So earlier this week me and Elder Harkness had our first lesson last Tuesday with Frederico and his stepfather Hermano Castro. It went pretty well. We talked about the Restoration and after I talked about the BofM and Priesthood Authority I shared 2 Nephi 31:4-5 or maybe it was chapter 30 but I then asked him if he would follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized to which he said yes! Me and Elder Harkness are very excited for him. We had another lesson with him on Thursday and answered any of his questions and shared with him a message about Sabbath Day and church attendance. Turns out he read the whole introduction to the BofM and also the testimonies of the witnesses and Joseph Smith. He also read through the pamphlets and so we gave him the pamphlet on Plan of Salvation. We went to his home a third time on Friday but only his stepfather was there because Frederico had to work. We talked with Hermano Castro for about an hour. Turns out Frederico was in prison for drug problems and theft and got out of prison a year ago. He took bible classes during his time in prison and really wants to change his life around. He doesnt do drugs anymore and is really wanting to have God more in his life. We also found out a lot more about Hermano Castro. Turns out he was the Ward Mission leader for a long time and during his time as Ward Mission leader he worked a lot with less actives and reactivating them. Apparently he had a very efficient plan and got a ton of people going back to church. He also shared a ton of stories with us about him and working with the missionaries. We found out why he is less active now but turns out he isnt a less active but he was actually excommunicated. He was serving as a counselor to the bishop and they always got into arguments over priesthood authority and I guess one thing led to another. He has however expressed to us many times how he knows that we didnt find him by coincidence which we also agree with. He also told us that he wants us to help him because right now he isnt legally married to his current wife and because he is excommunicated he has to get baptized again. I know he wants to change though and he is the biggest help during our lessons with Frederico. Also on Sunday Frederico came to church and we didnt even tell him cause its not a rule but he decided to shave that morning which just shows us that he truly cares about all of this. He could only stay the first two hours but thankfully the First Presidency just changed the rule about investigator church attendance which now says investigators only have to come for the first hour of church for 3 times before getting baptized. Really glad it was this week. Anyway please keep those two in your prayers and also Fredericos niece because we are going to start teaching her also this week.
One last thing that was really cool this week. So after teaching Frederico for the first time on Tuesday me and E. Harkness decided to go find a reference given to us by the Hermanas. We couldnt find the street so we stopped in a store to ask for directions. As E Harkness was asking the owner for some directions a woman approached me and asked if she could talk to me outside. I went with her and she explained to me that she had a son with drug problems and she wanted our help in order to help her son turn his life around. She asked me a question after and I cant remember what she said but I didnt know how to respond so I grabbed E Harkness and they talked for a little bit and we then followed her down the street to her house. She said her son wasnt home but asked us to come back tomorrow to talk with him. We asked her if she had met with missionaries from our church before which she said she had. She said she took the lessons but was never baptized. We asked her if she would want to take the lessons again and be baptized which she then said that she would want to be baptized. We came back the next day and met with her son and shared a short message with him and asked him to read the pamphlet and go to church. Ok so its a long story but his mom was moving into her sons house and the moving company came Sunday morning so neither of those two came to church but we will try to get them to go next week. Keep them in your prayers too.
Anyway so we had a very busy week and there are a couple of other investigators that I couldnt talk about because I am short on time but one of them also came to church on Sunday and shes had the lessons and can probably be baptized within the next week or two because she has also been attending church for the past couple weeks. Thats another long story but she has been attending a different ward so we didnt find out about her til this week.
Ok so it was a really great week and please pray for our invesigators. We are going to try to get baptisimal dates for all of them and are hoping to continue to find investigators like these ones. Thank you all for the support and I will talk to you all next week! Love you all!
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