Email sent October 14, 2013: This past week has probably been one of the most blessed weeks in my life and my mission

(As always the names of investigators and ward members have been removed for their privacy)

Dear Family,

I dislike that the only day I can write is on Mondays. SO MANY THINGS HAPPEN and I want to write you and tell you the second they happen.  This past week has probably been one of the most blessed weeks in my life and my mission.

MONDAY:
We had a Noche De Lugar, Family Home Evening, with a family in the ward. Hermano S is an awesome guy and is so strong in the spirit and is just down right hilarious.

TUESDAY:

We had a Zone Meeting.  Elder Galvez and I provided training on "Casting Out Our Nets" from Luke Chapter 5. We discussed about how we need to talk to everyone--no matter what  and that by talking to people we will accomplish our goals.

We also met a guy named L, who lives with V, a 14 year old girl who's the only member in her family.  We found out that he was actually baptized when he was 12 in Mexico, but hasn't been active since he was 13.  We gave him a Book of Mormon and invited him to church.

WEDNESDAY:

We met a crazy guy when we were out contacting. He tried to explain to us that the American continent didn't exist before Christ and that his purpose was to create it for us to inhabit. Hahahah--it was a pretty funny moment for us and Elder Galvez almost started laughing when he heard it.

We also taught a kid named P. He's a 17 year old kid who's so nice and loving to his family. He just has a super hard time focusing and staying on topic.  Most of the time he just asks us questions and then we answer them.  Sadly though we can't even understand his questions, despite the fact that he speaks English!

THURSDAY:

We taught the M family again and we followed up on our challenge to A to be obedient to her mom for two weeks. She'd been.....somewhat…. (hahaha) and her mother had more than enough to tell us of her doings.  My favorite part of the lesson was when A was talking about how much her mother smothers her and is super controlling and then argued with her mom for a minute.  R said, "Oh Dios, Paciencia." which means “Oh God, patience”. I honestly just burst out laughing and R joined right in with me. A didn't think it was that funny, but we sure did. What was sad was the fact that R hadn't read and hadn't prayed. She was so closed to us and the Gospel and she has a hard time accepting the message.

We also taught S about the Gospel of Jesus Christ the third lesson and she accepted everything about it and still wants to be baptized on the 26th of this month. We're doing everything we can to keep her on track and she's doing great. What was interesting about S is that she had read. She'd read and prayed about everything we've been teaching her. That's been the most amazing thing about my mission--seeing the difference between people who have and those that haven't read. You can just see it in their eyes and faces. They have a greater light and love for the world.  They are more willing to talk to us and are so much happier.

FRIDAY:

We taught P again and found out that he's had an on and off again problem with smoking. Since he's been hanging out with a girl named C, who is actually the person we were talking to when we met P, he's been smoking again. His mother is very concerned for him. The mother actually has a sister who's a member out in Utah. If P doesn't go back to school she says she's going to send him out to Utah. This may actually be a blessing and he can be baptized out there if he isn't here. He says he loves reading the Book of Mormon, but he doesn't actually do it.....

Later that day we had a missionary experience you only hear about and you hope you have, but rarely happens. So V, throughout the week when we saw her we kept inviting her to introduce the Book of Mormon to her mom and ask her to read. When we were with P on Wednesday she texted us and said that her mom had been reading and couldn't stop. We were super excited, but were honestly a little skeptical.

We went over and the first words V's mom said to us was "Sit". We sat down with her husband/boyfriend of 13 years who's very Catholic and we started talking. She then pulled out her Book of Mormon and started teaching her husband from it. She'd read 1 Nephi and half of 2nd Nephi in two days and knew that the book was true--all on her own. She'd loved the book and knew that her Catholic faith wasn't the church of God and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is. It was so cool.  Her husband/boyfriend isn't too happy about it. She says she wants to be baptized, but she can't move out of her apartment because she can't get a job due to her illegal status. She wants to wait two years until V can work and support the family.  We hope that we can convince her and help her realize that if she has enough faith that the Lord will prepare a way for her.

SATURDAY:

We had the opportunity to attend the baptism of the daughter of the second counselor in the Bishopric. It was so amazing to see her be baptized. Familia M attended and Y was super touched by the video they showed about family and how the gospel can bless it.

SUNDAY:
We had 10 investigators at church!!!!!  HOLY WOW IT WAS AWESOME!!!! Familia M, S and her son who hasn't listened to us at all but seemed interested after church and a woman named F who's been hard to get ahold of. Her friends that were staying with her for the weekend are members and brought her and helped us teach her the gospel as well.

Know that I’m praying for you guys every day night and in the middle of the day whenever I have time. For all of you, thank you for your letters and love and I hope that you all are safe and filled with the spirit.

Love,

Elder Rodabough, the second.