Hey everyone!
Before anything else...HAPPY BIRTHDAY KURT!
Kurt, Maddie, and Lindsey all look so much more mature every week. It's always exciting and fun to see little ratitos (I can't think of an English word for it) through videos and photos. I probably say all that in every email but that's because it's true. I hope you're having a great birthday, Kurt. I hope you're all well in Hurricane Sandy right now; Elder Smith has friends on the East Coast who are bracing for the storm too. I remember Hurricane Ivan and how fun it was just to hang out in the house together without power, all while missing school haha. Let me know how it all went in next week's email!
A few interesting things have happened this week:
Our investigator, "I," has been investigating "too much" haha. He reminds me of Jacob 4:14 where Jacob says that the Jews "procuraron coasas que no podían entender. Por tanto, a causa de su ceguedad, la cual vino por traspasar lo señalado, es menester que caigan; porque Dios les ha quitado su claridad y les ha entregado muchas cosas que no pueden entender, porque así lo desearon; y porque así lo desearon, Dios lo ha hecho, a fin de que tropiecen." (seeked things that they could not understand. Behold, because of their stiffneckedness, which came by looking beyond the mark, it is necessary that they fall; because God has taken away his clarity and has delivered unto them many things that they cannot understand, because they desired it; and because they desired it, God has done it, so that they stumble. -- rough translation). That is basically what has happened to him. He comes every Sunday and likes meeting with us, but he usually points out points where our doctrine doesn't meet what he thinks it should be based on his studies. Also, he apparently had a dream where he said that a person came to him and told him the Church isn't true but that he will become a great leader in another church and that he should continue to come to our ward to bring people from the Church to his church. Sounds similar to Korihor's story in my opinion haha. For the moment, Elder Smith and I are being very loving to him, because he's still a really nice guy and I care about him a lot. But we'll see what happens to him. We'll try to steer him back to the path, but right now it looks like he doesn't want to be guided by anything except his studies of the scriptures.
Our other good investigator, "A," has definitely felt the Spirit, and he is an honest seeker of truth. But, the reality that the Church is true has scared him because he said that he had to change his beliefs from the Catholic faith to the Evangelical, and now he's afraid because if the Church is true, some of the things he has deeply believed from the Evangelical church are wrong. We're simply giving him a little space but staying in contact to make sure he knows that we're first and foremost his friends and we want what's best for him. Hopefully he'll come around.
We have been contacting more lately, especially since my Spanish has improved. I'll often go up and start talking to people first now. The Lord has been blessing us with new investigators and we'll see what happens this week. Inner city missionary work is tough! Unfortunately, not many people have been accepting us or they have not been staying with us very long. But, it's all part of the Lord's plan and it's all in His hands. It comforts me to know that.
So much is always happening here but, regrettably, I can't share it all. I hope that that is good enough for this week.
Thank you for your prayers and for the support you're always giving me. I wish I could do more for you but I'm assuming that in all your eyes, I'm doing a lot for you. I hope that's the case! I'm happy that I can be doing a lot for the people here. :)
Kurt, know that I'm praying for you very hard and I've been conversing with the Lord a lot about you. There is a quote from President Monson that I was recently reminded of. It is, "Your future is as bright as your faith." So have faith to be happy, to always look forward with clean hands and a pure heart, and to receive all things with thankfulness. You're super bakan, Kurt. I'm grateful for your example and your faith.
I love you all so much. Maddie and Lindsey, you both are so beautiful and shining lights to everyone around you. I miss you both so much.
I love and miss you Mom and Dad!!!
Mucho mucho amor,
Elder Hill
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