THE MOST STRESSFUL/SPIRITUAL WEEK EVER!!!

Hey Family!

So how was your week? Mine was the most stressful/spiritual week ever! I'll save the best for last so i'll talk about the stress part first! So if anyone ever thinks that as a missionary the spirit just follows you around 24/7 no matter what......you are wrong! I thought that for a long time but a missionary has to strive for that spirit just like anyone else. This is why effective studies are so important. If you don't have a spiritual experience when you study where you are learning from the spirit it can throw off the rest of your day. So it can be really stressful as a missionary when you feel like you do not have the spirit with you, because you can't teach without it. (D&C 42:14) Times like that are hard but they are necessary because they teach me the importance of constant prayer and constantly "treasuring up the word" in my heart. Helps me stay focused! Anyways...Elder Boyer and I were able to have some bomb experiences the last couple of days! It all started with one of our investigators named T who is a straight up G! Well he used to be...but now he is livin' the family life. He has a girlfriend and 3 kids together with her. He also had a baptismal date for this next saturday. So we knew before he got baptized we needed to teach him the law of Chastity and either get them married or one of them moved out. We were pretty nervous for this lesson because it was kind of a make or break deal. So we went over there on friday and we had plan to teach him a different lesson, not the law of chastity, but the spirit told us we should teach him it right there so we did.....more like the spirit did. We didn't do that much but thankfully the spirit was able to testify to him and it is a commandment of God. He told us he needed to obey it and he wanted to so he could get baptized! It was awesome!! I don't think Elder boyer and i ever talked less in a lesson and yet I don't think more was ever accomplished than in that lesson. I literally watched T get taught by the spirit, I saw a change working within him. My testimony and faith in the spirit grew a lot during that lesson. I had another cool experience with T after church on Sunday. So during church I felt prompted to set up an appointment with him and Bishop for right after 3rd hour. I didn't know why or what they were going to talk about but I knew they needed to talk! So after Priesthood I brought T into Bishops office and us 3 sat down and started talking for a little bit. Bishop Mcgrath asked T if there was anything he needed and then all of a sudden T teared up and started telling Bishop about his life and how he wants to be better but he doesn't think he can. Bishop told T that he sees him being a Bishop one day, and this completely shocked T. I don't think anyone has ever had confidence in him like that before. T started crying and Bishop and I almost did too! This is a guy that had lived a life out on the streets in a gang since he was like 12! Now he is 35 and he was able to find hope in himself changing. It was a pretty crazy experience. One more spiritual story: C, the balla, the homie, our awesome investigator,  finally was able to get his wife J to church today. J is pretty awesome but super hard headed. She refused to go to church and she is just really stubborn. Her personality reminds me a lot of Christies for some reason. ha ha I don't know why. But anyways I am pretty sure she is one of the people I was supposed to find on my mission. She finally went to church yesterday! So last friday when we were over at C and J's they got in an argument about something and J was like punching C (another reason she reminds me of Christie), and ya, C and j do not get along well at all. But when they went to church they were both able to feel the spirit really strong and it brought them so much closer together! They really were 2 different people after church. And we went over to their house yesterday evening and there was a new spirit in their home. We taught them the Plan of Salvation and it the spirit completely gave Elder Boyer and I the words to say. Afterwards J asked for a Priesthood Blessing to quit smoking. If you could have seen the look on our faces when she asked for that blessing! When we fist taught J about the Priesthood 2 weeks ago she just laughed out loud and told us we were insane! Now here she was asking for a blessing. I have been able to watch the spirit change peoples heart right in front of me this week! It has been so awesome! I love these experiences I am having. I love the people I meet out here and am so grateful for them! I love you too family and pray for you individually throughout the day. I am so grateful for all you do for me. Remember to strive for a spriritual experience everyday. SEE YA!