Teaching With Members and a Baptism

Hi mom and dad :) .  

I'm doing well today, just pretty glad it's P-day and I can relax a bit.  The exercise I do is pull-ups of various sorts, push-ups, and sit-ups.  Sports have been banned for months now (since I was with E. Moreira) and will never be approved again in the mission, so that's rough.  I can't wait to play basketball.

This week has been good, and M's been doing really well.  She's down to a couple small cups of coffee every day, and is working hard to make it 0.  We went to their house on Saturday and made them American pancakes (we tied it in with not cooking instead of going to church, using the story of manna; we basically gave them something to eat on Sunday without cooking by keeping the pancakes overnight).  Unfortunately, the time change threw some people off, including her family, and she didn't make it to church on Sunday amidst the resultant rush to get out the door.  However, she'll be sure to come next week.  

The baptism this weekend was fantastic (I've sent a picture), and there are a lot of good things that connect with that.  L, the one who baptized them, is related to them somehow, and has been a faithful member for three years now or so, currently serving as 2nd counselor in the branch presidency.  These two were the first people he's baptized, so it was a great moment for him.  He also gave one of them the gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday.

Z (our branch missionary) and his brother P (the one who lives in Doncaster) did some great missionary work with us this week that's laid a good spiritual foundation for some people, planting seeds that will in time certainly bear fruit.  Z went with us teaching one day, and the appointments we'd hoped to bring him to and our backup plans fell through, so we weren't quite sure where to go with him.  He told us he'd take us somewhere, and we ended up getting into a door I'd been denied at before (actually, he didn't even knock, but just opened the door and walked in, asking if we could come in, too).  The man of the house is Z's cousin, so that's the connection.  We had a solid lesson about the Restoration, and set up an appointment to come back a couple days later.  That day we were in Doncaster, and P offered to drive us back to Darnall, and we then invited him to come teaching with us.  He did, and though we were told by the couple that they aren't interested in having more to do with the church right now, they did say that they want to get their lives in order, think about it more, agree with each other on it, and then decide.  I believe that they will come around eventually; I just may not be here to see it when it happens.

I've got to get going now.  Love you, bye!

Elder Brown