successful week!

This was a very successful week. We had many lessons and found a couple new investigators. We have been teaching a lot in a Mexican neighborhood but have found a couple that speak English which is always nice so that I can understand what is going on and also so that I can teach. Yesterday we were expecting to have 11 investigators but we only ended up with four. Hopefully next week we will be able to have more come. Two of the investigators John and Dartanion (like the three musketeers) came and we are excited for their baptism this Saturday. We are also hoping that they will bring some friends and family to the baptism that we will be able to talk to. The other investigator brother Mercer has been coming for a long time now and his wife is a member. He is such a great guy but just doesn't want to take the next step and be baptized. Hopefully one day he will realize the importance of baptism and temple marriage. The last investigator that we had at church is Antonio. He also came last week and he said both times that he just feels something different in our church but doesn't know how to explain it. The spirit is working on him! We also had a lesson with him last night and we set him with a baptismal date for the 12th. I'm so pumped for him and now we just need to get the rest of his family with a baptismal date.

Words into my mouth!

Elder Ramsden and are staying with each other in bastrop for another 6 weeks. The Muskes came to church yesterday and we set them with a baptismal date for September 5th. It's amazing that they drive 45 min. every Sunday and Wednesday to come to church and young men's. They are such a great family the only problem is that the father has nothing to do with us and church. So I hope that the mother and kids stay strong and maybe one day the father will realize the importance of this gospel. Also Antonio came to church which was awesome. Antonio is my favorite because he plays soccer but more importantly he gets so excited about everything we teach him. During our lessons he is always so interested and fascinated at the lessons. We can only usually meet with him once a week so helpfully he will have a baptismal date by next week. Also I gave my first blessing yesterday to a member in our ward that is from Utah. She is very sick and her husband has cancer again for the third time so she also wanted a blessing of comfort. I have anointed oil many times now but this was my first time sealing it and giving the blessing. It's awesome how the spirit just puts words into your mouth when you give a priesthood blessing. We finally were able to contact our old investigator Winston and have an appointment with him tomorrow and we hopefully he will have the desire to be baptized again.

"There is only one day that I have to live for, and that's today.  The thing for us to do when we arise from our beds as God gives us a new day, is to take whatever comes to our hands, and do it to the  best of our abilities.".         Harold B. Lee

What we believe in!

It was a great week. We meet with the muskes the family in Elgin on Saturday and they came to church again yesterday. If they keep on coming and we keep on teaching them then we will be able to baptize them in about two weeks. We have another lesson with Antonio who is the Mexican that went out of town to Mexico but got back the other night. It was really exciting because he was the one who texted us asking if we could come over tonight. I hope that he has been keeping his commitments and reading the Book of Mormon.It was pretty funny the other day this man let us inside his house and when we were about to share our message his wife came in and sat down. We started off by pulling out the Book of Mormon and the lady said she will throw that book away if we don't put it away immediately. Then she went off saying how she only believes in the bible and how we don't believe in Christ. I then just looked at my name tag and pointed out the name of Jesus Christ on our tags. She then went crazy about how we believe in David to be the son of God. But we eventually were able to get out of that house. Some people are so lost and confused it's crazy. Maybe one day she will take time to actually read and learn about the Book of Mormon and what we believe in. I have also noticed how people say they believe in the bible but don't even read it. While knocking in this Mexican neighborhood this person said that he is Christian but doesn't believe or follow everything that his church says. People are so lost but that's why we are out here trying to bring them back to Christ. I have also been able to talk about grandpa and how he does so many hours of service each week in the temple. I have been so blessed to have amazing grandparents and family. I have noticed coming out here what a blessing it is to have a family that will help support you and encourage you to go to church. I have seen young kids who don't have the parental support, how hard it is for them to be an active member.  

Rednecks!

This week we had zone conference which was really good. President talked about how the natural man is an enemy to God and how we are all wicked, evil, awful, useless, sinful, fallen, ect. And because of this we are all going to make mistakes but how we can only been made perfect through repentance. Repentance is for everyone and it is the only way we can live with God again.


This kid in our ward was telling us a story about how he was driving home around midnight and how he saw a dead deer on the side of the road. He decided to pick it up and put it in the back of the truck. He then took it home and skinned it. The next day we went over and he had made deer soup for us. Haha there are some rednecks in Texas it's pretty funny. We also went into this long driveway that lead to a trailer. They had their shower outside which reminded me of the showers in the movie Holes. It's crazy how some people live in the world and how they hardly have anything.

Antonio the Mexican that we played soccer with is in Mexico right now but he gets back on the 15th and Winston the 15 year old Mexican that I first taught right when I got to Texas hasn't been texting or calling us back. We haven't meet with him in a couple weeks now which is to bad. On Saturday we drove 50 min. to a little town called Elgin and we meet with this family who the wife hasn't been to church in about 8 years and her two kids who are 13 and 15 haven't been baptized yet. They also came to church yesterday so we are excited to keep on meeting with them and eventually baptize the two sons. Are area is so big I still haven't been able to see a lot of it. 

I can't believe next week is transfers. My companion thinks that he will be transferred because he has been in Bastrop for about three transfers now so it will be interesting to see what will happen. It's hard to get around in our new car because some of the roads are dirt and have a lot of bumps. It's been a great week and we have three new investigators who all came to church yesterday for the first time. Hopefully they will keep on progressing and one day get baptized.

"I cannot do great things by myself, but I can do small things in a great way."

                                                                   James Freeman Clarke

Aliens!

It was a great week. No one came to church which was a dagger but we are still working with some investigators. We meet a high school Mexican kid the other day and have been teaching him. He is so excited about everything we say, it's awesome. Today we are going to go play soccer with him and some of his friends I'm excited for that! Our ward is so great and it is about the same size as our home ward. This week we finally were able to do a lot of service. We helped a couple people move and then we worked in an old ladies yard. She thought that Mormons came from other planets and from aliens. People think Mormons believe in such weird things. This last week we had a couple lessons in Spanish but I have no clue what anyone was saying. I want to try and learn but I need to focus all my studies to preach my gospel and the scriptures right now.  It was 100+ all week. Also it rained the other day for about an hour while we were helping someone move. After it stopped raining it felt like a sauna outside it was so hot and humid. We also see such big bees nest on people's porches. Our bishop is going to be staying in garden city and he leaves on Sunday. We had dinner with him the other night and I told him he should take his family to Bloomington.  I miss Bear Lake so much. Not gonna lie I think I'm more cabin sick then home sick haha. We had to teach again the gospel principles class again it was on sacrifice. The story of Abraham is so amazing and his willingness to sacrifice his son. We need to be ready to give up everything for the lord.