Conference Weekend!

Hey Everyone!

 

How can I even start this letter! Conference was amazing!!!! I was able to watch all 5 sessions, but Im not able to tell you what talks I liked more... There was so much!  am definitely excited to go back and study all the talks that were given! But, there is one thing that I am positive of I found a common pattern in the talks. It seems that they alll talked about anchoring our testimonies and staying strong to our covenants we have made! I also found it amazing at the very beggining of Conference on Saturday morning, Elder Hales, I think, said that we have blessed that we have not been persecuted as a church like the church was in the past. He said that this blessing will surely end son as the worlds standards move farther and farther from the church´s standards. found it super interesting. I truly believe that we really are in the last days! Like all of the leaders taught us this weekend. We need to find ourselves daily, buried in the scriptures! e need to be prepared!

 

Mom, as for those guys on the plane... Open your mouth next time. :) I know its hard sometimes, but honestly, those moments are the best time to share and bare testimony and I am positive that anyone will feel the spirit as you bear it to them. I made a long time ago on my misión that any time I Heard anyone call us Jehovahs Witnesses or anytime someone said something bad about us as we walked passed, I automatically talk to them! It is amazing how may people change. Like the apostles taught us this week, its no longer just the missionaries responsibility to share the góspel. It is all ours. Every member. Those two men dont know the truth only because they dont know what we believe.

 

I read a story this past week that changed the way I looked at things. I wish I would have read it early in my misión. It was about an investigator who reciieved the first lesson. (The restoration) After the lesson w sat back in his chair with a kind of blown away look on his face and asked the missionaries one question He asked, Do you guys really believe all that you just taught me? Do you really believe that God and Jesús Christ came down to earth to restore their church? Do you really believe that Joseph Smith was called as a prophet of God? Do you really believe that the same power that Jesús Christ had is on the earth? The senior companion then reponded. Yes, We know its true! The investgator then responded! Wow! That is incredible! Why in the world are you not running door to door, person to person and sharing it with everyone? It hit me hard, and ever since then I have been trying to talk to as many people as I can a day! Many people arent members of the church only because they still dont know the amazing message we have! We need to share it wth everyone! We always need to be looking for oportunities in which we can share the góspel.

 

Well this week was great! I have found that the week before General Conference always brings miracles! We found two amazing people this week who are solid! Both came to conference! The first mansname is Seli. He is from Camaroon and he has an amazing story! Only problem... He only speaks french! No Spanish... No English! haha We have a member in the ward who translates for us in our lessons. But he has been in Spain for 1 month. He told us his lifes story and it is pretty incredible. Bottom line is before he got here to Spain he didnt believe in God. In his journey here, some things happened and he came to know that Go does exist and he feels that he arrived here to Spain for a certin reason. When he arrived he prayed to God and promised him that he would do everything posible to become closer to God if only God would show him the way.... He started Reading the Bible and praying, and then two weeks later.... 2 Mormon missionaries contacted him on a park bench! I was lucky enough tobe one of those missionaries! :) We are going to start teaching him the lessons, In French! Wish me luck! haha

 

The next lady we met this week is named Bitzabet. She is from Peru! When she was younger she atended church here in Spain with a friend, but then things happened, she traveled back to Peru and stopped going to church. Well, Elder Thorpe and I went on an intercambio this week and we contacted her. She told us that she has always wanted tcome back to our church because she remembers that she always felt something different in church, but never knew how to start coming again... Well, this week she was able to come to church and feel the spirit once again! :) We are meeting with her again this next week!

 

At General Conference I also had 2 great experiences!

 

A man came up to me after a sesión of conference, I had no idea who he was, and said Hey thank you so much for inviting me to this conference. I will be honest, at first I had no plans of coming, but something told me I should come so I came. I absolutely loved it! It was incredible! I guess during this week I talked to him in the Metro and I gave him a card. ell he came, he loved it, and nw is starting to take the lessons from the isters in the 3rd ward!

 

There is an investigator that the Elderes from the 3rd ward are teaching right now. I asked them how they found him and they said that it was a miracle! He had just showed up to church. So I went ans asked him what motivated him to come. He told me the following story. He said, You! I asked him what? How? Did we talk before? He told me that we never talked, but one night he was super stressed because he ealized that his church wasnt on the right path that would take him back to God. He didnt know where to turn. He prayed to God and asked him to show him what to do. Just then Elder Thorpe and I walked by... He said to himself. Those two guys have God in their lives! I need to go to their church. As Elder Thorpe and I walked away he turned to some guy walking on the Street and asked. Those two kids, who are they? The man responded, The Mormons. He looked it up onine. Sent a reference to himself to the church. The next day he was sitting in conference in a shirt and tie. He is getting baptized in 2 weeks!

 

People are prepared to recieve the góspel! Im possitive! I feel so blessed to be here now and to really be an instrument of God. Inboth these situations I didnt even do anything. The Lord truly pepared both of these people to recieve the góspel. All I did was my best! I know this work is Gods work adn its incredible to be apart of it! I hope that all of you too can find small simple ways to share the góspel with those who need it. The feeling you feel when you realizr that you have brought one of the Lord´s children to his church is the best feeling in the world.

 

Mom and Dad, dont try to cut me down to 6 months yet... I stll have 7. :) Dont get trunky on me! Thank you both for the advice you gave me tis week! It was exactly what I needed to hear! I am gla the family is doing well! It sounds like my prayers are being answered! :) Love you all tons! 

 

Remember always!

The Church is true, and God loves you!

 

Elder Carrigan