Progress in Sparks

Sep. 9th

Things are going well here, I am really starting to like the area & I am enjoying my companions. I was really stressed coming in because both my companions have been out less than half the time I have (combined), & they were both double transferred into this area so I was worried about how the work would be. They have done really well though. I'm grateful to have been transferred in, because I think I can really help & show them some things. They both are great missionaries though and truly do have a love for this gospel so I am confident that things will continue to progress and go well. The ward is so awesome. The bishop is seriously the best bishop I have ever had & has one of the strongest testimonies. I'm excited for the work to progress here.

Sep 16^th

All in all things are going pretty well here. I'm definitely enjoying the area, & feel good about the transfer. We have been working hard trying to pick the area up, and this week we got a ton of lessons. The most my companions have ever seen. Which was awesome. We have a baptism this weekend. His name is Collin Ray, he's 16 years old. He is so solid. His parents are Catholic and totally supportive of his decision which makes things easy. He is definitely looking forward to his baptism, & says that he wants to go on a mission. I'm definitely excited for him. We are teaching another girl named Riley. She was baptized at 8 but they never turned in her records so it didn't count. I've never heard of that happening, but I definitely believe that it was a tender mercy because she can now be taught and decide on her own whether or not this is for her. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing her progress.

Sep 30^th

The baptism went well. Collin showed up, and he was soo nervous. He was bright red, and was messing with his jumper the whole time. When he came up out of the water, he seemed so calm and happy. The spirit was definitely strong. His parents were so proud of him, even though they weren't members. His mom was crying the whole time, so I thought that maybe she was upset but we talked with her afterwards and she said that she's just proud of him and that she was crying because he made his first big decision and it was a good one. It's nice to see the support he has. His grandpa is the only member in his family, & so he got to confirm him a member. It turned out extremely well. The next day our investigator Riley gave a talk on repentance. She was so amazing, in her talk she said she was going to get baptized! It was awesome. We had a lesson with her after church in the bishop's office on the doctrine of Christ, it went really well. At the end of it she asked how many lessons there were, we answered and then it was quiet. I felt the prompting to ask her why, and she said because she wants to be baptized. I definitely wasn't expecting her to want to be baptized so soon, since the previous week she didn't seem interested at all but the Lord works in mysterious ways. So I guess she'll be getting baptized soon :) Then on Tuesday we decided to stop by a former investigator's house to see if maybe he was interested. We knocked on his door twice and there was no answer, we were about to walk away & I decided to ring the door bell even though we really didn't think anyone was home. This guy answered the door who wasn't the former investigator, and started talking to us. His name is Shawn. He said that he was interested in learning more about our religion so we set up a time for the following day. We weren't really sure if he was interested really, because he was drinking but the next day we showed up and he was ready to learn. We taught him the entire first lesson, and asked him to pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true. Apparently he's already read it and said that he knows it's true! We were definitely taken off guard. The lesson ended, and we were about to close when I got the prompting to ask him if he would be baptized, I kind of fought the prompting because it wasn't on topic and it's hard asking someone to be baptized during the first lesson, but I did it anyways. I asked him & he said yes! We are meeting with him this week and are planning on setting him with a date, so wish us luck :) This week has been a pretty good one. This past Sunday, yesterday, we got two of our less actives to go back to church, which was so exciting. We also did like a Q&A thing with a girl named Lakin in our ward who is preparing to go on a mission. She is so awesome, and it was way fun telling her all about a mission and role playing how to teach with her. She'll be getting her call soon, so we're excited to see that. All in all I'm really enjoying Sparks, and the work is really picking up.