Duluth week 10

oh hai there, we had a great week!

We had a pretty good week! Not as much proselyting time as we would have liked because we had to drive to the cities for a new missionary training meeting, but we utilized the time we had!

We managed to teach a former investigator. He took us to a perkins for hot chocolate then he told us his life story. he said he has studied for awhile but he isnt the type of person who will just jump into anything. he said it takes 4 years to get a college degree, so why would he make a huge religious decision in 2 weeks. Anyway, a joint teacher the previous missionaries brought over like a year ago did a number on this guy and offended him in quite a few ways and then the missionaries never came back. So we did some damage control. At the end he was almost in tears and he begged us to not give up on him. it was quite tender

We met with a member this week to talk about getting in contact with a less active woman who has 7 kids at home (quite a few of them are unbaptized, which we dont mind too much...) so he gave us 40 dollars, all in $2 bills, to go buy a turkey and some other stuff to go and drop off to her from him. (the checkout lady at the store was a little shocked when i handed her only twos, ha ha) so we bought the goods, dropped them off, and she looked like she was about to cry. it was quite the tender experience. she wants us to come back and share a christmas message! #ShareTheGift

Another cool experience we had was when we drove back from Minneapolis we got back to duluth at like 9:30. anyway, we hadnt really shopped yet and we thought about buying milk at a gas station. i was like eh, it is late. and kept driving. well for some reason i flipped a u-turn and we ended up inside that gas station with milk in our hands. Just then a former investigator who moved walked in the door. you know where this story is heading! we talked with him and we are going to teach him now. He told us that we had changed his life since last meeting and he is so much happier. I could see it in his eyes. 

We also went by a less active family that has quite the testimony but they just... dont come. i asked if we could share a mormon message and he said sure. I put the disk in and really had no idea which one to show and just started toggling through. I ended up playing "wrong roads." before we had entered we felt prompted to talk about acting in faith. so i testified of that, the room got filled with the spirit, and he said, "even when you act in faith sometimes you still get lost in the dark." the spirit told me to ask a question about that statement. So i asked, "what do you think you can do to prevent getting lost?" he looked at me and said, "you know the answer to that question just as well as i do." I smiled and just looked a him. The Spirit then taught him and he broke down and told us he was in a hole and wasnt sure how to get out and he just didnt know where to start but needed to change. So now we are going to meet with his entire family once a week!!! Woot for teaching by the Spirit

We met with another member who is starting to slip into inactivity. It breaks my heart each time we go over because he tells us he is just too tired and depressed to read, pray, and make it to church each sunday. but he assures us his testimony is strong. well this last time when we went over the Spirit prompted me quite frankly to be bold. I resisted a little because perhaps i was afraid of offending him, but the Spirit urged me a second time, even stronger. So i opened up to a scripture about being filled with the Spirit and finding joy and i was pretty straightforward in testifying that he would not find the joy he is seeking until he beings to take the sacrament each week. The Spirit burst into the room like a gust of wind and he sat back a little shocked and you could tell that our testimonies had pierced his soul via the Spirit. it was pretty fantastic 

On Sunday I had quite the experience during Sacrament. I am somewhat of a perfectionist and i was a little down and frustrated at my imperfections and how i felt like i should be doing a lot better and how i was not following the Savior the way i should. i was reading in mosiah 14, like i do each sunday during the sacrament, and the line, in verse six, "all we, like sheep, have gone astray," pierced my heart. i checked the cross references and was led to Alma 5:37: " O ye workers of iniquity; ye that are puffed up in the vain things of the world, ye that have professed to have known the ways of righteousness nevertheless have gone astray, as sheep having no shepherd, notwithstanding a shepherd hath called after you and is still calling after you, but ye will not hearken unto his voice!"

As i read this i was overwhelmed by the love that God has for His children and how he never will abandon us, no matter how far we stray he is still calling after us. Never forget this!

I love you all! Have a Merry Christmas!

Elder Ethan P. Damron