More prepared investigators

 9/5/16   This week was really good. We found a lot of really prepared people again, many of whom might have baptismal dates very soon. One such lady is named Delia. She was actually a reference from the elders in Ward 2. She has come to church once and has seen a baptismal service. She also has a ton of family in Bolivia who are members of the church. We had a really good first lesson with her. She commented that she believes there should only be one true church and was really confused as to why there are so many churches and so much confusion. She really liked the bit about how Joseph Smith felt the same way. At the end she said that she was going to read the Book of Mormon to see if it answered some of her questions.

Eva Maria is still in the process of preparing herself to be baptized. It seems like she may have lost a bit of enthusiasm ever since we told her that the word of wisdom is a requirement for baptism. We are still working closely with her. Her father has been sick for a long time and she has been at home taking care of him every weekend so she can't come to church, but she always comments that she wants to come. Manuel is doing good still. We had a good visit this week and plan to go over the family proclamation. We think that will help them a lot. We have faith that they will accept a baptismal date this week. Liliana, the investigator we passed to the other elders a while ago, just got baptized this weekend! It was an incredible service.

This week I learned a lot from the 4th chapter of gospel principles that talks about our freedom to choose. Our free agency is one of the greatest gifts God has given us, and it is the one thing he will never take away from us. Our agency is an essential part of our Heavenly Father's plan for us. The gospel principles manual uses a really good example that I would like to quote: "Imagine seeing a sign on the seashore that reads: “Danger--whirlpool. No swimming allowed here.” We might think that is a restriction. But is it? We still have many choices. We are free to swim somewhere else. We are free to walk along the beach and pick up seashells. We are free to watch the sunset. We are free to go home. We are also free to ignore the sign and swim in the dangerous place. But once the whirlpool has us in its grasp and we are pulled under, we have very few choices. We can try to escape, or we can call for help, but we may drown." This is a great example that shows that when we chose to follow the commandments, we are given more opportunities, but when we chose not to follow the guidelines God has set for us, we lose opportunities. Our agency is so important, and it is essential that we use it properly. As it says in doctrine and covenants, when we do what the Lord commands of us, He is obligated to bless us, but when we don't, we don't have any promises.