La Obra

Great week full of work! Had exchanges with the zone leaders on Tuesday and it was great to really meet them and have a productive day. Met a guy who played baseball for Southern Virginia University which is pretty much BYU-I in the east so he had lots to talk about regarding his teammates who were members and all. We met with Lisa again and she pulled in a little after us with a whole truckload of groceries. On all the bags was printed the Church's logo and she talked to us about the support she has been given by the church. It was really amazing to see the hand of the Lord directly in people's lives such as the Church's organization to feed those in need. We helped her to carry in all the food and supplies and then taught a quick lesson about miracles in our lives and loving those around us. She came to church yesterday with a handload of grandchildren and they were a blast to play with, planning on dropping of some Book of Mormon cartoons and a Songbook CD for them to use too. We are now teaching a lady named Elyse and she has been one of the coolest people we've met so far. She is very understanding and open to listen. Only difficult thing is she does not like people telling her what to do and how to live her life so we are doing our best to explain everything. Her mom is a member and took the other Elders out to eat while we were teaching but Elyse ordered pizza the next time we saw her and we were chilling. She has a ton of questions and it has really pushed me to be prepared and rely on the Spirit to tell me what to say, it legit works. Had exchanges on Thursday and Elder Wilson and I killed it with a couple of his investigators. I opened a couple birthday gifts and they were awesome! So grateful for the support I have and those people that I have in my life. On Friday we had District Council, ate some lunch, and then President came for interviews. He really just wanted to get to know each of us better and I can't imagine how he's been doing over the past few days meeting everyone and settling in as the new president. In the interview he asked me what he should be doing as a mission president since I've been out longer than him. Definitely took me by surprise and showed his level of humility to listen to us and learn from us. Really respectable, and put-together man all around. Saturday we had a ton of lessons and one that sticks out was with Nicky. She is very kind and loved to hear from us so we shared the message of the Restoration but unlike the many times I've taught this before, it really hit us. Even just standing with her on her porch the Spirit was so strong and we were all bawling by the end of it. Sorry this is so long but lastly, on Sunday, I was able to meet my great aunt Betty! She lives just up the road in the next town and we had a wonderful conversation on her porch just catching up on things. She is not a member but rather a devout Baptist so I've got some work to do. And I'm thankful for it!