Great week in Carondelet!

Hey everybody!!!!!

So it sounds like Utah has been pretty stormy... that disappoints me because I love storms and I'm missing all of them. Usually Missouri is really stormy around this time of year but we haven't been getting anything. Maybe Utah is just really sad and upset to see me go and Missouri is happy to have me...?

Quick shout out to my darling sister and niece: Happy birthday Alicia and McKenna!!! I love you so much and I hope you both had a fantastic day!!!

Another shout out to Alex: Happy birthday buddy!!! This is a big year for you. I know that receiving the priesthood will bless you for the rest of your life. Live worthy to hold it and respect it. I wish I could be there to see you get it. It is so weird to imagine you passing the sacrament. You are still ten years old in my mind. Anyway, happy birthday and congratulations!!! I love you!

So we had a couple of really great experiences this week. On Sunday we had a lesson with a potential investigator who we have been trying to teach for weeks. It was just so good to finally sit down with him and talk. We taught him the restoration of the gospel. He was so attentive and we could just tell he was feeling the spirit very strong and that it was testifying to him that what we were teaching is true. We invited him to be baptized and he immediately said "Yes!" There was no hesitation. He said it so quickly and surely. We could tell he wanted it. We are hoping to have him ready by the end of the month!

Yesterday we had a cool experience. We were in a Walgreen's trying to find some sort of adapter for Elder Vincent's G.P.S. On our way out we were kindly stopped by a police officer. He wanted to buy us some water because he likes the fact that we are good people so he wanted to help us out in some way. I just wish he would have let us teach him a gospel principal as well, but we were very grateful for his kindness. As we walked out of the store and across the parking lot we heard someone shouting at us: "Hey! Hey you! Wait!" We looked across the street and saw a security guard motioning us to come over to him. We crossed the street to meet him. He explained that he was a security guard at the bank a couple buildings down the road and how he saw us walk out of Walgreen's. When he saw us he dropped what he was doing and ran out the door after us. He then explained how he avidly reads the Bible and how a few nights ago he finished it from cover to cover but when he finished it he had the most profound feeling that he needed to read The Book of Mormon. He didn't know why or even how to get one; he just knew he had to read it. So when he saw us he knew we would be able to tell him how to get one. That's when he asked us, "So, how do I get a Book of Mormon?" Elder Vincent and I looked at each other in amazement and I reached for my bag and said, "I can give you one right now!" I pulled out a Book of Mormon and handed it to him along with a pass-along card with our number on it. He looked so excited and pleased to finally have his hands on it. Elder Vincent very briefly explained a little about it before he(Doug) said he really needed to go back to work.

That experience was so neat to me. I know that God is preparing the minds and the hearts of people all around us and that experience gave me the excitement and urge to go find more. We had a mission conference on Monday where Elder Godoy of the Seventy gave us a lot of great counsel. One of the things he said to us that came back to my mind after our experience with Doug was "Leaders, bishops, Stake Presidents, sealers, temple workers and general authorities are all around us. The only problem is they aren't members yet." I am so happy to be on my mission, to find those people who are ready and willing to hear the gospel. I love teaching the truth. I have seen the effect that the gospel has on people who have lived their whole lives without it. The gospel truly blesses our lives and the lives of our families. It brings lasting peace and joy. I am so grateful for the gospel in my life and even more grateful for the chance I have to share it. I know it is true and I love it with all my heart! Christ is the head of this church and when we make the gospel our first priority our lives will be blessed and everything will go much better!

I love you all! Thank you for your love and support! Have a great week! :)