Dear Home,
I'm so glad to hear that the family reunion went well! It sounds like it was a lot of fun! This week was extremely crazy for us, and we saw several miracles as we re-doubled our efforts to work hard. Let me start with Steven Romero. He was a media referral that we received from church headquarters a couple weeks ago, who is a catholic (but doesn't agree with all their teachings) with an inactive LDS girlfriend. He's 18 years old attending Texas A&M, a college or university here in Texas on Pelican Island (which is in our area). He told us that he was meeting with us because he has an open mind to learning about our church, and also because there is a deal that was made with his girlfriend's parents that she'll meet with Steven's parents about Catholicism, and Steven will meet with the LDS missionaries. He obviously agreed. He's a really smart kid, listens attentively in lessons, keeps all his commitments, and has already read a pretty big chunk of the Book of Mormon. So far he agrees with everything in the Book of Mormon, but isn't sure he believes everything we've been teaching him so far, but he's committed to reading and praying about the truthfulness of the B.O.M.
Then there's Diamond. She is a bit like Eli in the sense that she's received all the missionary lessons, knows the church is true, and wants to be baptized, but up until this point, told the missionaries that she's not ready to give up smoking. To describe Diamond, she is pretty much as "straight-up" as anybody can get. This lady does not lie to you, and isn't afraid of telling you what she thinks, or hurting your feelings in the process. When we decided it was finally time to visit her again, she told us that she wants to be baptized, and is now ready to quit smoking. On Thursday, she smoked a whole pack of cigaretes. On Friday, she smoked one, and on Saturday, she didn't smoke any. WAHOO! She said she'd come to church, but she forgot that she was going off the island on Sunday, so she didn't make it this week.
Our newest development is James. James is the son of Patricia, a former drug addict and chain smoker. He is 16 years old, and was taken to the hospital a few months ago for drug overdose. "The officials" took him out of the bad environment at home, and then he ran away from them to stay somewhere else, nobody is sure where. Once 'the officials' found him, they brought him back to Galveston to Patricia. Elder Jones told me that James looks completely different than the last time he saw him before his overdose. Apparently, he has been off of drugs for over 2 months, has realized that he needs to change his life, and contacted us because he wants to be baptized into the LDS church. His mom told us that before and after he was taken away, James always went to the church whenever he felt sad, alone, or depressed. Yesterday, he called us and told us he was at the church, so we went over there, opened the building, and taught him the first lesson. He knows it's true, and really wants to be baptized, so he has committed to reading the Book of Mormon, praying, and coming to church next week.
Lastly, I'm excited to announce that Eli Rios was finally baptized on Saturday!!! He finally was able to overcome his alcohol addiction, and was baptized in the Gulf of Mexico on his birthday, July 20. It was a beautiful event, and we even saw some dolphins in the background as the service was being performed! I have enjoyed seeing the incredible transformation from how depressed he used to be, to the strong member of the church he has become. He told us that he is so proud to be a mormon, and wants the whole world to know it. He will be receiving the priesthood next Sunday, and has expressed his excitement to start participating in passing the Sacrament. "That's so cool!" he says. I took some photos of the gulf that I'll send this week. I'm loving my time here in Galveston, and I'll surely be sad when I have to leave.
P.S. Thank you so so so so much for the CTR ring! It's perfect! I actually got to open it on my birthday. I wasn't sure what it was going to be, and I was so excited when I found out that it was the notes to the tune "Choose the Right". It's the coolest CTR ring that I've ever seen! I couldn't get over how perfect it is! Thank you so much!
Baptism pictures! Here are the people from left to right:
Eli Rios Jr. (son)
Elizabeth (x-wife)
Elder Cooper (Elder Jones' companion before me, he performed the baptism at Eli's request)
Eli
Elder Jones
Elder Bethers (Elder Cooper's companion before Elder Jones)
Elder Christensen
Me
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