Hello!!
This week went pretty good. (:
Bro. Larry Peluso ended up not making it to church, unfortunately. ): But we did set up a time to meet with him this week on Wednesday. We are doing our best to help him be ready for the 30th. He is still set with that date, so that's good.
We had a "hand off" lesson with Linda this week along with the Conejo Canyon Elders and a couple other members. We had the lesson at the church building. It was a really spiritual lesson, as we taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We ended off the lesson by singing a hymn, and the spirit was so strong. She was very touched by the song. She still ended up coming to our sacrament meeting yesterday, because the Conejo Canyon ward's time is really inconvenient for her. If she comes to our meeting at 9 am she can stay for sacrament and Sunday school, but if she comes at 11 am she would only be able to stay for half of sacrament meeting, due to taking care of her son at home, and taking him places where he needs to be... poo. So we are trying to work that out with her. But she came to our gospel principles class and we had a good lesson on the Holy Ghost. We got there and we realized that our gospel principles teacher wasn't even there, so we jumped up and started teaching something (: It was great. The spirit was really strong.
We had a lesson with Jarred Sullivan this week as well. We read part of 2 Nephi 31 with him and we really focused on bearing our testimonies to him of the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith and the Restoration, etc. At the end of the lesson we invited him to live a 'Mormon lifestyle" (no coffee or smoking, coming to church, etc.) but he said he didn't know if he could do it and he didn't want to commit. We then told him that we didn't expect him to do it perfectly but to simply try. (that sounds too harsh... it didn't sound that harsh during the lesson! haha.) So we are going to follow up with him this week.
We taught a potential investigator named Jack. It's amazing seeing others feel the spirit and having their hearts soften right in front of you! It was really cool, when we first started talking to him we asked him if he had read any of the Book of Mormon that past missionaries had left with him, and he said that he had read a little and he was really skeptical about it, but after bearing testimony to him and explaining about it a little bit more, he opened up to it more and said he'd read and pray about it. It's amazing what the spirit can do!
Elder Navarrete is doing good. He is getting better each day, as I have mentioned before. The adjustment to missionary life is slowly but surely settling in. He is turning out to be a very good teacher, and he takes control right away in a lot of teaching situations, so he is doing well. It's amazing to be witnessing his growth! He still doesn't smile too much, but we are working on that (: haha.
We had exchanges with the Conejo Canyon Elders this week. I went with Elder Carratini and it was really great. His laugh is soooooooo funny! It makes me laugh so hard everytime I here it. He is from Nebraska and we had a good day. During our studies I had a really cool epiphany (for lack of a better term). Everything comes back to charity in some way, no matter what it is. Especially with Christlike attributes. If you have charity you will be patient. If you have charity, you will have hope. If you have charity, you will be diligent. If you have charity, you will be obedient. It's amazing! I don't know why I didn't realize that earlier... But yeah, although he is very near to the end of his mission, he is still working really hard, which is great. He is going home in 2 weeks.
Oh yeah! We went to seminary this past Friday!! It was awesome (: it started at 6 am.... ugh. Tiring! but it was really good (: we talked mostly to the Freshman and it was really good. The teacher just had us bare testimony about how we came to know the Book of Mormon was true, and I explained how it was like a seed. You need three things for a seed to grow: Soil (a good church), Water (scriptures) and sunlight (prayer). you also need diligence and patience to help a seed grow. You need to diligently water the seed everyday and be patient for it's growth. I told the class that the first few times I read and prayed about the BoM I was frustrated because I didn't get that burning in the bosom. But through that diligence and patience, I eventually got that promised feeling and I now know without a doubt that this is the truth.
Thank you so much for all that you do for me! I love and miss you so much! I hope to hear from you soon (: Thank you for all your love and support! It means more than the world to me! I love you and express my love to the rest of the family (: Talk to you next week!
Elder Teeples
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