Miracles and "Staying Hydrated for the Work"

From: Joseph Weiss <joseph.weiss@myldsmail.net>
Date: February 16, 2014 at 4:56:03 PM MST
To: Cyndy Weiss <cyndyweiss@gmail.com>

This week was a record setting week teaching wise for me and my companion also. We've set a goal to teach 60 lessons this transfer and we are pushing hard and praying hard. The Lord is blessing us abundantly. Dubbo is steadily moving forward. A miracle this week was when we were street contacting and we saw this lady getting out of her car and we said hello and she shyly said hello back. We went over closer and tried talking to her but she wasn't understanding us really well.

I asked her where she was from right as she bent down to unbuckle her kids car seat. I turned to my companion and said, "Please be from Peru!" She stands back up and says, "I'm from Peru." I was thinking, "NO WAY!!" I started speaking to her in Spanish and apparently she was taught by missionaries before but they stopped coming because she was busy right after you child was born. We set a return appointment and when we went home and found her teaching record it was incomplete as to why she was dropped and it said that as they taught that the Language barrier was a problem. I'm so excited to go and teach her in spanish! Peruvians are the best!

Second Miracle. We went down to Orange for DTM (District Training Meeting) and we arranged to see a less-active man who lives a ways out of Dubbo but was going to be in Orange at the same time. About a half our before our appointment at the church he sends us a text and says, "I'll have a friend with me." He shows up with a guy he met an hour before in the park and we teach with and commit him to be baptized. He said that he was paralyzed but miraculously recovered and since then he's been looking for answers, but he doesn't know to what. It was also the first time we met that less-active member and he was super kind and I'm pretty sure we can get some transportation worked out so it's easier to come to church and he'll become active again.

Yesterday at church we had four of the Aboriginal kids from "games night" come to church! Haha it was so cool to see them all role up on their bikes with no shoes. They are like the lost boys from Peter Pan. I told them to go home and get shoes and socks on and then come back. So they did. They were really nervous coming into the chapel but they finally came. And sat with me. They made it through sacrament meeting really good but only made it through half of sunday school before they took off to go play in the rain.

Another thing I've learned: staying hydrated for the sake of missionary work. The more you drink, the more "Could I please use your toilet" cards you can use with Less actives and investigators. It's a valid tactic for building trust. Once you are inside you meet the rest of the family and see pictures and talk to them about who knows what and it builds trust. So "Stay thirsty my friends." ;)

Love you heaps,

Elder Weiss