Yea so this week we were given another day to email because LDS Mail went down and they sent us an email saying if you want you can resend your letter if it didn't go through or add something so I added the video of Brother Punjack but it didn't send through. Well let me tell you what happened this week!!!! This week was amazing!!!!!!!!!! The spirit was sooooo strong this week!!!!!! We had really good lessons and I learned a lot this past week!!! It first started off with a fun P-day. Our District got together and we played some card games and had a good time!!! Since we are in a trio we went on exchanges and elder Klima went to Uniontown and Elder Isom and I stayed in McKeesport. It was pretty fun!! On Tuesday at dinner we ate with the Ms. You remember them right? He is the one that has a really bad health condition and has the tumor in his brain and that was supposed to be dead 12 years ago!!!!! He is a walking miracle. Well, we had dinner with them and Brother H, a member in the Branch, looked me up on Facebook and saw my profile picture. It is the one of me posing for my book character. Brother H showed the pic to Elder Isom and Isom told Sister M to look it up. As she was looking me up, I was telling her the backstory of how I was the model for the book character in Hidden Monsters and my character's name is Blake and that the pictures were taken for advertising, teasers and/or book covers. So now my past is following me into my mission and the guys always tease me about the picture. They call it the smoulder!! Hahaha Brother Haroldsen actually got in contact with Amanda Strong, the author, and she explained it to him what the picture was for and what she was going to use it for. Anyways, we had dinner with the M's and it was a lot of fun over there!!!! I am so grateful for the Murphy's I love them and so many other members of the Branch! We picked up 2 new investigators through the media referals. I was excited because we were dropping investigators because they no longer wanted to meet with us. However, the Lord provides a way and He did!!! We got 2 new investigators this week and we are going to meet with both of them this upcoming week!! We left a B.O.M. with both of them and they said they would read it so I'm excited!!!!!!!
Speaking of the B.O.M., our B.O.M. class this week was great!!!!!! Sister P was there and asked me to share spiritual insight on Alma 2:34- when the Nephites used the Lamanite bodies to cross the river and how many bodies that must've been and Alma 3:3- the bodies have turned to bones and sank to the bottom of the river and into the sea. She asked me if I would give a spiritual symbolism to that so if you guys have any insights/thoughts on that just write to me!! Speaking of spiritual insight, we had a District meeting and one of the Elders broke down Moroni's promise. We shared the scripture and the thoughts with Brother S at our next lesson. We told him that God is bound to his promises and that he cannot break His promise or He will cease to be God. President R, the Branch President, was also at the lesson and he really connected with Brother S. In fact, Brother S even offered to say the opening prayer which is just incredible because when we first began meeting with him, he wouldn't even pray but now he's offering to say the prayers. People can change and improve I've seen it!!!!!!!! Needless to say, the lesson went well. Brother S was even at church at the end of the block. He came so that Natalie ( his daughter) could go with him to see their Great Grandma's grave and do some genealogy!!!!!!!! That was incredible! So many miracles and amazing moments are happening here in the McKeesport Branch! We met again with Sister Y. We needed a member to come out and the Brother that was going to come got called into work last minute. When we told Sister Y that we didn't have a Branch member, she invited her brother M who is a member but is inactive. We were able to preach to him, his family and Sister Y and her mom!!! The best part was Sister Y and her mom came to church as usual but this time she stayed all 3 hours!!!!!!!!!!!! She commented in Gospel Principles that she feels very comfortable at the branch and that everyone's so nice! I love this branch. They truly are sooooo loving!!!!!! I don't want to leave this branch. I wish I could serve here my whole mission like Elder Klima!!! That would be awesome!!!!!! I doubt I will but that would great!
The best part of this week was the lesson we had with L and JJ, our investigators. I truly learned what teaching to someone's needs meant!!!!!! We were about to start the lesson and we were talking about the world and JJ was talking about how dark this world is and I was agreeing with him how it is becoming even worse. Then he starts to break down and cry. Ok before I go any further little back story on JJ. He works on the railroad and he has seen some really gruesome stuff working out there. He's been the conductor and he's seen people commit suicide. He has told us many stories of people jumping in front of his train to kill themselves but he isn't able to stop. He says you can feel the body as bones break as the train runs them over. Not only that but he was a part of a biker gang when he was younger and he's done and seen some crazy stuff. So knowing that, imagine this man, who has seen the worst of the worst and who was programmed to not have emotion or feel pain, breaking down and cryng! There must have been a lot of pent up emotion inside of him. So as I was watching him cry, I was trying to think of what to say when Brother J, our recent convert, reads a verse out of the bible that talks about how we can be forgiven for the things we've done and how the sinner can always be forgiven. JJ told us that was exactly what he needed to hear. In this lesson not a single eye was dry. We were all crying and the spirit was soooo strong. L even cried but he didn't understand why he was crying. In the middle of the lesson JJ asked, "What do I have to do to get baptized?" We told him about the baptismal interview questions and he remembered what that was. During the lesson, I was able to see JJ and Luke wanting to do something because they felt the spirit so strongly. We invited them to baptism and JJ said yes. We asked L but he said he wasn't sure. Brother M asked him if he know what we were teaching him to be true would he get baptized and he said yes. I know that L will get his answer and come unto Christ but it will be on Gods timeline. However the spirit was soooo strong and I understood what teaching to someone's needs actually meant after that lesson. I want to help people as much as possible and I want them to know the joy this gospel brings!!!!! I love you guys I hope you have a great week love you. Bye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Elder Cahoon the Baboon
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