Week 85

Preparation Day fun at a trampoline facility.

Horses!

It's been a while since we have had horses!

Zone Conference

Hey family and friends!!  I hope you have had a great week!  Today was a really fun P-day (Preparation Day)!  We went to a trampoline place and played trampoline dodgeball and then went bowling!

This past week went really well! We had zone conference and interviews with the President which went really well. At the end of my discussion with President Cahoon, we talked about my last 3 months on the mission and I told him I want to stay in the Valley of the Flowers ward and in the office. After all, it's hard to teach an old dog (like me) new tricks (like a new ward/area) and besides, I am very happy where I am. We shall see what happens! 

Tomorrow and Sunday we have Stake Conference! We are very excited to hear talks from the Monterrey temple President and a member of the 70 from Venezuela. It should be super great! Let's hope that all of the families we are teaching go! 

The most spritual experience of the last week was a lesson with Rocio and Karen we had! Rocio is a single mom who lives with her 17 year old daughter Karen. Karen loves mutal and has a super strong testimony of the gospel. Due to Rocio's busy work schedule, they have gone to church and mutual more times than we have taught them! It is the first time in my mission that this has happened. Usually, people need us to go to their houses to teach them on several occasions, and usually with members in order for them to commit to coming to church but Rocio and Karen are super different and super special! They went to church after the first time we taught them! Also, Karen has had a broken ankle for the last month that they have been going to church and has been going to church on crutches. She loves the youth church activites so much that she even went to a stake dance on crutches! 

On Wednesday afternoon, Elder Lopez and I taught them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In a few words, the gospel provides the way to be clean from sins to be able to return to live with our Heavenly Father. If we develop faith in Christ, repent of our sins, get baptized, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and stay faithful to his commandments and seek to emulate Christ in all we do, God promises eternal life with him. We taught Rocio and Karen the plan and then invited them to follow it by repenting of their sins and getting baptized next Saturday and they accepted! We weren't sure if they were going to accept, (we never are), but were suprised when teenage Karen said, ''I know that if I get baptized next Saturday, I will make a promise to follow Christ and I will NOT fail him''. 

I was honestly blow away by the faith and conviction of Karen. It truly testified to me that we can do anything we put our minds too with the help of Christ. Never forget the comforting words in Philippians 4:13, ''I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me''. I love the mission!

Have a great week!
Elder Shipley