Sister Alex Hartvigsen--April 18, 2012

Dear Family, I hope that you all have had a great week. Last week was
amazing. We saw many miracles and life is good. We got transfer news
on Sunday and I will be staying in my area and with Sister Slater. I
am really excited to be able to finish here. It is a great area and we
anticipate to see many miracles. On Monday we had a lesson with one
of our investigators and a member from our Spanish ward about the plan
of Salvation. The Spirit was really strong and our fellowshipper was
so good and invited him to come to church with him as well as the
upcoming fathers and sons. On Sunday there was a little bit of
miscommunication and he didn't realize that church was 3 hours and so
he stayed for Sunday school and part of priesthood but had to leave
before Sacrament because he had a previous commitment. We will be more
clear with him when we meet with him this week. On Wednesday we had a
lesson with him about the Doctrine of Christ and we committed him to
be baptized on May 4,2012.! He seems really receptive but we are
concerned that he is not reading the Book of Mormon like he said that
he is. We are going to focus on giving him short specific passages to
read and give him specific things to think about as he reads. We had a
lesson with a less active in our singles ward this week about the
individuality of the Gospel and how Heavenly Father is aware of her
and her challenges and wants to help. We also had a lesson with
another ysa and talked about Enos and the power of prayer. On
Thursday we had a lesson with an investigator. We have been working
with her for a while and we felt prompted to invite her to be
baptized. We talked about baptism and the difference between the power
of the Holy Ghost and the Gift of the Holy Ghost. We invited her to be
baptized on May 4th. She said that she would but is concerned about
her negative feelings towards her father and her sister both of whom
are very abusive. We talked about the healing power of the atonement
and how Heavenly Father will give us strength in our trials. She said
that she wanted to be baptized. She has been to church off and on but
did not make it to church this week. We are going to have a lesson and
discuss the importance of Sabbath Day observance. On Saturday we had a
meeting with an investigator who has been hard to get in touch with
for the last few weeks. She was really excited to see us and asked us
if we felt that she is prepared to be baptized. It was then that we
found out that she is not married. We talked to her about the
importance of the Law of Chastity and how she can have a forever
family. We still haven't been able to have a meeting with her "marido"
( we have a challenge sometimes where people here call their partner
their husband) because he is always working. We also had an lesson
with a part member family and talked to them about agency.
This week I have been studying the importance of inviting. This has
really helped me to be more bold in talking to people about the
gospel. I can not control how people will react when I share the
message but it is my responsibility to give them a clear choice and
then they get to choose. Even when people are very rude, especially on
chats or over the phone I have been able to share what I know and
then it is up to them to act. We have a lot of people who call into
mormon.org or log onto chat just for the purpose of wasting our time
and sometimes swearing at us, but every once and a while we have the
chance to talk to people who have sincere questions and really want to
know. Those can be so amazing.
This week as I was in the front of the Visitors Center, a young
looking Apache man came in. He had been outside looking for a job but
was drawn in by curiosity about the Christus statue that we have. He
came in and felt the Spirit and wanted to learn more. Sister Slater
and I taught him how to pray and he offered a prayer in the Visitors
Center and we gave him a Book of Mormon and I shared with him Alma
40. He has been struggling with several deaths in his family and
friends and was just looking for peace. The elders in his area are now
teaching him and I am excited to see how he progresses.
I love you all,
Love Alex