This last week was really cool! We have had some amazing weather, our investigators are doing well, and our members are sharing the Gospel! It started out with an interesting lesson with an investigator named Matt. He is a great kid who has been raised with a Christian background. However, our visits have been getting more and more... how do I explain it... Contentious?... I guess we can go with that for now. He has had some questions about why the Book of Mormon was necessary, or why baptism was essential, and what role faith played in our salvation. We knew some of his concerns but Elder New and I were on Exchanges with some other Elders that day and he is definitely the more well versed in the scriptures out of the two of us. So I was left to resolve his concerns with another missionary who doesn't know he area and to be honest I was a little scared. Matt knows the scriptures very well and I knew that he would want to use his knowledge to fight with us. but we went in there planning to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. the first 30 minutes were great. He agreed with everything we had to say about Faith and Repentance. But once we got to Baptism things went wild again and we were both there using the knowledge we both had to resolve his concerns. We emphasized the importance of the Book of Mormon and how it clarifies hings from the Bible. Later we brought up John 3:5 where Christ teaches that we must be born again of water and of the spirit to enter into the kingdom of God and he asked, "is it really talking about baptism here?" Luckily the young Elder I was with remembered that the very question he was asking was clarified in the Book of Mormon in Alma 7:14! It was incredible to be able to be stuck in a place where we weren't quite sure what we needed to say and then have the Spirit help us remember something we used to help us learn an answer. Eventually it came to the point where we had to end and we finished with Moroni's promise that if he were to honestly read the Book of Mormon and Ask God to know if it was true, then he would receive an answer that it was true and that what we taught him was true.
This past Saturday night we got a call from the Sisters in our zone. They told us that they had just met a guy named Chris who really wanted to be baptized and come to church! So we finished up what we were doing and headed on over. When we met him he tells us about how he had been taught by the missionaries in Escondido (just north of our mission boundaries) and had to move down here for cheaper rent. So we gave him our number, the address for our institute building where we have church and found him a ride so he could come to church the next day. he liked it! it was awesome to see how he was so willing to come to church and have us teach him! it was a nice change of pace. :)
Yesterday we had President Clayton's final Leadership council. It went just like normal without anything too special until the end when he, Sister Clayton, President Morgan (who is in the mission Presidency) all gave their final testimony as tradition gives for those who will be gone before the next months council. The Spirit was so incredibly strong as he Testified, "I know the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was a Prophet. I know, I know, I know." I have been so lucky to be able to be led by such a great example of a Righteous Priesthood Holder. He won't be leaving until June 28th, 3 days after transfers. That way President Schmitt will have a full 5 weeks to get to know all 250 of us before the next transfer. President Clayton was telling us that they will only have about 2 hours with the new President to show him where the office and the mission home are and how to get there. After that President Schmitt takes over. it is so crazy, but I am excited for it and to see what we will be able to learn from him. I'm sure miracles will continue and increase as we move forward. I can't wait to hear from you next week!
Love,
Elder Ethan John Rowbury
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