Black Ladies and Baptism

Funny: On Wednesday I was on exchanges with the Zone Leaders and we saw my favorite person, Sister Myers. She is a salty old crazy black woman. She was telling us what was going to happen when she gets to heaven.

Her: "When I see Jesus I gonna be like 'was' up Lord! Jesus you my for real real BFF!'" 

bahaha it was so hard to keep a straight face.

Spiritual: Hailey and Michael were finally Baptized!!!!! It was such an amazing experience. I got to baptize Hailey and as I got in the water (it was cool but not cold) I felt the Spirit so strong that I started choking up on my words. It was honestly the first time I could say that has happened to me. I loved It!!!

Where I am at: It was an incredible week this week. On Tuesday (which was also my birthday in case you forgot) we went and picked up Elder Moea'i (he is from Maul Hawaii, and yes, he said I could stay with him when I come to visit) he is a great elder and we are going to see some serious success! We also had a lot of success with getting people to commit to baptism. We are really seeing the fruits of our labors. We also are activating our phones on Wednesday so YIKES!!!!

Bribes and Baptisms

Funny: A lot of the members of the ward want us to teach their children before they are baptized. So how do we get them to keep their commitments? Bribery, lots of candy. Well the other kids in the ward picked up on it and this last Saturday there was a baptism for one of the kids. We brought our bribe candy and it seemed that the entire primary was there. Their parents told us after that they had been confused about why their kids wanted to go to the baptism so much. Haha oh well, whatever works.

Spiritual: HAILEY AND MICHEAL ARE FINALLY GETTING BAPTIZED!!!! They have been ready for almost a year and now finally the stars have aligned and they are getting baptized!!!! We had a great lesson with them and it is amazing to see how once it is in God's time everything works out so beautifully.

Where I am at: Life is good. We are going to be joined by Elder Moea'i . He is a Hawaiian so we are really excited to have some eating competitions. There is a lot of chicken left over from old missionaries which will be delicious. Other than that life is good and we are excited for next week.

Poor Brad

Funny: last week we stopped at one of our investigators who seems to always be getting robbed. He wasn't home but this girl answered the door. We talked for a bit then left. As we drove away Elder Eaton said " I bet she's robbing him". On Tuesday we went over and lo and behold. Brad had been robbed. This time he thankfully got his stuff back but it was really funny.

Spiritual: We had one of our favorite Investigator come with us to the church to watch General Conference! It was so much more powerful sitting there with someone that I loved who was intently listening to the prophet. I really felt the spirit testify to all of us that President Nelson is the prophet.

Where I am at: We are dropping off Elder Howlett on Tuesday for his surgery. He is nervous but also excited to be staying on his mission. There is not much else to report. We have a baptism on the 14 for the Anderson's. They will finally get baptized which is what we are all very excited about!

I love you all have a great week!

Elder Black

Samuel the Lamanite

Funny: During church we had a member from Durango speak. He was Navajo and told us about how he was baptized right before his second son was born. He said that both he and his wife were on a spiritual high the day that their son was born that they named him Samuel so that he could literally be Samuel the Lamanite haha.

Spiritual: We got to do some tracting!!! One of the doors we knocked was a girl named Sierra. We were able to share an old Easter video about the resurrection with her. With gratitude in her eyes she told us that her brother had passed away a few months ago and that she was really struggling but that the video had brought her lots of comfort. The Lord is really preparing the hearts of his children!

Where I am at: The work here in Bayfield is really picking up. We have been able to light a fire under the members and they are getting excited to do missionary work. We have had great weather down here but we need a bit more moisture. Everyone is freaking out about fire dangers. I love it here and I am so grateful to be a missionary.

I love you all!

Elder Black

 They got matching shirts to wear while they do service. Just because they could.

I'm Afraid it's the Normans!

Funny: I had the great experience to go to Durango with the zone leaders on exchanges. We did my favorite thing. Tracting!!! We knocked on one door and this kid opened the door. The exchange went like this:

us: Hi! is your mom or dad home.

him: My dad is

us: will you go tell him that the Mormon missionaries are here

him: (yelling into the house) DAD, THE NORMONS ARE HERE!

dad: tell them to go away

kid: Come on in

us: ...

dad: NO, tell the normons to go away!

kid: come back in a few hours

it was really funny; that kid knew what us the normons teach, haha.

Spiritual: We had a really good Sunday this week. We got with the elders quorum presidency and developed a plan of how we can help them with their home teaching. We are really excited to see what comes of finally having the ward trust us.

Where I am at: We are living life and loving it. We were able to put the Andersons back on date for April 14th and we were able to put David back on date for May 12th. Lots of good things are about to happen here in Bayfield we are excited! Also, we almost got snow. it looked promising and it started but when we woke up in the morning it was all gone. :( oh well better luck next time winter.

I love you all and can really feel your prayers

Elder Black

The Game's Afoot

Funny: This week was a little bit crazy as a whole. The Zone Leaders and our companionship started playing a referral game. It was who can give the most referrals to each other. As a result, we actually gave more referrals to them than we picked up ourselves. Haha, it was really funny that it seemed that everyone in Durango was in Bayfield.

Spiritual: This week we had a baptism!!! Patrick was taught in Texas but decided to be baptized here in Bayfield. It was a great opportunity, ironically this is the third baptism that we have been to here in Bayfield and we have met the people being baptized for the first time at the baptism. But hey, whatever works. I love baptisms, they are always filled to the brim with the spirit.

Where I am at: Sorry I don't have many pictures this week. We had a conference in Farmington for the District leaders and I brought my camera and promptly left it in Bloomfield. Thankfully I got it back Yesterday so that was a miracle. But life is good down here in Colorado. Still no snow and so we have been out in short sleeves and actually getting hot. We are a bit nervous for this week because we have to drive down to Farmington to go to a doctor’s appointment for Elder Howlett. He hurt his knee in Many Farms when he was serving there and we find out this week if he has to go home to get surgery. We are all hoping that the answer is no. If you will include him in your prayers that would be spectacular!

Back to doing what I love

Funny: Elder Fenton played his last joke on us. For about 3 weeks he said that he had brought the dinner calendar to church and had given it to our relief society president. He in actuality had not. So, we had one dinner this week. It was with a part member family. During dinner we mentioned how we had no dinners and they sprang into action. They loaded us up with a ton of food. Healthy food too!!! It was such a funny miracle.

Spiritual: This week was full of miracles. I probably saw more small miracles this week than any other week of my mission so far. We had so many opportunities given us to share the gospel. We were tracting an old apartment complex when we ran into a family. They had been taught by missionaries in the past, but no one had made a record of them and they dropped off the face of the earth. They are so humble and ready to be taught. We are so excited for them.

Where I am at: This transfer we are taking a more aggressive role with our members to motivate them and inspire them to do missionary work. We developed a plan and we are working very closely with our Bishop and Ward Mission Leader to help the work in Bayfield flourish. We are so excited about this transfer and I love my companions. They are both incredible missionaries and are highly motivated for the right reasons.

I love you all

Elder Black

Update- I asked him if he needed help with food and he said that the members really stepped up and were helping them out. So they aren't starving. Bless the good members in Bayfield.