I thought last week we stepped it up but compared to this week that was nothing. Our ZL gave us a call and challenged us to really work hard and get out and contact and it turned into a war to get the most. So we went crazy. Every second of the day was spent finding if we could. One of the ZL is named Elder Winter. Well I didn't even make the connection but he went to LONE PEAK HS with me for a year. His family moved to Alpine for a year like what my family did with Luxembourg. Since I never see him I never made the connection!! It was so great to talk with him and have a good time. We would call every night to see who won the contacts goal. Lets just say we made him cry every night.
One of the days all of our set apt fell through so we had the whole day to knock on doors. There is not as much of a dog or Facebook problem with Ayr so it went really well. We found some great people that we have started to teach. A lot of old people who just want to talk too. So it was nice to be there for them. But this day was amazing. We got two new investigators and only 46 contacts. Our goal was to get 50 so we decided with the last of the night we would go walking down main street and talk to people. We said a prayer that we could have the opportunity to share the gospel with those 4 people because there is usually not many people out on main street. Well our prayer was answered. The movie theater got out and there were hundreds of people everywhere!! So we got to work. Like I said before we talked to everyone. Literally not a person went by that we did not speak to about the gospel. It was so amazing to see the Lord answer a simple prayer like that. With all those people with got to 104 contacts for the day.
Our Zone has set a goal to get 115 every day with all the areas added up. Well we got all of them in one day!! It was amazing!! On all the other days we got anywhere between 50-70 so we were working hard. I thought last weeks numbers were good. Well we tripled some of them and doubled most of them. 307 contacts for the week. 15 other lessons. 3 new investigators. and so on! It was amazing to really step it up. I don’t know what we have done. Now we are just trying to keep it up while we are in Charters. It is gonna be hard. We had to start to re-door knock some doors in Ayr because they have all been knocked. So I have officially knocked every door in one town. Not many people can say that! haha pretty cool. Hard work pays off so much!!
When the Mission President called we decided to have a 24 hour fast. It was hard with no water and being in the sun all day. But we pushed on knowing we would see a miracle. The next day we were going to see Sam. He loves to have us over and we see him every other day. But this day after the fast we knew he was ready. The Mission President said reach out to all investigators who have not progressed or have been slow. Sam has been slow so to speak. Gets distracted easily and things. But we knew this lesson was going to be a good one. We planned and prepared so much for this lesson. We were ready. We evaluated what we have done in the past with him and changed a lot of things. When the lesson began he just started to listen and answer questions perfectly. Just as we had planned for. The spirit has never been so strong in one of our lessons! It was amazing. At that right moment I asked if he would like to be baptized... after a long silent pause. (Oh I am getting so good at the silent pause to let the spirit testify, I struggled with it and just wanted to keep talking but now I can get anyone with the spirit.) ...He said YES!! oh my goodness!! I was so excited for him. We set April 15 for his date. I might not be here since the transfer ends the 8th but that is ok he will still make it. We came around the next day with President Olsen so he could meet him and have a good friend. We invited him to church and he said he might come. I will talk about that later on so just remember we invited him.
Shout out to my wonderful sister who is deaf. I learned ASL as a baby and then took it again in HS. Anyway I have lost most of it but still know some. We knocked on a man’s door and he pretended to be deaf. So I began to sigh to him. He was so taken back in shock and ran to get a friend to talk to us. Well no one else was home and this guy just avoided us. He was faking being deaf. He was the only one home so how did he hear me knock on the door. haha I dont think he saw that coming. I know ASL kid nice try. The Lord’s work will press on no matter what language. haha it was pretty funny.
Another funny story this week was while door knocking, ok I think I have 1 or 2 more stories after this so bear with me they are great! So this day while door knocking we parked the car. Locked it and walked about 2k's down this street door knocking. On the way back when the cars came into view our car was not there. There was a KIV parked where our car was!! We started a flat out sprint to our so called car only to see that it wasn’t there. We started to freak out. We lost our car that is not even our car. Oh man I though I was dead. It was bad!! As we were freaking out a person came out and drove off and our car was hiding behind his and another!! I felt so stupid but so glad that it was there! haha it was quiet the scare but funny story.
Ok two more. While door knocking we came across a house with Buda everywhere. Elder Bo felt at home. The lady that lived there is from Thailand. So they hit it off. She is 90 years old and looks 40. I was so shocked. Anyways she just talked and talked with Elder Bo in Thai and I just sat there. Well it turns out she has no kids and has pretty much adopted Elder Bo. She speaks very little English so she was in love with Elder Bo when he spoke Thai. Since she has no kids and she is about to die she wants to give Elder Bo everything!!! For reals. She started to give him all this money and talked about setting him up with a girl and all this stuff. I was laughing so hard. He gave the money back and said we can’t accept it. We can accept food though. Oh man. He should not have said that. This week everyday at 12 we would go to her house and pick up some lunch. She would go all out and make all this food for us. It was nuts. It was Thai food but still pretty good. I ate some of it. But man what the heck. It was just so weird!!
I saved the best for last. All the great things happen while door knocking. You meet wonderful people, you find people interested and you never know what to expect. Well after 4 hours of hot humid door knocking we made it back to the car. We were about to go when I felt prompted to knock one more house. We parked in the shade and there was a big fancy house behind us with a huge drive way. So we got out and I led the way to this house. It did not look like anyone was home but we still knocked it. Oh my gosh I am embarrassed!! I knocked on the door and was not expecting what was about to happen next! The most beautiful girl answered the door and I forgot everything I have ever learned about being a missionary. I froze and was just lost in her eyes. It was terrible. I have not interacted with a cute girl in so long I forgot how to talk to them. It was bad. I struggled so hard. To my surprise I did OK. Not my best door approach but I suffered through it. Holy cow though she was beautiful. I was trying so hard to focus on the Lord and his work but she destroyed everything. To my surprise she was interested and wanted us to come in. I was like ummmm, yeah, mission. ummm. LDS. haha it was bad. So she invited us in but we had to go to another lesson. So we told her we were leaving to Charters tomorrow and we could stop by in a week. She said that would be great and wants to learn more. Man it threw me off for the rest of the day. I was trying so hard to just focus on the Lord and the work but she threw me off and made me so home sick and sad to not be dating.
It gets worse. Elder Bo is always funny and jokes about me finding the ONE on my mission. So now he has me good. He said, “Elder you were guided by the spirit to find her. We were ready to go but you felt the need to knock her door.” He is full of it. haha it is pretty funny though. I don’t know, what if we teach her and baptized her??? haha no focus on the work Spence. haha I am gonna have to really prepare myself for our first lesson with her. We thought maybe just jump into eternal marriage and family but are thinking the restoration would be a bit better. haha Man you just have so much fun on a mission. It is great!!
Ok now back to the gospel. Sunday came around and we were really excited. We had invited so many people to church and really want to see some there. We prayed so hard that these investigators would come. Well Church starts at 9:00 and 8:58 rolled around and no one had come. I was pretty sad. We had the best week we have ever had and no one came. Right when 9:00 hit we heard a door open and saw Sam!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my goodness!!! It was the best miracle ever!! He showed up and stayed for the whole 3 hours and really enjoyed it and participated in everything. Right after he showed up a random lady just walked in and sat down. I guess she has come before and is interested in learning more. Because we had two investigators at church we needed to have a Gospel Principles class for them. I don’t think I have even been to that class but some how I got put in charge to teach it. I was so lost and struggled through it. Brother Yip came in and really helped us out. Sam and Dianna both really loved it.
Sam has a strong Italian background and a big influence in the mafia over there. So we hear heaps of crazy stories about all the times he has been shot at and almost killed. He is quiet the guy. Brother Bozzetto is from the same part as Sam and they knew each other so now he has a great friend in the branch and we think he will have no problem fitting in and getting along. Our only set back is smoking but he has a desire to give it up but it is gonna be hard. He has a great testimony already and knows the Book of Mormon is true, He told us there is no way a normal man could have written that. He was truly inspired by God.
Wow it is amazing to see Sam grow and to share this gospel with so many people. This week was hard. It rained most days we were out but we did not let it stop us. It was also very hot and humid but the Lord’s work goes on. I went to bed so tired every night and for the first time literally jumped out of bed ready to really work and give it my all. It is amazing to get lost in the work and really give it my all. I love my ZL so much for their help in getting us going and really pushing ourselves. It is amazing. I have some advice to all who are thinking about going but are not to sure. Ask yourself. Do you love the gospel? If the answer is yes then fill out those papers. It is so amazing to serve the Lord and see real miracles everyday.
I love you all so much and really appreciate all the prayers and help!! They do help and the Lord is listening to all of them. Thanks so much for all the support and love. Have a good week.
LOVE, ELDER CAHOON!!
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