Hey Family!
How are you all? You guys are the best! But I can't believe you got swindled into buying a vacuum! Haha! I'm sure all the salesmen know our house as the "easy sale". I just hope and pray that the Jehovah's Witnesses don't come knocking on our door or we might be going to church at the Kingdom Hall from now on.
To help Dean Bean with her talk I'd first of all say she should just get advice from Elder Holland Jr. aka Dad. Dad's stake conference talk was awesome! But I'll try to throw in a little advice as well, the Sabbath day is definitely something that is very important. One thing I've learned from my mission is that just because the Sabbath day is a "day of rest" doesn't mean that you have to sit around all day and sleep. For missionaries we still proselyte and everything and for members the sabbath is an excellent day to reach out to others in service and fellowship.
A lot of the world doesn't keep the sabbath holy. I've heard so many people, nonmembers and members alike, say "I can be spiritual and not go to church". Not only is going to church and partaking of the sacrament a commandment, I also believe it is necessary to maintain your spiritual growth. When I was in Ankeny we taught Daniel and Jessyca Espinosa. Daniel had been a member of the church since he was young but Jessyca got baptized while I was there. Before we started teaching them it had been about 10 years since Daniel had been to church. He had been in the army and had got caught up in a bunch of other stuff. He finally decided to get back into church and called up the stake president to find out where he could attend. When they started coming to church again Daniel said he felt that church was the only way he could keep his "spiritual gas tank" full for the week. Once they started coming on a more regular basis we could see a change in them and even in their home. Unfortunately I've also seen people fall away from the church and it all starts by rationalizing missing church. It's just another one of those small and simple things that makes all the difference.
This past week we have been all over the mission! We had zone conferences in Iowa City, Cedar Rapids and Ames. Then we went up to Sioux City for exchanges and we finally got back to Des Moines today for the first time all week. Zone Conferences have been sweet though! I love this training on teaching! I have learned so much about recognizing the spirit and helping others to recognize it as well. I think one of the biggest obstacles in missionary work is that investigators don't recognize the spirit. People become so caught up in life that they don't recognize the still small voice. As we role play these lessons we let investigators know from the beginning that they will feel the spirit while we are there. We then identify the spirit in the lesson and commit them to baptism right then. There is more to the training but that is my favorite thing I've learned.
We are seeing a ton of success with the training as well. After each zone conference the zone explodes with new baptismal dates. Last week we had 29 dates in the whole mission. The Sioux City zone now has 25 dates alone. I'm so excited to get the new baptismal info tonight and see all the new dates. Obviously more dates will fall through but at least there will be people who came that much closer to baptism this time around and will be closer for the next time they come in contact with the missionaries. I love it out here and I love all of you!
Love
Elder Steak and Lobster
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