Duluth week 28?

At the beginning of this week we taught a lesson around a fire pit! That was pretty sweet. It started snowing part way through it so we were in a snow storm around a fire teaching a lesson.

So we procrastinated getting an oil change for forever because aint nobody got time for that and finally one day Elder Goertzen told me he didnt want the engine to explode so we finally went and did it. Well the timing was perfect. We went in and a guy asked us how our ministry was going. Turns out he has a bunch of Lds friends and we had a great convo. He committed to watching Because He Lives!

We had some great lessons with the R family this week. We taught about the temple and threw down a little bit. We told them we didnt want them falling out of activity again after their daughter was baptized and i asked them about their goal of the temple. we then had a great discussion with a lot of testifying. They committed to meet with bishop and set a goal. so sweet :D They also want to be sealed in the Salt Lake City temple. i wouldnt mind that!

So we went looking for a less active, who we found out is actually dead, in some apartment building an a crazy african american guy accosted us and we had quite the conversation. he tried to tell us how incorrect christianity was because the letter "j" was invented in the 1600s so how could Jesus' name start with a 'J"????? i asked him if he knew the hebrew translation of Jesus, which doesnt have a j, but he just didnt conceptualize that one. then he told us that King James was a wicked, wicked man because in 1911 he had 41 slaves. even this guy's friend was like bro, king james did not live then, but this guy went off again. gotta love the nutties sometimes!

So we are teaching a LA who just got back from 3 months of cancer treatments. Well we had a fantastic lesson on the Savior healing our souls and we need to build our faith and then i had a distinct impression to challenge him to read the Book of Mormon from the beginning (that didnt work 4 months ago when i tried). He smiled at me and told me i was devious and he knew that was coming. I smiled back. Then his girlfriend started crying because she said he hasnt smiled in weeks. The Spirit was strong and he committed. It was pretty sweet

So last night we had one of the best lessons of my mission. Holy wowza. So we set up a lesson at our ward mission leader's home (who is the closest thing to a saint i have ever met; i think he is one of the 3 Nephites) and our mission president and his wife were in town because we had interviews yesterday so we asked them to come. Powerhouse lesson! Well the lesson was at 8. at 7:30 the Prospective Elder we had the lesson with canceled, saying he felt sick. we freaked out and tried calling him but got voicemail. so we texted him basically begging him to come because it would be an amazing experience and that our MP would be there. no reply.. so we just act in faith and drive to the member's house. we pull up at the same time as PResident and Sister Forbes and we go into our WML home and we still dont actually know if the guy we are teaching is coming. i was kinda freaking out. finally, he texted and said he was on his way. nice try Satan. So the lesson commences and after like 5 minutes the Spirit told me to abandon the lesson plan and skip to the very end when we would talk about gratitude. So we transitioned and our MP's wife brought up how powerful hymns are. So i pulled out the hymbook and we read the lines to "Count your blessings." Then a lot of awesome testifying occurred and Sister Forbes asked if we could read a scripture she found at the bottom of the hymn for a reference (it was D&C 78:17-19) She asked the guy we were teaching to read it and he began and just started bawling his eyes out. The Spirit basically nuked the room and it was so powerful. He finished and i testified strongly that if he showed more gratitude in his life he would begin to feel God's love for him (he struggles a LOT with that). Then i challenged him to say prayers of only gratitude for the next 2 weeks. Only gratitude, repentance, and praying for others. he committed then he said the first prayer under this challenge to end the lesson. As we were leaving President Forbes pulled Dan aside and said that my challenge to him would change his life dramatically if he lives true to it. It changed mine when president Clements extended it to me. so i know it will change his. 

I leave you all with the same challenge I left this wonderful man. Learn to develop the gift of learning to be grateful a little bit more in your life by not praying for yourself for the next two weeks. only gratitude, repentance, and for other people.

i love you all! have a great week!

Elder Ethan P. Damron