Hoorah! Chase Slade, our investigator we told you about last week, decided he wanted to be baptized this past weekend because he didn't want to wait! So it was an incredibly bust week. After FHE, we taught Chase the Plan of Salvation and set his baptismal date for the 22nd at 7 pm. I'll get to that later :) After FHE we played Ultimate Frisbee with the ward because we had two investigators and less actives there. We played in our pros clothes (church clothes) and got some sweet grass stains! We go all out.
I never get tired of service. One of the members in our ward called and asked if we could help him with spreading mulch and gravel. We went about 2 in the afternoon and it was in the 90's so it was really hot! His name is Joe Weitz (who was the one who drove us all the way to the Indian reservation). The Weitz family has a HUGE garden and property. Every vegetable you could think of. We were asked to make a walkway probably about 20 yards long and 5 feet wide. The borders were railways ties, so we had fun moving those! We shoveled gravel as the walkway and it turned out pretty nice :) His mom got us ICEE's and later on in the week, Joe took us out to Fuddruckers for dinner. So good! Later, we taught Chase the 3rd Discussion (The Gospel of Jesus Christ) and then the Word of Wisdom in the same night! We were going rapid fire with him.
Wednesday was the best Zone Leader Training I've experienced so far. I was asked to give a discussion, but wasn't given a topic. After some prayer and study, I felt like I should talk about what it means to "Cry repentance unto this people (D&C 18)." The Spirit was incredible , I loved it. Lots of great lessons. Later we met up at the church with Chase to talk about the Law of Chastity and Tithing. Chase taught US. He had read the pamphlets, studied them, and all we really had to do was say, "Amen!" Such a stud. We drove up to the Heights (East Billings), to teach a lesson to a new investigator named Dillon. He is on the third discussion as well, but seems to only be doing it for his girlfriend because he won't commit to anything. I know first hand, that that is not something we should pursue...
However, we FINALLY got to have an appointment with Tim. He is the investigator who comes to all activities, is best friends with members of the ward, and lives with his grandparents who are Mormon. He's pretty rough looking but has come to church twice. We taught him at Josh Smith's house (our EQP) and just shared a thought on Faith. He isn't sure if God exists but because of recent events it opened his eyes juuuuust a little bit.
Thursday we gave Chase the baptismal questions at the temple! On the grounds, we went over the questions so that we could teach him anything we didn't cover well. He was SO ready. After that, we went to visit a less active and ended up moving his Piano into their new house.
Transfers have begun...And the office is so chaotic! I have so much work to do online for President it's crazy! I now keep track of President's calendar, interviews, phone contacts, baptisms, and track bikes. It's super awesome but a big responsibility! Recently Presidents phone contacts have been disappearing...and we found that another senior couple has their phone synced with his iCloud, and they've been deleting so many contacts and changing them! Making it very fun for me :) We disabled their phone haha. Chase had his interview with the District Leader Elder Palazzo and was all set to go! Friday night we got a call from a guy named Roberto. Apparently, he called the mission home and wanted to know about the singles ward. After meeting him at a park, it turns out that Roberto has only been a member for a few months. He grew up in LA and was a hard core gang member...to get away from that, he moved to Richmond, VA and the same thing happened. He joined the military and was involved in an accident in Iraq that caused him to lose his Achilles tendon, and destroyed part of his brain which now causes him to have seizures. He googled the nearest church and lo and behold it was the Mormons! he is thinking about moving here to Montana and wanted to check it out. So, he came to Chase's baptism and church Sunday!
FIRST BAPTISM! Dun dun dun. First of all, it was the last Saturday of the transfer, so we got to go to the Temple with our Zone. I received so much revelation about the pre-existence and understanding the adversary. The more we know about him, the more prepared we are to beat him! Afterwards we helped some non-members both move out, and move-in to a new home. Moved two entertainment centers by hand...I'm sore :) Once home, we changed and went to the church to building to fill up the font. It is SUPER old fashioned and was pretty large. So, we left it running and went to our dinner appointment. Two girls in the ward took us out for Sushi! I still haven't tried it yet, they all shoveled it down before I could. But I did get an extremely good Salmon. We raced back to the church hoping that the font wasn't flooding the church. Luckily it wasn't! It was full and ready to go an hour before the baptism! Which is perfect...except the water turned Luke-warm :/ Felt bad about that. I swear half the ward showed up. People were standing because there was no room left in the Relief Society room! Chase was baptized by his best friend Tyler Nelson. It reminded me of Baptizing Dom and what an amazing experience that was. The Spirit was so strong. When everyone left, we couldn't figure out how to drain the font...It didn't seem to drain for the 30 minutes we waited. So we left it over night and luckily it was empty the next day haha.
Chase was confirmed in Sacrament meeting and was told in his blessing to serve a mission! This was given by our Bishop and we stood in. It's a neat feeling. Chase ALREADY PAYED HIS TITHING and his records aren't even finished! Something else cool in Sacrament was that a set of twins were both called to California speaking Mandarin Chinese. Tim came to church the last two hours and we taught him the Restoration after church. I know he feels the Spirit but he doesn't want to accept that feeling quite yet.
So it was an amazing week! Very productive and spiritual. Elder Bonaro and I are staying in Rimrock another transfer! WOOOOOO! I was so happy to hear that. Can you believe I've been out 5 months and will have been out 6 months by the end of the transfer? Almost a 1/4 done already! Sounds like Torie is going to be exhausted from the past few weeks of non-stop spiritual awesomeness! Jesse is becoming more like me every day! :D I don't know if that's a good or bad thing...but it is great to be ambidextrous! I'm pretty sure I've missed like 5 reunions so far haha. I'm missing another one! Thank you for your journal entree's dad, they help! And mom thank you so much for that letter, it came at a critical time! I will right back asap!
Spiritual Thoughts:
"You can't put on the Helmet of Salvation without putting on the Breastplate of Righteousness"
"The Sword of the Spirit is our only attack weapon, and it's the very first thing that Satan makes us put down."
"If you were accused of being Mormon, would there be enough evidence to convict you?"
"The shield of Faith can guard every part of your body...even if you only have faith to rely on, it is sufficient until you can regain the rest of your armor."
"The next time Satan reminded you of your past, remind Him of his future." Matthew 25: 41
Pictures:
Billings MT Temple
Bonaro, Tyler Nelson, Chase Slade, Me
Me with Chase Slade
Elder Wasden, Elder Bonaro, Me, Elder Payne (the Zone Leaders). Gatorade Gang.
Assistants to the president- Elder Davis and Elder Olsen
Me and Elder Bonaro