Sometime in the second transfer

So, this transfer the area of Royal City was split in two, and Elder Decker stayed there and got Elder Aguilar as a companion. They now have about 1,000 people to proselyte to, half of which they can't reach. Their area probably won't exist for long. The sisters, Sister Collins (who was in Othello) and Sister Worlton came in, invited everyone to be baptized, and are having a baptism three weeks after they got into the area. This is when I truly learned, that most baptisms you receive, are actually the work of other missionaries. And the people you work on most, will be baptized by other missionaries. It's the circle of life. As for Mattawa....

Sometimes it seems like you're not making any progress in the area! You know you are, inside, but sometimes it's hard to see the progress. Dalia and her kids, who are our most promising investigators, haven't been to church in a couple weeks, even though we visit them every saturday night.  But Gabriel, who progresses very slowly, made it to church again, and so did the part of the Cruz family. Crispin (Cruz) said he didn't want to leave when Sacrament meeting was over, and he felt a lot of peace. Miguel, who is very intelligent, didn't go to church and didn't want a date for Baptism yet, but he keeps inviting us over. I think he's impatient though with my slow spanish. :) Good thing Elder Kelly can speak so well! We are getting some more new investigators, (even if some of them are half-hateful, half-afraid of us. We'll warm up to them :) and we're getting more referrals also. We've just been given the task of bringing an older man, who just lost his wife, back to church. His time in the church stopped when he was about 13, but he's very nice and the man that gave us the referral believes we can do it. So, Mattawa has it's good and bad. :)

Elder Kelly and I are working on having shorter lessons, and it's working pretty well! We don't take up all of the investigator's/member's time, and we are able to visit more people also. Hopefully those we teach can notice the difference when we leave too! Plus, me and Elder Kelly managed to spend only 15 dollars each at the grocery store this week! We are so good!

This week, I've felt a lot of comfort from the Lord. I tried out a suggestion of praying to know if the Book of Mormon is true again. It was interesting. I went and knelt to pray, and confidently prayed as to the truth of this sacred scripture... and nothing happened. I had a general sense of the spirit, but nothing special. I was puzzled, and wondered if I was missing something. I finished my prayer, and thought about it. I still knew the Book was true, but where was that promised response from the Spirit? I decided that for right then, I would just depend on previous answers from the Holy Ghost. Throughout the day, I would think of when I felt the spirit especially strong. The first moment I remember feeling Him in an incredible way was on my seventeenth birthday, when I received my patriarchal blessing. I also thought of when I left my interview with my Bishop to become a missionary, and during my time at the MTC. Why couldn't I receive that sensation of the fire within my soul at will? I was a little frustrated. As Elder Kelly and I continued working, for some reason I got this strange sensation of awe. And happiness. And strength. I realized this was my answer of whether the Book of Mormon was true or not immediately. And I thought of a line from a hymn, "God moves in mysterious ways". I'm not sure why my answer took a little bit. I'm still figuring that one out. But I've applied it into my life, by reminding myself that sometimes it takes time for investigators to get answers! Well, I've said too much. This was a good letter! Hope you like the guard dog picture. Lots of love.

Elder Grant