Tuesday, June 14, 2016

The Book of Mormon is so powerful! It truly softens hearts!

 June 13, 2016

Oh man...another super busy week in Van Nuys. Oh and we finally got our mirror back!! That was a highlight for sure.

Michael finally had his baptismal interview with the Bishop! The Bishop said that he just needs a refresher on The Word of Wisdom. When he was asked what the Word of Wisdom was he said  "Don't smoke weeeeed!". Hahahaha he forgot about tea, coffee, alcohol, and tobacco...but at least he got the weed part right? He's so close! Just one more lesson and he will be 100% ready for baptism. I'm so excited for him. Two months ago he didn't want to be baptized at all, but children are so humble and in tune with the Holy Ghost. It's been amazing watching the light turn on in his eyes as the Spirit testifies to him that what we are saying is true. This week we were talking about always recognizing Jesus Christ and keeping our covenants we make at baptism. He was sitting on the couch writing on a piece of paper so we thought he wasn't listening. But then he raised his hand and started reading what he had written on his paper. It was his testimony. That was a really spiritual moment for everyone, especially his mom. He's made so much progress.

We found a new investigator this week named Albert! He's from Armenia and is such a cool guy. He told us that his mother had just passed away a month ago from cancer and that he wasn't sure he was going to see her again. We testified that he would see his mother again and started teaching him the Plan of Salvation. He had SO many questions. More questions than anyone I have ever taught before. He liked our message but said that is was hard for him to believe so we asked if we could come back and bring him a Book of Mormon in Armenian so he could read it and get an answer from the Holy Ghost that what we taught was the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. He said yes and then invited us over for dinner yesterday haha! So we talked about the Plan of Salvation over dinner and became his friends. Then he told us his wife owns a hair salon and told us to come in and get free hair cuts! He's such a homie haha! Elder Silva and I are super excited to work with him and hopefully his family as well!

Brother Solis and the Boatman's came to church this week!! Hopefully they keep coming regularly. Church is a crucial part in building a testimony, receiving spiritual guidance and lasting conversion. I hope they come to realize that soon.

We met with Leo Rodriguez again this week and the coolest thing happened!! He showed up to the lesson with his 11 year old son Matthew who isn't a member. He told us how he has started reading the Book of Mormon ever since we stopped by that one day and that the story of the tree of life really hit home for him and that he wanted his family to experience the joys of the Gospel just like Lehi wanted for his family. The Book of Mormon is so powerful! It truly softens hearts!

We also taught Daniel this week. We talked about temples and families and how we can be sealed together forever. We also talked about how we can perform baptisms for the dead. He loved that because his Dad died a little while back and he is worried he will never see him again. The Gospel brings so much comfort...some people are just to hard hearted to see that. We're going to try and get Daniel on date this week! He's been praying for an answer for so long now...we just need to get him to read the Book of Mormon more.

Those are just some of the highlights from our week. Hope you all have an awesome week of summer!

Elder Jensen



We took American flag pics because Elder Silva is Canadian.  He is leaving this Wednesday to go back to Canada to get the paperwork stamped that he needs to stay in the U.S.