ELDER WISE IS ONE YEAR OLD!!! - Monday, Sept 1, 2014

Hello family! 

This week was great! We were able to get 4 Investigators to church! 3 of them have baptismal dates in September! One of them was there for the first time and he LOVED IT! He was taking intense notes in his study journal in all three blocks! Right now we have baptisms lined up for 3 weeks in a row. I'm excited to see them progress! Someone from my last area in the Tucson North Stake called me the other day, and said she was getting baptized and she wants me to baptize her! It's so exciting to hear that she is progressing. She has such a strong testimony now. The things she said that she believed, she was bible bashing with when I was there. 

Well we all know that when there is spiritual progress, there is always opposition. And that opposition is the U of A. School started last week, and I'm sure you all have heard that the U of A is a pretty big party school. Our small apartment complex is right next to campus. haha! This week there was a sorority party right outside our window. It was terrible. It was like Sodom and Gomorrah. DON'T LOOK BACK! But now our area and down town is terrible with traffic and TONS of people. Being in the college atmosphere is pretty exciting, but we can't get distracted. On Friday there was a U of A game and we are right next to the stadium so we heard the game go on all night. 

Our first Investigator is Robert, who is the fiance of a member who has been interested in the church. Then we have John, who is really big into alcohol and drugs, but he has committed to live the Work of Wisdom and ever since then every time we see him we can see him getting cleaner and cleaner and stronger and stronger both physically and spiritually. Then Juan, who is amazing. He is someone who has truly been prepared by the Lord. We have taught him twice so far and Saturday night he called us and said, you know what guys, I've been thinking a lot about what you guys have told me and I've come to a conclusion... I though he was going to drop us right there, but then we said that this is where he belongs and this is where he is going to stay. He already believes that the Book of Mormon is the Word of God, and that Joseph Smith is a prophet. He is amazing. He shared with us what he has gone through, and truly he has been prepared. 

This week, we had a member of the Second quorum of the Seventy come and address our mission. His name was Elder Malm, from Sweden. He told us that the purpose of missionary work is to gather Israel, the elect of God, and the elect are people who have been prepared to receive the restored gospel. But how do we know who the elect is?? They don't hold a sign on the side of the road that says I'm the elect, so how do we tell? We need to talk to as many people as possible. That's our job as full time missionaries, and that is your job as member missionaries. To talk with and invite as many people as possible. As we do so, we will hasten the work of gathering Israel and preparing the world for the return of Jesus Christ. I love you all, and have a great week!