Duluth week 17

So i only have about 45 minutes to email today so i will have to make this quick... Sorry!

Honestly, this last week has been one of the best of my mission. A couple weeks ago I gave a thought on the will of God and how i was pretty frustrated over some events that occurred. Well without going into too much detail 2 part member families that were preparing for baptism got reassigned by our ward council to the Sister missionaries. Anyway, the exact same Sunday a family showed up to church I had never seen before. So we talked to them. Turns out they had been inactive and finally decided to come back all on their own! They were not on records. So we set up an appointment. We met with them this week and it turns out that the husband and two children (age 11 and 9) arent members! The husband is the one who wanted to come back to church when he watched a video on the church and the Spirit told him he needed to come back! And they all want to be baptized!!! Sometimes the Lord makes us do hard things, but he always gives more than he takes away. 

On a side note, I ate black bear at a dinner this week. It was quite chewy. 

We were spending some time tracting and following up with some other people we had previously met. We got back into our car and and we realized we had missed a door. I was considering just going to our next location since we were running late. Elder Zerkle turned to me and said, "do you want to see another miracle?" you bet we pounded that door down. you bet we got a sweet return appointment. You bet we taught the super cool guy the next day and it turns out his best friend lives in AZ and he is a member.

So an elder in my district this last week was tracting when a rottweiler ran out from under a deck and latched onto his leg. Well this elder is kind of a man and he just punched it in the face and the dog ran away with its tail between its legs. He didnt think it was too big a deal. Alright then. 

I had the opportunity to do two baptismal interviews this last week. back to back on saturday. It was amazing! The first was with an 11 year old girl that hadnt wanted to be baptized until now (her family is active). I was very impressed because she kept telling me she had prayed about the various questions i was asking her and God told her these things were true. Her testimony was so pure and so strong. it blew me away. 

The second interview was with a 19 year old guy who is facing a lot of family opposition. He wants to be baptized and has made the decision, but he is still slightly nervous. I felt prompted to read D&C 20:37 with him and then I explained that the interview wasnt an interrogation or a test, but it was for him to feel ready and to feel confident that he was ready. It was cool to see his confidence grow throughout the interview as he bore his testimony over and over and the Spirit was reaffirming the truths he was telling me. 

So we went to an institute class this past week with one of our returning YSA members and afterwards we were all in the hall chatting. I accidentally leaned up against the handicap door opener button thingy. Anyway, the door nearby swung open and a girl standing next to it jumped a little and was like, "how in the world did that open??" (just a side note, she has been a member for 2 years) and Elder Zerkle told her it was the priesthood. Then he said, "watch ill do it again!" So i leaned against it again. and it opened. she was pretty confused. we did it 3 times and it was hilarious. We got her good. She was in denial for a few days, but she admitted sunday we got her good. ha ha 

The stake President challenged us missionaries to share atonement messages with the ward council members recently and yesterday we were at our WML house (his wife is also the Primary President). There were also 4 YSA people from the ward, one who is a returning member. So i shared alma 7:11-12 and i talked about all the things the atonement does and then i bore testimony on how the atonement can shape us into more Christ-like beings. I had the WML share his testimony on how the atonement has helped him get to this point in his life and it was powerful. Then his wife shared hers. Then we went around the room and we all bore testimony of the atonement. This was probably one of the most spiritual experiences of my life! The spirit was soooo strong. Then i told everyone to take 1 minute to think of 1 new way to apply the atonement into their lives starting today and after that i wrapped up with my own personal testimony. We all walked away from that lesson a little bit different in a very good way.

I want to leave that challenge for all of you as well! How has the atonement helped shape you into whom you are today? How can you apply it even more?

I love you all!

Elder Ethan P. Damron