Hey everyone!
So transfers
came this morning and guess what? I’m staying! Ha-ha I’m still in Garden Grove
for another 6 weeks. I'll still be with my trainee, Elder Burrup. We are very
excited about this coming transfer. We have a lot of people that could
potentially be baptized. We have gotten a few great elders as well. So we are
very excited to get this one going!
This week was
a great week. We didn't have as much success, but that is not stopping us. We
are determined to find those that are ready to hear the message of the restored
Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are still teaching a lot of the same people that we
have been teaching. We are still going to gather the elect. We have had some
great meetings and instruction from our mission president and his leaders about
finding. We are getting very excited to do that.
So first, we
are still teaching Daisy. She is doing pretty well. She has a date for next
Sunday. She is reading and praying. We taught her about the Word of Wisdom. She
accepted it and is doing well. We have had a struggle to contact her because
she has been very busy with finals in her school. She is done with finals and
we are set on getting her baptized as soon as we possibly can. We are thinking
we might set a new goal of getting her baptized on the Sunday after this one. That
way she will be more ready and really have a testimony that what we are
teaching her is true. She is doing well. She was unable to come to church
yesterday. She texted us two hours before sacrament meeting started and said,
"The left side of my mouth is swollen and I have to go to the
dentist”. It not only came as a surprise
to us, but to her as well. Hahaha. Next week is stake conference, but we hope
that she can come and we can get her baptized as soon as we can!
Anita is
doing pretty well too. She has been very ill lately. The flu seems to be
passing by Anaheim right now. We gave her a blessing. She is doing well, but
was unable to come to church because she was ill. We had an interesting
discussion with her about baptism. She expressed to us about how she is so
confused. She has us the Christian missionaries, the Jehovah’s Witnesses and
the Catholic missionaries coming over. She is very confused by it all. She
likes a Christian church that she's going to right now. She asked me if she had
that feeling, if that meant going over there was a sign that she should join
that church. Then a thought came into my head. It was obvious that it was the Spirit
of the Lord speaking to me. I asked her
"Have you prayed and asked God if that church is the true one?" She
replied to me that she had not, but she did say a prayer right there and it was
answered. We showed her and read Moroni 10:3-5. Also in Matthew 7:7-8 about
prayer. I told and testified to her that she could only know if it is the
church she needs to join if she prayed and asked God. Then the Spirit would
tell her through her feelings. It's so key. One action would solve it all. She
understood what I met. Then we invited her to come to church and bring a
question she would like answered. Then she would be able to know. It was a cool
lesson. It really saved her because she was telling us about how she didn't
want us to stop by anymore. Now she is still listening and will go to church.
Let's pray that we can help her progress more and more.
We had to
drop Alberto. He told us that he would never change his religion. We had a
great conversation with his daughter. She has been asking us the most
interesting questions. Her name is Fernanda. She is about 21 and is going to a
Christian college. She has been asking about the Word of Wisdom, about what we
believe in about baptism. What it means to us. She is the first person who
asked me about what we think about tattoos. I can tell that she is a truth
seeker. She told us that it might take a while, but she would really like to
look into the church and even go. We hope and pray that we can get that spark
into her sooner. She says she admires what we do and we have been a great
example to her. So we hope that we can continue to help her out. See, you never
know who you are influencing. We must always strive to be the best examples we
can be to others.
We found Brenda!!!!!!!
Yaaaaahhhhooooo!!! She said that her normal schedule is that she comes home
from her normal job, showers, and then leaves to her other job. At times she
doesn’t even have time to come home at night. We were able to find her and she
said that her job should be ending soon. Also, she is planning on moving to
another apartment. It will be in Garden Grove, thank goodness. So we are not
stopping with her. We will find her and baptize her. She's doing well.
Yvonne and
Ricardo are doing well. They are having a struggle with reading and coming to
church. We have been bringing up their family a lot. They are a young family
that needs the restored gospel in their lives. So we are doing our best to help
them get it there. I know how much this can bless them. I was bearing my
testimony to them about it the other day. I can remember saying that I don't
know where I would be if I didn't have the gospel in my family. I know that the
gospel was made for the family. So we can be more united here on earth, and in the
eternities. Sometimes it takes faith and courage to be able to step into
something new. We hope and pray we can help them try this out and see how
awesome it is.
That is
pretty much it. We are trying our very hardest to help all of these people come
unto our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Something that really touched me this
week was the topic of Diligence. I picked that as my Christ like attribute (from
Preach My Gospel) to develop more this transfer. As I have been reading from
the Book of Mormon this past week (2 Nephi 25-Mosiah 7) it talks about
diligence a ton. I love in Jacob 5, the very end, it talks about the laborers
of the vineyard. How they worked with all diligence to bring forth fruit. How
they were diligent in keeping the commandments, which the Lord had given them,
and how blessed they were for doing so. I love in Jacob 6:3 how it talks about
how blessed they are. In Mosiah 7 it talks about the king of the Lehi-Nephi's saying
that if they would work with all diligence, they would be brought out of
bondage. I know that is so true. It is all about diligence in his work. Having
faith, being dedicated, and being determined. I know that, as we are diligent
to the work that the Lord will bless us here in Garden Grove. I know it. The
same goes to all of you back home. No matter what you are struggling with or
trying to achieve. If you are diligent the Lord will bring you out of bondage.
It is through Him, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I do so testify of these
things.
Have a great
week. I love you all so much!
Elder Dallin M. Ollerton
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