All for One and One for All!

Hello everyone!

This week has been pretty swell!  No, my trainee has not come yet, I am still part of a trio, and that first picture sums up my companions.  It's still Elder Schraedel and I, but now, Elder Riehle (pronounced reel or real (he's the Riehle deal ;)), as shown on the left meditating while in Domino's. He's been out for 6 months, and he just came from Taos, the most north area of the mission.  (We are now the 3 Musketeers, hence the title of the email)

Our new investigator, that second picture is.  ;)

We had a good lesson with Anton, he's an investigator who wants to be baptized but has some legal stuff he's got to go through before he can be baptized.  He's been reading the Book of Mormon for over a year now, he's almost finished with it.  He's also reading the Gospel Principles book, the pamphlets we give him, and also Preach My Gospel. We basically go over that we may cover the material, so when the paperwork is complete he won't have to wait to be baptized.  (Paperwork.  It's holding him back from being baptized and my trainee from coming to New Mexico.  LAME.)

We visited with a less-active named Lindsay, she's pretty awesome.  She has a boyfriend, Chris, who's not really interested, but he respects us and pays attention and listens to the lesson.  They're expecting a baby girl (which will be named Leah) coming up, and we've been trying to help her (and him, inadvertently) to attend church more often.  We started to teach them who they are as children of God, and it was sweet!  They both have rough pasts, but they're really into Star Wars, and that's where they came up with the name of Leah.  They talked about how Leah, in Star Wars, was always a beacon of hope.  Well, their daughter, Leah, is their beacon of hope to be better parents than they had (part of their rough pasts was the difficult time with certain parents). In order to help them recognize the Holy Ghost more, we felt that we needed to draw their minds back to the moment when they decided on the name of Leah, because it clearly meant a lot to them.  So we did, and it turned out incredible!  Chris, who was raised baptist, almost said the prayer- he hasn't prayed in years, but he almost did!  Then his mom walked in the apartment.  (it's her apartment, they live with her temporarily)

Talk to you all next week!

Te whanaunga mo ake tonu!!

Elder Eli James Dial