Because we're taking our calling seriously and teaching them seriously, I think they'll take us seriously too and listen to what we say.

Alright, I now have a new email address, it's "damon.janis@myldsmail.net". The only difference is the dot, but we're now on a gmail based server and they didn't let me choose my own name.

Ok, so the guy I mentioned last week briefly, Jose Jacob, now has a baptismal date for the 14th of February! He's awesome, we're just finishing teaching him and then baptizing him, and the best part is that he has built in support in the ward because he started investigating from a member inviting him. That's what our true purpose is as missionaries, to be the full-time teachers, and the members to be the finders. It works so much better that way, I can't tell you how many stories I've heard and teaching records I've seen where a person is found by the missionaries, taught, baptized, and then when the missionaries get transferred they go inactive and nobody really knows who they are, so there's no follow-up or fellowship. We're really not that great at finding and retaining, what we do best is teach.

I had a couple of lessons with a part-member/inactive family that gave me some insight. We decided to start teaching 2 brothers who have been investigating the church off and on for several years, also to see if we could get the wife of one of the brothers, a member, to re-activate. We had a nice chat the first time, and as we talked we found out that they'd never been taught by the missionaries about the temple. We decided to watch part of "Between Heaven and Earth", a church video that is a bunch of professors from various religions talking about our temples, and it's really cool. We also left a chapter from the book of mormon, and then set a return date. When we came back, we didn't have enough time to teach a full lesson about temples, but since the wife wasn't there we just read the chapter we'd left them. During the lesson, my companion got prompted to ask them if they had any questions about the church or restoration, and at the same time I got prompted to ask them what was holding them back from being baptized. He said his, which was a perfect transition into my question, and we had a really good talk about it. It turns out they both want to learn a little more first, but they're in a position now with some economic difficulty that they want to put themselves in harmony with God's will. It was really cool, it seems like they're really sincere and me and my companion feel like we're going to baptize them.

Something we did though that may have made the difference is that when we came into the house, they were watching some old movie, and they asked if we wanted to watch it for a few minutes. We said no, and then had a really good talk and taught them about repentance. A lot of missionaries before us (this family has been working with missionaries for probably 5 years) would come over just to hang out and watch soccer with them, and weren't really serious. Because we're taking our calling seriously and teaching them seriously, I think they'll take us seriously too and listen to what we say. It's been a good lesson for me to realize how important my calling is, and that I need to present myself in a way that shows people the importance of that calling. Hopefully they progress, as always people have their agency, but we have a lot of hope.

Thank you all so much for your thoughts and especially prayers, this is truly the Lord's work and he blesses those who serve Him. I love the gospel, how simple it truly is yet how incredible and life-changing at the same time. I love this chance to serve, to bring other people the joy that I've experienced in my life, and enrich and bless the lives of everyone we talk to by the spirit. It's the coolest and best feeling in the world to teach, talk, or testify, and see and feel the spirit touch the heart of the person you're talking to. I love you all, have a great week!

Elder Damon Janis

P.S. Sorry if you've written me a letter and haven’t responded in a long time! I'm really backed up on letter-writing because of p-day time getting eaten up by other things. I'll keep trying though, please be patient with me!