Nov. 20th Email

Well, it has been another crazy week in good ole Wilton! We have been doing a lot of finding so that we can build our investigator pool. We have been super busy for the past few months, so now it is slowing down. That means we are working with a lot of former investigators, and trying to tract whenever possible. Tracting is terrible in Wilton. The houses are so spread out, and everyone has already met the missionaries multiple times. Most houses have gates and dogs, and dogs really enjoy getting the missionaries off their turf. I was bit for the first time this week.. but luckily it was in the rubber sole of my shoe so I didn’t feel it. I’m definitely grateful for whoever was there watching out for me! After lots of tracting with less than no success, I decided that tracting is the biggest waste of our time and God’s time. I was getting discouraged and really didn’t enjoy it. Obviously it was time for God to set me straight. We were trying to find a less-actives house but we were not successful. So we decided to knock on the nearest house just because we had already driven 5 miles out to the middle of nowhere, and we weren’t about to just turn around and give up. The first house we knocked/pulled up to was interesting. We walked into a group of young guys growing their "medical" marijuana, though I really doubt it was for medical purposes. They seemed really alarmed when we got there and thought we were cops or something. So they weren’t very interested. The next house was empty, and then right as we were getting back into the car, we decided to try one more house. We found a guy out on his property and we went to talk to him. At first he wasn’t interested in talking with us, but as we continued, we could see something change in him. The spirit started working on him, and eventually he let us give him a Book of Mormon. He said he would read it with his wife and really try to study it. We are headed back this week to follow up. I know that was God showing me that tracting does in fact bring success as long as you are willing to work for it. 

We also tracted into another lady who actually is a member and is staying down here with her nonmember daughter while she goes through her 3rd stage of chemo. She had us give her a blessing while we were there. It was so cool thinking that we were able to randomly show up in a time of need for her and be worthy and able to give her a priesthood blessing on the spot. During the blessing the spirit overcame all of us and put me into tears. I’m so grateful for the priesthood that I have and for the opportunities I have to bless the lives of other people with it. 

This week we gave the prayers in sacrament meeting. That was really strange because it has always been the "adults" that give prayers in sacrament meeting. I guess I’m a big boy now :) haha it was great. I love going to church. Our ward feels like a homeward to me because everyone is so loving, I know basically everyone and I love talking with them. We have about 300 people at sacrament meeting every week which is a big ward. We found out this week that our mission president decided to not allow the missionaries to use any kind of object lessons or analogies as we teach. This is really strange and difficult for me because that is how I teach. My trainer used magic tricks for almost everything, he taught me to use magic tricks for everything, we use analogies to explain everything, and now we have to completely rethink the way we teach. It will be hard to keep the kids engaged and interested now.. but I guess the spirit is always there to help us out :) 

Wilton is a great place to live... this week we helped some investigators groom horses and get them ready for an auction. That was fun, but I am terribly allergic to them so I was sneezing with swollen eyes and everything for a day and half after that. We have to clean our cars every p day, and since we, and everyone we visit, lives on dirt roads, our car gets supppeeerrrr dirty. and since obviously there are no car washes around, we found another way to wash the car. We pull up to the gas station and use the window squeegees for everything. We scape all the mud that’s caked all over off and wash it all down. The water those things sit in isn’t very clean when we are done.. haha I am teaching Elder Johnson how to play piano during our lunch breaks too. He came in not knowing how to read music, and now he can play some songs from the hymns made easy book. I feel pretty good about that :) I’m usually playing the piano for everything... zone meetings, district meetings, comp study every morning... so thanks for making me learn how to play.. I really appreciate it

Overall the work has been great. I am already exhausted and tired all the time, but that is the result of hard work I guess. It’s a battle to get out of bed every morning, but I know that it is necessary so that I can go change the lives of the people here :)  Brandy and Sylvia are going to Temple Square the day after Christmas and wanted to come over to the house one of the days they are there to meet you guys! That would be a lot of fun. They are such a great family. 

I’m so grateful for the spirit that guides us and protects us every day. Thank you all so much for the prayers and support. Christ lives and loves. I promise. I have a cool magic trick to prove it. Too bad I can’t use it anymore.

Love you!

Elder Black