Nothing to Lose Here

August 4, 2014

Baptism of Briggitte

Well, it's been a pretty good week.  No complaints on my part.  First off, Erick is an investigator whose baptismal date fell through a few weeks ago.  Honestly, what really was missing was teaching him well the plan of salvation.  We never really had the chance to do so before, because we only really knew him by way of Briggitte, a recent convert.  We had basically been teaching him according to what we needed to teach Briggitte or other family members that were in different stages in the teaching process, so we were glad to really have a one on one (one on two) with him, teaching the plan of salvation.  Erick is an adult, but young to be an orphan.  We taught everything, including temple ordinances, which really interested him.  We asked him, "Erick, what would you tell us if we told you that your family can continue being a family after this life?"  He paused and smiled, and, to quote him, said "how cool."  I don't know if there's a more exact translation for "que chevere."  He told us at the end that he's going to get baptized this month, so we are planning the baptism for the 23rd.

Hermano Rojas' birthday

I think you might remember the Risco family, but what happened there is that we dropped them a while back.  To be honest, I felt like the teaching ended there with a fizzle, so I wasn't sure how they would act in a surprise visit. To my surprise, I found that they welcomed us almost as though they were expecting the visit.  They said that they missed having us there and that it’s a blessing to have them in their house.  My companion felt inspired to share Malachi 4:5-6 (because Carlos Risco is a HUGE fan of obscure things in the Bible) and we talked about the nature of the family.  We invited them to read the Book of Mormon again, saying that there's really nothing to lose here, but absolutely everything to gain if their family truly can be together forever. I really feel like another in-depth teaching of the Plan of Salvation, plus more consistent Book of Mormon reading on the wife's part will be all they need to be baptized this month.  Please pray for them.  I think they were the miracle we've been asking for.

                                                                                                                              Baptism of Nayeli

We're having a good time here.  Hope you are too.  Love you!

Elder Johnson