February 27, 2012

We did have a good week. We're continuing to get a lot of teaching
opportunities as we taught 23 total lessons this week with 5 more new
investigators. We were disappointed that despite that, only 2
investigators came to church. However, both of those investigators are
very close to baptism. One of them, named Rory, is on parole for the
next 18 months, so we orignally thought he couldn't be baptized until
then, but President Lindley called us last week and said he would
personally interview him and determine if he was worthy to be
baptized. If he is worthy, he could very likely be baptized in two
Saturdays. He's changed his life around since coming out of prison and
really has nothing in life but his sense of humor and growing
testimony. The other, named Sharlene, is married to a less-active
member who we are helping reactivate. We went and saw her for the
first time on Saturday and the first question she asked us was "Do you
think I should be baptized?" I think you know how we responded to
that. She is scheduled to be baptized on the 17th of March and she
already has discovered a spiritual witness to the Book of Mormon and
Joseph Smith. Basically, we watched the Resoration DVD in the first
appointment, and when we asked her how she felt about it, she said she
felt like it really happened, and when she came to church the next
day, she told us she had read the Testimony of Joseph Smith and knew
from God that it is true. So we're thrilled about that. Another member
we helped reactivate has just been called onto the Elder Quorum
Presidency. Of course, our focus is on investigators, but its' really
great to see even life-long members' faith strengthened through out
efforts.

We had a really fun zone P-day today. We went across the river to
North Shields and went to a secluded but beautiful sandy beach. I was
surprised to find such a nice beach on the northern coast of England.
Obviously, we couldn't swim, but we played some beach sports and
played on the rocks for a while. We found some crabs in the little
pools of water inbetween the rocks. Then we all crammed into Subway
and ate lunch there. It didn't help that a load of school kids were
coming in to get their lunch there at the exact same time. Then we
went to go minigolfing at this course where dinosaur statues spit
water at you when you get the ball through certain holes. Sometimes I
waited until one of the missionaries got right in front of the sprayer
to take their put and then put my golf club through the hole to spray
them. It was fun. The weather today made it even more fun-- 13 degrees
C and drizzling all day. Definitely the most fun P-day I've had so
far. I really like this part of the country.