Week 31 - The first week with Elder Johnson

Alright, so far things are going incredibly well with Elder Johnson over here in Argentina! The guy is a super capo, he already speaks super well, is super obedient, and has all the ganas (motivation) in the world to get some people in the water! Haha!

Recently we've started having more charlas with people that are actually completing with the commitments better. We've always been able to find lots of new people to teach, but we also generally drop them pretty quick because they don't do the simple things we ask them to. Recently though, people have been reading the pamphlets or verses and such we give them; people tell us they've been praying and they feel good about it. I'm super excited and Elder Johnson is also. We are just 100% on the grind out here squeezing everything we can out of every last second.

We literally did something this week I've never done before. Elder Johnson is a bold bold dude, and he decided it would be a killer idea to give somebody a baptismal date during our first contact with him. Now, we generally give out dates in our first charla, but this was literally during a contact. He actually accepted and seems super cool. He has his wife and kid that we still haven't had a charla with but we're super excited that he was willing to accept a baptismal date in the contact, that is always a really good sign of disposition.

We also taught a family of 7 yesterday. We found M. on Thursday and she actually seemed fairly interested.  During the contact her Mom also came out and told us we could come back and talk with them. When we came back M. and her mom M. were there with M.'s husband, 2 grandparents and a sister and brother-in-law of M. We taught the Restoration to all of them and they all committed to pray about it and we set up a time to return and so we're super stoked.

We found out that D. L. drinks way more than we though he did honestly. We've been working very closely with him to help him slowly drop down on his drinking problem. He also decided to move his baptismal date to the 16th of February instead of the 9th and we might have to move it again, but for now we're going to see how he goes for now.

We also still have S. who accepted a baptismal date for the 23rd of February in the last charla we had with him. He's honestly progressing super well. He told us he drinks a little bit, but he also said he only drinks with his friends just a little bit MAYBE once a week so I think as long as he's willing it will at least be fairly easy to drop. 

We're going really well here for now! We have more people but these are our focus points for now.

1 Ne. 11:1 - For it came to pass after I had desired to know the things that my father had seen, and believing that the Lord was able to make them known unto me, as I sat pondering in mine heart I was caught away in the Spirit of the Lord, yea, into an exceedingly high mountain, which I never had before seen, and upon which I never had before set my foot.

I was reading in Teachings of the Presidents of the Church in Joseph Smith and I did a little study about the importance of meditating and pondering the scriptures instead of just reading them. It is when we combine a serious meditation with deep study and prayer we can receive answers to all questions through the Holy Ghost, the Comforter. I invite all of you that when you read something this week in the scriptures, that you find something specific to apply in every day life and I promise you will feel a difference in your relationship to our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ.

I love all of you! Nos vemos!

-Elder Martin