Nothing But a Blessing

Halo Keluargaku,

This week in Tawau has been really awesome. I'm finally getting a little bit more familiar with the area, and we've actually started to see a lot of success here already! It's unbelievable how the Lord just leads us to the people who are ready to hear the gospel. It's funny, but it's been a trend my whole misson that you work so hard to get good investigators, you knock on doors, you persuade, you plead a little, and yet the investigators who are most ready to be baptized just seem to fall into your lap. We have at least two right now who just look like they're ready for the gospel, and I think it's only a matter of helping them get baptized. In fact, we started to explain to one of them the need to be rebaptized by proper authority (which is almost always a hard idea for people to accept), when she surprised us halfway through our explanation by telling us she already knew she needed to be baptized again, because the first time she wasn't baptized by immersion. "Where did you learn that?" "From the Bible." It was awesome.

We have another two investigators who are kicking word of wisdom problems almost overnight. The guy has gone to having 30 cigarettes a day down to 2 in a week, and the girl has stopped drinking alcohol, even though there's a lot of pressure to at her job. When we taught the word of wisdom they both accepted it without any problems, and the guy told us he was even already planning to stop smoking.

So miracles are happening here in the work everyday. It just humbles you to realize how well the Lord can do his own work. Really, he doesn't even need us. It's the Spirit that does the teaching, the investigators that make the choices, and the gospel that provides the motivation for it all. As missionaries, I think the Lord just allows us the privelage of getting to see Him do His work first-hand. And it really is a privelage. Missionary work is nothing but a blessing!

So, Tawau is doing really good, and I'm loving it here. Malay is coming along, my companion is really good, and I had the best durian I've ever eaten the other night. It's (slowly) starting to grow on me every time I try it!

Anyway, I love you all so much. Thanks so much for all your support. I know this church is true and that I really am out here working with the Lord. The Book of Mormon is amazing! It's funny, I think I've discovered the secret for loving to read the book of mormon, and the secret is, just to read it consistently! It's the best.

Ok, Love you all!

Elder Blissett