It sure has been another great week in good ol' Lompoc!
Lemme just get right into the good stuff! Yesterday at church there were so many investigators and less-actives that came to church between us and the sisters. The chapel was actually pretty full!
One of those that came was a man named Sam Rosales. (He and his son Joey are the ones that are in the picture). Sam and his 2 boys were baptized in Bakersfield a year or two ago, but they sorta fell away when Sam was having troubles with his now ex-wife. We have been meeting with them a lot ever since I got here, and he recently found somebody in the ward who he has fallen in love with and they have discussed marriage. (She's a single mom). Sam has a new sense of commitment, and so he has been wanting us to come over and re-teach all the lessons and help him back on the path. He has a heart of gold. He told us that he wants to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood, get a partriarchal blessing, and receive his temple ordinances and be sealed to his boys and his girlfriend for time and all eternity. He is so passionate about it all (Who can blame him? A potential wife is some good motivation to get worthy and be sealed...) :D He works at a gas station, and recently was able to get all Sundays off from work, and he's come to church the past 2 weeks. He's received some home teaching assignments, and he's making more friends in the ward.
We are REALLY excited to go to the Los Angeles temple this Friday. What better birthday present could there be? We will be going down with the Bishop.
Something else cool. We had a dinner with a less-active member and his nonmember wife that live on Vandenburg base. Initially the wife was pretty closed. We saw in the records that past missionaries had been a little bit too bold with her and it closed her off. We decided that we would have a nice, light dinner and not force the church on her and stuff, and by the end of the dinner she was asking us questions about what we do and stuff. She referred to the church as "the Church". Not "your church", but as "the Church". It was pretty cool! I love having dinners on the base. To see the valiance of those in the military and to hear their testimonies is such a blessing.
I love you all so much! I hope each one of you have a great week! I'll talk with you soon!
Love, Elder Harper
Tracy Monney:
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday to your boy! He has the perfect combination of youthful energy, exuberance, happiness, along with compassion and wisdom beyond his years. He is such a great person and missionary. I love his letters and observations. Thanks for sharing and posting. Have a great week.