Email 71 - Baptismal Date!

"Zone Conference this week. Always great to be near the temple!"

"That´s my buddy, Hna Cabrera. She´s awesome. Everyone in the ward in Alcobendas says I look just like her. All of the youth call me "Cabrera!" So I took this photo to prove them wrong... I think it just destroyed my case, haha. They´re more convinced than ever."

  "The traditional pushup contest to wrap up every Zone Conference, haha. President Jackson always almost wins."

  "Then all of the missionaries there that served in Gran Canaria. Recognize the Elder holding the futbol jersey? He was one of the members in Las Palmas, who was called to serve in this mission! Elder Brewer, who was in my district down there, is his trainer! Super cool."

Hey family!

Thanks, as always, for the emails :) I´d love to see the story about the ward´s explosion with family names in the temple show up in the Ensign someday! ´Sounds like it was a pretty solid weekend. I hope the weather´s nice for the Turkey Trot this week! And I hope Mike and Alicia aren´t freezing out there in Utah... sorry to hear that Alicia was sick :(

The weather´s been SO nice for the last couple of days. It´s been rainy, but it´s brought the temperature up quite a bit. No complaints here! It´s still chilly of course, but I haven´t needed my coat. Marvelous.

And yes, actually, we did get invited to the mission home for Thanksgiving. I can´t adequately explain how excited I am about that, haha. It was looking like we were going to have to come up with something on our own like last year, but then President Jackson called and said they´d be expecting us at 2 on Thursday!!

Other than that, it´ll be a normal day for us, but between Hermana Jackson´s cooking and our temple trip on Wednesday, it looks like a very good week so far :)

Remember how I said last week that I´ve been praying to find people that don´t have any crazy agency-restrictions from past mistakes? We found a couple! 3, actually!!

One of them, E--, is a single mom of a very energetic 4-yr-old, and she´s accepted December 20th as a baptismal date!!! That´s the first time in several transfers that I've had a baptismal date accepted. It´s been a long time. We´re stoked. She´s very prepared, and already believes that the Church and the Book of Mormon is true. She had already been taught by missionaries a couple of years ago, so that helps a lot. It´s just very refreshing to have an investigator that´s keeping her commitments so well.

We also found a couple that had listened to missionaries about 6 years ago in Columbia. C-----a and D---o :) We found them knocking doors, and they already have a great understanding of the Apostasy and are willing to read the BoM.

We´ve been surprised, however, by all of the doubts a lot of people we´re teaching have all of a sudden about Joseph Smith. We finally found out about those news articles coming out in the States full of misinterpreted facts about the early years of the Church. Have you all been hearing about those? Good grief.

Unfortunately, it created quite a set-back for a couple of the people we´re teaching, but, as Elder Neil L. Andersen said in his beautifully-timed Conference talk, we can know "in our own hearts that he was a prophet of God and [take] comfort that all this was long ago foretold by Moroni."

And, after walking home at the end of a particularly frustrating lesson, Hna Hillman remarked, "Y´know, this may sound apathetic, but I just frankly don´t care what they say about Joseph Smith. I know he was a prophet, so who cares what they say on the news??"

Elder Andersen also said in his talk that "opposition against the things of God sends seekers of truth to their knees for answers," and that "spiritual questions deserve spiritual answers from God."

Finding out if Joseph Smith was a man called of God and given divine power is most definitely a spiritual question - and the only acceptable answers to such questions absolutely must come from spiritual sources.

"The negative commentary about the Prophet Joseph Smith will increase as we move toward the Second Coming of the Savior. The half-truths and subtle deceptions will not diminish. There will be family members and friends who will need your help. Now is the time to adjust your own 'spiritual oxygen mask' so that you are prepared to help others who are seeking the truth."

Once again,I took another good look at my testimony this week, and I still just simply can´t deny what I know to be true!

I invite anybody who reads this to prayerfully take an introspective and sincerely honest look at what you know to be true about God and His prophets. Anyone seeking truth with real intent will be led here. Because you can´t find pure truth anywhere else!

Anyhoo, I hope you all have a marvelous steak-dinner Thanksgiving! I expect photos :)

I love you guys tons!!!

Hna Gro

PS- E--´s only hang-up with baptism is her fear of water... we told her we´d pray with her about it, and we´re going to see if we can set up a priesthood blessing, too. I mean, she has like, a petrifying fear of water. Please include her in your prayers!!!

Thanks :)