Another transfer has come & gone which means I am only getting closer to returning back home to America. I say this with more sadness than excitement. The longer that I am out here serving this amazing people, the harder it is for me to think about going home. So I usually just don't think about going home. However, since it is transfer day & I am in the city, I have been around all of the departing missionaries for the last few days. These missionaries who are going home are considered one of the best batches in the entire mission. It is filled with amazing missionaries who worked so hard & really changed the entire mission. I have come to know & love many of these missionaries. As I spoke with a few of them last night, they shared with me the memories of their mission. With tears running down their face, I could see how sad they were to leave such a beautiful place & how hard it is going to be to go home. It was sad to see them go, but comforting to know that they gave it everything they had. This is the vision that I have for myself when it comes time for me to return home.
As for transfers, I am pleased to announce that I am staying here at the temple for another transfer. I am even more excited that I am staying with Elder Harris! It is quite unusual for zone leaders to stay together for more than one transfer, but I am excited to continue our work. It will also be the first time in my mission that I will be with a companion for longer than 1 transfer.
So much has happened this week, so I will just give you a few highlights, first concerning our teaching. You are all familiar with the Mangubat's at this point. It is with sadness in my heart that I tell you that they broke up with us. Really, it was like getting dumped in middle school. We were getting ready for church & talking about all of the investigators that we hoped to have there, when suddenly we received a text thanking us for everything, but informing us that they would no longer be investigating the church. My heart broke. After church we went over & spoke to them about their decision. After a short while, we ended the conversation by telling them that no matter what happens, they know where we are & they are always welcome.
The Mangubat's didn't come to church, but we did have Kyle show up! Kyle is a new investigator that we have found & he is so great! Every lesson that we have taught him has been filled with the spirit & he almost always has tears in his eyes. He brought his daughter & son with him, but unfortunately his wife is not very interested yet. After going to a few lessons & a trip to church, he shared with us his desire to be baptized! We were so excited! However, the adversary is very tricky & always finds ways to disrupt the work of the Lord. We went to his home yesterday hoping to discuss more about his baptism, but upon arriving we found his mom & cousin standing outside of the home with broken glass & blood inside. They told us that him & his wife had an argument & he went crazy. He threw all of the glass santos (dolls that Catholics pray to) on the ground, he punched & broke the glass fish tank, & hit his wife a few times before the police finally showed up & took him to jail. I'm not exactly sure what is going to happen at this point, but we are praying very hard for him.
Another miracle! We were sitting in sacrament & church was about to end. With about 5 minutes left, another missionary comes in & tells us that someone was sitting outside looking for us. We went outside & found another one of our investigators! He has always been good, but he hasn't been one of our focuses (until now)! We took him into a room & asked him what made him want to come to church. He then proceeded to tell us one of the most amazing things that I have heard on my mission. He told us that he had a dream. In this dream, he was looking for a Bible everywhere but couldn't find one. He found all of these different books but none of them were any good. He then told us that he found a blue book. He didn't know what the book was called, but he opened it up. He told us that when he opened the book, the only thing that he could see was the name "Moroni". We had not yet given him a Book of Mormon & he asked us if he knew what his dream meant. Without hesitation, we handed him a Book of Mormon & opened up to Moroni. I wish you could have seen the look on his face when he read that name. Needless to say, he is now one of our most progressing investigators.
I'm sorry that I missed birthdays & fathers day! To everyone who had a birthday, happy birthday! I hope it was great. I loved the questions that I received this week, but I really have to go so I will try & answer them next week. Love you!
Elder Staheli
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