¡Hola Fonzfam!
How are you all doing after this past weekend? Wasn't it awesome to hear so many inspired talks and counsel from the leaders of the Church?! Elder Silva and I had a great time spending each session with a different family, listening in Spanish. The nonmembers who watched it with us really liked what was shared and we hope to pull things from each of those talks to help us teach them. I had many of my questions answered and at times other connections were made about doctrinal things. My hope is that all of you were able to learn something new to apply to your own lives.
On Friday was our Zone Conference where we were trained on how to have more effective visits with the members since they're where most of the baptisms tend to come from. Before, these visits were called Member Referral Lessons(MRLs) because the goal was to get a specific name of someone to teach. That is still the ultimate goal, but not all members are prepared with someone for the missionaries to teach right off hand. In order to get there, the missionaries need to gain the trust of the members and help them with their own missionary work. So now we have what's called a Member Commitment Lesson(MCL) where we still visit with the members, but now we're focusing the conversation on them and their missionary work. We may have a commitment in mind, but ultimately the Spirit will let us know as we ask inspired questions that guide the conversation towards the action that needs to be taken. Once we leave an appropriate commitment, then it'll be something that we can frequently follow up with until the next step can be taken. It'll take more time, but as everyone is progressing in their own way, success is imminent.
We're getting ready for Brandon and Ethan's baptism this upcoming weekend. They are still as excited as ever, and so is the branch. We watched the Sunday Afternoon Session with their family. It was a little crazy because there's a lot of kids in that house, but we were able to keep them entertained with tons of Conference coloring pictures we brought with us. Brandon's parents have only been members of the Church for about three years now and they are still learning every day on what that means. Luckily this opportunity for the baptism is lighting a new fire that had been snuffed out a while ago by some crazy trials in their life. I can really see how the gospel has been blessing this family as they do their best to read from the scriptures and pray together.
We've been teaching Jose Ceja for a couple months now and he's been progressing really well with his testimony despite some opposition he's been facing from his very Catholic wife and a busy schedule between work and dialysis. It had been over a week since our last appointment that had fallen through, and we had grown a little worried about him. After the Priesthood Session, we went over to check in on him and he was home and let us right in. Now that we were in we looked at each other and we're like, "What are we going to teach him?" Luckily we had the lesson plan from before, which was about the Word of Wisdom. We had a great lesson and Jose is totally on board with it. He does have some life long addictions that he's going to have to overcome, but he wants the blessings so badly. Now we just got to figure out some of his other obstacles and he'll be able to come to church and eventually be baptized! Many prayers and continued perseverance will help him get there!
Here's to another week of blessings and miracles. Easter Sunday is coming up quickly and so take it to the Lord of who you could invite to come along to that sacrament meeting! I promise He will inspire you! Love you all and have a great week!
Con Amor,
Elder Fonnesbeck
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| Dominic had made 'mini-mes' of Elder Silva and I during Conference Saturday morning. |
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"Little Jacob was wondering which picture I wanted to take home with me after the Sunday Afternoon Session."
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