Christian Arreolo--The Miracle Former

Hey everyone!

Yep, it's me again.  I'm still alive and still teaching this glorious Gospel.

So as far a the week went, it was OK.  There were a few ups and downs for me personally, but it looks like it's smooth sailing from this point on.  It's been really beneficial for me to learn how to manage my stress levels as a missionary.  Most times it goes amazingly well, but every now and then it just needs more attention.  I guess the main thing that got me through it all this week was prayer, fasting and a good ol' study about the Atonement.  I've definitely gained a much deeper testimony about all of these, by the way. :)

SO!  Unfortunately we were unable to meet with Laura this week--she had a fever and it made it pretty difficult.  Hopefully we will be able to meet with her this week!

We did have a pretty sweet miracle.  This week, while we were planning for our next day, we were looking through some former investigators, and we felt prompted to pick one of them named Christian (go figure).  When we went by the next day, and he opened up the door and we started talking to each other.  Supposedly he had a dream about a month ago where God appeared to him and told him that he needed to spend his time more wisely and stop playing as much video games.  Ever since then, he has gained a deeper love for reading, although he mostly was reading conspiracy theory books...yeah.  He said he wasn't enjoying it much, and he wanted to read something more uplifting.  Boy did we have the book for him!  (Do I even need to mention it?)

We walked into his house, read a bit from the introduction, watched #BecauseHeLives, said a prayer, gave each other "bro hugs", set up a return appointment, and left.  We went back a few days later, read from 1 Nephi 1, and when the chapter ended, he just started reading the next chapter.  After we finished the 2nd chapter, he said that he wanted to read the 3rd chapter before we came back again.  It was pretty cool!  We didn't even have to commit him to do it!

I guess that his main concern before was that he was more converted to the missionaries, rather than the Gospel.  He didn't necessarily feel the Spirit from the Book of Mormon the first time around.  He said he still didn't quite feel it yet, but that it was a lot better than before.  We invited him to church and activities, but he said he wasn't quite ready yet.  Fellowship is going to be the key to get him to church!

So that's our miracle of the week!  We're still trying to find new investigators in any way that we can.  We've been trying our best to follow-up with the members--we're being patient with them. :)

The CES Devotional by Elder Lynn G. Robbins was really good yesterday!  If you didn't see it, I encourage all of you to watch it!

I love you all!  Have a fantastic week!
Love,
Elder Harper