Elder Ingram and I are seeing some amazing miracles. The coolest one is a new family we found. They are amazing! We love them so much. And we are so excited for when they get baptized on the 15th of December. They are La Familia L... The Mom and two youngest kids are the most interested. Mom is a single parent and she is AMAZING! She wants to give her family the foundation that is necessary to stay close and loving even through all the ways that Satan tries to pull her family apart. She told us at the door out of the blue that she is amazed that her family is as close as it is without doing their part to God and that she knows it isn't going to stay that way if she doesn't make some fast changes in her life to get herself and her family more in line with what He wants them to do. She knows that she can find God's firm family foundation in our church because she has seen so many happy families who are Mormons. She is praying and talking with her boss to get work off so she can come to church with her kids and set an example for the rest of her family.
Her Children are also amazing! They love our visits! Always so excited and captivated by our lessons. It is just a blast to teach them! They always want to tell us what they remembered from our last visit and how they are progressing with their home work (commitments to pray to know and memorize certain things that God wants them to know). They are just amazing.
We also started teaching another guy this week who I had visited once a long time ago (like more than 4 months ago) on exchanges. The missionaries had stopped going by because he had no intentions of changing his life. He simply wanted to bible study because it seemed like a good thing to do. And he often tried to convince missionaries why they were wrong on certain aspects of doctrine. He is a pretty young guy (23) and still comes to our soccer activities on Saturdays. A couple Saturdays ago he told us that we should stop by his house and start visiting with him again. The thought crossed my mind, "Oh boy...we are going to have to be super duper purpose driven with this guy. If we don't take control we could get ourselves in the same predicament that the missionaries of the past were in (lots of time and visits dedicated to him with no progression)." Even though I went into the visit already knowing (even on a personal level) the history of this man, I prayed that the Lord would allow my biased opinions to be cleared enough in order to offer this man the best motivation and opportunity to engage himself in living the Plan of Salvation through the ordinance of baptism.
What followed in that visit was amazing to me. In the beginning of the visit we learned from his own mouth that he simply wanted to learn lots about the scriptures because he knows its important to learn in this life. But at the same time, he had no intentions to do much changing because even though he knew it would probably be a good thing, it would be inconvenient to him. I remember thinking, "Well, great… it's time to clearly define our purpose to him and let him exercise his agency as far as if he wants to continue or not." And with that I opened my mouth and asked (this was of course in Spanish), "I'm sure the Elders in the past have talked to you about Baptism and the importance of being baptized again by authority?" He replied, "Yes! They talked a lot about that!" I then continued with, "What is it that you understand about this very important commandment? And why would being baptized, even though it would require some inconvenient changes, be an important thing for you to do in your life?"
It was a rather open ended question with about a hundred different directions that could be taken. I knew that. But I liked that because I knew it would help me understand where he stood as far as his understanding of Baptism and his true desires. I wasn't surprised at all when he showed me that he had a pretty decent grasp on our message and the importance of baptism. But I found it particularly odd that even with his very plentiful knowledge on the importance of being baptized by authority that all he could do was explain all the negative ways that being baptized would effect him. He couldn't stop complaining about all the things he would have to change that "aren't so bad" if he were to get baptized.
When he finished up, I looked at him and smiled as I said, "Well, that is definitely the negative side of getting baptized in Christ's church. Now, why don't you tell me the positive side of getting baptized in Christ's church?" He looked at me kinda funny and said, "Wow! I never thought of that before! Let me think about that one for a second. Nobody has ever asked me anything like that ever!"
When he finally continued after a great deal of thought he told us that the most positive thing he could see happening because of getting baptized would be going on a mission. He then proceeded to tell us why that would be the best experience in the world (even though it would be a huge commitment) and how he would love to have the same experience that we are currently enjoying some day in his life.
The spirit of the entire visit changed in an instant. It was amazing. He self decided that he wants to get baptized and start coming to church full time in January to start the new year. And he wants us to come by until then to help him prepare for that goal he is now working for. Elder Ingram and I are excited to work with him in an effort to inspire and motivate him to not put those changes off 'til the new year. That was a cool experience.
Well, I had a couple other stories I thought I would get time to share, but alas....
I'm out of time!
Love you!
Your Son and Brother,
Elder Ostler
