Hello Familia!

MASON CAME TO CHURCH!!! Okay, I know you have never heard of Mason before because we actually just met him this week, but he is officially our first real investigator that Sister Cusick and I started teaching that has come to Church. He is so golden and has such a desire to learn more. See below for more details but just know that he is the man.

I gave a my first talk as a missionary this week! It was on inviting others to come unto Christ, very appropriate for missionary work. It went pretty well and it is a relief to be finished. I was nervous but not as nervous as I usually am once I started talking. Doing missionary work can really help you in all aspects of your life. There is no doubt to me that this Church is true and that the Lord is hastening His work. I love sharing this good news with everyone we meet.

I had some neat studies today during personal study. I was studying from Jesus the Christ. I have wondered for a long time why we say that Jesus is the Christ and what this title really means. In the introduction of this book it says "The solemn testimonies of millions dead and of millions living unite in proclaiming Him as divine, the Son of the Living God, the Redeemer and Savior of the human race, the Eternal Judge of the souls of men, the Chosen and Anointed of the Father--in short, the Christ." All of those wonderful descriptions are all included in the title of Christ. It means a lot more to me and I appreciate the respect we use in this Church related the Savior, by always referring to Jesus as the Christ or Lord of all. He is the leader of our work as full-time missionaries and in all aspects of the Church. I love bearing His name every day.

I don't have a lot of time because I have had computer problems today, but just know that all is well in Zion! There is no news on the visa yet but I could care less because Sister Cusick and I are getting into the groove. We work well together and are very open with each other and happy. I am so blessed to have her as my trainer. Even through any opposition, she is a rock in the gospel and in missionary work.

 

I love you all lots! Have a fantastic, missionary-filled week,

Sister Marchant

 

 

 

Dear President Castro,******
It has been a great week. We have had some wonderful lessons and met some great people. This has really been a week of growth and cleansing. Sister Cusick is a great teacher and I continue to learn a ton from her. She trains with charity and patience at my pace and helps me know what to improve. I am very blessed to have her as a companion.
This week we taught lessons to Mason, Paul, Noah and Gabe Ruiz, Sister Johnston, and Constantine.

Mason!! We are so excited about him. He is 23 and has a tender heart. We met him knocking this week. We were actually knocking a lot further down his street when one of his neighbors referred us to him. There is no way we would have gotten to his house if it wasn't for this referral. When we knocked on his door, he immediately opened and said "hold on a second, I want to talk to you." He grabbed some chairs and we taught him the entire Restoration on his porch. He was very receptive and had some great questions. He had been an atheist for all his life until a few years ago when he started to attend a Protestant Church. After moving to San Luis however, he hadn't gone to church for about a year and has been meaning to go back. He was praying to know which religion to join this past week. When we came to his door he said he felt like it was an answer to his prayers! We set up another appointment for Thursday of that week and invited him to institute and church. We taught him the Plan of Salvation on Thursday and he soaked it up like a sponge. He really liked the idea of having to know evil to appreciate good and also the three degrees of glory. He was really excited to attend Church and said he would be willing to be baptized when he learned more and came to know this was true for himself. Then on Sunday a member of the YSA Ward picked him up for Church and he stayed all three hours! He even commented in class and said that he really felt the Spirit. The ward really took him in and I know that is where he needs to be. On Sunday was passed his teaching over the the YSA Elders, Elder Wilson and Elder Bostrum. We are very excited to hear how he will progress. It was amazing to teach him the first two lessonsand to watch everything make sense to him and the light of Christ to enter deeper into his life. We definitely saw miracles through Mason this week.
We taught Paul a short lesson with parts of Mosiah 14 on Thursday. We bore our  testimonies of Jesus Christ and the Atonement. He has not been keeping commitments and has little desire to learn more or read the Book of Mormon. We gave him our number and invited him to call us when he wants to meet with us again, but as of now we dropped him. We hope that he will be able to see the difference of not having the gospel in his life and will want to come back.
We also taught Noah and Gabe this week about the Holy Ghost. It has been hard to get in contact with their family at a time when they are all available for a lesson, but we have been able to see Noah and Gabe more often. They are progressing and we have a lesson with them on Wednesday at the Church. We are planning on teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and recommiting them with a baptismal date. If we can help them to come to Church more consistently, I think they will be on the road to baptism.
Sister Johnston (RC/LA) has a great desire to improve. She is still greatly struggling with smoking, drugs, and has been sick the past week, but she reads her scriptures when she can and is working towards quitting smoking. She is excited to take the temple bus this week to visit the Temple Visitor's Center. We are really hoping and praying that her health will be good enough that she will be able to do this. We taught her a short lesson on patiently enduring trials through the love of Christ and looking to our leaders for guidance. She has been watching a lot of General Conference and learned a lot from the prophet and apostles words. We are trying to help her to rely more on her Priesthood leaders and the members of the ward because she is more under their stewardship in her trials, but we are still praying often for her.
Finally, we had a lesson with Constantine (60s) about the Book of Mormon. He moved from Romania a few years ago and has worked hard to transition into the culture and language of this country. We actually ordered a Romanian Book of Mormon for him and gave it to him this week. It was a really neat experience and he was so excited to get one in his native language. He promised to read it and we set another appointment with him for next week. He has been Catholic all of his life so it may be hard for him to change, but we are ready to teach him from the Book of Mormon to bring him closer to Christ.
We are working hard in this area! We are learning a lot and coming closer to Christ ourselves. I have found my personal studies to have been a lot more effective than they were at the beginning of my mission and I truly cherish all of the hours of study in the morning. I am also getting more used to all of the responsibilities of missionary work. Things are going great! Missionary work is always happy.

Thank you,
Sister Marchant