July 31, 2017

Well this week was a good one as usual. We've had a lot of success this week with the people we've been working with and we found another super good investigator that we are extremely excited for. 

We've spent a lot of time working with a young man by the name of Angel. He is the grandson of a recent convert family called the Lopez's. He came up here this summer because his mom was worried about him getting into trouble down in Arizona. She's a single mom and she is worried that because he lacks a father figure that he isn't learning the lessons he needs to. He struggles a little with disobedience issues and some anger control but in reality has a really good heart. He wants to do the right thing, but he can get frustrated really easily and often lashes out at his mom. So this last week she allowed us to start teaching him and so we've taught him 3 times so far this week and are going to visit him again tonight. 

On Saturday we went through the Plan of Salvation with him and invited him to be baptized. He said yes!!! But we had to confirm with the mom. He went and got her and at first she just kinda stared at him after he asked her if he could get baptized. Then maybe after a minute or so of silence she said that he could get baptized but that he had to change first. She wants to see an improvement in his behavior before she allows him to be baptized. So currently he is planning to be baptized on the 19th of August so please pray for him to be able to change his attitude. If anything can change him it will be the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He already seems to have made a little bit of progress. 

Last night we had a lesson with him about honoring his mom and he committed to be better at listening to what she says. We're really excited to see his progress. He is a really good kid, and his mom at some point, I could see her getting baptized, especially if she can see how much it changes little Angel.

Also this week we knocked into a 15 year old boy by the name of Joshua. It was a super neat experience the first time we met him. He explained to us that he believed that God was a possibility. He wasn't sure if God existed, but he wanted to know if he was really there. So we taught him a little about how through prayer we can receive answers to our questions. Also, as it turned out he was basically best friends with one of the members of the ward. So for the next lesson we took Brother Berthelson and his son Tristin (who is really good friends with Josh) with us. It was an awesome lesson on the Plan of Salvation and Jesus Christ. 

Then last night we had a lesson in the Berthelson's home and we read Alma 32 with him so that he could see the effort necessary to know if all of this is true. It was such a good lesson. Sister Berthelson connected with him super well, as her story was super similar to his, and she bore such a strong testimony about faith and how it takes effort on our part. The coolest part was Josh said he was willing to give it all a shot. He wants to know if it's all worth it. And he understands that he's got to put effort into it. So we're super stoked for him.

Angi is doing well, but still isn't coming to church. I'm worried for her and her kids. They need this a lot, but she just doesn't want to make this a priority in her life anymore. It's really sad to see but with patience I strongly believe she'll come around. 

Trinidy is doing well. We saw her once this week and had a nice lesson on forgiving others. She's a great kid and this Gospel can really change her life. 

The guys in the cabin are slowly fading. We only saw one this week. The rest were all sick. They don't do a great job of keeping their commitments to read, and we've been trying for several weeks to help them read and they keep making the excuse that they're too tired. We may have to stop visiting them, which would be really sad.

Love you all!!
-- 

Elder Miles

Washington Yakima Mission