Week 5, Still Alive.‏

Sam email 4-5-10

Well. Larry heard the President in stake conference that we have a goal of 800 baptisms.... he wasn't offended but it seemed like he felt caught by us. As if all we care about is numbers. I am pretty sure he watched conference; he seemed pretty excited about watching. He also discussed with us that he could never have the eternal family we "advertise" because his wife is catholic... Both he and his wife talked as if it was absolute, and that she would never change. The question I have however is if you believe something is true that your church does not preach and another church does preach it, and they happen to be the only church who teaches it the way they do... then... what holds you back from adjusting? Statistically 50% of Americans will switch their affiliation. Is it simply tradition? I suppose so. So what will over come that? A spiritual witness will. So our goal is for them to both receive this witness.

Esaias' Dad avoided talking to us again and would not agree to come to conference and the mom told us she had to work; so convenient. Anthony, and Sophia could not come either. (shake head in sadness) I told Bro. Torrez (Esaias' dad) that this was the perfect opportunity for him to see just what exactly his son was looking into. It kinda surprised him but he avoided responding. He didn't end up coming. AND CONFERENCE WOULD HAVE BEEN PERFECT FOR HIM AND HIS FAMILY TOO! Almost every speaker talked about family and parenting! Wow. Well, its not too late, that’s what we have lds.org for! ;) Maybe we can get the dad to sit through a talk, and it will soften his heart. Again, these parents need a spiritual witness. It’s easier for them not to in their minds.

The Smiths, Nikita and Darnell, have had something come up for the last 3 appointments so we have not been able to meet with them; but the situation is basically the same with them as all our investigators, Nikita needs to pray sincerely to receive a spiritual witness of what we are teaching, because the logic she was taught growing up disagrees with what we teach sometimes.

There are no coincidences. Elder Khan and I both had to go to the bathroom really bad! So we stopped at a Dunk'n doughnuts and as we were heading out of the place after going potty (ha-ha), we were stopped by a man. He said he had been around to all the surrounding chapels and no minister was available to talk to him. Boy did he need to talk to someone. He told us he has often considered suicide and is often paranoid because of his homosexual tendencies. We could tell he was sincere and truly wanted help to change. So we taught him the first lesson and told him that by finding out if the book of Mormon is true his life could turn around. There was no way for him to get to conference so he watched it at the library. We will meet with him later sometime in the Dunk'n doughnuts, but we told him that it would probably be more helpful for him to talk with our Bishop or Mission President. So we shall see what comes of this. :)

Dave and Caitlin are still basically in the same situation. Dave is looking for work. Caitlin comes to church though. He is afraid for Caitlin to be baptized because he doesn't want his family to disown him, basically; because his family is already offended he married a Christian and the mothers side of the family (the mother is in the spirit world) would be offended because they are devout in the denomination they are apart of.

CONFERENCE WAS THE BEES KNEES! Wow. I loved it! Saturday session was my favorite; although I liked them all. I didn't get as much out of Sunday afternoon, but I did feel the spirit which was nice. If any of you missed any of the sessions I would really recommend watching them online, because it’s different watching than reading. Wow, Holland is on fire! Ha-ha! It was funny and powerful! If he keeps this up the church will have to make an anthology of his talks! Ha-ha. I love the Prophet, I know he is the true and living prophet. His councilors and the apostles are truly seers and revelators. Eyring and Uchtdorf are the Men! Our Prophet is proof God has a sense of humor and that you can enjoy the journey in the midst of tribulation.

Well, suit season is over. So at this moment I’m not wearing my suit jacket. Ha-ha.

I love you guys. I hope you Love each other. God loves ALL of you! Even when you make mistakes.

Ok. Peace out.
Elder Morris