Week Forty-nine [July 2, 2018]

Hi Everyone! 

This week didn't have a ton of significant things, but it was still good. 

I got to go on two exchanges this week (Wednesday and Thursday) with the Spanish missionaries. The first one was with Elder Haslam in his area. One fun thing was I got to stay in the same apartment that I lived in when I was in Templeton. It was also fun getting to know Elder Haslam better since we've served around each other a bit. One cool blessing we saw was as we were going by some Spanish people in our area we met one of the people who we've been trying to get in contact with since I first got here! His name is Eric, and we have an appointment with him later this evening. We also talked with one guy who basically tried to argue with us that we are going to hell because we believe in a works based salvation (I explained that we don't but he didn't listen). We also taught a part-member family that I remember from my time in Templeton. 

The next exchange was with Elder 'Anitony in our area. We were super busy the whole day and taught three lessons. We gave Fred a blessing to help him overcome his addiction. It was a really powerful experience and the Spirit was really strong. We read from Ether 12 afterwords and had a discussion on faith. Our next lesson was with Ginny who  has been meeting with missionaries off and on for a while. We were able to teach the plan of salvation with an emphasis on our life on earth to help her understand why baptism is essential. Our final lesson was with Brooke and Byron. We read from Ether 12 again and had a really good talk and what faith means to them. At the end we sang a hymn with them which really brought in the Spirit. Both of the exchanges were great experiences and I learned a lot from them. 

The rest of the week was pretty basic (stopping by people here and there). We were able to get to know some of the people who are interested a bit better. By the way, they updated Preach My Gospel and instead of calling people investigators and potential investigators they are now referred to as people being taught and people who are interested. There are a few other small changes here and there, but I haven't had the chance to look through everything yet. 

Hope everyone has a fantastic 4th of July!

Until next week, 

Elder Jason Riches