BEST NUMBERS IN THE ZONE...

JUNE 23, 2014

hey hey! This was a FANTASTIC week everyone, my goodness. We're absolutely killing it!

First things first, we got transfer calls yesterday. Elder Vega and I are both staying! woohoo! what a relief. I totally figured i'd be getting transferred every 6 weeks the rest of my mission after last time haha. i'm glad we're staying together though, we are working super well together, and i'm learning a ton from elder vega. it's been a fantastic transfer, and i can't wait to continue working with elder vega these next 6 weeks!

So, we had the best numbers in the zone this week! elder vega and I worked are frikken butts off, and it paid off. We got personal calls from the assistants to the president telling us how proud they were of us and our hard work. it was awesome! we're just killing it right now, we're so blessed to be in Parkwood. There is so much going on, it's awesome. i love it.

This past Tuesday, we had the opportunity to go on an exchange with Elder Jackson, one of the AP's (assistants to the president) in our mission. He's actually from Encinitas; I've talked with him before. he's suuuuuuuuper legit. he went to LCC high school and he's gonna go to the university of utah on a football scholorship after the mission. he's basically perfect. super handsome, super ripped, and a stud missionary. he taught us so much on that exchange, he really changed the way we worked and helped us improve as missionaries. fantastic fantastic exchange.

so elder vega and i have been working real hard on our personal goals, one of mine being that i want to be super ripped. so we've been going super hard! i'm down to like 178 pounds now. i'm running a few miles every morning, lifting weights 3 times a week with elder vega, and biking a tooooooon for the missionary work. i think i've put on like 5-10 pounds of weight in my legs alone from the bike. my legs are getting really big. like, i thought i was good in memorial..but being in a FULL bike area has made it even better haha. super cool! gonna keep eating good and working hard, hopefully i'll be shredded in a few months haha.

we had some great lessons with “J” this week. although he can't be baptized for a little while, he's progressing like crazy and can't wait to be baptized.  We had two very powerful lessons with them this week. Our last one, we watched the talk "i will not fail thee, nor forsake thee" by president monson, then we talked for a little bit about the enabling power of the atonement and how christ is always on our side. then we sang "i need thee every hour" and we prayed and left. Sister “B” was in tears. she texted us later thanking us profusely for coming over and for the "inspired message" we shared with them. it's incredible being able to influence people's lives positively guys, honestly. it's so great. there's no greater feeling.

oooooookay, funny story for you guys. LAST saturday (not the one we just had, the one before) we knocked the door of a guy named AB, a former investigator. He answered the door and seemed like this sweet sweet old man who told us that he just had gone through chemotherapy, so he asked us to come back the next saturday at 4 o clock. So, we just stopped by this past saturday (two days ago), and this time when he answered the door, he was in a flippin suit, not pajamas this time.  He sits us down, tell us he's a 7th Day Adventist, and then says he has a lot of questions for us. So, we pray, and we start to talk. He tells us he's a bible teacher for his church, and he has a PHD in bible studies.

As soon as he said that i was just like "ohhhhhhhh man i'm in for it, i'm sooooo in for it right now, this guy is gonna try to bash me" annnnnnnd i was right. haha.

He just kept asking questions without letting us answer, and he started talking about adam and eve and stuff, and i told him we'd love to answer his questions using BOTH the book of mormon and bible, and he was just like "no. i want you to prove that mormonism is true using ONLY the bible." and i said "sir, i won't do that. Our special message is that the gospel has been restored, and that we can obtain this knowledge by studying and praying about the book of mormon, which contains many precious truths lost in the bible." and he said "so you're telling me that the bible doesn't have EVERYTHING i need for my salvation?" and i said "sir, i believe that if the bible had everything i needed for my salvation, i wouldn't need the book of mormon." and he pretty much freaked out haha. we basically just testified to the guy, and i refused to bash back with him. he was throwing out scriptures, but i wasn't gonna fall into that trap; i wasn't gonna bash. He pretty much told me he wasn't gonna read the book of mormon because he's already read from it and knows it's not true.

Then, he said "you guys need to study the bible. like, you need to actually read the bible. i know your church says you can't read from the bible except for a certain verses that help prove your point, but i invite you to ACTUALLY read the bible for yourselves to know if what you're preaching is really the truth." and i said "sir i've read the bible, and i've read the book of mormon. i know them BOTH to be the word of God, and nothing in either the book of mormon or the bible contradicts each other. however, we'll do that. we'll be better students of the bible, because you're absolutely right - i study the book of mormon more than i study the bible. can we offer an invitation to you as well?" and he said sure, so i said "we invite you to read Ezekiel 37, and also to continue to read the book of mormon and pray to know of it's truth. will you do that for us?" and he said "you know what, i will. why don't you guys leave me with one of those pamphlets every week as well, and i'll do all the studies in the back of them and compare them with what i believe in the bible, and we can talk about it every saturday at 4:30." hahahhah so after all that, after him bashing us like crazy, he committed to read the book of mormon and all the pamphlets and study the extra sections in the back. the only thing he wants us to do is study the bible more. psh, i'll take that deal any day. so i started reading the bible again, and it's been great! instead of reading ALL book of mormon all day, i read half and half. it's improved my studies a lot!

That's all i got for you guys this week! have a fantastic week! love you!