Miracles and Olympics

Hello everyone,

Holy cow, this week was definitely one for the books, we had an amazing week full of fun and some sweet miracles. First things first, We had zone conference, and President asked me to conduct, so that was pretty fun. We had some great training similar to what was taught at MLC, and it was awesome. Our role plays went well, so i was thankful for that. After wards we had our zone Olympics! This year was a ton of fun, sadly our zone didn't bring home the title, but we had some individual medal winners. I was kept pretty busy running the stick pull tournament. I drew a bracket and everything, and got to announce. I felt like i was at a wrestling tournament haha. But i am happy to report that some how i got a medal for push ups this year haha that was a miracle in and of itself. 

So recently in our area, it has been tough to find people who will progress, so in our district conference calls, we have asked everyone to pray for prepared individuals that we can teach. Well our prayers were answered this week. The first miracle begins as we were walking down the street, and passed a man walking on the opposite side. I felt a prompting to talk to him, so we went over and contacted him. As we were talking he explained that he had a very strong faith in Jesus Christ. The thought popped into my head to ask him if we could teach him in his home. So i asked, and to my surprise he agreed, and we walked with him down the street to his home. As we talked we found out that he had attended several of our meetings in Salt Lake, and Minnesota. And that he was almost baptized by the sisters there. We also found out that his brother has been a member for about 20 years, and has been sharing the gospel with him for quite some time. We taught him the message of the restoration, to which he told us that he knew it was true. After we finished that lesson, we set up a time to come back the next night to teach the rest of his family. He happily agreed, and we came back. This time his wife and 15 year old son joined us for another lesson about the restoration, and its importance. It was an amazing lesson, but it doesn't stop there. He invited us AGAIN for the next night. So we went again last night and prepared a lesson on the importance of the Book of Mormon. As we were about to teach, we asked the 15 year old what he remembered about Joseph Smith and the restoration. He said something along the lines of this: "Well he was a 14 year old boy who was looking for truth, and the right church. So he prayed and asked God, and he told him that none of them were true, and didn't have his authority. So he was a prophet that brought it all back."....I was more than a little taken back...I was like freaking out inside. This young man is so prepared, and equally prepared is his father. Elder Wangsgaard felt impressed to share Lehis vision with him, and we talked alot about how when Lehi partook of the fruit, he desired that his family might partake. We were nervous about him accepting a baptism date, but after he heard that, we sat in silence for a moment, and then he said. "I will do it first, and then bring my family. but if my son wants to do it, we will do it together." With that being said, i taught about how reading everyday,and baptism was how we begin to partake of the fruit daily. We were able to set the father and the son for baptism on the 5th of May!! This family is so amazing, the dad told us that he wants to understand the Book of Mormon, so he invited us over every day at 7 to read with him and his family. I cannot fully describe how grateful i am for Heavenly Fathers tender guidance, and love that he has for each of us. He does answer our prayers. He hears us, and as we ask in faith, he will always guide us. I know that is true.  We had another amazing miracle, in which we were prompted to try a potential that we had spoken briefly to a couple of weeks earlier. To our surprise, she too let us right in and let us teach. On the next visit, she told us that she read the whole chapter and the pamphlet that we left her, and then asked if she needed a change of clothes for her baptism. So that was pretty legit as well haha. We are meeting with her regularly now as well. Overall it was an amazing week full of miracles and tender mercies. This church is so true, God is real, and he hears our prayers. I appreciate all that you do for me, i hope that you have a great week!  Love you all!

Love,

 Elder Kirby