"The Sabbath Day is one of the best days of the week."

Dear family:

 The ingrown hair is finally gone and the inflammation that it left behind has decreased, which has brought me a lot of relief and has been a great reason to rejoice. Yes, any kind of medical assistance or medication that we need is well taken care of, seeing that all the missionaries have a tendency to fall sick quite often.

I didn't buy the guitar, rather, it had been bought and then handed down to me by a missionary named Elder Jorgenson who had returned home with Elder Bailey. It has been wonderful having a guitar and it has well prepared me for my return home.

 Okay, well, I hope that Sarah is still doing alright and that the hole in her heart hasn't been causing her any kind of physical pain or too much emotional grief for her impeding surgery. Please let her know that I'll be praying again for her all throughout the upcoming week.

 I'm happy to hear that you had the opportunity to go to Adam's Canyon for a family night activity. If there are two things that I sincerely miss, it's family night (with my own family) and hiking (on a mountain side rather than a horizontal, dirt and sand covered flat every day). Family home evening is one of the best parts of the week for its a great means by which the family can become more united, have fun and experience great joy, create and share many great and wonderful memories, and develop more of and reinforce one another's testimony and faith. Never take family home evening for granted!! I miss it so much and it has helped me to draw myself closer to each one of you.

 Thank you for giving me some feedback about the new bishopric!! Wow, that's super exciting!! I'm super glad to hear about that and I'm very satisfied with the new bishopric that has been called and set in place. To think, yet another one of my young men's leaders who has played a key role in my conversion to the Church has been called to the bishopric. I'll have to make sure to give Bishop Hansen a hard time for that once I get back!! 

 Ah, the routine. I know it well. Perhaps not to the extent that you do, but I've an idea of it nonetheless. It's certainly difficult to get used to, but there where incentive, purpose, diligence and determination are found, the fruits thereof consist of happiness, satisfaction and true joy, no matter how tired we may be as a result. However, that is why we are given the Sabbath Day! A day during which we may rest from our day-to-day labors and focus ourselves on the Savior and our spiritual needs. However, what are the things that we can do during the Sabbath Day to increase or strengthen our faith? Thanks to lds.org, we can find the answer to said question. Here's something that I found today as I was browsing through the Church's online Library that I felt inspired to share with you: https://www.lds.org/blog/80-ideas-for-more-satisfying-sundays?cid=HP_FR_26-8-2016_dOCS_fBLOG_xLIDyL2-1_  . Perhaps this upcoming Monday or whenever you're able to hold family home evening, you can go through these ideas in order to find what you can do personally and as a family to make the Sabbath Day more satisfying and fulfilling.

 Often times we feel as if the Sabbath Day is hindering and doesn't permit us to do anything; however, I've found that the Sabbath Day is one of the best days of the week, especially during my senior year of high school. Through out my senior year of high school, more particularly towards the end of the year, I would stay up from midnight to four in the morning in order to complete my homework almost every day during the week. The reason why I had to do this was because I worked during the week, I went to Track after school every day, and I was taking College classes which often required more time and effort to keep up with.

 By the end of the week I was so exhausted that a break from my worldly responsibilities was an absolute blessing and relief. Sometimes, I still had to go in to work but I avoided it as best as I possibly could. However, if I couldn't get work off, I still went but made sure that my mind and my thoughts were continually centered on our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and that I served others with kindness, charity and respect in an attempt to become more like him. As for homework, I had decided to no longer do it on Sunday, even if it was due the next day. Instead, I chose to either do my homework during the week end or to wake up early Monday morning so that I could get it finished, that way I could more fully focus on the more important things: our Heavenly Father, our Savior Jesus Christ, the family, my friends, my scriptures, etc. 

 There are many things to do during the Sabbath Day and we should always do our best to make it a gift of praise, remembrance and thanks to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I know that if we invest our time in participating in activities that increase our faith, testimony, knowledge and spiritual strength during the Sabbath Day, we will come and feel closer our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we'll be filled with satisfaction, happiness and long-lasting joy, the family will come closer together and the Spirit will reign within our home.

Well, the cyber guys are kicking us out again so it's time to go.

 I love you all so much and I hope you have a great upcoming week!!! Continue to read from the scriptures (especially from the BofM) and to pray every day on your own and as a family and continue to hold family night as you do for it will be a great and wonderful blessing for all of you in very many and specific ways!!

Love, your brother and son,

Elder Gonzales

A very gross... "blessing in disguise."

Dear family:

 

 Last week on Saturday night, my companion and I didn't receive a call from the assistants, meaning that I've officially made it to my last transfer in the Bénin, Cotonou Mission, that I'll be dying in the Calavi University (I) secteur, and that my faithful friend and companion Elder Kabuya will be killing me in six weeks' time!!

 The main events that had taken place throughout the week consist of the following: (1) I had a massive and terribly infected ingrown hair on the top my left foot which had started developing early on in the week. (2) I stayed in the apartment on Saturday and Sunday because I could no longer walk or wear shoes due to the ingrown hair. (3) While in the apartment, I had given myself up to much scripture reading, pondering, guitar playing and napping. (4) I suppose that my ingrown hair had been a blessing in disguise for everything that I had read had answered a lot of prayers that I had offered up to the Lord in order to know how I could become more humble and charitable and have more joy in my missionary service (Hebrews 13 -- 2 Peter 3). (4) This morning at four o'clock a.m., I got out of bed to go to the bathroom, during which time I had extracted the ingrown hair. It was extremely painful, but I managed to get out the hair along with a huge, snot-like chunk of puss which shot out unexpectedly against the bathroom wall. (5) On Sunday, I managed to get to Church (I didn't want to miss out) where I would participate in the preparing and blessing of the Sacrament (which felt great since it's been a while) and would give a lesson in our investigator class about the way that Christ had organized his Church. (6) Many of our investigators came to Church on Sunday which was great. One of which named Fr. Ezekial will be baptized by the end of this week. He has progressed super well and has already acquired a power testimony of the Church and has already become converted all on his own. We pray that everything will go according to plan and that we'll be able to help him prepare himself for his baptism. (7) We've continued to visit our recent converts (who've been making great spiritual progress) every day throughout the week and we've had many opportunities to make new friends or find new investigators. (8) A few of the new investigators that we had found with whom we had an appointment during the week didn't really want to hear our message or seek out truth but insisted in debating with us concerning certain doctrine while others sought to challenge our scriptural knowledge. Apostasy is real, family, and still exists today in the hearts of many; however, I'd just like to testify to you that this is the one true Church, that the Priesthood keys and fullness of the Gospel have been restored therein, and that so long as we remained humble (which was very hard for me this week), no one could confound us as the Lord had promised (D&C 133:57-59).

 Family, if only you could see what I've seen for the past two years. All the trials, sufferings, pains and difficulties that I've gone through along with all the happy, spiritual, and joyous memories and experiences that I've acquired have helped me to see and know with a certainty that the Church along with everything within it are true. This has been the hardest spiritual challenge that I've ever faced yet, but it has shown and revealed to me that this is the truth and the fullness thereof is only found in this Church. This experience has also taught me many other things, that it's all thanks to the grace of the Lord made possible by the Atonement that I've been able to make it this far, that fasting and prayers of faith produce miracles, that the Priesthood is real and has been a means by which the Lord has produced miracles through me and others, that daily scripture study and prayer are very powerful, direct and clear sources of guidance, instruction, inspiration, revelation, support and consolation and that obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel along with the commandments is what brings long-lasting happiness, joy and blessings.

 Well, family, I just want you to know that I love you all so much and that I appreciate all that you've done and continue to do for me through your prayers of faith, your support and your expressions of love. I'm super excited to be reunited with you again soon at the end of the following month. I hope that all goes well for each and every one of you in every aspect of your lives. I pray for you specifically, by name and by inspiration of the Spirit according to your overall and specific needs. I hope that you all have a wonderful upcoming week and that kids have a great first week of school!

Love, your brother and son,

Elder Gonzales

"When the Lord answers prayers, which he always does, he sure doesn't disappoint."

Dear family:

 Last week in the Bénin Cotonou Mission, was yet another splendid, miracle-filled week:

 

 Monday, Family Night at the Stake President's house! This was the first family night that I had attended since my arrival to Calavi! The missionary couple Elder and Sister Dyson who work with our Mission President and his wife along with four other missionaries who live in another apartment consisting of Elder Gozo from the Ivory Coast, Elder Mubanga from Kinshasa, D.R. Congo, Elder Moss from Tennessee, and then Elder Colby from Sandy, Utah came to the family night as well. 

 On Tuesday I went on a split with one of our zone leaders named Elder Hansen from Bountiful, Utah in his secteur called Kokokodgi. We saw, spoke with and met a ton of people, investigators and recent converts and I had quite an enjoyable time working with Elder Hansen in their secteur. At one point of time during the day, as we were on our way to our fourth appointment of the day, I told E. Hansen that there was something that I had remarked and had observed from our previous lessons, about which I had decided to not say anything unless a change had been made. However, the thing that I had remarked which was really bothering me continued and it was preventing me from teaching with the Spirit due to the frustration that I had been experiencing as a result. As we taught investigators, E. Hansen kept interrupting me in mid-sentence as I would explain a certain subject or answer a question. Well, I'll be honest, it pissed me off and if it didn't stop, then I probably would have exploded. I didn't mention that part, but I was very open in explaining how I felt and then asked him as respectfully as I could to stop interrupting me during the lessons. He recognized from there what he was doing and then didn't interrupt me for the remainder of the day. Instead of interrupting, he started praying for me as I spoke and I ended up doing the same for him which enabled us to actually work very effectively together to the point that we were both edified by the Spirit and the investigators, converts and people with whom we spoke could feel the Spirit too. At the end of the day, before I went back to my apartment, we went to a local restaurant where we bought charwarmas for all the hard work that we had done.

 I tell you what, this is a whole lot of marriage preparation all in the making. I just hope and pray that it'll be a lot easier to get along with my future wife, that she'll love me to death, that she'll be able to accept how stupid I can be and that she'll always find it within her to forgive me.

 Sometime during the week, I lost one of my memory cards containing about three hundred very important pictures that I had taken during my last transfer in Togo. Apparently, when I took out my card to take a picture, the card had fallen out; however, I didn't find this out until I think Friday. I had searched the entire apartment, but was never able to find it. So, while we were in the secteur, my companion went to every location where I had taken pictures throughout in the week to see if we could find my card. As we searched, I had a constant prayer in my heart, asking Heavenly Father to lead and guide us to the location where I had lost my memory card.

 After searching in the three following locations for over an hour, we hadn't yet found my memory card: a boutique where one of our investigators named Sr. Victoire works, the length of a road, and then at Sr. Yolande's house. However, on our way back to the apartment, it was after we had looked at the last location where I could've possibly lost it that I found my memory card!!! We went to the Stake President's house to see if I had lost it during the family night, and sure enough, it turns out that I did. The moment we arrived, without me even asking, the Stake President's wife walked into her house and came back out with the memory card in her hand asking to whom it belonged. I tell you what (once again) -- when the Lord answers prayers, which he always does, he sure doesn't disappoint.

 Thank you so much for the emails, details, support, love and prayers!!! I'm always so happy to hear from you and to learn more about what happens in your lives. I've been praying for you all more frequently and whenever I do, I pray for you individually by name according to the Holy Spirit. I'll continue to pray for your individual, spiritual, physical, temporal, financial, emotional and mental welfare. I hope that everything is going well for each and every one of you in every aspect of your lives.

Two weeks in one!

Dear family:

 I sincerely apologize, but my companion and I got to the Cyber late and so I only have a few minutes to write before the Cyber closes.

 I wish I had time for details, but here's as brief as brief can get: two of our investigators (Fr. Olivier and Sr. Yolande) have been baptized; Fr. Olivier's family has moved back into his home (after having been separated for four years); miracles have been taking place in the lives of our friends, investigators and recent converts; promised blessings (more like revelations) given to our friends by us through the direction of the Holy Spirit have literally been realized before our very eyes. More of our investigators are coming to church; families are becoming united and even restored as a result of their acceptance of our message; members are working with us a lot more frequently; my companion and I did two member splits in one week (the first two times that I've done that through out my entire mission); the branch is progressively growing and it seems as if the city itself becomes more alive as more people join the Church; we went to the grand marché today where I bought two pairs of shoes and then ate at a restaurant where I ordered a huge charwarma and hamburger with a Pepsi (t'was a marvelous, stress-relieving day); the cyber guys are bugging us -- time to go; I've been getting stressed and a little too quick to anger lately (must be because of how close I am to returning home) and could use a few prayers to get over that; I'm no longer physically nor spiritually tired; I'm committed myself to increasing the amount of my scripture study time by two, to praying more frequently and with more faith, by speaking with as many people as possible every day (at least three each day) so that I can spread this message and plant as many seeds as possible and then have more success and to make the last part of my mission the best and count the most. 

Time to go!! I love you all so much, may you have a great upcoming week, you're in my prayers!!

Sincerely,
Elder Gonzales

Dear family:

Well, the first three weeks of my deformation -- the final twelve weeks of the mission -- were extremely difficult for me and very discouraging to the point that I was convinced that I had had it, that I had suffered enough, that I no longer wanted to be here and that I just wanted to go home. I've gone through a lot in this mission and it has certainly been one of the hardest things that I've ever done in my entire life. The first transfer here in Calavi, Bénin was great, but progressively descended. However, the Lord had been merciful unto me this last week and had miraculously changed my behavior, attitude and perspective, and had also improved the quality of my life, the life of my companion, and that of my investigators and recent converts as a result of what I've been striving to do every day for the past few months.

 I'm not by any means perfect, but I've committed myself a few months ago to pray more fervently and with more faith, to fast more frequently when in need of extra spiritual strength, to increase the amount of time and quality of my scripture study times two, to wake up on time and then stay up every day, to be as diligent and punctual in everything that I do as possible, to continue to serve my friends with all my heart, might, mind and strength with patience despite my infirmities, weakness and afflictions, to love the people with all my heart, to always strive to share this message with as many of them as possible, to become genuinely interested in the lives of others and have a stronger desire to be their friend and to be filled with integrity, compassion, understanding, unconditional love, charity and forgiveness.

 Thanks to the fervent prayers made on my behalf along with my own prayers, fasting, diligent and daily scripture study, I received the answers to the questions and statements that I had been posing to myself beginning with either "Why," "How," "When" and/or "I don't understand." In his infinite goodness and grace, the Lord helped me find the answers the my prayers and then to realize that everything that I was going through, in the comparison to the lives of others, was not as bad as it seemed and that it was all a blessing in disguise. It's because of everything that I've gone through that I've changed so much for the better and I feel as if I've become a much better man and Priesthood bearer and that I've become prepared for my future family, work and callings. I'm proud to say that by overcoming my trials by the grace of Christ, he has been able to mold me into what kind of person that he needed and wanted me to be (1 Nephi 20:10).

 The Lord has taken the pride and envy out of me and has filled me with humility and charity, which have been a great means of happiness and joy for me. He has delivered and saved me and my mission, for I no longer have the desire to return home and I have a newfound and powerful desire to serve with everything that I have left to offer while striving to be a worthy instrument through which the Spirit can help my friends, whom I love so much, to keep coming unto Christ to be saved by him. Well, I can say with happiness and conviction that everything that the Lord has done through me in order to change and bless the lives of others has been worth every trial and struggle that I've had to face and overcome. It was all because of these scriptures along with all the many experiences that I had last week that I was able to realize all this: 2 Tim. 2:1-10; 4:7.  

 Well, within the past couple weeks, I've seen and witnessed for myself with my own eyes that the Restoration, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Plan of Salvation, the Atonement, The Book of Mormon, the Spirit, the Priesthood and the power thereof are all true, for they've each played a key and essential role in the changing, restoring, delivering, saving, consoling, improving and converting of the hearts, minds, and lives of my investigators, recent converts, my companion and even myself more so than any other time in my mission. I wish that I could share everything that has happened to me throughout these past few weeks, more especially last week, but I don't think I'd be able to write it all down due to how long this message would be if I did. May it suffice for me to say for now that I have found my true testimony, have seen for myself and now know now with certainty that each of these previously mentioned things are true. They play a vital key and role in our very specific and daily lives and are what enables us to endure to end to obtain exaltation in the celestial kingdom.

 Well, family, I love you all so much, you're in my prayers. I hope that all goes well for each and every one of you, and I thank you all so much for your faith-filled prayers. 

Sincerely,
Elder Gonzales

Only 10 weeks left!

Dear family:

 I have some great news to announce!! This may come as a surprise, but after having taught him every day for the past month, Fr. Olivier had been baptized last Saturday!! I've never had an investigator progress, accept our message, act according to what we've taught, and keep his commitments as quickly as Fr. Olivier has. He's read the Book of Mormon more than any other investigator that I've taught, he's read every scripture that I'd invited him to read (which have been many), he's prayed with sincerity and faith on numerous accounts to know for himself the truthfulness of our message, and he comes to Church every Sunday and actively participates during every class. He has testified many times that he knows that the Church is true, that Joseph Smith was a true prophet, that the Book of Mormon is true, that Pres. Thomas S. Monson is the true prophet on the earth today along with many other things.

As my companion and I taught him, we promised him according to the Holy Spirit that if he would act according to our message, his life would change completely for the better and that he would receive many specific blessings pertaining to himself and to his situation. We've seen these blessings be realized before our very eyes as we progressed in our lessons with him before he was baptized. It seems that these blessings haven't ceased to be made manifest in his life now that he's baptized, for he has testified that every single one of his problems, after four or so years of constant trails and anguish, are now being miraculously resolved by themselves like magic.

 We're helping him now to prepare himself to receive the Aaronic Priesthood, which he'll receive next Sunday, and we're super excited for that.

This is a bit unorganized, but the Cyber guys are closing down so I'll have to make this quick:

By the way, I found and bought a suit (only sixty dollars!), I got your package and it was absolutely awesome (thank you so much!!!), another one of our investigators, Sr. Yoland, was baptized with Fr. Olivier (more details about their baptisms will be written in next week's email), I'll tell you about my coming home plans next week. I only have ten weeks left to serve!!

Well, I'm afraid that I'll all out of time!! I love you all so much and I hope you have a great week!! Thank you for your support and prayers!!

"The Lord's grace is indeed amazing."

Well, my family, I've had quite a spiritual week. In fact, I've been feeling the Spirit more aboundantly in my life than I ever have throughout the entirity of my mission every day and it has been an absolutely marvelous experience.

I had a very precious experience take place last week that had completely changed my perspective of this work, had increased my testimony of the Restored Gospel, the Atonement and the Priesthood, and had revitilized my desire to work harder, to pray more frevently, to study longer, to be more diligent, to interact with and get to know people more, and to share this message with as many people as I can before I return home. 

I watched, for the first time in my mission, a full-grown man weep as a result of what we had taught him concering the Restoration, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Plan of Salvation, and above all, the healing power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ along with the cleansing and forgiveness that it brings. Family, I watched as our investigator Fr. Olivier weeped before me and my companion as he poured out his heart with his Bible, Book of Mormon and Hymn book in hand that after having gone through so much and after having searched for so long for deliverance, he testified that everything that we have taught him since we first met has changed his life for the better more than anything else that he has attempted in years. As a result of our long, tear-filled discussion, I told him that he needs a blessing and that we'd be more than willing to give him one if he so desired. He had accepted, for he desired it greatly, and my companion and I then presumed to give him the most powerful, intense, consoling and Spirit-filled blessing that I had ever pronounced in my entire life. I've given many blessings since I've been in the mission, but I've never done anything like this before, save for the time when I blessed Dad before his surgery. I now know with a surety that the power and authority of the Priesthood are true, for I had seen once again with my very eyes the miracle of deliverance and healing that a blessing can bring thanks to the Atonement of Jesus Christ and to the Spirit. 

All I could say on top of all that is that the Lord's grace is indeed amazing.

As for another great and joyous experience, my companion and I had the wonderful opportunity of attending the wedding of our investigator Sr. Yoland!! Our stake leaders have been helping as many couples as they possibly can to get married by helping them financially and by holding the civil marriage services at various branches so that these couples may be baptized. Our branch along with the missionaries have been helping Sr. Yoland prepare herself to get married to her husband for about a year and now, at long last, she will finally be baptized either this Saturday or the next. 

In any case, her wedding along with eight others had all been held at our branch at the same time last Saturday. And yes, I took lots of pictures.   

Well, other than that, everything is going great, I'm thoroughly enjoying having the apartment all to myself and my companion and my companion and I have been finding more investigators and have been receiving more contacts from members and investigators. 

Prayers on our behalf that my companion and I find and be guided to individuals and families who have been spiritually prepared and are now ready and willing to accept our message would be genuinely appreciated. Prayers on my behalf that I'll have the strength and integrity to work as hard as I possibly can within the last eleven weeks would be great as well. I'd also really appreciate it if you could keep praying for our current investigators and my converts as well.

Well, family, I hope that everthing is going well, that you're all in good health, that you're overcoming any trials that may be coming your way, and that you're having a great summer break.

Enjoy the summer break while you can because once it's over, I'll be coming home!!

I love you all so much and I look forward to seeing you again soon!!

Love, your brother and son,

Elder Gonzales

"Finally got some missionary scars"

 

Wow, I'm not really sure where to begin.

The past couple weeks have flown by so fast yet so much had happened since I last wrote to you.

 

 Well, just for reassurance's sake, I'm doing great, I'm in good health, I'm no longer tired, I've been as diligent as I possibly can, I'm learning more about Jesus Christ from the scriptures and it has helped me come closer to him, my testimony is growing, my character and behavior are changing for the better (although, there's still a lot of work to go), I'm getting along with the people very well and I'm absolutely loving my mission despite how difficult it may be. My guy and I, though we've had a couple disputes, get along super well (much better than my last companionship), we're working hard, we're improving our overall teaching methods, we've started working with members more frequently and we're having fun. He's the best African companion that I've had and could very well be one of my favorite companions yet. He's a little lazy from time to time, but he still does work, he wants to become better, he loves the people, he gets along with everyone very well, he's very forgiving (not very like his culture), and he has worked with me in a way that I can see that he's genuinely interested in being my friend. As for the secteur, it's progressing faster than my companion and I had anticipated, we're still finding new people to teach, many of our progressing investigators came to church last week (some of which for the first time), we're preparing about five investigators for their baptism at the end of the month and their respecting their commitments very well. Other than all that, I'm happy, this last week was absolutely fantastic, life is great, I'm becoming a better person (still needs work, but it's coming around), I'm eating well, I should be exercising more, but I've started spending more time scripture studying that I figured that I'll start exercising again once I get back. I love Elder Bailey and I sincerely going to miss him once he leaves for home in the next couple weeks (thankfully, he lives in Bountiful, Utah so we'll be able to visit each other afterwards). Elder Bailey reminds me a lot of Casey Facer and he has been without a doubt my best missionary friend since the very start. He's a super great person and a sincere and true friend.

 

 I've managed to keep myself away from any major injury -- my guess is because of divine protection along with your faith-filled prayers -- but it seems that I have at last gotten past my lucky streak. I've never been hurt to the point that I've had to go to the hospital (save for the time that I went due to getting malaria during my training) or had to stay in the apartment to rest (save for the time that I had really bad athletes foot and when I got sick from exhaustion while working with E. Jeneseri), but I've finally got some missionary scars to show off once I get home! So, a while back, E. Bailey and I bought actual bacon strips from a store not too far away from our apartment. While he and I were making a bacon and egg breakfast (which tasted absolutely delicious), I had tilted handle of the pan in which we had cooked our bacon down towards me to see if there was still enough oil that we could use to cook our eggs. Well, it has been twenty-one months since I've had bacon, but it turns out there was plenty of oil left in the pan after all. Some of the oil, still scalding hot, poured onto my index finger above my finger nail and then on the mid section of my middle finger. Thankfully, not too much of my skin had been touched, but I got second degree burns on the spots that had been. How'd I react? Well, it hurt a lot and words were said. I put my hand under running water directly after it happened for a while; afterwards, I gently dried off my hand and then put some kind of cooling, burn gel on the burns which helped out a ton to get rid of the pain. The following days consisted of me putting more gel on my fingers while they inflated and then turned into large blisters. The blisters eventually popped on their own (on accident) and then scabbed over. I'd say that I've been quite blessed for the situation could have been a lot worse and the burns have already healed and are now scarring over. No, by the way, I didn't go to the hospital or stay in the apartment. The burns healed up all on their own.

 

 Apart from that, my back started getting sore again about a week or so ago and so I started exercising my abdominals, legs and chest in order to reinforce my core muscles. It has helped out a ton and the pain has diminished a lot as well. Well, I've only got three months left before I come home!! Something had to motivate me to get back into shape, right?

 

 As for specific investigators, one of which named Fr. Olivier, a very enthusiastic man that we've recently started teaching and have been seeing every day upon his request, has had the greatest and most immediate of changes in his life that I've ever seen since I've been in the mission. All that I could say about this man's story is that he has been through it all. He had had what I'd consider to be a darker story of the life of Job. He had been, at one point of time, corrupted due to the teachings that he had followed in previous churches, to the point that he had indulged in many serious sins. He had wealth, he had many cars, he had position in his religion and he did all sorts of things according to his pleasure; however, all these things had caused his family to flee while he fell into a crisis of debt. Eventually, everything that he owned had been taken away from him or lost due to debt, leaving him with almost nothing.

 Here are a couple, interesting things that I felt like I should mention about how Fr. Olivier had become so attracted to and touched by our teachings and our Church: the fact that our message is centered upon the strengthening, unifying and (re-)establishing of the family and then the hymns that we sing at Church. He had told us that he wouldn't have been interested in our message until we had spoken about families (thankfully at the very beginning) and that he wouldn't have been interested in coming to church if we didn't sing the hymns.

He absolutely loves the Church along with everything that we teach, saying that everything that we do and everything in which we believe is spoken of in the Bible and is then supported by the Book of Mormon. He is one of those lucky (actually Spirit lead) finds who has thoroughly studied and then actually understood the true signification of the Bible, which makes teaching him a breeze.  

Teaching him has been an absolutely amazing, spiritually edifying, and life-changing experience, I always leave his house filled with the Spirit (more so than I ever have been before through out the entirety of my mission) and it's been amazing being able to be a part of this man's life changes. It's also been amazing to feel and see that it's not me or my companion who have been changing his life for the better, but the Lord along with his Atonement and the Holy Spirit.

 

 Our other investigators haven't gone through what Fr. Olivier has, but each one of them have their own story, yet have the same desires and have made very similar changes in their lives. Some of our greatest, or, my favorite investigators such as Fr. Narcisse, Fr. Pascal, Fr. Steev, Sr. Yoland are absolutely fantastic friends and I love them all so much. We also have a partial member family in our secteur that we see very frequently and I love them to death as well. It's only been a few weeks but I've already developed a great relationship with the family.

 I'd like to ask of your a favor by praying for these each of these individuals whose names I've previously written. They're all currently facing certain obstacles that they need to overcome in order to become baptized. We have two other investigators named Fr. Apolinaire and Fr. Gilbert who have already finished with the missionary discussions, but haven't been baptized because they haven't yet completed their marriage requirements. Marriage, here, by the way, is insanely expensive, has a huge list of requirements, and is a ridiculously stupid example as to why certain, cultural traditions should no longer if ever be practiced. I'm just happy to say that I look forward to not having to pay a ridiculously insane amount of money to my future wife's parents in order for them to accept that we be married.

 

 Well, the computer guys are kicking us out. Gotta go. I love you so much & we'll talk further next week!!