Griselda, Moises and Leonardo

Hola familia,

I don't think I ever mentioned to you that Elder Holland is coming to our mission this upcoming Saturday. The entire mission is coming to the tri-cites to a mission conference. We're all pretty excited. There's also a possibility that they're talking about splitting the Pasco stake. Who knows what's really happening though. They might even just be announcing that it will be happening later, like in a year.

We were tracting the other day over in East Pasco on a street named Douglas. We went past this house that didn't really look like anybody was home and there wasn't really a front door either. It was just a glass sliding door. We were going to skip it then I remembered a trailer that I knocked on in West Pasco that was similar. And it was a really cool guy that answered and we were able to teach him a little bit. So instead of skipping the house we went and knocked on the glass door. A young woman named Griselda answered the door. It turns out they had just moved from Tennessee. And over there they had gone through three sets of sister missionaries. Woohoo, I'm really glad that we stopped by.

We had a fireside put on by President Belnap at the Gage building in Kennewick. Lots of missionaries and investigators and recent converts came, including a good number from the branch. Griselda, the Sisters recent convert, spoke at the fireside and did a great job. Everybody that went loved it. The spirit was very strong. I sat next to Elder Godinez as he translated into the transmitting device. It was easier to listen to him speak in Spanish because he was talking louder.

We’ve been teaching this guy named Moises. He is the boyfriend of Itamar, who I think I’ve told you about. Anyway, they’ve been having some problems and they’ve split up now. We’ve been meeting with Moises which meetings generally consist of us sitting there and listening to him for a while, then sharing our own feelings and counsel from the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon. Lately, it’s been harder for him to accept what we teach because there is a member who is good friends with Itamar that’s not been a good example for her. It’s been a frustrating situation for us in explaining to Moises how that could happen and still in a sense protect the face of the church. I’m sure glad that the spirit testifies to what we say. Apart from that, he’s progressing very well right now.

This last Sunday I was so excited! Leonardo came to church. I felt inspired this last week to write him a letter and leave it in his mailbox. So I did it and look what happened. I also felt very guided in what I wrote in the letter. He also came to the fireside that night. Yes! I saw an increased amount of light and happiness in his countenance. He hadn’t really been to church since General Conference. I’m really excited to tell Elder Blomquist.

I love you all a lot
Elder Ben Arnold