Blessings, Blessings

Ladies and gentlemen,

The Lord truly blesses the long-suffering and patient. This past week has been one of miracles, and Elder Kowalk and I are very excited about this upcoming week. 

So let's get started with one particular kid, who is 17, and the boyfriend of a young woman in our small branch. He started coming with her to seminary, and then to Mutual, and then to church meetings. She's answered whatever questions he's had about the gospel, but any choices he's made to follow the commandments have been by himself. 

She told him about the Word of Wisdom, and he started to follow it without her asking. We asked to begin teaching him the lessons, and he eagerly accepted. This past week and a half, we've taught him all the lessons. We committed him to a date, June 23, but he didn't want to wait so long, so he rescheduled to a bit of an earlier time. We're baptizing him this Saturday, June 9! We can't wait! His parents support him all the way. He's been awesome, and loves reading the Book of Mormon. Blessings, blessings.

 

The part-member family is pushing US to teach them lessons, too. Once we're done with bike week this week, we can teach them more often, and hopefully we'll get a date for them as well.

 

We scheduled a date with the fellow from California for July 7. We're working hard with him, helping him to prepare for that date. He's got some stuff to work on, but nothing impossible. He's going through some very difficult trials, and we're doing our best to help him slow down and look at the big picture of his future while he stays in the homeless shelter here in West Memphis.

 

Life has been interesting. I won't have any pictures for you guys this week (I accidentally left my memory card somewhere, but I'll get it back tomorrow morning), so all the cool pictures and stories will have to wait for a bit. 

The weather is getting crazy and humid. A storm kept Elder Kowalk and me awake last night, along with the blaring weather radio with its sirens. On top of that, after we finally crawled out of bed, we found our entire lower bodies covered in itchy red pox. We've got bed bugs! YAY! It's been a good week, and we're hoping for another, even though we're on bikes. With the unstable weather and potential storms, we're seeing how to work around it.

 

Sorry about the lack of pictures. I'll do double duty next week. In the meantime, I love you guys! Make righteous choices, and the Spirit will be with you! You'll always be rewarded for doing the right thing.

 

-Elder Staib