June 27 Post - We are staying!!!

Hey amazing family!  Sounds like it was a really amazing week for you all and I am super glad to be able to here that!

So this week, Elder Fitzgerald and myself were able to take part in all of the Zone Conferences.  We were able to present a training in every conference on how to set meaningful goals and how to attack our mornings!  It went really well and I think that the missionaries liked it!  The main theme in the Zone Conferences was how to become better teachers.  One of the main things that was discussed was the importance of listening.  That is one thing that I have really tried to improve over the course of my mission.  Listening is hard and takes work.  It is so true though that if we do listen then we can relate whatever people say to the gospel and we will help them resolve their concerns through the amazing message of the restoration of the gospel.  They were super good! 

Because of Zone Conferences, it was a bit harder to meet with people this past week but we were still able to meet a few good people and do some good finding!   One of our investigators has actually been keeping in contact with the Sisters that serve in Salt Lake City (he chats with them on Mormon.org). Apparently, they have been teaching him a lot of really great things (like baptism) and he says he really loves speaking with them (they also call him). He is really progressing well and he loves the things that we are teaching him. He has been smoking less frequently and his goal right now is to get down to just 5 cigarettes per day. He believes everything and when talking about baptism, he said that he does not feel that he is fully clean right now (which is good that he realizes that). We have been teaching a lot about repentance and how to become clean and he really loves it. He is really doing well. 

We have also started teaching a really great family.  We tracted into them a few weeks ago on splits.  Well actually they were standing in the hall way of an apartment building and were preparing to go on a bike ride and I decided to talk to them.  The little son begged his parents to come to church and 2 weeks ago they were able to come. They were not able to come to church this past week, but we were able to meet with them this past Tuesday and it went really well. The son who is 8 years old is the one that is extremely interested. The mother is a non-practicing Reformist and the father believes in a higher power but is not sure what it is. We were able to teach about how God works with His children and the blessings that we have seen from this church in our lives. It went really well and I see great things happening with them in the future.

Transfers are happening this week and Elder Fitzgerald and I will be staying together and we are super excited!  Elder Fitzgerald is a great missionary and I have learned so much from him and will continue to learn a lot from him!  I am so grateful that I get to continue serving in this amazing city with the amazing people that we work with on a daily basis.  I am grateful that I get to keep being an assistant to President Szabadkai and will do my best to keep serving him!  Love you all so much and hope you have a great week! 

Gentry Elder