The Lord Prepares People

Hi Everyone!

Thank you all very much for your thoughts and prayers! The gospel really is true and God really does answer those prayers!

Well, the weather is turning colder here in Grand Junction, and we had our first snowfall that actually lingered this morning! Some of the missionaries probably think I'm crazy because I'm so excited about it, and they can't understand how I like the cold and the snow. For me somehow it's invigorating and it makes me happy, even when I have to be out in it. I think in a slightly masochistic way, I'm going to enjoy tracting when it's really cold and miserable out, because I'll feel more like I'm making a sacrifice for something that's really important to me. :) I'm strange, but I guess the Lord knew what he was doing when He sent me to Colorado.

This week the Zone Leaders decided to do something interesting, they're having me go on splits with the other Spanish elders in Grand Junction, where I go to their area with one of them and work there for a day, and there'll be a few days of that before transfers next week. The interesting thing is though, we are under orders that during our time working that day, if we don't have a set appointment we have to be tracting. I think they want to give me more experience doing Spanish tracting, because the other area has a lot more dense pockets of Spanish people, and our companionship hasn't tracted much since it's not very productive in our area. Our first day of doing the splits (or team-ups as the missionaries here call them) was yesterday, Tuesday, and I went to the other area to work with Elder Mackley. He's a cool missionary that's been out a while, I think he has 4-5 months left, and he learned Spanish on his mission. We had a good day of work, with some appointments and some tracting, and I learned a lot and was forced to speak a lot of Spanish. :)

Spanish tracting is a lot different than English tracting, because there are people that let you in to share your message at probably 1 out of 6-7 doors, although a lot of them are just being nice and don't really catch the importance of what we talk about. It's interesting though how the Lord prepares people, because I've had a few experiences now where people we tract into have had really interesting experiences with the church before, and are more ready to accept what we say. On the first door we knocked one of the times we didn't have an appointment, a lady answered the door and let us teach her the first lesson. She was very attentive and seemed to want to pray to know if what we'd taught was true, and after the lesson she told us that she'd had some severe stomach aches and pains a while back, and she knew some LDS people who arranged for her to have a blessing, and she was healed. It was a really neat experience to hear her talk about that, and recognise that the Lord truly is preparing thousands and thousands of people in every mission of the church, we just have to find them.

I love this Gospel and I love doing the work of the Lord! I'm finding that this mission is really hard and challenging, but the Lord provides a way for me to everything that I need to, and continues to bless me in learning Spanish, learning how to be a missionary and strengthening my testimony.

I hope you're all doing well, good luck with everything!

Love,
Elder Damon Janis