but it's the little things that add up to it. No normal person goes from having a good job one day to robbing a bank, there are a little of little steps in between that lead to that point. It was a very eye opening experience for me, there are a lot of things I want to do from now on when I get home.
Sm is still awesome, she is probably our favorite investigator. She is a very outgoing person and is easy to get along with. She has some things to overcome but she is very perceptive to the spirit. Two weeks ago we had a lesson with her and this Baptist guy named De came up and started trying to argue with us, saying that according to 2 Corinthians 11, Joseph Smith saw the devil because the devil can impersonate an angel. The chapter is actually about priest craft and how Paul has never been paid or has been a burden on the people, but he missed that point despite the fact that his pastor is probably paid. He also talked about how Revelations says there can be no more scriptures, even though Deuteronomy chapter 4 says the same thing, either meaning that the whole Bible is false scripture or it is only referring to that particular book in the Bible. We, of course, wont argue back but Sam was ticked and told him to go. We started talking about prayer and how the Spirit talks to us and she said she feels like that when we talk to her but when De started talking the Spirit left immediately. We also had a lesson with her last week and the same thing happened but with a different guy. He said he's read the Book of Mormon and studied our religion because his dad is a Baptist Preacher in Sparks and told all of his kids to research other religions to learn how to bash them basically. He then proceeded to say the biggest issue he had was that Christ appeared to John Smith (he actually said John Smith and that John Smith found the Seven Seals of the Golden Plates, whatever that was, we aren't quite sure, it sounds like an Indiana Jones movie) and that Christ said on the cross that he wouldn't return until the second coming (false). Bm and I looked at each other and both thought, wasn't he resurrected and then appeared to a bunch of people 3 days later? And didn't he also appear to Paul on the road to Damascus? Sm recognizes that in order to receive any answer you have to go straight to the source and pray about it as well as read the Book of Mormon. We are pretty excited for her but we wont get to see her for the next few weeks because she will be busy with the Stead Air Races, which we might get to go see.
Yesterday for P-Day we went to the Rib Cook-off which was pretty fun. We both ate a full rack of ribs which were delicious and spent a couple of hours walking around and looking at all the stuff they had there. It's almost like the State Fair but it's not as big.
Well, that's all for now, I hope you all have a great week!
