6/9/14

Wow, you are both awesome parents!  Dad, Happy Father's Day!  It's early but I'll be late if I said that next week!  Also, Happy late birthday!  I honestly have lost track of how old you are.  That could be a good thing right?  Well, I loved the graduation pictures!  I had voice recordings to send this week and a picture I think, but of course, I forgot my stuff at home...again.

This week has been pretty crazy, awesome regarding miracles, zone conference and spanish lessons.  I don't remember too much about who spoke, but I remember that we learned some principles that we can apply to our missionary service to help the tiny branches that we serve.  I may have said this before but branches are crazy, ha ha.  Also regarding Spanish, we do splits with the Spanish elders when we carpool to certain areas for the day because of the large area we cover.  So, we're able to cover both English and Spanish.  I am sometimes able to follow along surprisingly!  When I think I got it completely though that's when I get lost.  I love helping everyone come unto Christ though so even if I don't understand everyone I try, ha ha!

So, here's where we get to the amazing miracle of the week!  So, our neighbor Brenda lives literally 5 feet from our door, because it's an apartment complex.  We have gotten to know her very well from conversations, running into each other, and it's been great!  Elder Langford told me he was never really too sure that we should share the gospel with her though, otherwise things could get awkward.  I admit I wasn't too big a fan on that.  So, this last Wednesday night we were talking to Brenda and she just told us how she was having a hard time with her family not too happy with her because she got into a car crash and is now being sued for it.  We didn't really know what advice to give her, because she asked us, "what would you do?"  I knew that Brenda needed to hear about the gospel, because that's the only thing I know that could help her then and there and forever.  The Spirit was very strong too, in prompting me to talk to her about the gospel.  We introduced the Book of Mormon and taught Brenda the Restoration, answering all the questions she had along the way.  She took it all in.  You could see the Spirit working through her, like a light was turned on and she was recognizing the truth we put in front of her.  At the end of the lesson we testified of the Book of Mormon, a favorite thing of mine to do.  I also had the opportunity to invite Brenda to baptism.  I'll never forget her answer as she thought for a few seconds, looked me right in the eyes and said yes so very sincerely.  Brenda has been reading the Book of Mormon now and has done every homework assignment we've given her!  She came to church with us this past Sunday and a returning Sister missionary gave her homecoming talk.  The Spirit was so strong and Brenda loved every bit of it and easily made friends with all of the members!  Brenda is going to be baptized this month on the 28th!  Brenda also shared with us that we were the first Mormons to reach out to her since 1988!  She had an LDS friend back then who introduced Brenda and her family to the Gospel.  Brenda almost got baptized then, but her husband at the time was against the church.  Now here we are 26 years later!  Isn't it amazing how Heavenly Father prepares people to receive the Gospel and puts them at the right place at the right time?  Elder Langford and I have been working hard to help people come unto Christ and be baptized.  We're just happy that we've been obedient to have the Spirit with us to help Brenda in her time of need.  There are no such thing as coincidences in the Gospel.

Well, that about sums up our week, but something funny is that there is a family in our Branch that is exactly like the Croods!  The mother asked me, "Can't you see it?"  I couldn't help laughing and saying yeah ha ha!

Love y'all!
-Elder Austin Mounts