What do you know about the North Side? 10-23-2023

 We were in the north side of our area, and we were looking for a friend named Korey who missionaries have not contacted in a long time. There was this random guy leaf blowing the parking lot and it turned out he was Korey and he invited us inside his home because he said they were evil spirits inside of his bedroom and inside of his wife. We went inside and offered a prayer to bless the home and then I offered a blessing upon his wife and that was a really cool experience because right before she was super irritable and mad at her husband but afterwards she was crying and laughing and super happy so that was a testimony to me of priesthood power.

This week I also went on an exchange with my zone leader Elder Keller who I served around in Moscow. This was his first time in his mission on a bike and he had the time of his life. We found this really cool lady and referred her to the sisters whose area she lived in and we proceeded to have a really great day where I learned a lot about leadership. 

We had the opportunity to go to the temple to do initiatories and endowments and it was a really spiritual experience, before we went I listened to a BYU devotional of why we need an endowment and then afterwards I listened to another BYU devotional about how we can find Jesus in the temple. I encourage you to go to the temple when you can!

On an exchange with Elder Vasilyev we accidentally found a house full of like 20 Thai people who are somewhat interested in hearing a message. We also had dinner with this really cool Hispanic family who was super humble and full of Christlike attributes.

On that same exchange my usual companion Elder Wagstaff wrecked his bike going down a very dangerous hill in our area, he got scraped up bad!

We have two really cool friends who I will tell you about, one of them is in our teaching area while the other is in the companionships area whom we live with. They both need prayers as they are in similar situations where they may not be able to get baptized due to family circumstance but they have a strong desire to and it's been a pleasure to work with them :)

Jeremy Smith is a friend the missionaries prior to me were working with, he was struggling with doubts about Joseph Smith and at one point he did not want to meet anymore. We kept up our persistence and gave him scripture and resources to help him out. We recommend Alma chapter 32 (about faith) and invited him to a baptismal service. He came and loved it, afterwards we had a lesson and he expressed he still had some concern but he had a desire to grow faith and just go for it! He wants to get baptized with his son Ethan! We had a lesson with the two of them and they are both on date for baptism for November 11th. It has been a miracle to work with Jeremy, his faith inspires me.

Michael Burnley was found on September 26th, we found him walking his dog on a trail near a high school and we started talking to him and he said he knew everything about Jesus. So I asked him if he knew that Jesus had come to the Americas and then we got to a conversation where he was a bit apprehensive at first but then at the end he said his Spirit told him to continue listening and that he was actually down to read the book of Mormon. He said meet me here same time tomorrow. So we came back and he wasn't there! We started talking to a lady in his apartment complex parking lot who directed us to his apartment. We knocked it and he said yall came! He said, "so what's this book about?" and we gave him a brief explanation. The next day we were on a bus to go get our bikes fixed and he was on the bus reading the Book of Mormon!!! We referred him to the missionaries who cover his area. Since then he has grown so much spiritually, he loves the Book of Mormon and his wife actually hates it and she tossed his copy in the trash a few times.  He got the app and didn't tell her. He wants to get baptized alongside 4 of his kids but unfortunately there's an opposition. He needs his spouses permission. Please pray for Michael!!