Renca 1 #11

5.23.11

A week of Success!

We had a great week this last week.  We have this Standard of Excellence in the mission and we are very closing to achieving it.  The Standard is like this.. 12 lessons with members, 5 investigators in church, 7 new investigators, and 7 investigators with a date for baptism.  We were really closing in completing in all those categories. 
Something very sad that happened to us this last week.  I think I mentioned last week that the family we found (Fam. Diaz Maldonado) were having some problems.  They called us tuesday and had us come over to their house.  We brought our ward misison leader to help us out with the lesson.  We go in and I was so happy to see the 6 year old daughter Jennifer reading the Book of Mormon by herself at the dinner table.  Then the 11 year old José came over and said he had been reading too.  We sat down on their couches and realized that the mom Andrea and the grandma Delisia were crying.  They told us that we couldnt come back.  As soon as they said that I was shocked.  They explained that they really really really want to be apart of the church but the grandpa has been acting weird lately.  They said that before our first visit with them he had started drinking heavily.  They said he transforms and isnt the same person when he drinks.  They were all getting ready for church last sunday when he told them that they couldnt go to church and they werent allowed to talk with us anymore.  They called us over when he wasnt home so that they could tell us face to face so it wasnt just a random thing.  I was very sad but I said in a prayer in my heart and asked what we should say.  I felt prompted to read 3 Nephi 18 where it talks about prayer in the family.  We read the scripture and we said a prayer together as a family asking if God would soften his heart to let us come back.  We are going to try calling them today to see how everything is going but it might be awhile before we see them again.  I was so frustrated after the lesson.  I thought why could this happen to me?  I finally found a golden family after all my hard work and dilligence and now they get taken away from me.  I was very frustrated and hardly had any motivation to keep working.  When we got home, I calmed down and prayed for the family.  I feel like they will get baptized someday but maybe I wont be here.  I should be happy that they are so willing to accept the gospel.  After I calmed down and tried to be more patient we started having even more success finding people.  We didnt have much to do friday and we decided to knock some houses in some little neighborhood.  The first door we knocked the guy let us in and said he had been searching for the true church for a very long time.  We invited him to be baptized the 12th of june.  The next door we knocked the guy let us in there also.  He said that they had never really been religious because there are so many churches today its hard to believe that they are true.  We went back and talked to the first guy last night and, to our amazement, he had been reading in the BOM.  He was about 13 chapters in 1 Nephi and was learning a lot.  He is going to have an operation today on his back because he has a swollen disc or something I think. 
We have been having lots of success in finding good investigators but its just hard to keep them around sometimes.  Something always seems to happen but I know they are just tests of my patience and faith.  We are going to keep moving forward. 
We will be having a baptism this week on the 29th of may.  We are very excited for him (Florencio).  We found him a while back knocking doors and hes been going to church for a few weeks now.  I guess that would be a great present for dad on his birthday. 
Anyways, that was my week.  I challenge you all to read Mormon 9 this week and write down every question in that chapter and to think about how you would answer each question. 
Love Elder Ty Peck