Week 86

Hi Everyone!

Man conference was great wasn't it?? I have found that not only does conference have the message that I need to hear it also has messages that are perfect for our investigators!! We tried to have it at the church, but this is Guyana so we ended up going to the mission office to watch it with just us missionaries.

Arifa was talking to us Friday about how it is tough with her parents divorced and her mom passed away and her dad is a Muslim but she knows that this is true and has the support of her brother, but she was talking to us about how it was hard. I had never felt so blessed to be from the family that I am from! But when I heard the one talk that talked about keeping strong when you don't have the ideal family I knew they were talking about that for her! But yeah, great conference!

Also we had a really cool experience with an investigator named Derek. He had been taught the restoration but couldn't accept the fact that Joseph Smith was a prophet because it didn't talk about him in the bible. He said everything necessary for us to learn is found in the bible. So we were in that and we didn't really know how to go about it so we just went and decided to listen to him so we could get a better idea of where he was coming from. We sat down and we started analyzing different scriptures from the Bible, some of which he would show us and others we would show him and had a big lesson on prophets. The spirit was so strong and after about 30 mins of the spirit testifying to him his heart was softened and we ended up introducing the Book of Mormon and he not only accepted it, but was so excited to read it that when we were on our way out, we were talking with his wife on the porch and he left and sat down inside and started reading it! He also was really excited to watch conference so I can't wait to go back and see how it all went!

Thinking about Jos going through the temple, I thought I would share a few experiences I have had out here in the mission field.  I have spent the last year around very converted people who would give anything to go to the temple. I have seen people break down because they wanted to go to the temple but they could only afford to go once for their lifetime and their husband wasn't worthy to go yet. I have seen a member who cried like a baby because when we were with him somebody answered his prayer by giving him enough money for a plane ticket to go to the temple. I have sat next to people in the Chapel long after church ended because they said that because this is where they take the sacrament, and this is the most holy place they will ever sit in this life, because they simply weren't able to go to the temple because they couldn't afford it. I could go on and on, but bottom line is, don't take it for granted that you can go through the temple like I did. It’s a big deal and I will never know how those people feel because I am lucky enough to live in Utah.

 This area is starting to get moving and I'm really starting to like Guyana. We eat curry and rice and Roti mostly and it’s pretty good! But that’s about all I can remember for this week!

Love,

Elder Harsh