We Work Hard Here In Bothell

Wow. I feel a lot of gratitude. This week has also been spectacular! For each new area that I enter, I don't think I can love it as much as the previous one I served in. I am really enjoying Bothell! Auburn still has a special place in my heart--don't get me wrong.

It isn't the place that makes me happy, however. It's the people I'm with and the work I put forth that magnify my testimony and appreciation of God. These marvelous experiences just happen to be in Bothell right now.

The title is pretty self-explanatory. Elder Thompson and I work super hard each day, and it brings us happiness and unity. We love our friends and are doing everything we can to guide them to the Savior.

I hope you all feel the magnitude of the incredible experiences I'm having as you read them below.

Eli is so fun! He is eight years old. His parents are members, but he isn't yet. This family is so kind! When they asked what our favorite snacks were, Griselda, the mother, bought a box of them and gave them to us at our following visit with them. All three of them are so friendly with us. We are teaching Eli to read the Book of Mormon. He said he read and watched one of the videos for it! We were so proud of him. We visit them twice a week, so on our second visit, we taught him part of the Plan of Salvation. He was so fascinated! We brought up baptism with him, and his parents are on board with helping him prepare for it! It was neat to see his parents help teach him with us. While teaching, Eli's baby brother Ian farted out of nowhere. His dad, Elder Thompson, and I all laughed. I couldn't help it. Ian farted again like seven minutes later, so I was pinching myself and trying to focus. I thought this was pretty comical.

We left Eli on a cliffhanger by telling him we'd teach the remainder of the Plan of Salvation the following Tuesday. He's excited to learn the rest!

We've been gaining a lot of new friends lately through English class, and some of them are pretty solid! We pray that they feel the Spirit and desire more than just learning English.

We met with our Honduran friends on Wednesday and Friday! For Wednesday, two members came, which was great! We taught in depth about the Sabbath Day. We, our members, and our friends all shared conversation about how attending church shows love for God and indicates obedience to the commandments. We validated that they are making changes to their lives to be able to come to church, and they appreciated this. They agreed to come to church on Sunday! Fabiola and Jorge were there for the lesson, but not Maria sadly.

We talked about how they feel in regard to their baptismal date of March 23rd, and they admitted that it's way soon and they need more time to prepare. They didn't read in the Book of Mormon or keep other commitments, so we're taking them off-date--for now. This lesson was so amazing though! On Friday, we began teaching part of the Plan of Salvation to them. We're excited to continue helping them progress and keep their commitments.

We were bummed that Yormi couldn't meet with us for either of our two planned visits. We hope to talk again this upcoming week.

We met this lady from the Congo, and she asked if we believed in the Holy Ghost, Jesus, and the commandments. We replied that we did, and she loved this! She was kind and allowed us to share a scripture in the Book of Mormon. We look forward to returning and sharing more with her.

We are starting to re-teach our new member Josué the lessons, and it's going well! We taught him the Plan of Salvation, which he did pretty well to remember. We told him that we really miss him at church and we emphasized the importance of his covenant to follow the Lord by attending church. We informed him that he could receive the priesthood on Sunday and therefore go to the temple soon when he comes. He said he'd come!

We taught our friend Xavi, who is ten I think. His father is a member, and he came to church recently! It was so nice to see him there. We got to teach Xavi the Restoration of the Gospel, and we even showed him the First Vision video! He is shy, so he didn't talk a lot. However, we could tell he felt good about he learned. He hadn't prayed or read sadly, but we once again invited him to do so. His situation is tricky because he goes back and forth between two houses. One is with his mom in Federal Way and the other is with his dad in Kirkland. We asked his dad for his mom's phone number so that the elders in Federal Way can possibly teach him the days when he's over there, but he couldn't give it to us yet. It makes teaching Xavi tricky since we only visit and teach once every two weeks, but we'll see if we can figure things out.

We knocked a door of a friend we were trying to locate, and Elder Thompson felt like we should knock a similar door to try and find him. Although the person who answered the door wasn't the guy we were looking for, we met a guy named Samer! He was so kind! He complimented us and thanked us for what we do. He stopped watching his show in order to talk to us for twenty minutes about the scriptures! We shared a scripture in the Book of Mormon and the Bible. He thoroughly enjoyed it and is open to the idea of the Book of Mormon. He had high respect for us! We felt great about this conversation and even got a return appointment with him! We were grateful that Elder Thompson was inspired to knock that door.

I got to interview two people for baptism this week! One was for a guy named Jaivon in an English ward called Sammamish River, and the other was for the Spanish Hermanas in our same Spanish ward. His name is Victor. Jai (short for Jaivon) was super outgoing and mature about the gospel. He had been investigating the church for five or six years! He was happy to finally be entering this covenant with God. I loved getting to know him and interview him!

As for Victor, he is great too! He asked clarifying questions about the things we discussed, and it indicated his true desire to follow the Savior! It's neat to be able to see him at church and be his friend.

We taught Onias the Restoration! He didn't get the chance to read in the Book of Mormon, but we taught him everything about Joseph Smith and the restored church. We invited him to pray about these things, and he is going to do it.

We taught Claudio Saturday morning, and it was FANTASTIC!! He is such an energetic man, and I love it! As we were sitting down, we were already discussing some things about the gospel and answering Claudio's great questions. Elder Thompson asked him if he wanted to continue with doing the lesson first or start English class, and Claudio said he liked talking about God more! We loved this! What's neat about this lesson is that it was seventy percent English and thirty percent Spanish. He got to practice his English anyway! I had taught Claudio about Joseph Smith the previous Saturday with the two English missionaries, but we taught him the full Restoration again so that it was clear. I recited the First Vision in English, and Elder Thompson said it in Spanish afterward. The Holy Ghost was definitely present. It touched us all! We told Claudio that he can receive answers to his prayers just as a fourteen-year-old boy in 1820 could. Claudio said he hadn't wanted to pray the previous week, so we taught him how to pray properly and invited him to pray about Joseph Smith and the truth of our message this week. He said he'd do it! He felt really good inside as we shared the First Vision. He has been watching the Book of Mormon videos, which is wonderful! He doesn't like reading as much, so the videos help him understand; however, we told him to read too. He was willing to give our Honduran friends a ride to church and even stay for the baptismal service after church the next day!! Claudio is simply incredible. He is considered our most progressing friend now.

We taught Fernando in the library. We explained the doctrine of Christ as the five basic elements of following the Savior throughout our lives. He definitely understood! We learned that he has been reading the Book of Mormon! He read in Alma 40 and said it was beautiful! We invited him to keep reading and come to church. He committed to do so.

We taught Alejandro and Eduardo in the evening on Saturday, and we had a great discussion! Our member Hermano Rodríguez was there too! We taught about church and showed a video to explain sacrament meeting. They understood the ordinance of the sacrament and the significance of the water and bread. We saw their Books of Mormon marked, so we knew they read!! We invited them to church, and they gave a solid "yes"!

We visited a less-active member named Lourdes. She is awesome! She has four male roommates, and we are starting to teach one of them. Bringing Lourdes back into church activity while having her in lessons with her roommate Luis Miguel is a recipe for success!

Sunday is when things REALLY went successful! FOUR FRIENDS CAME TO CHURCH!!! Eight committed to come, but at least four ended up arriving for the meeting. Fabiola (and her two kids), Jorge, Fernando, and Claudio joined us for our wonderful sacrament meeting. What's crazy is that I had to give a talk, too. No pressure. I think I did just fine, in all honesty, though. Jorge left after the second hour sadly, but at least he stayed for the important part: the sacrament. The other three friends stayed for the second hour! Afterwards, Fabiola needed to go home. Claudio gave her a ride, but he wanted to stay for the baptism. Miraculously, we found a member to help us with this! As a result, Fernando and Claudio were able to stay for the baptism of Victor!! We knew this would be good for them as they felt the Spirit strongly and observed such a special ordinance. I sat with Fernando, and Elder Thompson sat with Claudio on the other side of the room during the baptismal service. There were so many people there for the baptism! I answered all of Fernando's many questions, and he really seems to be compliant with what he's learning. He was happy when I answered his question that he too can be baptized one day!

I had the BEST Sunday as a result of all of this; seeing our friends grow in their testimonies is such a joy.

We also taught the Aguilars, which is a family of nine. They had stopped being taught for a while, and we got to teach them about family prayer after church! We only taught the parents. This is great news! We saw the father and his two sons at church!

By the way, my friend Edelmira did not get baptized this past week. She postponed for two weeks so that more family can come to her special day. I was really bummed that it didn't happen, but I trust the Lord that it will happen and not get delayed again. Please please please pray for her.

This past week was transfers. If you can't tell already, Elder Thompson and I are staying together in Bothell! No changes for us! I'm happy about it.

We had an insane week. You're awesome if you read my whole email through; I don't typically write emails this long. Overall, we made eight new friends, had six member-participating lessons, had four friends at church, and saw one new member at church!!! We technically had three people on-date for baptism, but not anymore. We'll create a new one soon. I just wanted to share my week's success, according to our numbers. I am THRILLED with how my week went! Hard work pays off!

People to pray for: Edelmira, Claudio, Jorge, Josue, Fabiola, Maria, Yormi, Eli, Fernando, Alejandro, Eduardo, and Josué (the other one, our recent convert). Thank you!

I love the Lord. That's what this all comes down to.

Es un gran placer poder servir aquí en Bothell con una gente tan humilde. Estoy bendecido a enseñar con la autoridad de Dios.

¡Gracias por leer mi correo electrónico!

¡Feliz semana!

Elder Jones