I wish I had something great and fun to write about. This week was pretty normal. We knocked on doors for a few hours a day, we followed up with some great people, and we taught our investigators.
I guess a big miracle that happened was we had 8 investigators show up to church. Janna and her 2 girls and partner all came for the second time. We were super excited just for that. Then right as we started singing for the sacrament the WHOLE Blake family walked in the very back. Joelie and Shayde are really progressing. We went over the interview questions for them and asked if baptism is something they really want to do. We said you passed the questions. So this week they are going to pray and talk with their Mom and Dad to see if it is something that they really want to do. There baptism will be soon. Same with Janna and her 2 girls. We set them on date and both girls are really really excited to follow Jesus Christ’s example.
We got put into the most awkward situation this week. About a month ago our Stake President told Elder Aspacio that he was thinking of making a Philippines branch our in a city named Kilcoy. It is an hour from the chapel and about 14 active members live out there. They are all Filipinos. Well in this meeting he told us not to tell anyone. The first thing Elder Aspacio does is call his branch president who lives out there. He moved over right after Elder Aspacio got here. Well he told him and said don’t tell anyone. Well word got around within a minute and every Filipino knew about it. Well the catch is that it is not approved yet but Elder Aspacio said it was... So a month passed and no one talked about it or heard anything from it.
This week they were having a big get together for a Family Home Evening and were wondering if we would like to join. They had all the Filipinos there and the sister missionaries. The only purpose of it was the be FHE. We let the stake president know we were going to meet all of them and he asked if he could join to come check it out.
This is where it gets awkward and why I struggle with my comp. After we talked to the Stake President Aspacio called the Filipinos and told them the Stake President was coming. They all took it the wrong way and thought from how Aspacio told them he was coming to open a branch... Awkward!!!! When we got there President was right behind us. To open the FHE they had us give a message and then they all started to thank President for coming out to make a branch. He looked at us really confused and oh it was so awkward. He had no intentions to open a branch but everyone thought that was the only reason he was coming out. Far out I am going to kill Aspacio for this. They turned the time over to President to make a few announcements and he got up and just thanked them for their love and dedication to church even though they all live an hour away. Everyone started to joke about who would be the next branch president or bishop. I laughed at President reply. Oh is Bishop Kerr. Boy it was just super awkward the whole time.... The worst part about having a comp is you both take the bad rap for everything. So it made me look bad. I told him to stop telling people. It will still be a long time before anything happens out there and these poor people got so excited over NOTHING!! Ahh I hope you can feel my frustration!!
Our visits with Dontay are going really well. The clothes fit him but he was not able to come to church. His mom won’t let him. We went over to figure out why.... Dun dun dunnn..... Dontay's mom is the daughter of a devout JW. His mom is not a member or believes in it but won’t let her son join the Mormons because of what her mom tells about us. It was a really hard thing to sit with Dontay and his mom and have his mom yell at us an say all these nasty things about the Mormons. We apologies that she felt that way and said we would love to share what we really believe. It is hard when people try and tell you what you believe and it is totally wrong. One thing she said that I don’t know how anyone could believe is that if you were to ask any old person in the Mormon church they would tell you there is no Jesus. She said once you go home you never talk about him again or share it with anyone. There is a slight truth in all of the things that she said but the whole thing is just wrong!! It was so sad. Luckily Dontay has really felt the spirit in our lessons. So once Mom left we taught the WoW. He loved it. Smoking will be hard to give up but he wants to change his life around and be like "me" We testified in the end that he is free to choose what to believe. We talked about how he needs to pray to God and really rely on the feelings that he gets. People will say everything to get you to not believe but you have to ask yourself what were those feelings... He totally understood and is a solid guy!! He will come around and this week we are meeting with the mom and going to bring an old guy with us so they can talk.
Beyond that the week was so great!! Haha man sometimes I want to strangle my companion. When he answers the phone and the member says are we still good for tonight. He will look at me funny and say we were wondering if you are still good for tonight. I just face palm myself. He is so clueless. Haha it can be fun but frustrating to watch. But hey I do love him or am trying to love him... I should take out the beam in my eye before saying too much.....ok now that it is out, hahah nah just kidding I don’t need to go on and talk about that stuff.
Aahhhhh hahahah I just got a text from SHELIA!! She is going to the temple soon. She is planning the trip right now. Oh what a pick me up from this week. She wants me to participate in baptizing her mother and father!! Oh what joy this brings to my heart!! AHHHH I am so happy right now I don’t even know what to say!! I love her so much!! I saw firsthand how much joy the gospel brought into her life. It was so worth every set back and heartache to get her baptized, now look what is coming from it! I just know her family is on the other side of the veil cheering with all their heart!!
Oh this gospel is so true!!
I forgot some of the craziest stuff this week. Last night at 10:30 the sisters in North Pine called us. They were having departing interviews with President McSwain. They got back to their flat and realized they were locked out. So we had to drive to their flat way late and let them in. Haha it was fun.
We were also called upon for 3 days in a row to give blessings to the Centenary Lake sisters. Along with giving them 3 blessings in a row we had to cast a devil out of their flat. They had been having a really hard week and keep seeing a black figure in their flat. The night before we cast it out they recalled that it grabbed them and held them down on their bed. They could not talk or move. So President McSwain had us go over and bless the home and also cast it out. Freaky stuff. At one point in their flat as we looked around we did not feel or see anything weird but out of nowhere we both got chills and goosebumps up our arms. All of my hairs were standing up. The good news is all is good now and they are safe. It was pretty scary stuff though.
I just kept singing this week, “Fear not I am with thee oh be not dismayed, for I am thy God and will give thee strength...” It worked miracles for me!!
Sorry this email was all over the place. I love this work and find so much joy and happiness in learning and growing more!!
Love,
Elder Cahoon
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