Letter #11

I apologize for not getting this out last week.  I thought I'd hit "post" and I hit save instead.  It was a crazy week and I never got back to doublecheck.

Here's Quayd's latest news.  We visited for an hour and he's had an up/down week.  The family with the dad with Diabetes was suddenly (and unexplainably) sent to jail for 6 months for something that happened five years ago.  Quayd was brokenhearted by this news.  He actually wrote a beautiful letter to give to Joe, along with a Book of Mormon.  The letter bore witness of the truthfulness and that the Book of Mormon can help you through any adversity in life.  I'm in awe of the things he writes. He gave me permission to share it, but not tonight.Transfers will be next Tuesday.  Quayd will be getting a new companion.  This will be another big change and experience for him. He didn't have any pictures this week, so I asked him to send me a quick selfie.  I heart this boy and that smile! OH MY!!  As always, we appreciate your love, prayers and support!  

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There is an opposition in all things! This week has been something else.  Very eventful.  We've had more lessons than I've had in the first 12 weeks.  It's crazy and it's been really fun!   

So, right now we are teaching Brandon and Kevin.  Brandon… I have high hopes for, but, Kevin… we’ll see.

This week, we've had 3 lessons with Brandon.  His family is slowly coming to accept our message, as well.  Actually, his older brother is listening.  We talked about the plan of salvation and how it applies to them.  He talked about his grandma a lot .  She was a Mormon, but, passed away at 49. She was that young, but they look up to her.  Then, we talked about the gospel.  We invited them to be baptized.  They both said if they received an answer or had permission from their mom, they would! 

The mom has been really nervous about them getting baptized.  She, actually, was, mostly, saying no. Brandon came to church and told us something that made me so happy.  He said that his mom told them that she would think about it, which typically means “no” in parent language.  Anyway, he told me that his mom was dreaming and Brandon's grandma told her to baptize her son or she would herself.  At first, I was like, a women don't hold the priesthood, but, that's who Brandon looks up to a lot.  Then, I guess that was the invitation to get baptized.  The mom told him this and was crying, so, I was really happy.  They are both on date for the 26 of November!  

 BTW,  this month has flown by fast - like what happened to 2016!? It's almost 2017! Craziness! 

 Anyway, that's Brandon for ya.

Now for Kevin…He's really nice.  His family is Catholic or Christian, I can't remember. Anyway, we have been teaching him.  Our last lesson was on the Plan of Salvation, which was really good but… he's doubting a lot about Joseph Smith because the Bible says there will be false prophets.  Yep, he thinks Joseph Smith is a false prophet, so, it's really hard. We received a text message saying that he doesn't want to visit with us anymore, that he thinks the Bible is the only true book.  My companion didn't tell me about it, but, I overheard them talking about it. I was devastated, heartbroken. I was mad, furious!

I questioned why does it have to be this hard.  Why can't people accept the truth?  Well, the truth will always be opposed, but, why does it feel like we are wasting our time?  What are we not doing?  That's right… I was angry and I needed to do something.  So, I did. I started to text him, just bearing testimony of the book.  He said that he would actually try to read it before he tells us it's not true, so that made me happy.  I hope I didn't push him though. 

Mission life is hard!  It's exhausting – physically, mentally and spiritually exhausting… but, it's worth it!  I hope and pray that the work will continue!  Thank you all again very much for listening.  I pray for you.

Love you all!

Elder Corbridge