July 18th

Dear Family!

Well this week we have had a couple of great missionary finding moments, so that is helping our area a ton. We spent most of our finding time this week Tracting even though it's been close to 100. 

Wednesday while we were Tracting this barren town home area where you would have thought no one lived. Granted it was 2 in the afternoon the dead hours, but we were far away from home and had an appointment at 3 so we knocked doors. We knocked the door of Jose who after some conversation told us he was interested in learning more. He said that about 5 minutes before we knocked on his door he was looking at photos of the temple! Coincidence.... I think not! We will be meeting him down at the visitor center this weekend so we hope everything goes well with him!

Wednesday night we got to go out with the priest quorum for exchanges. I went with the older two boys to go and teach Shaka. When we arrived there he wasn't home, but we had the back up plan to go visit Brother Coberly. We taught him about the atonement, more for the priests to have the experience. One of the priests has his call and so it was a great opportunity for him to learn.

Thursday we got to go have our first interviews with President Johnson. They were 20 minutes interviews which were long since there are 190 missionaries in this mission. He asked about the work, the ward and about a couple of little cultural things in Maryland. He had me discuss the music rule with him and he is going to be changing this mission's music to more spirit inviting music. He is still a little timid to make changes just because he wants to be the nice guy. This mission loves and respects him so if he makes a rule, we will all follow it.

Friday while I was on exchange with Elder Wilsher we were out Tracting apartments. We knocked a few sets of buildings with no luck, but were determined to talk to some people. We knocked on the door of James who was at home watching his kid. After a 30 minute conversation we got a return appointment with him. He started off the conversation saying he wasn't ready for religion, and ended off with him contemplating the atonement and how to repent. We were able to show him the Mormon message "Reclaimed" and that really touched his heart. Thank goodness for iPads!

Friday night and Saturday Morning we were over at Lulu's home for dinner and then for service. She had Elder Bailey mow her lawn and I cleared out a patch of weeds for some of her new flowers to grow next year. It was great because after her son took us out to an all you can eat restaurant. He is less active so it was a great opportunity for us to build a relationship with him. Having been here the last 9 months it hasn't been since the last month that we have been able to talk and meet with him.

Church miracle! We were just about to start sacrament meeting when lo and behold Betsy and her family walked in! But it just wasn't her and her kids, she brought her husband! It was awesome to see Gio come to church! Baby steps with him she said so that will hopefully bring him back to church. 

Sunday President and Sister Johnson spoke at Why I Believe. They were super nervous but did a great job. You can still tell they are getting used to everything but here in a little they will be delivering powerful messages. At Why I Believe you could really see how much of a goof ball President is. 

It's been a pretty great week and the work is picking up!

Love,

Elder Bentley