It was transfer night last night--nothing happened. I guess if a play works, you keep running it until it doesn't. Our two most progressing investigators have hit a stumbling block--the Word of Wisdom. They have been taught it before(they've been investigating for about a year) but I guess the understanding wasn't really there. Saul, the 21 year old son, is fine and ready for baptism, has been for a long time. But he wants to wait for his mom, Margarita. She has difficulty quitting coffee. They were so ready to be baptized this time but it didn't happen. So now we are back in the rut--we set a baptismal date, they don't make it, we set another baptismal date, the don't make it, etc. It's a difficult spot we are in, and we've been praying a lot about how we can fix it.
We are in another rut--we haven't had any new investigators for a couple of weeks but we have accumulated a ton of potential investigators that we just haven't gotten a hold of. One of the challenges we are facing is keeping the flow of people going so we don't have so many ups and downs; we want a constant, gradual uphill slope. Our finding time is being used really well--Elder Wheeler is a great finder-- we just lose too many people after we get their contact information. Once we stop the leak, the font will fill far faster.
This week was really wet and cold. Once again I noticed a distinct correlation between the weather and people's attitudes. The Autumn leaves look quite nice, though. That's the positive side. I figured out how to send pictures on these computers, so I'll send some. I think you'll find that they look the same as fall pictures in Georgia.
Edgar and Louis both did baptisms for the dead this week, which is fantastic. Recent converts that attend the temple are much more likely to stay active. I'm so happy when retention efforts work. We have a good ward here and it's easy for new members to find fellowship. That's one of the good things about serving in a ward. We watched Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration with Louis and left the DVD with him. After we left he watched Mountain of the Lord, Only A Stonecutter, and The John Tanner story. He's just soaking it all up. He's thinking about bearing his testimony in the next recent convert fireside.
Things are going well. We have our focus for this week, and I hope it's the same back home.
--Elder Wade
