"This week started out normal and I was just killing it on contacting. I got more numbers than anyone the first day and that has never happened, so I was living it up. It gave me a push of confidence."
"We had a fun activity on Monday for our RCs. It was on the Plan of Salvation. We started out by killing everyone in a plane crash and it was pitch dark. They had to climb the stairs in the dark to get to the lowest kingdom. On their way up, we would stop them suddenly and teach about the spirit world, resurrection and judgement. We also gave everyone a random piece of paper that said whether they were baptized or not. If they were not, we asked them if they believed in Jesus Christ and would accept his gospel. If yes, then we would tell them about how someone on earth was baptized for them and they could enter into the kingdom. We had the Celestial and Terrestrial kingdoms as well. In the lower kingdom, we had two people talk about baptism and ETTE. It was dark there and had no air conditioning, so it was not a happy place. haha The second kingdom talked about missionary work and the Holy Ghost. There it had air but no lights. The Celestial kingdom had air and lights and was on the top floor, so we opened the curtains and you could see all the stars which was way cool. There we talked about eternal families, family history work and temples. The Bishop was in charge of that. It was way awesome that even the members asked if we could do it for them on Sunday. It would be too hard to, but it was way cool though. I only have one picture of Elder Bannakorn as an angel. haha"
"During the week, we had an interview for one of our investigators being baptized and then went contacting. We had one lesson with this guy that had some strong addictions and we told him that doing those things would cast him down to hell. Well, he came to church and said he hasn't done any of those things again, so we'll see how that goes. Then we get a call that told us that we had to go home at 8:00pm. We found out that we were forbidden to go out of the house unless going to teach at the church. It lasted for three days! We were at the church all day long just calling people and doing nothing. Then we got together and came up with an idea to contact without going out ourselves. We planned to get the members to do it for us. We had a meeting with many of our RCs and members and asked for their help. We called them as Representatives of Jesus Christ and asked them to do the work. Lot's of them actually signed up for the work and I am sending a picture of them. We will see how well they do and if they have success, before we tell them that we can go contacting again. I really hope it works."
"This week, we were able to go see the Father of our 17 year old investigator. I contacted her at the beginning of the month. I asked her to read the scriptures right when I met her on the street and she read, "The olive tree is compared to the House of Isreal." haha I then invited her to go to church that next Sunday and she never showed up. She did come meet with us that night and we were able to teach her and set a date for the 1st of next month. She told us yes, but when I called her again, she said that she was Buddist and would not go to church. Then she showed up at church and was befriended by Sister Boo, who is one of my RCs. They are now great friends and Sister Boo is teaching and helping her. Now the girl wants to be baptized which is so way awesome, but her parents will not give permission. We went to see them and they said that she had to wait until she is 20 and can choose for herself. She started to cry when her parents said no to us. I think she will choose to be baptized without her parents permission. Christ said that the gospel will sometimes cut you off from your family, but you need to love God more. We will see if she can be baptized when she turns 18 in July."
"This next week will be good for sure and I can't wait to see what adventures I'll be having. Maybe I'll take some pictures of it all! haha"
Elder Jacob Smith
