Monday, March 24, 2014

March 24, 2014 Letter

My companion and i had a great week this week. learned a little Spanish, found some new people to teach, and we even made a "scene" with some verry drunk people haha. it was great!

our two golden investigators are on track for baptism. we had to push the baptism back tho, because of general conference. but that's okay. there still keeping the word of wisdom, and their progressing very well. they know that Joseph Smith was a prophet, and they understand and love feeling the spirit. I'm so happy for them!

I had an great opportunity to go on an exchange with the zone leaders this week. it was awesome to spend a day with a missionary who has a lot of experience. although the zone leaders are Spanish elders, so all of our appointments except one were in Spanish. so i didnt really get to teach any. cause the only Spanish I know is hola. and the numbers 1 to 10. but i'm very grateful, because every time elder cardinas prayed, or testified in Spanish, i could feel the spirit telling me that what he was saying is true. the language of the spirit is awesome. you could speak Spanish, English, Chinese, that tongue clicking African language, or whatever language. the lord doesn't care. he will send his spirit to testify of the truthfulness of his message, across the world. to all nations, kindred, tounges, and people.

i like to imagine the spirit like a smile. you don't need to speak to share your smile. you don't need an advanced knowledge of the gospel or even good communication skills. babies smile all the time. all you need to do is be happy. when you feel the warmth that comes from living the gospel of Jesus Christ, it makes you smile - it makes you happy. and you want to share that smile with everybody. somebody told me a story of a man who said - i'm going to walk to the golden gate bridge. and if nobody smiles at me on the way there, i'm going to jump. by following Jesus Christ and having that spiritual smile. we can be an instrument in gods hands. to save that one person.

also while i was on this exchange with the zone leader. we were "street contacting" people in downtown richmond. we came across these three people, my companion said they were from laos. I don't know where that is though? anyways. after a minute of talking to them, it became obvious that they were intoxicated. my companion snuck off to go talk to some guy who walked up on the corner, who was actually interested in hearing our message. I couldn't go talk with them though, cause the crazies would follow me. so my objective at this point became - keep the drunk people away from elder cardinas, so he can have a spiritual experience with the man he was talking to. I didn't do a very good job tho. I couldn't understand them, because their English was very bad. they pointed to my name tag, which says Jesus Christ on it, and grabbed my hands and started bowing. like they were worshiping me. but then they got upset. i guess because I couldn't understand them. so they started yelling at me. I didn't know what to do, so i just started nodding and saying yes. so they started yelling even louder. everyone was looking at us..

anyways, elder cardinas and i finally escaped across the street to talk to more people. i looked back over and saw all three of the drunk crazy little people from Laos, sleeping on top of each other in the middle of the sidewalk.

anyways. what i learned this week was don't talk to drunk people. the spirit cannot dwell in unholy temples.

i hope everyone has a great week. i pray for you all every day. if you have someone, or are thinking about opening your mouth to share the gospel with someone, then do it! as members of the church, we invite all people to taste of the doctrine of Christ. I testify as a representative of Jesus Christ, that if you pray for missionary opportunities every day this week, the lord will put someone in your path this week that you can share the gospel with.

love you guys,
Elder Allison

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Elder Joseph Patrick Allison
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