Monday, October 2, 2017

Week 100: The Final Countdown!

Last week was great! We had zone conference on Wednesday, it was awesome! Elder Eduardo Gavarret of the Seventy came to our mission. I learned a lot and was reminded through personal revelation about some things I can improve on. I love learning from the Holy Ghost! He is the best teacher!  He knows exactly what we need to learn, all the time! 

We picked up a new investigator named DJ on Monday, he's a young man going to high school. We taught him the Restoration, and he was listening the whole time, and he explained to us that it makes total sense! Goad has a specific way of talking to people on earth, and that is through prophets! And he's right! That's the doctrine of prophets, in a nutshell! We invited him to be baptized and he said yes! We called him last night to confirm our appointment for today and followed up with him on commitments, and he said that he did pray about what we taught him! We are really excited to meet with him again tonight! 
We tried contacting a referral from the Spanish Elders, who ended up not being home, so we tried working in the neighborhood and talking to the neighbors. One of the neighbors, a young man, answered the door ( we recognized each other because we actually walked past him earlier that day). He let us into his home, and he had a lot of questions about what we believed. We taught him some of the Restoration and he liked it! 
Another experience we had was when we we stopped by a member's house because they were providing dinner for us. As we got out of the car, I saw a man across the street in his driveway working on a bicycle. I pretty much have it ingrained in my mind now that I'm supposed to talk to everyone haha, so Elder Brimhall and I walked over and talked to him. Turns out his name is Dave. He's Baptist, but had a lot of questions about our beliefs. At one point he said something along the lines of "I respect what you guys do, but I won't listen to what you guys have to say, especially because you guys don't believe in blood transfusions." Whoa whoa whoa whoa, hang on a second. So I had to explain to him that he was mistaking us for Jehovah's Witnesses, and that we are actually Mormons. "Oooooh, okay!" Then he opened up more and we were able to teach him the Restoration. I saw him watch and listen intently as I recited Joseph Smith's own words of his experience seeing Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. It was awesome, probably one of the coolest street contacts I've experienced on my mission. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, that Jesus Christ restored His church and His gospel through the prophet Joseph Smith. I testify that Thomas S. Monson is a modern day prophet of God. What a blessing that is; just as in ancient times, God once again speaks to mankind through an authorized servant today who has His authority and receives revelation from God to direct God's children to paths and choices that can, and do, bring us lasting joy and make our lives so much better, and, if continually followed, will bring closer to our Savior, Jesus Christ. As you make the Savior the focus of your life and the foundation upon which you are built (see Helaman 5:12), everything else in life will fall into place. Things will work together for your good.

There's a quote from President Ezra Taft Benson that I want to share with you. He said: 

Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends, and pour out peace. Whoever will lose his life in the service of God will find eternal life"

I know that to be true. I know that as we seek to forget our selfish wants and desires, and instead seek to carry out the will of God and seek to care for and serve those around us, that we will find lasting joy that lasts!

I love you all, have a good week! I'm looking forward to general conference this weekend!
🎶Come listen to a prophet's voice! 🎶


Elder Ruiz

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