Well hello! This week has been very different than many other weeks! The main reason being last Monday we had to drop off our car at a car restoration place to repaint most of the car, and they said we would be out of a car for a week! Previous Elders brought it through a car wash and it got a ton of scratches on it. So Elder Dally and I were the lucky ones that got to go without a car for a week, in an area that is so big that bikes simply could not cover it. Anyway, I was very pleased that when we needed to get out of town to go see our investigators, less actives, or recent converts there was always a member willing to take us out and help us.
Even with all this help there was a lot of time left to fill and until Saturday our bikes were out of commission. So it whoever we saw had to be in walking distance. We did a good amount of service and tracting. But it seemed like a constant question at night who are we going to go see now? But somehow as we prayed to know where to go and what to do, our time was filled and things worked out. We have 2 return appointments with people we tracted into, and brought some banana bread to another family we tracted into that didn't give us a return appointment but did allow us in that night. And they seemed to appreciate that!
Like last night after church we had about 2 1/2 hours to fill and we were not about to tract for that long. We knew we could do something more productive at that time. While we walked around town we stopped by a very high potential that the sisters have been trying to meet with but she was never home. Well we tried and lo and behold she was home! We couldn't go inside but we talked to her and said the sisters would be stopping by soon if they can. And she was happy about that and said they are always welcome. We then walked a little bit down the road and the sisters pulled off the road because they saw us, and we told them that Elaine (that lady) was home and they should stop by and they did and got to teach her. They said it went well and they were planning to stop by again this week! So one miracle right there, but as we decided to tract, we had planned to tract a street on the opposite side of town the night before as a back-up. Well instead of just tracting where we were, we went down to the street and we found a lady about 15 minutes into tracting who had talked with Elders briefly before and let us in. We talked with her and about her religion and really how similar her beliefs were with ours. (Episcopalian) We transitioned that into the restoration and without asking if she wanted to know about our church we just started teaching and got through most of it in about 5 or 7 minutes and gave her a restoration DVD to watch and set up a time for us to come back and talk more and answer any questions she had about the movie. We will be seeing her on Thursday!
So yeah, there were multiple miracles that made our days full of things to do and people to see when we at first did not see how it would all work out. But it did!
A quick update on Brother Carlson our progressing investigator. He is doing awesome! When we met with him, he said he hasn't received a clear answer, but that it still all seems right to him. But the things that amazed me was that he said he knows that Joesph Smith was a prophet! I was like, "Well then dude, you know its all true then!!!!!" haha, but I still think he is going to get an answer that will touch him so that he will know that everything else is true as well! He said that baptism is going to be quite the physical ordeal, because he is 400+ lbs, 83 years old, and is practically wheel chair bound. But I then asked him a question, "So Norm, if you had your 18 year old body would you be baptized?" After going on for a minute of everything he could do at 18 (diver, swimmer, athlete, etc,) He responded, "Yes, yes I would." We were all like, "Well then, we can work with that! Let us figure out an easier way and we will tell you our ideas next week." He was good with that, and said he will keep praying too! SO yeah he is sweet. We have brainstormed a little with our Branch Mission Leader and also with Bro. Duffy, who is in the Branch Presidency and always goes out teaching with us with to Norm, and we have a few ideas that will work.
Anyway it is an exciting place to be, and I really hope in these next 2 weeks we will increase our teaching pool with multiple new investigators!
This week I wrote out 11 pages of my thoughts on Elder Nielson's talks I heard last week, and what I learned at Zone Conference. It should be in the mail today to be sent home! Hope it gets there soon.
I couldn't find my camera this morning. I know I need to send home some pictures so I think I might send home my SD card this week. If not, I will for sure send pictures next week some how! hahaha
I love you guys and appreciate all the prayers!
-Elder Swalberg
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