Visit From An Apostle - What a Great Blessing

Buddhist Temple

Hola Familia!! Como Le Va?? I'm doing pretty good! This past week was a crazy one for sure! On Monday, we went to the Buddhist temple which was super cool!! It’s huge and hidden up in the Haciena Heights area which is all mountains so it was awesome being able to go. The Monks there were dope.  haha They even had iphones, etc. and we don’t so we felt jipped!   All the art work and the huge Buddha’s everywhere were pretty cool to see.  It was great to ask questions and to find out more about their culture. They were just as curious to ask us questions, so we spent a lot of time talking about what our beliefs were. They were nice and seemed interested, but in reality they had no idea what we were talking about. haha.

Inside the temple

But later that night, I had a crazy experience one of my first real "bible bashes" out in the mission. We're supposed to stay away from these, but it’s hard to.  So we knocked on this house in the afternoon and a very old woman answered and was so happy to see us!  She knew who we were and said that she used to talk to us before, but her husband refused her to continue speaking to missionaries so she never got taught all the lessons. But anyways, she said that her husband had since died and she wanted to be baptized!! We were like WHAT!? haha   This never happens!

Do I look like the Buddha?

We asked if we could meet with her, but she said that we had to get permission from her granddaughter,who’s house she was living in.  So we had to drop by a couple hours later to ask her granddaughter.  So we go back, and she answers and immediately we knew who she was. She was from the Calvary Chapel church and they hate us.  She instantly looks me in the face and says, "you’re not Christian!" "You don’t believe in Christ, you just pretend like you do, you have a fake book and prophet."   Once she said that it was on with the bash.  She was saying how we are only saved by grace, not by works or baptism, etc.  We were quoting verses out of the Bible, New Testament and even one verse out of the Book of Mormon.   She was like.. "wow, where does it say that in the Bible?"   We are like that was from the Book of Mormon.  Her face was priceless as she tried to get back to arguing with us. I was not happy. It made me realize that we honestly are in a literal "war" with the adversary and he will do everything to bring us down.  Elder H and I were only able to testify that we know what we have is true.  Right as she was about to slam the door on us she said, "you need to honestly look at the facts and then I know you will realize you are wrong and so is your church!"  I had never heard someone actually tell me that before, but we testified and that’s all we could do.  So sadly we can’t meet with J so I just pray she is able to find missionaries some day so she can be baptized.

Carne Asada Food

Anyways, we celebrated two birthdays this week all Carne Asada bashes! ha That has become our new hobby and it is sooo good! But to answer your question about T’s brother we were teaching, we had to send them both to the singles ward elders, and they are now teaching them. E has accepted to be baptized on the 28th of June!! So we are pumped for him! We are now trying to work with his mom because once their mom joins, the whole family will join.

Happy Birthday!!

So this weekend was awesome too! Elder M. Russell Ballard came on Saturday!! It was so crazy! He taught us how to be better missionaries and how we need to be more positive. The spirit he brought with him truly was amazing.  He is actually a really funny guy too which nobody would ever have thought.  He was cracking jokes the whole meeting which was about 2.5 hrs long.  It was so crazy to be able to meet and shake the hand of a living apostle.  I am so glad I was able to have that experience on my mission.

So crazy news that just happened right now as I was emailing, Elder Bubba Pecht just came and tapped my shoulder and is back to the mission and in my zone!! haha   I am so pumped he is back.  Words can’t even describe!  I’m so happy for him to be able to finish his mission here.  Well this week has been nuts. We are talking to a ton of people, but still not too many lessons so hopefully this next week is better!  We are praying for help and we believe it will come just by how we show our faith and prove to God we truly care about his work. 

I hope this past week was good for you all!  Have a great week and have fun! Thanks for all the letters and support you all are awesome! Les Quiero!!

Love, Elder Woffinden

Our new car??