Hey mom and dad! I'm glad you got my package, it got there pretty quick. That was nice of Sis. Nettleship to send the letter to you, she's really a wonderful woman and does a lot of great work with the kids and also helping out the many people in need. I'll get you a couple pictures from the baptism.
The baptism of A and D went really great this last Friday, and I'm way excited for them. They're going to do some great things, I can alrady feel it. In fact, they already have, but I'll write you more about that in my letter home. This week I wanted to talk about a finding experience I had while on exchange with one of my zone leaders, Elder Grimaldi. I went to his area, which is English-speaking. They are whitewashing it (meaning that they are starting from scratch without any teaching pool or investigators), so we had nothing to do except go out and look for people to teach. We planned to go around to the homes of less actives, and street contact and knock some random doors while we were in the various neighborhoods.
I'll start from the main storyline and miracle, then backtrack a bit and show some of the more hidden miracles that brought this one about. At one point while we were knocking doors, Elder Grimaldi got a phone call. It was Elder Allen, who was at an investigators house and needed help translating. I spent about 10 minutes helping him out, and by the time I got done, there was someone walking up the street to where we'd been standing. We went and talked to him, and he ended up being way receptive. He told us that he happened to have a chunk of time right then and there to talk, and asked us if we had some time to share something with him. He enjoyed everything we spoke with him about, accepting a Book of Mormon at the end and promising with conviction that he'd read it. We were very impressed with his preparedness to listen, and are excited to meet with him again. The miracles that are hidden behind this are many. It starts of with us knocking the right doors in the right place, which revelation came from God to Elder Grimaldi. Next comes God's way of delaying us at just the right spot until Paul (that was his name) arrived. Elder Allen somehow knew that we were on exchange, and for some reason called the zone leader's phone to speak with me rather than the natural preference, my companion (the native speaker) . Not only this, but the reason for the call was because the investigator wanted a priesthood blessing for something he's been sick with for five days with the medicine not working at all, in spite of his own prayers and diligent scripture study and faith. This set up a need for translation, and Elder and Sister Allen "just happened" to arrive at his house at the right time to call me for translation. Also, the only way I could've been there to delay us was if the zone leader's decided earlier that I would be the one to go to their area that day on exchange. All I can say is, God goes to great lengths to prepare a way for those who are ready to hear his messengers. We need to be ready for and receptive to his guidance so that he can work through us. Then we see the miracles.
That's my message for the week, and I'm looking forward to an upcoming baptism and wedding this next weekend. Love you very much, and I can't wait to let you know how it all goes :) .
Love,
Elder Zachary Brown
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