Week 43-March 21, 2016

Week 43-March 21, 2016

Sup fambam?! (lydia i like that- im gunna steal that from you)

This week was great! some of the highlights probably include meeting a girl from South Africa named Lisa and teaching her twice this week. Another highlight was Christianas confirmation! A member of the ward that has participated in her teaching since the very beginning confirmed her and right when he started, her little 2 year old boy in her lap started crying and screaming. I prayed that he would be calm and stop screaming and soon after, he was quiet and stayed completely quiet for the rest of the confirmation. It was neat. another HUGE highlight is that Vladamir said he wants to be baptised!!!! I know its probably confusing to hear all the different reports about him and his family each week but he has made huge progress and seems to have turned a corner. He says he will pick a week in April, and we are so excited for him and the kids. Nagaret said the most beautiful prayer in our lesson with her and Vladamir this week. She prayed that Vladamir and Leo and Andrea would be baptised and join the church with her because she knows how much them and their family would be blessed if they did. It touched me so much to hear a mother pray for her husband and kids with so much confidence and faith that they would be blessed for following her example. you could feel how sincerely she meant every word. being able to witness her conversion and now her family's is a blessing that i will forever be grateful for. so hopeful ill have some good news to report about that situation by next week. they came to church as well this week. another highlight was interviewing a hungarian girl in her 20's for baptism just yesterday in Southend. Her testimony was amazing. She repeatedly told him how much she could feel that this church was true and that joseph smith really restored the church of Jesus Christ. As she told me how much happier she has been since she has been coming, i couldnt help but agree and realise how happy i am when i come to church as well. the love and the spirit that is everywhere on a sunday morning in the chapels is the same everywhere you go and is such a good way to spiritually and emotionally just recharge after a long week. she is so ready to be baptised and she invited us to go so on saturday we will hopefully see that happen. Also, another huge highlight was a miracle that occurred in Ilford (east east london.. an area that is part of our zone) this past week. To cut a long story short, a portugese speaking woman and her 12 year old son who the sisters have been teaching decided she wanted to be baptised (with her son) this saturday through a miracle and as an answer to so many prayers from me and my companion and the sisters teaching her and the members of the Ilford ward who know her. Elder Silva will interview her and her son tonight and possibly will be baptising her as well this saturday so this weekend will be an amazing one as long as everything goes well. 

other than that, things are good in Bas Vegas. (what we lovingly refer to Basildon as). dad, we find people in the town centre street contacting (where we met Lisa) and also by tracting, you are right it is far less densely populated so we do some of that as well. to be honest, the amount of time i spend finding now has dropped dramatically since leaving london though. partly because of responsibilities as zone leaders but also because of the different style of missionary work in a town with houses and neighborhoods. we visit less actives and members and try to do some finding through that as well and so we dont street contact nearly as much as i used to. I think my time in london was a bit of a refiners fire and now that i have passed through the flames things are very different. By the way, be careful with that hedging job i know what you mean. just hire someone- as my economics teacher taught me, the marginal benefit outweighs the marginal cost of you having a bad accident. Hahaha but thats up to you of course. i just dont want to come home to find you in a cast. also, i loved the story of the three students who are your fans and wanted to take a pic and thank you for your online lectures. and mom, i laughed at your statement about politics and how passionate you are yet that you are hesitant to become contentious if you engage yourself too much in them. man... i can remember mitt romney and obama's election like it was yesterday and how much i would hear about it everyday in the car as you gave me rides to my different things. also, lydia, yes that was really impromptu and i only got to practice with them 2 times right before the meeting but it was super fun. i cant wait to hear your singing when i get home.

so good to hear that everyone is doing well! this is the last week of the transfer so my time in basildon may be coming to an end or i may stay one more transfer... we will see. i would be heartbroken if i left but it is up to the Lord and HIs servants so Hakuna Matata as i like to say. i know that prayers can be answered and are answered- i also know that when we pray, we are aligning our will with God's will and putting ourselves in a position to see things as He sees them. it helps us so much, just as it helps those we are praying for. it helps us become who He wants us to be, so keep praying. and pray sincerely and earnestly and with all sincerity of heart and all the energy of your heart and as the scriptures say, they will be heard and answered too. that i know to be true. I love you all so very much and i pray always for you! Mom, I got the package and i LOVE it so much. i havent looked through the basket yet though dont worry... i just wore the green light up st patricks day glasses and put them on whenever i am driving around. i think my companion probably thinks im the biggest goober alive but i think theyre so awesome.ill attach some sweet selfies for you mom. also, thanks for the pics from facebook.

Love,

Elder TJ drizzles