The Scoop!

heres the scoop for you guys.
sunday, IT WAS AWESOME!!! sundays are so great here.! we have priesthood meeting in the mornings, and then there is sacrament meeting. our branch, is just our zone so it was about twenty people. i had to pass the sacrament, along with elder swensen, and then i had to give a talk in spanish about the atonement. i really hope that one day, i can come to the level of knowledge that president pratt has about the atonement, the plan of salvation, just everything. just looking at him you can tell he knows so much. funny story about president pratt. the other elders have been sleeping on mattresses in the living room because they don´t wanna get sick, so they had their mattresses in the living room sunday night while we were writing in our journals and we looked up, and president pratt was standing there. we were like, oh crap, and he had said "well im trying to figure this out" and then the phone rang so he went and answered it, asked for a certain elder, and i went up to go get him, someone else went to get him, and so i was standing next to president pratt while he was looking at the mattresses on the ground and said, "does someone wanna explain this? and i said, uuuh well president, there are mattresses on the ground." i dont know why, but the real explanation escaped my mind at that moment. he said, oh, ok i wasnt sure about that, and then we went on to explain why they were there, and he said, oh ok. and we chit chatted for a bit and then he bade us farewell. on monday, we were in language class and Hermano Garza was talking to me about language goals, and i told him im reading the book of mormon and the libro de mormon side by side, verse by verse to learn the language. he mentioned to me that president hinkley had promised that if you read the libro de mormon through, you will speak the language when you finish. that was a really comforting thought.  well, on tuesday, we had our first TRC where we teach (supposedly) an actual investigator, and it was cool. we did it in spanish and we were so nervous because we kept forgetting our words, but she was cool. we taught her a bit about the plan of salvation, and then we taught her how to pray. it was awesome. we also had a devotoinal from elder Daniel Johnson, from the seventy. he came to speak to us, and i took some really cool notes, some of which ill tell right here.

 -why was the first vision even necessary? to show that god is a man, a perfect man. many of the people in joseph smith's day, believed god to be some mystical cloud, that was all powerful in the universe.

-you cannot have faith in something that doesn't exist

- people cannot have faith in god until they get who he is.

-one problem we have to overcome is what the investigator understands. as in, what their understanding of god is.

-the creation, was organization of existing elements. not just a poof outta thin air.

- Elder Johnson told us about this plaque that he has which reads, it wasnt nails that held him to the cross, it was the love that he has for you and me.

-It does not matter what it is, you can do it.

-if we want something, we ask. god wants us to ask. ask and ye shall recieve.

ok, so those actually were all of my notes haha. but it was totally excellent.

anyway, yesterday, we had a class called progressing investigator study, and we had to teach our maestro, Hermano Matías, (he played the part of an investigator named erik.) it was our second visit with him, and we totally nailed it. our first visit was horrible and does not deserve to be told. but our second one was awesome. we knocked on the door, exchanged pleasantries then he invited us to come in. we asked if we could start with a prayer, and he said that was ok. while we were praying, he was crinkling his candy wrapper really loud, and i almost laughed. (hermano matias is an awesome actor) anyway, we told him we did have a message that we wanted to share but first we wanted to get to know him a little bit more. so we talked with him, asked him what he liked, and talked a little about that, and some of the things we liked, and some of the same things that we liked, and we had a really pleasant conversation going on. we talked about his job, and how he likes it, and then we talked about his family, and as he was describing his family to us, i felt like saying, "it sounds like you love your family" i didn´t know how to say sounds like, so i instead had to say, "pienso usted ama su familia si?" which is, i think you love your family yes? to which he replied, yes very much so. i then asked him if he wanted to be with them for forever, to which he replied, yes if there is a way. (btw all of this was in spanish cuz Erik doesn´t speak english. hermano matias does, but his character does not.) anyway, so then we talked a little bit about the eternal family, and how god loves the family, and will bless him and his family, if he prays. he mentioned some of the problems he and his family are facing, and we told him about prayer. we told him that if he prays to god with sincerity and intent, that he will answer. with blessings of prosperity, safety, and peace. we then taught him how to pray, and then we said a closing pray to show him how, and then he prayed right after us. we set another day to come over, and then said hasta luego. the rest of the day was a normal day. and today is pday!!! whew thats a big scoop. ahah till next week, elder wardell