Mattie!

Hello!

Happy Monday! This week has been kinda weird, we just had a lot of stuff planned that made it so we didn't spend any of our days proselyting all day long... we had zone conference and a trip to the LA temple visitor's center and some sickness, but it was still a wonderful week!

Last Monday we had a lesson with Alex, he is doing really well but he is so smart and needs his questions answered a little more in depth than what a couple 20 year olds can provide... so we found him the perfect fellowship! The Altiers! They are so wonderful and they really helped us a lot. We also went to the Dutch store last P-day and I got some treats... even got some Canadian candies to share with the zone at sports!

Tuesday we had a lesson with a newer investigator named Mary, she just lost her son a couple weeks ago and is mourning. She is Catholic and we shared some of the plan of salvation with her, it was a very special experience. Later, we saw Dice, Tom and Valda and had a lesson with our beloved Edward over the phone. 

Wednesday is when Sister Nicol woke up feeling pretty sick... it wasn't nice... so we took it easy that morning, I got to do some organizing in our area book while she rested, so it was great! Later we had a lesson with Mattie! We watched "On the Lord's errand" with her because she said she knew Joseph Smith was a prophet from reading the Book of Mormon, but she wasn't so sure about Thomas S. Monson... after the video she said that she felt really calm and joyful, we explained that that is the spirit and she said she knew that Thomas S. Monson was a prophet!!!! It was a great lesson. We have made huge strides with her this week, helping her understand how the spirit works with her.

Later we had a lesson with Rosemary, Edward, Peter, Al and a less active member named Sister Ceja, it was a great lesson and we were able to arrange for a blessing for her that evening as she had been feeling unwell.

Thursday was zone conference, yay! We really focused on the Book of Mormon, where it came from, why we have it, how to study it effectively, how to help investigators read it, etc. It was AWESOME! I have such an iron-clad testimony that the Book of Mormon could not have been written by any mortal man with a 3rd grade education in 85 days, not to mention all the other logical testimonies disprove the ridiculous argument that Joseph wrote the Book himself. More than any of that, though, I know it is true because the Holy Spirit has manifested that truth to my heart time, and time again. I know it. I will never be able to deny that. I am so grateful for this extraordinary "gathering tool" the Lord has given us in these last days. I know it changes lives. So get out there and share it!

After Zone conference we had a lesson with Alyssa.... she has moved her date again because of Justin’s and her friend's work schedules but she says this is the final answer!!!! She will be baptized on September 8th at 5:30pm! Friday was fast paced but kinda slow in the work area. Because of Zone conference and some appointments in the morning, we had to do weekly planning in the middle of the day haha it was weird, but the day flew by because of it. Afterwards we saw Julie and taught her the plan of Salvation, it was a really good lesson! 

Saturday was supposed to be Calvin's baptismal interview... but he didn't show up and when we saw him yesterday we found out he had been smoking so no baptism :( .We will continue to work with him, I think it will really help now that we have found the right fellowship for him. But after that we got to go to the Visitor's center with Mattie! Yay! A member named Mandy Bon took us,  she is super cool and knew Mattie in High school, she also served on temple square so that was cool.

Okay so one of the Sisters who took us on our tour had the exact same back story as Mattie. Seriously, it was weird. They are both named Mattie, they both dated members named Ethan... well the Sister missionary Mattie obviously got baptized but it was really cool, they connected super well. We invited Mattie to get baptized.... and she said that she knows it's right she just needs to think about it because she is concerned about her family.... BUT we made a ton of progress, it was a great week.

Sunday was great, Mattie came to church and we went to a baptism with her and Ethan right after! They were late though... they missed the actually baptism by literally 30 seconds... but afterwards we stayed and took a look at the font and talked about it.

Later we had a lesson with Bill and Mark, a couple of new investigators, Bill seems super eager to learn so I'm excited about that! We finished off the day watching "Finding faith in Christ" with Betty Swank, a lady in our ward, and her son joined, he is not a member. They both accepted the invitation to read 3 Nephi 11, so we are excited to follow-up next week.

Well remember, the church is true, the book is blue, and Jesus was a Mormon!

Love you lots!

Sister Holt