Dearest family,
What an incredible, humbling, fun week this has been! This week has made me a HUGE believer in goal setting, because we’ve seen crazy awesome miracles with the goals we decided to set. Goals are an act of faith, and when we set specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, timely goals and make plans to achieve them, the Lord helps us to accomplish the righteous desires of our hearts. We talked together and decided to set a goal of six people baptized for this transfer, and began to plan accordingly. Every day we talk about our goal, make plans to achieve it, and try to do everything we possible can on our part to get there, and the Lord has come through big time to show us miracles that have helped us accomplish our goals. We have three people on date to be baptized, two on the 28th and one on the 12th, and another two who have agreed to baptism and don’t have solid dates yet, as well as a lot of good people we are working with who are progressing. Missionary work is so much fun when we’re doing everything the Lord wants us to do and trying to be intelligent and diligent in our efforts.
Monday: We had our P-day, and then tried to talk to some people that evening. We went to the church building to take a survey on Preach My Gospel, and one of the questions was “do you set realistic weekly, monthly, and transfer baptism goals and strive to achieve them?”. We decided that we would start to do this, and after talking felt like six was a goal that we could accomplish but would stretch us and make us work hard. Our goal really started off the week to a great start, which is part of the reason it was so awesome.
Tuesday: We got a call from Temple Square saying they had a Spanish investigator named Luis that they had been teaching for three months, and he lives in our area. He had a baptismal date for the 28th, and they wanted us to meet with him. We called him and set up a lesson for the next night. Also, we had a lesson with Osvaldo, a 9 year old boy who wants to get baptized. He’s a little hard to teach because he’s really quiet and shy, but he’s very ready to get baptized.
Wednesday: We had a PACKED evening, with three solid lessons that came through. One was with Luis, who is super prepared and excited for baptism. Another was with Rosa, who is an investigator who just showed up to church on Sunday and is really solid. The third was with Adelmo, a guy who’s been talking with the missionaries for three or four months. He was shooting up crystal meth three times a day, and then one day was about to commit suicide, but ended up instead trading his backpack of drugs and money for a bible at a Catholic church. He quit all his drugs cold turkey, and began to change his life and pray for a closer relationship with God. He ran into the missionaries on the street, and as they taught him he felt the truthfulness of the message and the power the Atonement has, that Christ died for him personally so he could repent and be clean. He is currently keeping all the commandments, reading and praying and coming to church, but Satan is doing everything he can to stop him from getting baptized. He’s going to be kicked out of his house with his pregnant fiancee October 1st if he can’t find another place, and he has a fine to pay before he can get baptized, and his fiancee needs a divorce before they can get married in order to live the law of chastity. He doesn’t have hardly any money, but I promised him that if he put the Lord first and had faith, He would provide a way to accomplish that which He has commanded us to do, that is, baptism. He prayed about a day that night and said he’d be baptized on the 5th and do everything possible to get enough money to be ready in all the ways. Pray for him like crazy, he needs it badly!
Thursday: After district meeting, we had dinner and then rushed to a lesson we had with a lady who wants to learn more named Maria. She has five kids, the oldest of which has expressed a desire to get baptized and has been taught. We showed up at her house and Natasha (the oldest, 12) told us she took some of her kids to the park. We proceeded to walk to the park and found her sitting with a solid member of the church talking. We sat down and taught a lesson and invited her to church and to temple square. She was willing, and said she is excited to learn more. We had a lesson on the other side of our area about a mile away that started right as we were getting done teaching her. We started walking, and I said “Man, I wish we could get a ride”. Promptly, a Tongan man and his wife pulled up and said “Elders, you need a ride?” It was awesome!
Friday: We had another awesome day for lessons, we taught Luis, Rosa, and Osvaldo. Our lessons with Rosa and Osvaldo were at the same time, so we set up splits with members and I taught Osvaldo while Elder Firpo taught Rosa. Osvaldo is on date for the 28th and Rosa is on date for the 12th! Our lesson with Luis was powerful as well, we talked about the baptismal covenant and how to be obedient. Tongans came through to provide another miracle as well: We were walking in the afternoon and our dinner had just called to cancel. We were a little bummed and I said “Man, I wish we had a dinner tonight.” That instant, a Tongan lady pulled up to ask if we needed dinner, and we said actually yes! Needless to say, I couldn’t move very well after our dinner with them. They STUFFED us. I love Tongans!
Saturday: We took our investigator, Jesus, to temple square and had an AMAZING lesson with him. The spirit was so strong and although my Spanish isn’t very good, I was able to be involved and teach him and bear testimony to him about Christ’s Atonement. We ended the lesson at the statue of Christ, and after the presentation the sisters and Elder Firpo testified of Christ and his plan for us. I invited him to get baptized, and he said he wanted to. We’re super excited for him!
Sunday: We had dinner with the Tongans again, and I ate octopus! Yum! Church was amazing, we had almost all of our investigators there and taught Gospel Principles, it was awesome. We also went to temple square with Luis. We’re so excited, he’s so ready to get baptized and asked us when he can help us teach people. I can’t wait for Saturday!
Today we went to the temple in the morning, which was amazing, and we have a great week ahead of us! Thank you all for your letters, emails, and support, I couldn’t do it without you. Always remember that the Lord can’t bless us if we don’t get out and do something, but when we have faith and do our best, he showers us with blessings. I love you all so much!
Love,
Elder Hoffman
elderisaachoffman 