The Atonement is For All..Even Ex-Convicts, and the Help of the Lord When You Set Your Goals

Hi Guys!

 

 

 

So, our investigator, {} is  doing great. We've spent the past week dealing with {some logistical issues}  but we finally found a way to get her baptized. The deal was that her oldest daughter, who legally has the final word on her temporal welfare, was okay with her being baptized, and was okay with her attending the branch that meets in the care center, but out of fear for her safety didn't want her taken out of the care center. The only people who are allowed to take her out are the family and her boyfriend. Her boyfriend told us he would be willing to take her to the stake center on Saturday for her baptism. He's a good guy. He's not a member of our church (he's spiritual, but not religious), but he's been able to see the impact that us missionaries have had in her life, and can tell that we truly care and has a lot of respect for us. So anyway, }{ is  good to go for Saturday. We also have another baptism scheduled on Saturday, and it's a pretty cool story. We planned this week on having one baptism and one confirmation, with {} in mind. Earlier this week, it was looking like {} was going to fall off date, so we probably weren't going to hit our goal. On Thursday, we got a call from President Hansen (our mission president) and received word that one of our investigators, who was a convicted felon, finally got First Presidency approval to be baptized. The guy's name is {} and he was super stoked. He had been waiting since November to hear back and was pretty excited that he was finally able to be baptized. He's currently on date for this Saturday as well, so we'll for sure be able to hit our goal. It's pretty cool how it worked out and shows the importance of having the spirit with you when you Set Your Goals.

I love all you guys. This work is amazing, and I know this gospel is true and the atonement is real.

 

Love, Elder Jake Lusk

 

 

 

My Samoan and Tongan Mission, You're Not a Man Until You've Wrestled a Pit Bull, and Following Spiritual Promptings

Hey guys!

   I have a new companion. In our district, we had a guy who was waiting for his visa to go to Mexico City. After interviews with president last week, they decided to move him to Liberty Park and put him in the spanish program to give him practice speaking his mission language. His companion, Elder }{ , from Hawai'i was put with us, and our areas were combined. He covered the other half of the stake we're covering, so now we cover the entire stake. It's pretty cool, becuase his area, now our area, includes the Layton 5th branch, which is a Tongan branch, and the Syracuse 12th branch, which is a Samoan branch. We went to both of those branches on Sunday. They spoke 50/50 native language and English, so I understood about half of it. If I was in a spanish branch, I'd be able to get the jist of what people are saying, but when it comes to polynesian languages, I know "talofa", which is the same as "ahola" and food words. Either way, I'm excited to be doing work in those branches. I just ordered a Samoan name tag, and got a Samoan copy of the Book of Mormon. 

     Stef- Everyone in Utah has dogs, and I've met some of the coolest, sweetest dogs ever. I'm totally in love with pit bulls right now. They've got a bad rep as being mean dogs, but as long as they're treated right, they've got the sweetest personalities. You ever wrestled one? They're crazy strong, and you're not a man until you've wrestled a pit bull. 

    Dad-  Sometimes the Lord will give  you a prompting just to test you and see if you'll follow it. Sounds like you passed. There's a Mormon message video online of a story Elder Holland told about going exploring with his dad in Southern Utah. Thhey came to a fork in the road, and they were totally lost. They said a prayer and both got the strong impression to go left. They went left and 400m later came to a dead end. They turned around, and the right path ended being the right one (no pun indended). Moral of the story is that God had them go left so they could understand without a shadow of a doubt that the right path was the right way. IDK if that's relevant to your situation or not, but it's a cool little story. As for using the spirit in a lesson, we were teaching a recent convert family and going into it didn't really have a lesson plan. After chatting for a bit, we opened Alma 36 not knowing what we were doing, and it ended up being exactly what they needed to hear. It was an awesome reminder of what missionary work is all about.

I love all you guys. The Gospel is true, and the Atonement is real. 

Love,

Elder Jake Lusk

 

 

A Companion from Indonesia and One From Hawaii!!