Awesome Week

Hey there family and friends,

This week was awesome. Mike Waters. He is the epitome of one who God has prepared for the missionaries. Like I said, we ran into him last week and he was willing to listen. He goes into the lessons with what he calls a "healthy amount of skepticism". But he doesn't doubt. He accepts what we have to teach and really thinks about it and then takes it to God. He knows the Book of Mormon is true and he hasn't even read any of it. He prayed about it and has read the intro and the testimonies of the witnesses but he hasn't started in 1 Nephi yet. We are going to see him again tonight and tell him he needs to start reading. But we met with him last week on Thursday and he accepted the invitation to be baptized and he will be baptized on the 12th. We set that date before realizing that if he does it a day earlier it would be 11-11-11. so we will ask him about that and see if he wants to have a friday baptism haha. He came to church on sunday and he is so excited about everything we have to tell him. He loved church and loves the Book of Mormon. In our second meeting with him he said "I want to be a member of your church". The missionaries can work with that! I am so excited for him. Just to be able to see him every sunday at church. He seems very solid and sure of this path. He is kind of out of work right now. Its an interesting situation. He has a lot of assets I believe but they are somehow tied up. I dont know how truthful that is but Mike is a smart guy so I tend to believe him. He is living in a hotel right now because he cant afford anything else until July when he apparently can get ahold of the money that is unavailable to him right now. He was a mental health therapist. And he is out of work. So no car. No real house. But he has a lot of time to study and pray about the things we bring to him and he has the desire to always know more. Seeing his progression is fun. Im always excited to get over to mikes place even though its a long walk. From our house its probably an hour walk if we just do it straight. But its worth it. We are trying to introduce him to as many people in the ward as possible. He is a single 56 year old man who never really got around to getting married. He is self conscious about that and its his biggest regret, that he never got married. So he was nervous to go to church when he heard how much emphasis we put on families. He didn't want to be judged or feel out of place. I feel like that is a real concern for a lot of people who we invite to church. They don't want to be judged. I guess what that tells me is that at a lot of churches around the world, people feel judged and uncomfortable. And when they come to the LDS church they fear that judgment. So all we can do as missionaries and members is make everyone feel welcome. Otherwise they aren't going to want to come back because the LDS church is just as unwelcoming as any other church they dont want to go to. The members are very important. And in Mike Waters' case, the members did a good job and he is excited to come back next sunday and learn more.

Other than Mike we had a really good week. We are focusing a lot on him, but we have other new investigators too. We still have Denim, Anna, The Hansens, Stacie, and others. They are all kinda in and out, up and down. We haven't been able to meet with the hansens for about a week because they had family in town but we will see them tomorrow and hope they have read. If not we will recommit them. One thing that Mark said in our first meeting that was really cool was "If I have half as much faith as you two young men have then I would certainly be baptized". He said that after we invited him to be baptized. It was cool to see that bearing my testimony to people really does have an effect on them.

We are meeting with Denim on Thursday and that will probably be the same routine. Although, I believe Denim has read. I just hope he recognized his answer. That is part of the Missionaries' job, to help people recognize how the Holy Ghost talks to us. Anna, Stacie, Roman, Sandro, they all need to keep commitments. I love them to death and I want them to be happy and I know that the gospel is what brings true happiness so we are trying to let them know that for themselves. Oh well. There is only so much we can do. They still have their agency.

So, I hear Brother Pfunder was a Leprechaun for Halloween. The Lamphier family in our ward are related to the Pfunders. Sister Pfunder is Sister Lamphier's niece? I think that's right. But when we see the Lamphier's, they usually give me an update on what Brother Pfunder has posted on Facebook recently. They think he is hilarious of course. Because he is. Its a small world.

Someone told me yesterday that no one cant teach you to hate God better than the Catholic Church. So... Stay away. Because we love God. He told us how much he hated God and he didn't believe he loved us and was cussing at us and telling us about his Catholic experience. And then as he walked away Elder Hansen (we were on exchanges) said "God bless you". and then we walked away as he was still yelling. It was pretty funny. Elder Hansen is one of the zone leaders in Selah and he is pretty funny. He is a 300+ pound man with Tongan heritage. Funny kid. Push over. Big, but harmless.

Love you all! Keep the letters coming! Goodbye

Love
Elder Paxman