Dang, it has been boiling hot here in Upland. I was told
that someone measured the temperature of the asphalt, and it was 120! And they
measured the temperature of a plastic slide at a playground, and it was 110!
So, lesson learned, don't let your kids melt.
Elder Jeppsen and I are spending a lot of time finding. It
was difficult to stay busy because many people were out of town for the 4th of
July. But we had a really cool experience on the 4th. We stopped by the home of
a potential investigator family to with them a happy 4th of July. The wife
opened the door, and told us to come on in, and they proceeded to feed us
dinner with their family! It was a blast! They asked a few questions about
being on a mission and about the Church, so we were able to talk about the
Church in that aspect, it was cool. They are so cool! They want to feed us
again! I have faith that they are slowly but surely being prepared to receive
the restored gospel in due time.
Another cool experience we had was on Friday when we parked
in a cul-de-sac to knock on all the doors on the street. Right before we got
out of our car, I felt prompted to say a prayer, so I told my companion, and we
stopped and said a prayer and asked for the Holy Ghost to guide us to people
who are prepared to receive the gospel. Not even 5 second after we finished
praying and got out of our car, we saw on the other side of the street a lady
who was trying to pick up bags of groceries that had fallen out of the back of
her SUV. Unplanned service opportunity, yes! We speed-walked across the street
and asked if she needed help. At first she sounded apprehensive about helping
her, but we just picked up the groceries anyways. She was really appreciative
of us for our assistance (and disappointed in her teenage son for not getting
out of the car and helping her haha), and she invited us in to her house. She
got us bottled waters and popsicles, learned her name was Julie, and her and
her family are Christian. We sat down and chatted for a bit. She told us that
her uncle and his family in Nevada are members of the Church, and her niece
just returned home from serving a mission in Utah. She adores her uncle and his
family, and jokingly said "He's been working on me for a while now to get
me to be part of your church." She had to leave and take her son
somewhere, so we quickly taught her the Restoration. When we started teaching
her about Joseph Smith's First Vision, and I quoted his own personal account, I
felt a special spirit in the room and within myself, and though I was not
trying to be flamboyant in speech, I felt power in the words of Joseph Smith's
personal account that I was quoting to Julie. I saw in her eyes that she was
intently listening. I take this spiritual presence that I felt as a
confirmation from the Holy Ghost that Joseph's words were true, that he did see
Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. I know that Joseph Smith was a
prophet. She enjoyed our message, and gave us her contact info and said she
would talk to her husband about us teaching them! Elder Jeppsen and I both
think she is prepared to receive the restored gospel, we are eager to return
and followup with her this week!
We set a baptismal date last week with one of our
investigators last week for September 9th, but we will probably need to push it
back because he has to get married to his girlfriend that he's living with.
We'll work with him and do our best, with the Holy Ghost directing us as to how
we should go about the situation.
We'll keep swinging the sickle in the Lord's vineyard this
week. I love you all, have a good week!
Elder Ruiz
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