Aug 31

Hey everybody! This week was quite hectic, we were finally graced with
the presence of our mission president, President Egbert, and had an
awesome zone conference! What made it even cooler was that Elder
Martinez of the 70 was also there! I was super excited to hear him
teach and he said some really cool stuff. One of the things he said
that I liked the best was that we should never teach the same lesson
twice. Every person is different and needs different things at
different times in their life and that means that the spirit needs to
teach them a different lesson every time. Sometimes I get in the habit
with new investigators where I just teach what's in the book and I
feel like it could really help my teaching by listening to the spirit
for clues about what they need to hear. We don't have to know them to
receive that inspiration, if we're paying attention and listening to
what they have to say, along with obeying promptings we receive from
the spirit, we can ask the right questions at the right times and
teach what's really on the minds of those we find. In other news, I
was able to attend the baptism of a man named 'r' who I taught just a
number of weeks ago, the man is huge but inside just a total teddy
bear. In the picture I'll attach, there's a lady named Sister 'K,'
who actually found him. 'R' was actually debating on robbing sister
'k' one night, but upon being confronted by sister 'k' on what
he was doing, he broke down and began to cry, asking her to forgive
him! She did, but only on the condition he came to church the next
week. That was where we came in and immediately began to give him the
lessons, he was obviously prepared and we brought sister 'K' to
every lesson. Unfortunately, however, he ended up moving! His home
situation was not very good and he found a better place in another
elder's area. But he was still super excited to see us again and I
know he's going to make a strong member!! We had one of the Assistants
with us on exchanges as well, his name was Elder Rowley, and despite
not speaking dutch, he was still able to teach us a lot in our lessons
and I really enjoyed having him with us for the day! It was a great
week overall and has really motivated me to keep doing my best, I know
I've seen the blessings of the Lord in this work and that he himself
guides and directs it. I hope you all have a great week and I'll talk
to you all again soon! Until then.
Elder Carpenter