Cubs Win, Cubs Win!

On Monday, October 24, 2016 1:48 PM, Dustin Thelander <dustin.thelander@myldsmail.net> wrote:

I have to begin by saying, Go Cubs!!!!! So exciting to hear about it all. After our pday last week, we headed to Wood Grill, a local buffet, and ate a good amount of food. Then the next day we get a call from the family that signed up for dinner, and they wanted to feed us lunch...at Wood Grill. We ate at that place twice in less than 24 hours. Glad to say that my Samoan eating strategies were in full effect (serve yourself, spread food around your plate, eat very slowly so no one puts more on your plate) and I got away without being force fed too much :). The rest of that day was really awesome. We saw Sister Enos and her sister Penny and taught them the restoration lesson. Penny is older and is confined mostly to a bed, but she wants to go to the temple, so she is taking the lessons to learn more. She is a member of our church, but her knowledge isn't all that great. I love her passion for it, and it just proves to me that no one is too old to change. The Holy Ghost can have an impact on us at any point in our lives, and we can be led to the truth. We also saw Brother Roe, and we had a great lesson. He came to church for the first time in forever, and he just loved it. Please keep him in your prayers, his foot has gone downhill again. Being a diabetic, it is really hard for that darn foot to heal. In the evening, we saw our man Mike, and he was in better spirits, but he is still lacking the motivation to get moving to get himself out of his situation.

On Wednesday, we did our morning schedule, and then went out to North Adelanto. We met the Spanish speaking elders up there to make a pupusa stop (it's a corn tortilla thing). After we ate, we went to pay, and the two working there are some younger Latino girls we got to talking to. The conversation began as asking us why we were dressed the way we are, and it then went into how much the Gospel of Jesus Christ can bless individuals and families. I think we made an impact on their lives. We will see them again, the food was really good, so we have a couple of great reasons to go back. Don't ever count out the little hole in the wall places. We found, after that, two new investigators named Sandy and Paul. They are an engaged couple, and we had a great restoration lesson with them. They can accept what we teach, and they even both voiced they want to stop their addictions. Smoking and a bit of drinking plague them from time to time. Here comes a bit of a funny story. You all remember my previous companion Elder Honeycutt right? At the beginning of his mission, he served in this Samoan ward, and we still hear a lot about him. Mostly crazy stories- haha. There is a family, the Rosales, that we visit and they have a 7 year old daughter, Camille. To this day, she is literally scared to death of missionaries. Why? Because of Elder Honeycutt's bald head and his crazier personality. She actually runs into her mother's room and locks the door when we are around. But, this last visit she got really bored in the room, and she opened the door and spoke. First time I had heard her voice, still no sighting yet though. Then she made a bad step and lost her balance, and I caught a glimpse of her hand and half her face. Miracle. Then the family came to church, and we got to see all of her. Later in the evening we finally saw Shanay again, and for this lesson she brought her sister, Sierra, to hear the lesson as well. We taught the Plan of Salvation and were able to answer a couple of their questions.

Thursday was not quite as filled, but we had three good lessons on the day. The highlight was with Annette and her mom. We shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ lesson, and it went quite well. This was the first time we had taught Annette's mom, Rose. Oh, glad to report that Annette is no longer mentally crazy. She had an off spell after some poor decisions in Vegas, and then she was put on some medication they thought she needed. She stopped use of them, and now is totally fine, a totally different person than our first visits. Glad also to report she remembers what we taught, and now wants to even dive deeper. We will have to reset our baptismal date, but that is fine seeing as they want to research and learn more before making a commitment.

Friday was a bit annoying. We got called on to do some service for a guy we helped out last week as well. We dug a ton of holes in the tough desert landscape so he could plant rose bushes and a couple of trees. That would have been fine if it was more organized. But, it was not, and we were there from 9am to 3, yes, 3 pm. That being said, we still got our weekly planning done, and saw the Porter family. We hadn't been able to see them yet because they moved, and we didn't know where they went. But, we found them, and there is good potential there. They are a part member family, the wife being a member, the husband not.

Saturday I spent the day with Elder Welch of my district in my area. We saw Sandy and Paul again and had a great lesson. Before that we were able to give blood!!! So, we participated in our Stake blood drive, and about 18 missionaries were able to donate. Later in the day we met a Brother Humberstone. He lives in Phelan city boundaries and had a good sized property. He has 5 horses and a cool little camp ground the scouts use on occasion. We got to help feed the horses which was pretty cool (a photo is below).

Sunday was the primary program at the church which brought out a lot of families that don't usually come. It was great to see them all. The kids did a great job and did the whole program in the Samoan language.

Scripture of the week is from the book of Alma, chapter 38, verse 8, "And it came to pass that I was three days and three nights in the most bitter pain and anguish of soul; and never, until I did cry out unto the Lord Jesus Christ for mercy, did I receive a remission of my sins. But behold, I did cry unto him and I did find peace to my soul."

Love you all so, so much,

Elder Thelander