Baptismal date set for Jesus

Hi Everyone!

This has been a really exciting week, probably the highlight is that we have someone on a set baptismal date! It's Jesus Gonzalez (American guy, going to the English branch) (just kidding :), he's the one who just walked in off the street and then wanted to learn about the church and join!

He's so solid, he's reading, praying and coming to church, and he doesn't have any issues to keep him back from baptism! The service will be on the 9th of October (Happy Birthday Dad!) which is after transfers so it's likely I won't be here to witness it.

Another thing that happened is that we've had a couple more visits with a family of 5, all of the kids being boys (16, 11, and 8 years old) and the parents have decided that they don't want to force any set of beliefs on their kids, but let them decide for themselves.

The kids got really excited about the prospect of listening to a modern prophet this weekend at General Conference, and they are progressing rapidly in testimony and desire to learn more! We found out that the 16 year old is actually in a leadership class with one of the Spanish youth in the branch, and he's good friends with her so we have built-in fellowship!

I could definitely see the kids getting baptized this coming transfer, and be a huge strength to the youth and primary programs here in the branch.

We have a less-active couple (actually dead inactive for 10 years) that's starting to come back to church and meet with the members and missionaries! They're a sweet older couple that were offended several years ago by a tactless missionary, and have just been in the habit of inactivity for so long that they never came back.

We tracted into them a couple weeks ago, and after a few visits by us and one where we brought the 2nd counselor, they finally came to church and loved it!

Last night we went to see a less-active family who've recently gone through some hard times and it's softened the husband, who in the past wouldn't even speak to missionaries or have anything to do with the church. We taught a family home evening, singing hymns and having prayers, and did a lesson about the Gospel of Jesus Christ (basically the principles and ordinances of the 4th article of faith) and used a cool object lesson to explain the Holy Ghost.

They have 3 girls, one 10, one 8 and the other 4. They loved the lesson, and afterward we were able to talk a little more to the parents. We told the husband that he could actually baptize his 8 year old daughter, which he really liked, and they committed to coming to church in spite of any obstacles that the Adversary would put in their paths. We're really excited about them, they could be a huge strength to the branch as well and would really benefit from the Gospel!

Basically things are going great here, I feel like the Lord has blessed us for being obedient and working hard, and although I might not be able to see everything come to fruition here I think I'll be content knowing I did my best in this area and was able to help in the cultivation of this field so that the real harvesting can occur!

I love the people here and I love this little Spanish branch, I'm excited about where things are going here and I know that the Lord will continue to pour out his Spirit here!

Have a great week, stay close to the Lord! I love you all, thanks so much for your prayers, love and support!

Love,
Elder Damon Janis