Week 52

Hey guys,

Well last Monday we didn't do anything exciting, just went to church early so Elder Craig could register for classes then we did nothing the rest of the day until we had the Smith's and the Ferdinand's for Family Home Evening. While we were at the Ferdinand's, Brother Ferdinand taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and when he got to Baptism he asked his son if he was wanting to be baptized! His son said yes and it was just awesome! They showed a huge amount of love for their boy at that time and it was amazing! 

Tuesday morning we went to see Brother Allen Taylor. He is a 19 year old father to a one year old boy. Right now he is wanting to make sure that he is setting a good example for his son and that he has the right foundation set under him. So he invited us over and we had a nice get to know you conversation. After we left there we went to the church to wait for Brother Cartright so we could help him with his resume but he never showed up so we went to lunch. Later we tried looking for the Etiene house but couldn't find it so we tried to go see Kenton but he wasn't home. So we took studies at the church before heading to the Seawell's for dinner.

Wednesday morning we had District Meeting. It was alright this week, nothing to exciting happened. After we took lunch we went to see Tyrell, Sandra's oldest boy. We just sat down and asked him why he wanted to meet with missionaries and he was completely honest with us. He told us that he was only doing it because his mother wanted him to. So we told him that if he doesn't want to sit down with us he doesn't have too. So we just talked about his goals that he has for himself and how he can possibly achieve them. We were also supposed to see Brother Raphael but he wasn't home. We also had a potential investigator fall through as well so we decided to go finding around the Ferdinand's home. They wanted us to talk to their neighbors so we did. We walked down the street and contacted a man named TJ. We then took Brother Ferdinand to see Brother Williams. When we pulled up to Brother Williams' house, he came out side and saw Brother Ferdinand and just dropped his head with a huge smile on his face! It was like they hadn't seen each other in years! They were bother talking and laughing and have a great time. Then Brother Williams just turned to him and said, "Brother, I'm gonna promise you that I will be at church before the month is over." And the conversation switched to church just like that. It was nice to see and listen to them talk because Brother Ferdinand was the Branch President years ago and Brother Williams was his clerk. They did almost everything together in church! It was amazing to see them back get back together.

Thursday morning we went to do service for Brother Lucito Bazard again. We weren't able to spend too much time there that day but Elder Craig and I got quite a bit of work done that day! Later we went to see TJ but he was too busy to try and share a message with him so we told him that we would call him and set up another appointment. Then we had Demitri fall through as well. The Bazard's were feeding us that night so we started making our way over there. I tell you, the traffic over here from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. is packed! That is their rush hour here! It takes us an hour to get to some of our appointments sometimes because it's so bad! Anyways, we get to the Bazard's and they had some bomb chicken wings! Oh my goodness were they good! By the time we were done eating it was about 7:30 so we headed for home because it was gonna take us a while to get there...

Friday morning we had interviews with President Pearson. I found out that I was probably be staying in Nassau for another 3 months. That is NOT set in stone so no one believe it until it actually happens! Anyways, after the interviews we went to see Brother Thomas at his work place and watched him almost get run over by a forklift... We had a nice lesson on Alma 32 where he talks about experimenting with faith. We encouraged him to keep reading and prayer so that he could become a Book of Mormon wizard like he is with the Bible. We were supposed to have a lesson with Sister Charlene but we couldn't find a church brother to go with us. So we went and stopped by Sister Wencie to drop off a shirt for her boy Trevor and left them with a prayer. We had Weekly Planning that night. 

Saturday morning we did our Sunday Roundup, had lunch, then went to see Brother Rolle. He was doing okay when we stopped by to see him, we hadn't been able to get a hold of him for a couple days so we stopped by to check up on him. Brother Rolle is our investigator btw. We scheduled an appointment with him then went to see Kenton in his work. We also haven't been able to get a hold of Kenton either so we cornered him at work and set up appointments with him then. We then Sat down with Brother Latario and talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We then took him to see Sandra, who wasn't home, and to check a potential investigator. We then took him home and went to the Robasto's house for dinner. That night was also a baptism for the other Elders.

Sunday we had church and there were about 97 people there! Numbers are climbing! Well, 20 of them were tourists, but hey! Slowly but surely! We went to the Ferdinand's for lunch and gained 5 pounds, then went to see Brother Sinea and his mother. We just talked about her conversion story to get to know her. Brother Pierre, I could go on and on about how awesome Brother Pierre is! We talked about his preparation to enter the temple. As we where trying to leave things just became too funny for us to try and leave!. Brother Pierre is just awesome! We then went to pick up Watson to go see Noelda. When we got there, Elda, Noelda's friend, showed up and sat down with us again. We talked about the Plan of Salvation. They were just like sponges! We left them with the commitment to pray about what we had read and to continue their Book of Mormon reading.

Well, again, it amazes me to see how often people put the Church first out here! I love the mentality that some people have out here with wanting to put the Church first and the Priesthood and so on because it is all here for us to make it back to Him who gave it to us to use for the every day grind that we go through. I have used the Priesthood more here in Nassau than I have anywhere else because people have seen the blessings that truly do come from using it the right way. I love the people here and am truly grateful for the people here and for the love that they have for the church and for this gospel! I wish to extend the commitment that I extended a few months ago. Try to put the Church first in everything that you do. Put your calling first, put your duty to God and your brothers and sisters around you first. I know that the Lord will bless you in ways that you can I can not understand or see. I love you all!

Elder Wilding