Helping on a Farm

Just over a week ago, our investigator, Kenneth, requested to speak with the Bishop. We were unsure why, but we set up an appointment to meet up with him and Bishop yesterday. Kenneth had been coming to church most every week, but was convinced that he did not need baptism. At last, the Spirit took over. He said that some of the speakers had said things that he hadn't heard in any other church and that he loved, especially in regards to the family. Even though we had invited him to be baptized like a hundred times, he finally decided it was time. The first thing he asked bishop was, "How do I join your church?" When bishop invited him to be baptized he agreed. He went on to explain that even though he's been baptized before, he hasn't felt like his sins have been all the way washed. We promised him that if he was willing to leave his sins behind, that his baptism would give him a feeling of cleanliness. It was pretty awesome!

KC is getting baptized on Saturday. We're so excited for her! She had us over to her house last Saturday and offered to let us help out on the farm and fed us an incredible brisket. The farm chores, of course, included turning a bull calf into a steer. It was a pretty ball wrenching experience.

Love, 

Elder Stephen Watts

A wedding

A couple stories from the week:

We met Andre only one time. We never shared a full lesson with him, but he was present as we were reading through and discussing the seed parable in Alma 32 with his fiancee's family. This family is one that we have discussed could be ready for a white Christmas baptism if we begin working now. Anyway, Sunday afternoon a member was giving us a ride home from their house where we had just eaten dinner. He asked us if there's anyone we'd like to visit with him at that moment, and we thought of Andre's family. While we were talking to Andre, our member invited him to an adult fireside that night. We were not going to invite him because the fireside was for adults only and the subject was the law of chastity and every time the event was announced, people started to act all awkward. Also, we know that Andre is living with his fiancee, but they are not yet married. But, Andre came. Miraculously, Elder Twitchell and I were there, we were not planning on going, but we were there doing our companionship study in one of the classrooms. All of a sudden, Elder Twitchell gets a prompting to go out into the lobby. Not 2 minutes after, he walks in, so we walk in. The miracle is, he actually really liked it and we have an appointment to meet with him and the family on Thursday.

We have been teaching for a while Rachel and Chris. A couple weeks ago they asked if they could speak with the Bishop. Rachel is a member and Chris is not. Well, they hadn't told us, but they confided to the bishop that they'd been living together for 3 years and hadn't been married. Bishop challenged them to be married. They said the reason they hadn't been married yet is because they don't have any friends or family really that are close by and supportive. They wanted to have a nice wedding, but didn't have money or guests to make it happen. Last Friday, they were married. A lot of the ward came out to support them. The Relief Society came up with decorations, a cake, and the Bishop married them and it was really sweet.

When we met with them this week leading up to the wedding, Chris told us through tears how much it has meant to him for us to visit them. He said that the moment we first showed up was one of their all time lows as a couple. Every time we've taught them (and we haven't taught them much) they've felt at peace. Every time we've visited, something good has happened in their life. We invited Chris to be baptized and he said he would like to, though we still don't have a date for him.

Love y'all!

Elder Stephen Watts

Rachel and Chris

They knocked doors until they found someone with a jeep to pull them out!

Progress

Hey y'all!

I've had an awesome week here! I know that I've been really good at telling y'all about all the new people we teach, and rarely update you. So here's the quick scoop: KC is quitting coffee and is very excited for her baptism on the 29th of September. Tammy came to church for the second time and is excited for her baptism on the 13th of October, but she's having a little harder time giving up coffee. Magnolia came to church, but still wants to wait until her husband can come up from Mexico and be there for her baptism, which won't be until February. Lori has been texting us and is excited to start taking the lessons, but has been way busy, so we haven't taught her yet. Jarod is fighting hard to quit smoking, but has come to church now 5 weeks consecutively. So, there you have it! 

Here's another miracle we saw this week:  We stopped by a part-member family last Wednesday. The family includes a very active husband and a wife that is not a member and has been going to church with him for the past year and a half. The area book notes on them said that the ward council had asked the missionaries to leave the family alone because she felt like she was being pushed into baptism when she didn't feel ready. So we talked to the bishop and he said that we should totally go over and share a spiritual thought, but maybe not try to push too hard for her to take the lessons, so we did. As we were getting to know the family, and before sharing the spiritual thought that we had prepared on faith, she said, "I think the next step for me is to get baptized, I know the church is true, I don't know what is holding me back." We talked about how establishing a habit of reading the Book of Mormon and praying would help her feel ready to make that step. She admitted that she hadn't read the Book of Mormon hardly at all. We challenged her to do so and to prayerfully consider being baptized before the end of the month. She said she would. It was sweet.

Love y'all!
Elder Stephen Watts

First Monday Trade Days

The First Monday Trade Days in Canton, Texas is the biggest flea market in the state. It is held every weekend before the first Monday of the month. It has been held every month without fail since the 1800's. Elder Twitchell and I had the idea of setting up a booth and trying to give away free Book of Mormons and DVD's. We were blessed to be given a spot for free since we were non-profit. We arranged for different Elders and Sisters throughout the zone to take turns running the booth. To make it as exciting and inviting as possible, we made carnival games where kids could win candy and materials as prizes. 

It was really fun, but we weren't able to attract very many shoppers. The booth was open from 9-5 Thursday-Saturday and we maybe gave out 15 Books of Mormon and 20 DVD's (knocking doors does about just as well) so we weren't too thrilled. But we understand that we weren't there for any of the shoppers. We were there for Lori, the jewelry vendor next door.

We met Lori Wednesday night. It was 9:15 and we had just finished setting a few things up to prepare for the next day. She was setting up her booth as well. We might not have talked to her, as we were in a hurry to get home to be home on time, but we felt we might aught to, so we did. We got talking and found out Lori has incredible faith in God. She's had 4 open heart surgeries, 6 seizures, over 200 strokes, been run over by a car, shot in the chest, struck by lightning twice, and even woke up in a body bag one time. She said that she's come to know God through those struggles. We asked her if she believed that a living God would have a living church, and she said yes, but that she had no idea where she might find such a church. We talked to her about the Book of Mormon and how by reading and praying, she could at least come to know whether The Restored Church was truly Christ's church or not. She practically yanked that Book out of my hand before I could even offer it. She mentioned that she was looking for something that could help support the Bible, as the Bible has been translated and published in so many different versions. When she found out that the Book of Mormon had only been translated once, and that there existed only one version of it, she was ecstatic.

Through the course of the three days, Lori talked to every missionary that came out to station the booth. She brought her kids, who played every game we had dozens of times, and took home and watched every DVD we had to offer. She defended us when people were rude. She read the first few chapters of the Book of Mormon. She asked all sorts of questions about the church, which we enjoyed answering. We are excited to meet up with her this week!

Love y'all!

Elder Stephen Watts

PS. Thanks to all those who wished me happy birthday! I will be drinking that ice water on the rocks later tonight ;)