On Wednesday we had to get our tires rotated, and found out that the tires had to be completely changed because our car is so old, so we ended up being at les schwab in Forest Grove for a couple of hours, instead of a quick 15 minute tire change. So that kind of threw off our plans. But at the end of the night, we were going to go see a member, but we saw some guys sitting out on the sidewalk in all black clothes and smoking, and we felt that we needed to stop and talk to them. We had things already planned to go over to another member's home, so we pulled over and prayed to know if that was what Heavenly Father wanted us to do with His time. After we prayed, we got the confirmation that is what we needed to do. So we went and parked the car, and as I was getting out, I accidentally pushed the car alarm, so at about 8:30 at night our car alarm goes off in downtown Banks, so that was pretty embarrassing. But we got out there and started walking on the sidewalk and started talking to the first guy. He was super friendly and open to us. He had some kind of way-out-there beliefs, but we were able to tie that back into the gospel and how it all works. As we were teaching him on the sidewalk, a car pulls up from behind and rolls down the windows. And there is one of our investigators. She asked what his name was and then said to him " I am being baptized on September 19th and I know this church is true. Keep an open heart and an open mind, because it will change everything for you." and then she said goodbye and left. It was one of the coolest things ever. She loves sharing the gospel with other people, and is always willing to share the gospel with her friends and neighbors and everyone and she isn't even a member yet! it was an awesome miracle. I think the Lord wanted us to go there, not only just to give him a chance to accept the gospel, but He wanted to give her the opportunity to follow a prompting and drive by and say hi to us and share her testimony. Following the spirit is so amazing and so important. Its a small instance, but will make a big impact on all the lives that were a part of it. It will affect us differently, but none-the less will effect us in a positive way, allowing us to grow closer to Jesus Christ.
The next day we had a cool lesson with another investigator. She was found while elder Adams was on an exchange with elder Vincent and they had an amazing lesson with her, and we finally just got in to see her about a month or so later. She grew up with a non-religious background and just believes in the universe and that after this life, we just die, and that's the beauty of it. But we were able to teach her about families and how that when we as a family or we as individuals don't have a vision, that we just walk in a circle, just like that man did when he got out of the car during the snow storm to save his family, but couldn't see the horizon and ended up just walking around in circles around his car. When we don't have a vision, we don't have somewhere to go, and we will eventually end up back in the same spot we were before. She said that her biggest desire was to raise a family and to have a big one, at that. We told her that before this life she lived with her Heavenly Father, and that those desires and traits that she has to become a mother and to nurture her family, came from before this life, and are a gift from God. She believes in practically all the same things that we do, the only difference is that she doesn't believe that there is a life after this and she doesn't believe that there is a God and she thinks we just kind of vanish away after this life. We invited her to pray to Heavenly Father and ask him if he was real and to ask him if he can hear her prayers, and we also invited her to read "The Family: A Proclamation To The World".
Thursday was basically just a day of a bunch of meetings! We had to do accountability meetings with all of the district leaders, which means that we had to hold them accountable for their goals for August and find out what their goals were for September and how they are going to achieve them. We also find out about how each companionship is doing in the district and if there is anything we can do to help them. I received inspiration, as I was sitting there listening, that we need to focus on inviting others to do things. ITS ALL ABOUT THE INVITATION. As one of our investigators said the other night in our lesson, "the worst sale, is the sale not made". The answer will always be no to church, to reading, to baptism, etc. if we don't invite them to do anything. But it was a lot of meetings, and after we did Forest Grove 1st's accountability, we went out to a Chinese restaurant with elder Tayco and Elder Clark. It was a lot of fun and we really enjoy being around them. After we were done eating, we went to a lesson we had with the Cambodian family. We had the brother come with us who speaks Cambodian, and is the translator for general conference and it was a lot of fun. We taught about the restoration and how the gospel blesses families and individuals. They took it really well and we had the brother from our ward invite them to be baptized on the 27th of September, and they just said that they need to pray about it and make sure that this is something that they want to do, because they don't want to make a half-hearted effort. It was such an awesome lesson, and now they are on date for the 27 of September. I couldn't be more happy for them and more thankful for Heavenly Father and helping us find them and letting the spirit be with us. I love this gospel and I am so excited! We have our other two investigators on date for the 19th of September, and three others on date for the 27th, and hopefully one more for the 20th of September, but we had to wait for our breakfast meeting on Friday at the cafe to find out if she will be baptized on the 20th. This work is awesome!!!!
I had to sleep in Tillamook on a bad couch, and that was super uncomfortable, so when I woke up this morning, I didn't feel that I had gotten very much sleep, and then we had to drive all the way back to Banks to get to our breakfast appointment with an investigator. We went to the Banks Cafe in town and ordered breakfast with our investigator and her dad. After we had breakfast, we shared the message of the restoration with them. When we were at the temple with her a while ago, we had asked her to be baptized on September 20th and she said that she would pray about it. We asked her at the breakfast appointment if she knew this church was true, and if she believed that God the father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph, and she said that she knew that happened. She said when she came to know, that it was like a giant weight was lifted off of her shoulders, and she just felt a peace. We talked to her about her baptismal date, and she said that she felt good about it, but she just wanted to read the Book of Mormon more and pray more about it. So that was an awesome lesson! We will have to help her and make sure that she understands the lessons.
Right after our breakfast meeting we went to district meeting in Cornelius with Elder Hair conducting. Elder Hair really seems like he is growing, which is awesome. Right after that we did new missionary training with the Greenies and I trained Sister Tanner and it was a lot of fun. I can tell how much her Spanish is really improving. It is cool to see all the progress that people make on their mission. Their personality doesn't change, but they, themselves, just seem to change in some way. It's really cool to watch.
After we did the training, Elder Carr and I sped over to the Stake Center to where L was going to have her baptism interview. We had shown up just a few minutes before they were going to do it, and they were already outside waiting for us. She had her interview by President Lewis and she passed the interview! We were super excited for her, but we were positive that she was going to. When they were done with the interview, We took L, with President to show her the font and to show her the video of Christ being baptized. It was super spiritual and we talked about her getting her patriarchal blessing and she said that she wanted hers!
Then when we were driving home, we felt the strange impression to go to North Plains, and we decided to follow it. Long story short, there were a lot of miracles that transpired from following that impression and going to North Plains, but one of the most significant ones is that when we went to talk to this lady, she told us she didn't want to talk to us and wasn't interested, but that those two girls walking on the street might be interested, so we turned around, and it ended up being people we knew! one was the young lady who was just baptized and the other is a younger girl who wants to be baptized as well, so we ended up teaching her on the street and having them bear testimony to her.
It was an awesome week and we just had zone p day up in Tillamook at a member's field/ barn thingy. It was way fun! I know this gospel is true, and I love it!
Love, Elder Romney (:
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