The Power of Christ is Real

Lots of great experiences this week. As always I am grateful for it all. I have also noticed some things I need to work on. The main one is my competitiveness. Recently we have been playing lots of volleyball with the other missionaries in the zone on our preparation day. It was great at first but I find myself getting way too heated, too quickly. It gets to the point where I have to walk away because I'm about to say or do something I would regret. I cannot play sports anymore on my mission haha. I'll just have to save it for when I get home.

On a lighter note, this week we got a front row seat to seeing the atonement of Jesus Christ work in someone's life. Our investigator Xavier recently moved here from Fresno so he could get away from his old life. He was in a gang down there and he was tired of the lifestyle. He wanted to change. When we first met him he seemed like he wanted to get away from the lifestyle but not quite ready to start keeping the commandments of God. In fact he was very adamant that he "Needed" to smoke marijuana. He came to church with us a couple of weeks ago and committed to start praying on his own. When we visited him this week he had a total change of heart. He started realizing how wrong all the stuff he had been doing was and he truly felt Godly sorrow for his sins. He expressed how he was tired of doing the same stuff over and over again and he really wanted to change. It is amazing how simple prayers can totally change someone's mindset and heart. The power of Christ is real. I am grateful to continue working with him and see Christ keep changing his life. 

Deborah is still doing great! She committed to stopping smoking this week. She threw away all her cigarettes and is committing herself more fully to the gospel. It is great to see her continue to change her life. Kristen is still doing well. She is out of town for the next couple of weeks so her baptism will have to be a little delayed until she gets back, but she still wants to go forward with it, so we have been keeping in contact through Facebook.  

Well that's all for this week. I love you all and hope you enjoyed your week as well!

Love, 

Elder Hallmark

 We found a cool statue in front of someone's house!

 Zone pic this week at district meeting!