Duluth week 14

We had a dang good week! Monday night we went to a less active's house and we met their cousin. She is from Billings, MT and her mother is actually a member! We talked for quite awhile and then we invited her to take lessons from the Sister Missionaries. She told us yes and then said,"you know, i have always had a feeling that when i made the decision to be baptized it would be mormon." boo yah

We had dinner with a YSA this last week from the ward and he made the spiciest chicken i have ever eaten in my entire life. It was this ghost pepper based sauce that had a wicked afterburn. it just burned and burned and burned and burned. So i wanted to clean my plate off quickly and get it over with and i shoved like 4 pieces in my mouth and chomped them. bad idea. there were a few minutes where the possibility of my death actually seemed like a pretty reasonable outcome. I couldnt eat the food on my plate for another 20 minutes because my mouth was so roasted. Since i am the bets companion ever i dared Elder Zerkle to try it because he was talking a little smack about how it wasnt too bad. So he shoved in 4 pieces and 4 minutes later he was crying. i, too, was crying. but only because i was laughing so hard. ha ha ha. oh man. im awful. but what can i say, you can either humble yourself or be compelled to be humble, right? :D

We also had a sweet miracle where we got into a part member family's and their daughter just turned 9. we have been trying to set stuff up with them for awhile and then the mother said,"we have been meaning to call you. our daughter turned 9 and she needs to be baptized!" so their reactivation has begun!!!

We had another sweet miracle where after 4 months of trying to get set up with a part member family to reactive the mother, baptize the kids, and get them to the temple we got and taught! that isnt so much the miracle part for this week because we taught them the last 2 weeks, but a few nights ago the 12 year old daughter called and left a message announcing she wanted to be baptized! ah yeah. so that process has begun. 

On saturday a member called us and asked us to help her move just a few things. we showed up and there was a massive u-haul. of course her apartment is on the third floor. 4.5 hours later we finished. im still tired and sore... i guess i should lift more in the morning time

On friday night i went to teach one of the sister's investigators who is 11. she is slated to be baptized in a few weeks so i will interview her. i wanted to get to know her a little before that happened. so this girl has a lot of attention issues with ADHD and a bunch of other things. she is quite spunky and sassy. i have never been more insulted within the time frame of one hour in my entire life than that lesson. and all the jabs were pretty clever and stopped me dead in my tracks. she even came up with a quite clever nickname centered around my last name. i thought i had heard them all but apparently i just need to get dissed my by 11 year old girls. But the lesson went pretty well still and we taught the 10 commandments. she really has a quite good heart and is very kind and loving, she just likes to have a tough girl attitude. I am excited to interview (pray for me, ill need them in that interview)

Mosiah 15:7 "Yea, even so he shall be led, crucified, and slain, the flesh becoming subject even unto death, the will of the Son being swallowed up in the will of the Father." 

 This past week I was taught quite the lesson on being swallowed up in the will of the Father. I have worked quite hard to take this area into a particular direction and this past week the Lord abruptly changed that direction for me. Then i had a decision to make. i could either be quite mad about the whole situation and pout and put up a fit, or i could kneel in humility and accept this new path and ask the Lord to direct me. After much difficulty, and about 12 hours of being stubborn, i chose the latter. and i feel a lot of peace right now. I know that as we seek to do the will of the Father each and every day we can have fulfillment and peace. Our life might not turn out the way we want or expect it to, but it will go where He needs it to go. 

I love you all! have a great week

Elder Damron