Mid-September

Dad,

The weather has gotten cooler down here too... It's now about 95-98 degrees everyday. Who would have thought that 95-98 degrees would be cool weather. We got our first rain storm in like 6 months or so. It came down hard for about an hour and then stopped. We were inside luckily and didn't get soaked.

We saw a lot of blessings this last week. And we are now regularly teaching 10 people or so.

Yesterday at church we had 7 investigators. It was a great Sunday and they all loved it. We had Garry and Jody, Chris, Robert, Dana, Maggie and Ruben. I will tell y'all who they are, their background, and how they are doing.

Garry and Jody Watkins are doing great. We had a FHE at a member's house this last week and we taught them one other time with a member of the Ward. He is loving it! They recently were given brand new Quads from a member in the Ward and they were way stoked. He is now reading from the Doctrine and Covenants because he is so interested in Joseph Smith and his revelations. We gave him D&C 76 the other day, which is a very long section, and he read it in a day. They also have started his divorce papers and they should finalize by the beginning of November and then they can get married and baptism. Or in the words of a missionary, "WEDDISM". They are one of the most sweet converts in my mission.

We continued to teach Michael, but he didn't make it to church yesterday. We think it was because we gave him the choice, instead of arranging for someone to pick him up, we left it up to him to make arrangements and find his own way to church. He is a great kid, but I'm not sure he understands much of what we teach. He is still a 10 or 12 year old inside but a 20 year old outside. We don't know if we will continue to teach him because he isn't really progressing.

We picked up a couple of new investigators this last week. One is Dana Askins. She moved down here about 3 weeks ago to live with her "second" family. Well her "second" family are members. Dana has been to church the last 4 weeks but we didn't start teaching her until this last week because we didn't want to be to pushy. On Tuesday we had dinner with the family and we talked to her about it and what our purpose was and how we could help her. She accepted the invitation to allow us to teach her. So we went back on Thursday night and had a very powerful lesson with her. The Spirit was very apparent and she felt it. We taught the Plan of Salvation and it really meant a lot to her. We didn't know if we were going to invite her to be baptized or not because it is a little different with member referrals and especially when we teach in the member's homes. So we went in there a little hesitant but the Spirit really directed us to invite her and so we did. She was like, "Yes, I've always wanted to be baptized." She now has a date for the 22nd of October and is loving The Book of Mormon. Yesterday she asked for a blessing of comfort because she is having trouble finding a job and what not. So, with a member, we gave her a blessing. She will for sure be baptized this upcoming month.

We also picked up Robert Wicklund. We found him on Saturday and we taught him twice this last week. He is 31, about to get divorced, has no job, no car, smokes, is going to school, and is having a hard time. We really knocked into him at the perfect time. He is loving The Book of Mormon and is reading a lot. He came to church yesterday and really enjoyed it. He is a very intelligent guy and so he remembers everything, but the most important thing is that he really easily recognizes the Spirit. He has pointed it out to us almost every lesson and we are like, "Uh... yeah!" He has a baptismal date for the 22nd of October as well. It is just tough with him because he has no car, no job, etc. and we don't want to baby him and bail him out of everything with the use of members but at the same time we do want to help him so that he can get back on his feet.

We also found Chris Diez. He is 21 and lives with his girlfriend in a trailer park. We just met him knocking and he was excited when he came outside and we gave him a pamphlet to read and scheduled a return appointment. We set him up but for one reason or another weren't able to go by for that appointment - I know, we are terrible missionaries sometimes - but we went by the next day and set another one up with him. This time he set us up and he kind of got even with us. We finally set another one up for Sunday morning before church. We went with a member to teach him and we had a real good discussion on our purpose, Joseph Smith, church, etc. He also doesn't have a car or a job. Luckily we had the member with us and he offered to take him to church. Chris accepted and we loaned him a white shirt, tie, and some pants. He came to church all dressed up and with some "Chuck Taylors" on! It was legit! He loved church though. In every class he introduced himself and he would talk for like 5 minutes and tell everyone how good he feels being at church, and how they are all great people and he can see and feel that, and how he is going to keep coming. We invited him to be baptized but he didn't set a specific date though he is real sincere and real interested.

We also received a referral from some recent converts in the Ward and we taught the referral at their house this last week. It was a family, but we just taught the Mom and Dad. We had a 2 hour discussion with them about the restoration, The Book of Mormon, and obviously Christ. They really felt the Spirit and I feel as though they are really ready for the gospel. They also came to church and they loved it. We are teaching them again this upcoming Thursday. I'm excited for them. I have a real good feeling about them.

We also had Zone Conference this last week and Elder Peterson and I gave a training on the importance of "member presents" and how to increase them. As always you learn a lot from preparing a training, especially for two zones. We applied our training this last week and we got 11 member present lessons. The most I have ever gotten in my mission. I know that is why we had 7 investigators at church - because they knew someone. Our neighbor Nor just came to my mind. You should invite him to church. I am planning on visiting him when I get home but it would probably be good if y'all went and talked to him as well. I wish I was a better missionary to him before I left. Hopefully he will still be there when I get back.

Transfers are about a week away. I will for sure be getting a new companion. I suspect either I will be leaving to a new area or Elder Peterson will leave. He has been here for 3 transfers and this upcoming transfer is his last transfer. On your last transfer they don't let you drive, and I can't drive because I never got the information into the mission, so neither of us will be able to drive if we stay together. I don't see that happening because we need a car. But next Monday we will know what is going on.

That is about all that happened this last week. It was a very eventful week and we had a lot of success. Thanks for everything. Love y'all!

Elder Harvey