Letter for December 10, 2012

Hey everyone!!

Another week has flown by again here in the beautiful area of Anaheim. I just received news that my little bro Jalon got his call to Concepcion, Chile. Congrats man! You are going to do some great work out in the mission field. So proud of you.

So this week has been interesting, we have been searching for the same people. We are trying our best to help them receive the blessings that are waiting for them as they accept the gospel in their lives. We have been successful. We went looking for Luis. A man we found a few weeks ago that appeared to be interested. We knocked on the door and a girl came to the door and told us that he wasn't home. We began to teach her. She said that she would read the Book of Mormon and would be baptized if she came to know that it's true. It was really neat.

We have started to teach Ana again. She is doing pretty good. We got a chance to teach her with her cousin Dania. When we went over she appeared to be a little down in the dumps. We began to teach her about the Plan of Salvation, when I received an impression that she was a little more focused on other things. I stopped the lesson (Elder Burrup was teaching) and asked her "Ana, what's wrong?" Later we figured out her problem. We were able to teach her that because Christ had already suffered for everything we have already done we can always go to Him and He will guide us along the way. She is looking for a way out. I told her that it was by Jesus Christ she could overcome it. She said she was going to come to church. She was unable to though. Hopefully we can help her feel that spirit to help her know the truth and help her receive those blessings.

We were talking to Sonia a while ago. She had a goal to be baptized on the 16th of December. She told us that she wants the support of her husband and family.  Elder Burrup and I decided to sit down with her husband. He is actually a member of the church. He got baptized when he was nine and then never really went to church after that. We are trying to get him all psyched about going back to church again. We taught him a few good lessons on the Doctrine of Christ and the reason why we go to church. Yeah, it's a commandment that we should go, but more than that it's an opportunity to partake of the sacrament and to renew the covenant we made at baptism. We can be made clean again because Christ suffered every sin for us. Because of that we can become clean and worthy to live with our Heavenly Father again. As we were teaching him, he got excited and said he was going to talk to Sonia. We showed up to help them get to church the next day and the husband was there, but Sonia had left. He said he wasn't going either. We were disappointed of course. We know that we can get them to church. It's gonna take work but we can do it.

We are also teaching Rosio still. She said she was possibly going to go to church, but she was unable to come. She is reading from the Book of Mormon though, so she is doing well. We are just struggling to find her. We will do it though.

Oh, a cool experience about some new people we found to teach. We decided to knock some doors in a random area. We got to the complex and I saw an open door out in the distance. I told Elder Burrup to follow me. We knocked it. They were a little apprehensive at first about listening to us. Then we got in the house and started to teach them about the restoration. Then it went into the Atonement and how their problems could be solved by it. It was really cool to see the spirit change their demeanor about us. They really enjoyed it. They said they would accept to read the Book of Mormon and pray. It was a cool experience.

I know that this is the Lord’s work. I know that it is true. Although we may have our struggles, whether it would be to find people to teach as missionaries, or trying to find guidance to a question as members. God will help us with these things. But what we need to do first is "seek ye first the kingdom of God." Then God will give us all the things we need. I know that to be true. I know that as we obey the commandments. Heavenly Father will guide us, because we will have the spirit with us. If we can always have the spirit, we will know all things that we must do. I know that to be true. I say that in the name of Jesus Christ amen.

Elder Dallin M. Ollerton