June 8, 2015: " iPads, Teaching and Priesthood"

So this week was interesting to say the least! We received our iPads but they're super awkward to email on so we came to the FHC to email. I'll try to send some videos today as well of us or some pictures. It's really nice these days. We can look at our emails every time we get connected to the internet we just can't respond. So if you guys email me during the week I can see them and see how all of yall are doing! Overall I'm still not sure how I feel about the iPads. They're really nice for teaching, but nothing is in Spanish for us.... So basically we have to use some weird methods to get them used in our teaching. But we do get the Gospel Library app so our studies are going to get way crazy!!! I just got a loaner since I'm going home in two months.

 

We actually had some amazing teaching appointments this past week! At the end of the week we have 6 progressing investigators. We invite everyone to be baptized on the first lesson and we say straight up that this is the only true and living church that has authority to perform baptisms. We're getting super confident and we're actually giving the spirit things to testify about during our lessons. Surprisingly enough, people react pretty well to it actually! We have a mother and daughter-in-law who accepted a baptsimal date for the 4th of July. We think it'll be a fitting celebration of America's birth. Spiritual birthings? yes? No? I think yes. 

We've had some good chances to exercise our priesthood this past week as well. So on Sunday we had a lesson in Priesthood about the need to be worthy to exercise priesthood in a moments notice. Then that night we got home and were walking around our complex trying to go see an investigator. We saw these two black girls and one of them just collapsed, like hardcore collapse. We ran over to go help her and she got up, walked a few steps and then collapsed again. Then we really got concerned and then she finally collapsed a third time. All the other black mammas were coming over to help her and then an ambulance was called to come see her. My comp and I looked at each other and I asked, "Priesthood?" and he looked at me and said, "Priesthood". We walked forward and said that we were ministers of Jesus Christ and offered to give her a blessing. She accepted and so we gave this 16ish year old girl a blessing in the middle of this crowd of people in the middle of our apartment complex hahaha it was crazy! But the best part was that the spirit was so strong as I was giving the blessing. And afterwords a woman came up to us and asked if she could learn more about what we believed and so we're going to refer her to the Sisters that live in our complex! 

Guys, I know this past week was hard. But iIhad a wonderful thought this week as we were teaching the Plan of Salvation. In the pre-earth life we knew of our lives here on earth. We knew of the struggles and trials we would face. And despite all that. We still came. We still knew of the joy that would be able to have by having families. We knew that the joy would outweigh the sorrow and pain. It gave me so much comfort. "Adam fell that man might be, and men are that they MIGHT have joy". Our joy is dependent upon on how we use our agency and how we react to our situations. I love all of you. I know we are an eternal family. Man, we really must be righteous if we're facing this much opposition haha. 

Love, 

Elder Rodabough