Sep. 15, 2014

Well hi!
It's starting to get cold in my little portion of the Mid-West, and I'm not entirely thrilled about it. But while the temperatures have been dropping lower my spirit has been soaring higher! I have seen so many miracles this week; so many wonderful learning and teaching experiences and so many testimony building moments. We found four new investigators this week! Gean, Marlene, Moises, and Jerry.
Gean is an old, lonely man who just put his wife in a nursing home. We've stopped by a couple of times before to visit with him and do some service for him and gave him his own copy of the Book of Mormon. But one day he asked us to share a "thought" with him, which usually he declines. Alma chapter 7 came to mind and we shared some verses and thoughts on the atonement. He began to open up and he bore his own testimony of how important it is to follow Christ as much as possible. That was what we were looking for; it was time for him to eat his own words. We testified of the Book of Mormon being the word of God and being true and explained to him that if it really was the word of God, then he was not doing the his best to follow Christ and obey His teachings because he was not reading all of His word. He was slightly taken aback, but he thought a moment and agreed that he needed to read the book. He committed to read the Book of Mormon each morning when he reads the Bible.
Marlene is a Lutheran. She has been for 62 years, but in talking with her she is not sure what the nature of God is or her relationship with him, among other things that she still has not been able to find answers for in her 62 years of Lutheran worship. She also has been curious about our beliefs and the differences between them. We told her we could answer the questions she had and help her learn anything she wanted to know. Because time was short we had to end it with a prayer right there. We are seeing her again this Saturday.
Moises is a former investigator of the Sister missionaries. They handed him to us to teach but contacting him is hard, but we were finally able to meet him. He is pretty solid. He has been reading the Book of Mormon and has loved it. He loved the things the sisters taught him and is happy to meet again. We will see him next Monday.
Jerry is another elderly man. He was introduced to the church by his friend in Wyoming a couple years ago. After investigating it a little bit he and his wife decided they weren't ready for it. We stopped by and he boldly gave us the concerns he had. We cleared them up for him right there and bore testimony of the church. I guess he was impressed. His whole attitude changed. Three times after that he said he was very grateful we stopped by and he's been meaning to attend church but hasn't. But now that we stopped by and talked to him he is determined to come once he gets back from Alaska. He also said he would take his Book of Mormon with him and read it.
I have a lot of hope for these people! Beyond them, we were able to talk to lots of people and help them feel the spirit very strongly. The work is moving forward in Waterloo!

-Elder Curtis


P.S. Thank you for all the birthday wishes. I love you guys!