Duluth week 3

Hola familia and friends!

So we had a pretty good week. We did a LOT of service. I think I spent more time out of my proselyting clothes than I did in them. That was pretty weird. 

We saw some cool miracles! As always. You always have those when doing the Lord's work.

One night all our plans fell through. It was like 30 degrees and roughly around 8:30. We prayed and felt we should go contact on a street. We had a little bit of doubt since it was pretty cold and we werent sure if people would be there, but hey, it was a prompting so we went. The first lady we talked to had talked to missionaries quite a few times! It was pretty sweet. I love knowing that i am in the right place at the right time talking to exactly who i know the Lord sent me to. 

On Wednesday we had a ward trick or treat. All the missionaries in our ward dressed up as cats. One of the Elders in the ward is obsessed with taking pictures of cats. So we gave in to his pleas to be cats for Halloween. It was pretty fun! On Halloween we all went to a member's house for dinner and we passed out candy withmormon.org cards. Candy and the gospel! Could a night get any better?

So we went over to this less active's house for a lesson. We walk in and the room was filled with smoke it was hard to breathe and pretty hazy. His roommate was sitting on the couch. She said, "sorry it is so smoky in here, we burned something on the stove and it filled the house with smoke." of course she said this with a cigarette in her hand. i found it amusing. 

We went over to our ward mission leader's house this week for lunch and some service. His daughter is an all state cellist and they let me play the cello! Man i loved it so much. Perhaps i will get to play it in church up here. 

So we taught a super cool guy named RE this week. We have taught his girlfriend and they both came to church last week but we hadnt taught him yet. Right as we walked up to his door someone dropped him off from work. Perfect timing. We went into his home and he told us his life story. He grew up in Chicago and has had a CRAZY life. Holy cow. HIs mother left him at age 12 and he raised himself on the streets. He is the most humble down to earth guy i have met in a long time. He asked us to be baptized even before we brought it up to him. Then we read 3 Ne 9:13-14 and Moroni 8:25-26 and linked his pains to healing via the atonement and baptism. This guy is so sweet. At the end he said, "if baptism and cleansing will help me, i take it back, i KNOW it will help me." it was powerful. 

2 Ne 9:18 

But, behold, the righteous, the saints of the Holy One of Israel,they who have believed in the Holy One of Israel, they who have endured the crosses of the world, and despised the shame of it,they shall inherit the kingdom of God, which was prepared forthem from the foundation of the world, and their joy shall be full forever.

I have been studying grace a lot lately and i like this scripture. The underlined portion really stood out to me. The saints are those that endure the trials without being full of bitterness. How this this accomplished? By accepting the Lord's will and seeking to apply the atoning blood of Christ into our lives. Then we will be strengthened to carry our crosses by the Holy Spirit of God! And when we do this, our joy will be eternal.

I love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Damron