Good morning. Today is Monday the 9th, and this week was very good.
We had a lesson with one of our
investigators. We went to the lesson kind of thinking about what we
wanted to do. We got there and Elder Leota leans over to me, and he's
like, “let's watch the long movie first” – talking about Joseph
Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration. I was like, “yeah, let's
do that, I was thinking about that too.” So we do it and watch the
movie, and she's crying and I'm crying because it's a good movie
(haha). We teach the first lesson to her after that, and the Spirit
was there very strong. She told us later that because we watched the
movie first she wanted to listen to us because she was intimidated a
little at first because of how young we were. She wondered if we had
anything we could offer her. But, she said after the movie she felt
open and ready to listen to us, and it went very well. She hopefully
will be baptized. She's pretty cool (haha) – that was a very good
lesson.
We were also able to get a little bit
of training from President Beesley this week. That was fun. I always
love getting training and things like that.
We've had a really good week. We have
been able to teach a lot of people. A lot of new things are happening
in the ward. We were able to go to dinners with a lot more people
than we were before. Sometimes they either don't have time because
they are working or they feel like they can't provide good enough
food so they send us somewhere to eat or something like that. We are
starting to get to eat with more families, which is good because we
want to talk with them and we want to help strengthen them and get
referrals from that. The work is really starting to grow in this
area. I'm having a great time with Elder Leota (haha). He's fun.
Yeah, that's pretty much everything that happened this week – a
very fun week. Hopefully we have another one like it next week. In
fact I think it is probably even going to be a little bit better
because we have a lot of lessons that will be scheduled. It's very
fun. I love it. I am excited to email today and play some sports and
kind of relax and get ready for the week ahead.
I was able to bear my testimony in
Samoan yesterday because the New Year's Sunday ended up not being a
fast Sunday. I wasn't able to memorize it yet, but I wrote it down on
a card. Let me read it.
Testimony in Samoan, Length 00:01:58
So I said it a little bit slower,
because in Samoan when you say something slower, it puts more
emphasis and feeling into it. It went really well, and people
commented on how good it was. Apparently I was able to make a
difference for some people. They love to hear palagi's (white guys)
speak their language, because it means a lot to them. In Samoan when
you speak the language because of the culture they have like talking
chiefs who will do a lot of negotiations. So when they talk they like
to use proverbs, scriptures and things like that to put into things
they say. So at the beginning [of his testimony in Samoan]
I have a proverb – I don't remember what it is. Then I introduce
myself, and then I begin my testimony. You
can probably tell what I said. “Ekalesia”
is the Church, the Church is true. “Soifua Jesu Kriso mialofa”
that one is I know Jesus Christ lives and loves us – I believe.
“Josefa Somita” is Joseph Smith. I also said I'm thankful for my
family, and I'm thankful to be serving the Lord. I said, “I know
the Book of Mormon is true, and I'm thankful for the Gospel.” No,
no – it's “I know the Gospel blesses families” is the last one.
Then to close in Samoan, just
because of how nice they are (haha), every time after they speak they
say like, “if there is anything wrong I said, forgive me,” like I
know a lot but at the same time I don't know everything. So, “if I
say anything that was wrong, forgive me.” So I said something like
that in the testimony and then in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. So
it was very good. I had the Ward Mission Leader help me with this. So
a lot of people were very impressed by it, and they felt the Spirit
when they listened to the words. Hopefully I will be able to do that
again and start praying in Samoan. I want to start doing that too.
I know
the Church is true (haha). I am thankful for the Gospel, and I know
that Jesus
Christ is our Savior, and I say
that in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Love,
Elder Record
No comments:
Post a Comment