Sunday, September 20, 2009

Choose? I'll pick Charleston Chew for 50 Millions!

Hello Beloved Family and Friends!

I'll start off by trying to nail some of the questions coming my way. First, Mother, you spelled Elder McFarland's name wrong...so no, he is not related to this Billy character. Second, Elder Jenkins Sr. and Elder Davis have both made it here! They arrived in Auckland the day before Zone Conference and so they came to mine actually, so that was really fun to see them! In fact, everyone from my MTC district was there except Elder Handy and Elder Kimball. Good times. Third...there was no mail for me at Zone Conference...so I guess I have to wait another freakin' six weeks to read anything tangible!...stupid. Fourth, Stephen, please keep sending your jokes, they are much appreciated. Fifth, Lauren, I love your Abby stories, and I will address you in a separate email.

I think that's all the questions...

Anyways! So basically this last week we discovered that the area we are covering has been dead as for ages. We had no idea! So because we had no idea we just put our nose to the grindstone and have been working hard as to get people and we have been having huge success! Members used to be a deterrent here, but now they are our greatest strength. We have received 16 referrals since we have been here (10 days) without doing any friend shares. Friend shares are when we go to their home for a feed (tea...dinner) and afterward we sing for them and share a spiritual thought and try to get them to bring a friend to church or give them a Book of Mormon. We haven't done a single one! They just give them to us! Awesome.

We have a baptismal date set! His name is Isaac, and he is only ten but his family members are all inactive and have been a bit of a problem. His grandmother, though, wants him to be baptized so we have been teaching him the lessons and he loves it. I'm so excited for him. He really is such a great kid and he soaks up everything we tell him. He loves reading the Book of Mormon and nearly peed his pants when I gave him one. Oh ya, he is set for October 24...so the 23 for you guys.

We took a bit of a set back with Paora. Not a huge one, but we haven't been able to meet with him for a while because he travels with his band. We were supposed to meet up Wednesday, but he called us several hours before and told us a family emergency had come up and he needed to leave. So at least he was thinking about us and isn't blowing us off...we're meeting with him this Wednesday and we're going to set him for baptism hopefully. He's pretty keen.

Remember when I mentioned Amy and Reuben? OH my keen. We were teaching them the Restoration on Saturday night and I had the opportunity to tell them about the First Vision. Oh man, the Spirit was so strong and they were both tearing up and so attentive. After I had told them, without us saying anything, Amy asked how we could know if he is a true prophet. We explained to them that we need to ask God and they said would definitely pray to know. Sweet as. I always have a prayer in my heart for them because Amy believes that a church shouldn't be all quiet, but should involve loud praise (like a band) and excitement. But I'm hoping we got through to her that the Spirit speaks to us softly through our feelings and promptings and so if we are surrounded by noise we are distracted and don't feel the Spirit. Stay tuned, I have a good feeling about these guys. OH, and they may be partners but have already spoken about getting married so huzzah.

Well Nia is coming along and just recently Nola told us she wants her son to be baptized so we are going to be teaching him the lessons and we're gonna set his date for October 24, yes, the same day as Isaacs. His name is Devonte and he is a little 7-year-old stud. I think we will be able to commit Nia to baptism within the next week or two as well.

Well I have basically gone through all the people who are actually accepting the things we are teaching. Most of the people for now just let us in because they are curious or because they want to Bible bash. There was a man named Matt who we spoke with on Saturday and everything single bogus thing he tried to throw at us we answered calmly and effectively and finally he called us blasphemous because he believed the Book of Mormon taught Satan was our brother and blah blah blah. So we explained to him that Satan was once very powerful in Heaven but his pride got in the way and we wanted to show him Isaiah 14 where it specifically says Satan had fallen from Heaven...but our quads were in our backpacks...stupid. Anyways! Still a bit bitter about that, but it's all good.

I love you all so much! Thanks so much for all your support! And I'm sorry I have emailed very many people specifically...we come to an internet cafe and so we try to be as short as possible because they charge ridiculous amounts. Comfy chairs though!

This church is true! People don't understand the liberating feeling you have when you know the Savior has your back and that he has suffered for every stupid little thing we can think to do. How many drops of his blood were mine? I was thinking about that yesterday...what a terribly devastating thought! But He loves us so so so so much and He suffered for us willingly. I love Him so much. If we ever have any problems we need only turn to Him and He will strengthen us.

I love you guys! Hope you don't have ant infestations!

Love,

Elder Seth aka "Huck" Jenkins

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