Avalon Week 9

Elders Taylor and Serrano

It sounds like you had a pretty good week over there in the west! This week was pretty much awesome as well!  It's so crazy that Nate is going to be 22! Wow!  I remember last year when I was in the MTC I got him a box of teddy grahams! And I think that sister.... oh man I forgot her name. but she delivered it for me! I feel bad that I forgot her name, it's in my brain somewhere. Anyway you know who she is. :) (Sister Church-SS)

We were able to pick up 3 new investigators and we were able to have 5 investigators out to church this week!! We would have had Chis with a baptismal date but his grandma, who is a member, discouraged him from coming because his kids were sick. That was a bummer because we can't set him with a date unless he comes to church consistently.  Emil and Mona A..., came to church and the ward did a wonderful job at welcoming them and helping them feel at home. They said that they real enjoyed it and hopefully we will be able to see them out next week. The other 3 are some eternal part-member families that came this week. We're still working with them and finding ways to be able to help them to progress. The 3 new investigators that we picked up are cool people too! We got 2 of them last night when it was about 8:15pm and we were out and Elder Taylor wanted to get 2 new investigators. He wanted to tract but I thought it was too late for that right now so we brainstormed. A name of a guy that I had talked to 2 days back came into mind so we decided to try him anyway. We get to his house and some guy answers the door (not Jeff who we are looking for) and we ask if Jeff is there, he says no, and I proceed to do a regular Door approach, (we're missionaries from the church of Jesus Christ.... etc.) And he says, hey guys why don't you come in, it's cold outside. So we did and guess who was sitting on the couch? Jeff!! The guy that answered the door said that he doesn't let just anyone in who is looking for his brother Jeff, but once we started talking about Jesus he was more than happy to let us in. We were able to teach them and it turns out that Brian, the one who answered to door, had met with missionaries about 20 years ago, but didn't want to stop smoking and drinking at the time. He knows about the Book of Mormon and we gave him a new copy because he had misplaced his. It was a wonderful opportunity because we accomplished our goal of getting 2 new investigators last night because of the Spirit's influence!

 I'm really enjoying serving with Elder Taylor and hope to be able to serve with him another transfer, we're working hard and are starting to see some success here! I'm also really enjoying reading the Book of Mormon more and more everyday! I'm a little behind but am working hard to catch up on it. I really feel the Spirit when I read it and I love it. Things that I haven't noticed or things I forgot, come back to me and it's true when one says that they are living scriptures. The church is true! I know it is!

Happy Valentines Day mom!

Love.
Elder Benjamin Serrano