Wow, Easter Week
Hello dear family and friends! I hope that you all had the most wonderful Easter and week, I know we had a truly miraculous time. To get this out of the way first. I'm in a trio with the English Elders again. My companion, Elder Pilkington, went home on Saturday. He was an awesome Elder, he just had some health things he needed to figure out at home. I hope he gets them figured out soon so we can see each other again before I go home! It was so awesome and fun to be able to train him for a couple days.
We definitely were both outside of our comfort zones this week and I think that's why we saw so many miracles! I don't even know where to start. This week we were able to teach Martin a lot. He was a former that we dropped because he wasn't keeping commitments. This week he saw us on the street and called us over. We talked to him and he has such a sincere desire to come to church and be baptized. We invited him to be baptized (April 16th) and he accepted. The only challenge with Martin is helping him to understand the doctrine or the importance of certain things. We have to be very patient and loving.
This week we also met Fernando. We were walking down the street in 'little Mexico' and this guy in a hoodie is walking on the other side of the street. He crosses and starts coming towards us, so we do what any person (or missionary) would do. We offer him a card about Jesus Christ (the Hallelujah card for the Easter Video). We had an awesome conversation with him. He was impressed by our faith and asked so many questions pertaining to the plan of salvation. After we answered his questions he said that he felt like we helped him a lot and that he felt a lot of peace from what we said. He wants to try Jesus in his life because he's trying to turn his life around and he's tried a lot of different things. We invited him to solidify his faith in Jesus Christ and to be baptized. It's pretty cool too because he already knows a recent convert in the ward.
Also this week we went to visit Shae and Jimmy, recent converts, at a hotel they were staying at (yes they live in Great Bend, but they were staying at a hotel this weekend, don't ask it's a long story). I don't know if any of you remember me talking about Shae before? She's a progressing less active/recent convert. She is high functioning autistic. She was determined we were going to visit them in the hotel, we were a bit hesitant, but she was persistent. It's a good thing she was because when we walked into the lobby I was shocked who was at the front desk. It was Nora! I don't know if any of you remember her but she was a really solid investigator who came to see a baptism. Then she moved to Fort Worth, TX. She recently moved back and we never would have known unless we would have went to the hotel where Shae and Jimmy were staying.
The last miracle I'm going to write about today is how we found this awesome investigator named April. This story I'm about to tell is proof that the Elder Waldron today is not the same Connor Waldron who left on his mission almost 18 months ago. Elder Pilkington and I were walking down the street and I was trying to be the good trainer and such and we see this lady sitting in her car in her driveway. So... we walk up to the car and offer her a #Hallelujah card. We offered to show her the video to, but she was busy at that time and said that we could come back later that day. We went back later but she asleep so we taught her son and left a Book of Mormon with him. The next day we go back and April comes out and she has her son's Book of Mormon. She says, "I've been reading this book, what is it?" She had read through the beginning of the Book of Mormon (the introduction and witnesses, stuff like that). We teach her about the restoration and Jesus Christ visiting the Nephites and those things. We ask her how she felt and she was just like, "I feel like this static going through me, like electricity running through my entire body." We asked her where she thought that feeling came from and she said, "God, I think he's trying to open my eyes to something." It was really cool! But to make it cooler we left her with 3 Nephi 11 to read (where Jesus visits after his resurrection). We couldn't tell from our first encounter but it turned out that April is a very spiritual person. She kept her commitment and read from the Book of Mormon. She said that it just makes sense to her that if there were scattered tribes that Jesus would visit them too after his resurrection. She said she had the same electricity feeling when she was reading from the Book of Mormon. She was going to come to the Women's broadcast too, but she wasn't able to make it. She is very interested in General Conference though and really wants to come. She was very interested in the term 'living prophets' and asked us to tell her more. It was great Segway into an invitation to General Conference and she was like, "Oh yes, you'll have to get the times of that for me because I want to see that." We also have a church tour set up with her this week. Wednesday night with an awesome member. I'm super excited about all this. We invited April to baptism as well. Please pray for April!
That's our awesome week! So great and on top of all this we got to celebrate Easter! I'm so grateful for the Savior in my life, "I Stand All Amazed".
Love you all so much and whatever trials you may be going through at this time I know that you can receive hope and peace from the message that Christ brings. I know because I've felt it myself. I've felt lifted from deep, dark places by Christ. I know he's there for all of us.
Love you Élder Connor Waldrón
