Many Much Moosen‏

Well, we got a baptismal commit this week. We told him (Maurice Jennings, 13, loves "God’s word", wants to get baptized cause he knows its what the Lord wants. Baptizing him would complete a part member family.) He could get baptized on his birthday, the 22nd, if he could make it to church this week and the next. But, for the second week in a row, major jewkage, and not only to us, but rides we set up with members! The mom of this family just seems to be one of those people that must not know its bad to walk under ladders and open umbrellas inside or break mirrors, cause a new something bad happens every single time we see her. I guess they had a "family emergency", but she told us she still planned on getting the family to church. So we planed a ride, and no one answered the door. We called them 8 times and knocked on their door 3 times, but no answer. I know that Maurice is sincere, but the truth is, a baptism is more than a number, and we cannot baptize him to be inactive. That would not be good for anyone. It would be better that he wasn't baptized. So, we wrote a note for them and let them know his baptism would have to be pushed. Which is really sad, cause he was excited for the baptism to be on the day of his birth. I was excited too, but the truth is, he could have made it to church if they would have communicated with us better. "Let that be a lesson to all of us; it must needs be that we communicate with others, so that they know the intent of our heart and the reason of our action. Mercy doth not ween to one who shewed not mercy, if a man doth not value Gods time, nor his servant’s efforts, how can he expect to be shewed this mercy and therefore be saved in the kingdom of God." (Selection from the smaller plates of Sam the Missionary: Book 7 chapter 5 verse 1)

Well, we shall not give up. We have just got to get the family active I guess, before we can do the dunkage. It would be a lot easier if the mom would not be so crisis prone. Any who.......

Yesterday was amazing! I loved talking to you guys! Well, some of you guys. Hearing your voice was a blessing all by itself. Then to top it off, you all had nice things to say. HA-HA! I love you! I am so excited to apply the things I learned from you all, and to get more letters from Hilly and Davy! ;) Kyle! You are THE MAN. What did I ever do with out you! No wonder they used to always refer to us as "kyle and sam". I miss you! Anyway. Ha-ha.

The work is true! Let’s not do as Brigham Young said and get fat in wealth and essentially loose our focus and "send ourselves to hell". The Lord made us who we is for a reason Yo! So be what you is and not what you ain't, cause if you is what you ain't, then you ain't what you is! As Popeye once said, "I yam who I yam!" I will add to it and say "and with Christ I yam closer to who I should be", not to sound cheesy.

Umm. Larry! Larry! We had an amazing lesson with Larry! (The 68 year old father of a less active recent convert) He finally connected the plan of salvation to why we believe what we do, and why God does not talk to us face to face, and that this is not some Godly experiment, but a celestially pre-outlined plan of salvation that we agreed to. He finally understood that we, in spirit form lived with God, It was actually us; we weren't created spiritually seconds before we were created physically but eons! Ha-ha. We have explained this many times, but this time we approached things differently and we really made sure we followed the spirit! Let me tell you, seeing the light bulb go off in someone else' head is possibly one of the grandest feelings there is to be felt in this life. Then, I thought, wow, great! Good progress lets end on a high note... but this is why we have companions, Elder Khang followed the spirit and knew there was more to teach. We did an overview of the entire book of Mormon. It took a long time, but there was yet another realization from Larry, I think he finally understands what the book of Mormon is and what it talks about, and the kind of stories that are in it. He just kept saying "...I got to read this. I have to read this now." and "thank you guys; this is exactly what I wanted to get to today. This is exactly what I wanted to hear. This was a really productive session." and in this manner did he speak.

Good news, ALL the members somehow heard about the rumor of a possible "blinding out" of Elder Khang and I. No one likes this idea; we heard things like "Do you want me to intervene? Should I call president?" and "Wow, we finally get a companionship the members trust, and a companionship that works well together, who's teaching styles complement each other, and your getting transferred?". Well, needless to say, it was good to hear those things. It made me want to tarry in Jew-ville for a longer season. But, nothing is official yet, transfer calls are not for 2 weeks, and I know president knows it would not be a good idea, for the member work or otherwise, to blind us out. The members would prefer that we stayed till July and that I stayed an extra transfer more. :)

Well, this is the news from the front lines of spiritual battle. I hope all is well on the home front. Love, Peace, Health.
-Elder Samorris