The End is Near (Potentially Last Letter)

Hey Family!

 

Well I may be kind of brief today. I mean you guys can wait the 9 days right? But seriously this past week was actually really good. Some minor hiccups but for the most part it went very well. We got some new investigators to work with, and talked to a lot and I mean A LOT of Catholics. Holy moly. So as far as the new investigators go, Patrick is the most solid one. He is an African from Nigeria, and he is 28 years old. He's been in America since he was 19 so he speaks English fairly well, and is pretty intelligent. Not that being from Africa makes you unintelligent ;) So we were actually trying to see an unknown on the ward list and we knocked on the door, and we saw someone look out the window with the blinds and no one answered, so we were starting to leave and then Patrick came to the side of his house. It was super cold outside so he felt bad, and when we asked if we could come in and share a message about Jesus Christ with him he said sure. So we went in and taught him the Restoration and things went great. He said he could feel that it was right and he agreed for baptism on March 7th! So that was pretty neat. So the other investigators weren't quite as great as that, but it should be fun teaching them. 2 of them are a husband and wife, pretty young, and they're super devout Catholics (I thought that was an oxymoron but I guess not ;)) and we had a nice discussion with them and got to teach them the Restoration as well. It'll be a little tough with them since they're so invested in the Catholic church, but they have the Book of Mormon now and we'll go over again this week and read it with them. I heard more than I ever wanted to know about the Catholic church this week. I now know exactly what the Eucharist is now. Weird. And the 7 sacraments. Well anyways, that's about it.

 

I will definitely take you up on that weight loss deal. Count me in for a good 50 pounds. I am getting serious when I get home. It's hard to maintain the diet (high protein, low calorie) I want to with members feeding us almost every day, but come Utah I plan on being pretty strict along with going to the gym 6 days a week. Thanks for sharing the basketball information. I am excited to get back in the loop. Well that should do it for me this week. I might not be able to email you guys next week because it's Martin Luther King day or whatever, so if not I love you guys and I'll see you at the airport on the 21st at 10:14 AM. <3

 

Love,
Elder Ballif