1/28/15

Last week my theme and most of my blog was about service. We ended up having a total of 9 hours of service! Four of the nine hours we spent building a house for the brother of one of our investigators. We had a lesson with her in the morning and saw that her brother was building a house next to hers, so after the lesson we hurried home, changed into grubby clothes, and returned ready to get dirty and build a house! It is times like those I am thankful for the things my dad taught me, being a son of a man who constructs houses and pretty much knows how to make anything he wants. I surprised myself that I knew as much as I did. My companion knew even more, especially because we were building a "Dominican" house haha... It was hard work in the sun, but I got to serve and get a better farmers tan! So it was a great experience and hopefully we have a new investigator! I mean, he better be willing to let us teach him now! :)

So as missionaries, we have days like that, filled with great experiences, great lessons, and everything is awesome. Then we have days like Monday that kind of, well, suck. Monday started off like this... We were walking down the main street of Los Cocos, when we saw our best investigator who also has a baptism date for next month, with a cup of beer in her hands. She saw us and we all 3 half smiled and half waved as we kept walking to our next appointment. When we turned the corner, I said, "Elder... Our flipping investigator with a baptism date for next month is drinking..."  "I know. What should we do!?" My comp replied. We were devastated. We have been trying to have a lesson with her or at least talk with her ever since, but she hasn't been there. The worst part is that she has done so much to change her life for the better and live the gospel to the fullest and even rejected her boyfriend from living with her again when he came back because she didn't want to break the law of chastity. So please keep her in your prayers!

That's not even half of the bad news from that day. Our next lesson was with another one of our investigators who wants to get baptized and loves church, however has a boyfriend that she lives with. When we asked her why she didn't come to church this past Sunday, she told us it was because she saw someone going to church with us who she doesn't like, so she didn't come. That someone just so happens to be her cousin... So that's another problem we have to deal with. Then, we got a call from the investigator of the sisters in our ward who has a baptism date for this Saturday. He is really close with me so he wanted to talk. He said he is depressed and doesn't know if he should get baptized this Saturday anymore. (I am baptizing him this Saturday) So that too was a big bummer. Then we had a lesson with a less active who I have been working with since I got here. I asked her why she got baptized and her answer was, "I don't know." We asked her if she got an answer to her prayers if the church was true. Her answer was, "No." We then asked her if she ever prayed to know if this was the true church. Her answer was again, "No." So when we left that lesson, you could say we were super interested in seeing who the heck baptized her! That really ticked me off. People aren't numbers! This is Salvation missionaries, not a dang game!

Some other things happened to but the bad news isn't important. What is important is we have to work even harder and pray a little more. So please keep my investigators, especially my investigator who has a date for next month. I would also greatly appreciate it if you all fasted for them this Sunday for fast Sunday!

To bring back the good mood into this email, the elders and the sisters both have investigators who are getting baptized this Saturday and their investigators both have asked me to baptize them! So I am super stoked and honored!

Love you all!

Elder Greer

 

 Me and my comp doing the dishes after a meal with Ruth, the girl I baptized.