Day #494 | Week #71

This week was a little rough. We had a bunch of new investigators from last week, but a lot of them weren't there and the rest of them weren't interested. I know there are people ready to hear the message but we also need to encourage the members to go to church. In our area, there are 164 members and only 25 are active. We are going to see what happens this next week. 

A little missionary humor...  "Tracking Bingo"

A little about my companion, Elder Coc, he is super chill and he's a recent convert. He was studying chemistry before his mission so he's pretty smart too. 

Have a good week!

Elder Shoaee

Week #70 | 16 Months Mark

This week was awesome! Time flies... I have 16 months in the mission and things are going well in the Jutosa.

Elder Coc and I have divisions and our zone leader came to the Jutosa. He taught us a lot of stuff that we can do to improve. So for the rest of the week we have been working on those things and we have been having some amazing results. Also we found an amazing investigator named Karen. She is progressing a ton and we will see what will come this week.

Lastly, we are always finding huge bugs in our house in the morning, so its always fun to kick it out of the house. ~ Elder Shoaee

Day #482 | Week #69

This week was rough. Almost everyday this week our appointments fell through. And we were trying to stay positive, but it was difficult.

One night we felt that we should revisit an old investigator and when we got there we saw that her mom was worried because she (our investigator) was not moving. We didn't know what to do in the moment, but we felt that we should give her a blessing. We explained that a blessing is given by a Melchizedek Priesthood holder, by the laying on of hands and by inspiration, to one who is sick or otherwise in need of special counsel, comfort, or healing and if the blessing is for this sick, consecrated oil is used (James 5:14-15). Afterward we gave the blessing. Moments after the blessing she was the same, but then she started moving again and she was moving her eyes. It was a amazing experience to be able to use the priesthood. 

This week our church attendance wasn't as high as last week, but it was higher than normal. Also I just finished reading Jesus the Christ. It felt good to have finally completed reading the book.

Elder Shoaee

Day #475 | Week #68

Thank you for your prayers!

This week was great!!! Elder Coc and I contacted a ton this week and we found some amazing people. We talked to this one lady who was super interested in our message and what we believe. I was happy that we were able to answer all her questions. 

This week I have been focusing a lot on questions and how I can use them effectively to help people resolve their doubts. Also we had an amazing lesson with an investigator, who is named Norma. We asked her some questions and what she thinks about churches and God. We also taught her the Plan of Salvation and helped her realize the importance of reading and praying and how we need to act on our faith if we really want to progress in this life. 

This Sunday we had a huge success! 58 people showed up at church!!! That is almost double the amount of last week. I hope we can keep progressing in this work.

Thanks again for praying for us!

Elder Shoaee

Day #466 | Week #67

This week was a lot of walking and working. Elder Porter had changes so i got a new companion, his name is Elder Coc from Guatemala. He's a very humble guy, has only 4-months in the mission, and this is his second area.

This week I have been showing my new companion our area. We have had some appointments fall through and we went to find new people and reactivate less-active members. We visited all the people that I know, but we still had the same amount of people come to church. Right now we really want to find some new people to teach.

Please pray for my companion and I that we will be guided to the people in our area who are seeking truth and righteousness.

Thank you,

Elder Shoaee