The Lord answers our prayers

Hello again!

Man, this is crazy.  Every week it just seems like it goes by in a heartbeat.  The weeks are just becoming meshed together and everything is going by so fast.  My time out here has really been the fastest time in my life.  I was pondering to myself the other day, and in about a week, I will have been out for 8 whole months.  That is just so weird to me.  I'm really starting to feel "missionary old" when I talk about some missionaries I've been around in the past and some people don't even know who they are.  It's just so weird.  Time certainly flies when you are in the service of the Lord.

Wow, where do I even begin for this week?  Well, every Monday we do our usual stuff.  This last week we played basketball, dodgeball and football in the Church's carpeted gym.  We all decided that we don't like carpeted gyms that much, so we are going to go to the other gym today and then play ultimate frisbee outside.  P-days certainly are a blessing, just to have a change in routine and to be able to let my mind rest for a little bit.

Haha so this week 1 of our 4 total investigators moved, so now we are down to 3 that we each only see once a week because their schedules can't really allow it.  All of them have baptismal dates in April.  There's a guy named Mario and he's super cool.  He's been meeting with the missionaries for a long time now and he's just solid.  He's about 450 pounds and Native American.  He's really funny and the Church really means a lot to him.  He has many friends in the ward, and he goes to church every week without fail, and he's been doing that for a year now.  Why isn't he baptized you ask?  Well, he is currently on parole and won't be free until April.  He's super excited.  His daughter was baptized a year ago and she's preparing to go on a mission, it's pretty cool.

The other 2 investigators we have are Benito and Griselda.  They have a 2 year old daughter named Julietta and she's adorable.  They are both progressing really well, also.  Benito is totally ready to be baptized today, but Griselda wants to wait until the Saturday before Easter Sunday to do it because she feels it will be more special.  We've explained to them that it's all the same, but she insists.  They are trying to find a way for them to afford paying tithing and everything, and there's only so much that we can do.  

There is a man named Jason McGuire who just got baptized on Saturday.  He is super solid and he inspires me to be a better missionary.  Anyways, Benito and Griselda were able to go to his baptism and they really liked it.

So, as we were tracting we had door slam after door slam after door slam.  We prayed on a lady's driveway that the Lord would humble the people and give us someone to talk to.  We knocked a couple more houses and then we found a guy named Jesse.  We talked with him for 45 minutes on his doorstep and we bore our testimonies to him and invited him to read and pray about the Book of Mormon.  He seemed a little hesitant to, but we are going to stop by again.  The Lord really does answer our prayers when we pray in faith.

Well, my time is just about up.  I love Santa Maria, I love the ward, and I love my family and friends.  Until next week!

Elder Harper