Missionary golf

We had a great Memorial Day, mostly spent with members, investigators, and recent converts and less-actives. Our branch had their annual Memorial Day picnic, and it was a lot of fun! We had been helping the members prepare for it over the past couple of months, and there was lots of people I didn't recognize there. I was happy to see that most of the people we invited showed up and had a wonderful experience. One of our investigators who came, Anthony Ingersoll, seemed to REALLY enjoy it and was spending a lot of time socializing with members. We've been teaching him for over a month, and he's had lots of questions that we've done our best to try and answer. Somehow he obtained a Triple Combination, and has been reading in the Book of Mormon and using the cross-references to the Bible, to make sure it agrees. We explained to him that in order to receive a witness that it's true, he would need to follow the pattern as outlined in Moroni 10. Well, going back to yesterday, he called us last night to confirm our appointment with him this evening. He told us that he has seriously been considering being baptized, which was totally unexpected....not that I'm a pessimist or anything. Anyway, we plan on focusing on baptism and confirmation tonight, while also stressing the importance of coming to Church. There's still some things he needs to do, but it's not everyday that someone just tells you that they've been SERIOUSLY considering being baptized, so we're excited to say the least.

It is such a privilege to still be serving here in Wilmington! Despite difficult economic times all around, opportunities to teach the gospel have only gotten better. If you are working your absolute hardest each day, the numbers will not mean anything. There is no such thing as a "dead area," just missionaries who lack faith and optimism to get the job done effectively. Truly, attitude has an enormous impact on how successful you will be throughout your life. As Pres. Robbins has said a lot recently, "Do the work with a smile!" I am naturally optimistic, as you have pointed out before, and that combined with my growing love for the people has helped tremendously in developing trust and friendship....and our teaching has kicked up another notch as well.

We focused on teaching lessons to investigators with members and in earning member trust, as a result our indicators improved dramatically! I can just feel that this transfer has some exciting possibilities that are on the doorstep! We have Zone Conference this Friday, Pres. Robbins is going to be focusing on "Finding by the Spirit" and "Teaching by the Spirit." I'm looking forward to it big time, I always enjoy Zone Conference and spending time with other missionaries!

We played some golf last week, and they let us borrow their clubs. Well, I can't golf worth a darn, and somehow I shattered the driver in half! Luckily, the Martin's didn't mind at all, in fact they THANKED me for breaking it, said it was old and useless anyway. I seriously doubt I'm going to golf again anytime soon, I think I'll just stick with mini golf.

Well, this is promising to be another successful week, we could have a couple people committed to specific baptismal dates by the time it's all said and done! As always, I appreciate your prayers in my behalf, as well as for the people in our area. Much good continues to result as we are reaching out and serving people, and many blessings are still to come! Can't wait to hear from you again. You are ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS in my prayers!