Hello all,
This week was interesting. It actually started out quite bad, but by the end of the week, I was again on a spiritual high.
First off, remember the Indian bible study group that Elder Ouassil and I attended while I was in Issaquah? One of the meeting locations is actually in my area, so me and my district leader, Elder Taylor (who wants to start teaching Indians), went back to get invited back to the study. Warned and prepared from what happened last time, we went in Wednesday night. It started out quite well, reading from the bible, but then the real "lesson" started. One of the men in the group heard that we were coming back and did some "research" beforehand. He was surprised about what he found and pulled out a whole bunch of anti on us, coming mostly from Brigham Young's Journal of Discoursed, which may or may-not be doctine, but we were able to solve it quite quickly. Our conversation then changed to Adam and Eve and weather they were able to have children in the garden. For the most part, we agreed on many things, but they pulled out suttle differences that they expounded on them. It was really quite annoying that they never really listened to our side. We stood our ground firmly, and so did they. and we never made any progress. Needless to say, it was quite a waste of time and they aren't open to further light and knowledge at this time. This experience only strengthened my testimony of the Restored Gospel. They seemed confused and didn't know all the answers. Experiences like this only make me more grateful for the Book of Mormon.
Saturday was interesting. At the Islamic Mosque next door to the Bellevue Stake Center was an open house. My companion and I, and another companionship attended. It was well recieved and I did increase my knowledge about Islam, although I did know a lot of it from my class at BYU-I last year. I was very impressed about how they presented themselves. They talked about the 5 pillars of Islam and even got to see someone who showed up take an oath and become a Muslim. Many members of our Church attended and during the open house they mentioned the "Chruch next door" positively.
I saw Anne and her kids in one of the parks in our area. If you remember, she was one of my favorite people I met with in Issaquah. She seems to be doing amazing! She has completely stopped smoking and got her patriarcial blessing. It is amazing to see the gospel truly change people's lives and I was happy to be a part of that change.
It was a pleasant surprise that on Sunday Jake Stinson got the Aaronic Priesthood and became a Priest. We were talking about them in Ward Counsel and noticed there was a stake baptism day for unendowed adults this week. So we invited them to meet with the bishop yesterday and they both got temple recommends and he was interviewed for the priesthood, which he ricieved after Church. It is great to see the progress they are making so quickly. They are my first new converts to be worthy to enter the temple. They are also quite excited to do family history. Lindsey and Jake's first baptisms for the dead are going to be their parents. They can't wait for Thursday!
So as you see, things are going okay here. We still don't have too many investigators, but we are still working with Jake and Lindsey. This week seems like it will be exciting too!
The Church is true!
~Elder Fetzer
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