Week #83

Hi Mom! 

You're story of you and Liza riding the tandem on a turtle hunt made me laugh super hard! I can't even count how many time me and one of my friends, or Bennett or Cooper, crashed on that bike! For whatever reason, we never figured out how to stay steady on it and work together to be balanced! I definitely have some good memories on that bike. 

I'm glad that the Curtis and Cloward family are doing okay. I hope they can manage through this hard time. I love those families so much! Can't wait to see them all again! 

Sandusky is still amazing and is only getting better! My district is a lot of fun! We have 4 Elders including Elder Wheelwright and I, and 2 sisters, so 6 missionaries total. We all have so much fun together! I'll send some district pictures to you today. They're pretty funny! I love being District leader, so much more than zone leader! As district leader, people still look up to you, but they aren't afraid of you. They act like themselves when I'm around which wasn't always the case when I was a zone leader. I also have so many more opportunities to serve and be a good influence on other missionaries. 

The area of Sandusky is so great! Like I said before it reminds me of Ashland. However, it's a better quality than Ashland was. All the people are so kind to us! This week, I really felt like God put us where we needed to be. On multiple occasions, we made plans to go stop by someone, but they wouldn't be home. Instead, right around there, we would talk to someone that was super interested in learning more! I love it when I get to be an instrument in God's hands. We have some really great Potential investigators that we are going to turn into investigators this week. 

There were a few high lights from this week I've been eager to share with you! So last Wednesday evening, we went and saw our investigator Emmanuel. I don't think I told you about him last week. He's working here in the US temporarily. He's originally from Peru and will be going back home in the beginning of March. His english is okay so sometimes it's hard to understand what he's talking about. This last week we had an amazing lesson with him! We were talking to him about his reading in the Book of Mormon. He has read up until 1 Nephi 15 or so. The lesson prior we had committed him to pray to know if the Book of Mormon was true. He said that he didn't pray directly about that. We asked him if he would do that, meaning for him to do it after we left. Because of the Language barrier, he thought we were telling him to pray right then. He just started praying so Elder Wheelwright and I both just bowed our heads. Emmanuel then offered a very simple and very brief, but very specific prayer. He plainly asked, "is the Book of Mormon true?" After he said Amen, we looked up at him and he said, "I felt something strong, like I've never felt before." He told us he didn't know what it meant. Then he just sat there. He rested his hand on the Book of Mormon next to him and stared at it. We sat in silence for almost a minute. He was quite obviously pondering very hard on the answer he had just received. Our job, as the missionaries, not the teachers, is to stay out of the way and not interrupt the teacher, the Holy Ghost. Emmanuel then looked up at us, and said, "I think it is true!" It was amazing to see his prayer answered right there in front of us! We invited him to be baptized and he accepted. We won't be the ones that baptize him, but we got his address in Peru and we'll send the missionaries to him when he goes back home. 

We picked up 3 new investigators this last week as well! One of them is named Paula! She knows how to talk! It's so hard to have a lesson for under an hour with her because she talks so much! She's had some pretty insane trials in her life. She sees people that live the commandments and are religious that have stable lives. That is what she's looking for and that's why she's meeting with us. The gospel will help her immensely! 

I also twisted my ankle AGAIN! It wasn't my ankle that I broke in high school but it's the one I twisted in Ashland. I was coming down the steps of our apartment building and roasted my ankle. I'm usually pretty good at staying up on my feet when I twist my ankles but this time I ended up face down on the grass. Luckily I dodged the pavement. It's feeling a lot better now but initially I could hardly walk on it. It's hard to do effective missionary work when you can't walk! We still went out and found some great people to teach! These weak ankles aren't going to stop the work of the Lord! 

I'm loving this work! I'm so glad I'm in Sandusky! I wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world right now! I love you so much mom! I think You're awesome! I hope you have a great week! 

Love,

Jack

Jackson and Elder Wheelwright at Lake Erie

A Mexican Fiesta after district meeting