Digging to Find More Potential

Well another week has gone by! We've had a pretty good one up here in Ephraim. The transition from Elder Stephens to Elder Ramirez has been good! (Although it was very abrupt). Anyway it's been really cool to see how we work so much better together now. When we served in Cedar together last year, it was literally black and white haha. But through our experiences since then, my heart has waxed bold and his heart has gotten more compassionate. We're blending together much much better and the work is moving forward even faster. Elder Stephens was awesome, but he was about as quiet as me, and unfortunately he hasn't had a lot of experience yet as far as teaching lessons, so often times I would teach the whole lesson (if it was English) but then he would have to teach pretty much the whole Spanish lesson. It was weird! Anyway it's been a big blessing to have Elder Ramirez here! But yeah, the bigger challenge isn't the companion....it's the work in the area! A couple investigators we've been working with have had some things come up lately to the point where it's been almost two weeks since our last solid teaching appointment. Elder Ramirez still hasn't even met Stephanie, so that's been a struggle. We were going to put her on date for baptism this last Monday but she cancelled again because of work. At this rate I might not see her be baptized, but the things I've already taught and shared with her have made it worth it. She'll come along soon enough, when she's ready! Other than that, we've found a few more potential investigators in the area, and since Elder Ramirez and I breathe soccer, we've been trying to set up a game with some of the Spanish kids here in Ephraim.

Anyway, if you want to pray for our investigators, they are: Stephanie, Patricia, Juan, Fenishia (LA), Helene (LA), Marty (LA), Christensen's (EX), Isabell (EX), and Bobby (8-yr)....as well as some of our potential investigators: Irma, Miguel, Chano, Lotaki's, Danny, Leonardo, and Cheyenne. 

So on Tuesday we had a cool little experience. We originally had three appointments at 6, 7, and 8 pm respectively. The last two cancelled, and our back up plans quickly expired as well. So we started roaming the streets of Ephraim when suddenly the Spirit reminded me that Ilaisia's wife, Elaisa, was going to have a C-section the very next morning. Our ward mission leader and I had talked about giving her a blessing a few weeks ago. We had mentioned it to her before, and she was all for it! Anyway, I gave out a long, drawn out "Oh yeah...!" and I told Elder Ramirez about it. So on the way there we saw the Elder's Quorum President all dressed up, walking to their house as well. I rolled down the window and asked him "Are you going to the Lotaki's?" "Yeah!" "Are you going to give them a blessing?" "Yeah!" "Can we come along too?" "Absolutely!" So yeah he and his counselor had gotten the prompting as well, and while we were talking to Ilaisia at the door, our WML showed up as well acting on the same prompting. Awesome! So there were five of us there, talking with Ilaisia, but Elaisa was at the hospital getting checked in for the morning. So about an hour later we got a phone call from the EQP saying that she was home again, so we all rushed back to give her a blessing. After cracking a few jokes and chatting, the EQP briefly described the "why" of priesthood blessings and then he anointed her. Guess who got to do the actual blessing? Yep this guy! As soon as I had started I was like "Oh shoot I'm giving a blessing!" but then all of the sudden the Spirit kicked in and I stopped thinking but my mouth kept spitting out words that weren't even mine. After the blessing, both Elaisa and Ilaisia had a few tears and just kept thanking us for coming by. They appreciated it sooo much! And our WML added the fact that we don't just come to their door to push religion on them...we come to be their friends and show our love for them. Such a good experience for them, especially since they're both non members.

The surgery went well, Elaisa and the new baby are fine, and even though Ilaisia and his team lost to EAC last weekend, they won their game a couple days ago. I'm not even sure if he was there haha, but still! Blessings! The whole experience reminded me of how aware Heavenly Father is of His children, and that He is in control of our well-being. He lives! How else could five people be prompted of the same idea at the same time and be willing and worthy to carry it out? This is His plan, and He is in charge of it! All we have to do is be a pure vessel and let His Spirit fill us and direct us to those that need our help.

Until next week!

Love,

Elder Payne!