Lots of Work

Hi family and friends! Hope everybody is doing awesome. Well the title of the email says it all. We had a ton of work to do this last week. We spent almost all of our time walking around the town, contacting the names we had on our list. I have some really good news to share too! We set a baptismal date with a man named Derlis! The funny thing is we didn´t even find him on saturday. He is a referall from a less active member we got about 2 or 3 weeks ago. He accepted the baptismal date but he is having a few problems with certain commandments and he didn´t show up at church yesterday. But we are going to keep trying. I think he´ll come around. At one point of the week I was a little frustrated to be honest. We were passing by all the names and a lot of them were fake addresses and telephone numbers and very few had interest at all. I didn´t want the branch to be disappointed when we had little to report at the end of the week. But then I came across a scripture I had previously marked that opened up my understanding. Romans 10:14-15 "How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!" It made me realize that even if we didn´t have much to report at the end of the week, we had done our part. The members and the missionaries showed their faith and worked. Now it is up to the people we contacted to accept or reject the message we have brought them. There is no way they can believe in Christ or know that His church is on the earth if we don´t tell them. It was a really humbling experience. Of those 57 referalls, we have 2 new investigators. But we´ll have more next week. I´m certain. I know this is the Lords work and He works according to His will. I know He lives and its our duty to proclaim that message to the world. I love you all and I hope you have a great week. Thanks for everything!
Love, Elder Langston

Activity a Success!

Hey everybody! It sounds like you are all doing really well. The activity went so good! We had about 50 members show up and 13 missionaries to "attack" Crevillente. We split the little town up into 6 zones and made a group for each one. The missionaries split up and went out with members because it just works better that way. The first half of the day I went out with Jose Garro our deaf member because I was the only one in the group that could communicate with him. It was a little hard because I had to do all the talking and I´m not used to that but he really was a big help. It seemed like all the people I talked to knew him and I think that was a big reason they even let me talk to them. It was funny though because I´d be talking about something like how Jesus Christ established His church when he was on the earth and then Jose would just shove a word of wisdom pamphlet in their face and I´d have to try and apply it to what I was talking about haha. I definitely had to be on my toes. For the second half of the day I went out with the branch presidents son. He is a deacon and was a little timid to talk to people but I think he was a little more comfortable by the end. It was a good experience for both of us. Well after all the work we did that day we ended up with 57 referrals! That is a ton of people! We have a ton of work to do over the next few weeks but I´m excited to get started. The members really want to be involved so it helps a ton. I know we are going to get some baptisms out of this. I hope its while I´m still here but if I leave Crevillente with some baptismal dates I will be just as happy. I want to tell you about a miracle that happened on Saturday. Towards the end of the day, the branch presidents son and I headed back to the chapel and I went in looking for my companion. A member told me he was in one of the rooms teaching a lesson with a different member. We had a testimony meeting right then so I just left him alone to teach so I didn´t walk in right in the middle to interrupt. Well the meeting passed and everybody was leaving so I ended up going into the lesson with my companion. I introduced myself and sat down. While we were talking I found out that they had called the church earlier that day and one of the members picked the phone up and had invited them to come see what it was all about. We asked them what inspired them to call the church that day because normally members aren´t there to pick up the phone. He said at his home the phone book fell off the shelf and opened up to a page. When he looked down he saw the churches name and decided to call. It was that simple. We testified that it wasn´t a coincidence and that really coicidences don´t happen. Everything happens for a reason and they were there to hear the truth. So now we are teaching this couple and they are really interested! It was fun to see something like that happen. I know God is a God of miracles and that He works according to our faith. The members and missionaries had faith and they showed it through work. Thats why God blessed us. I hope I have a lot of success stories to report over the next few weeks. I appreciate all that you do for me! Thanks for being the best and have a great week. I love you all. Love, Élder Langston

General Conference

Hey everybody! How are we all doing? Wasn´t General Conference the best?! I loved it so much! I got to listen to it in english too which made it even better. I can´t decide which one was my favorite talk though. I love how Elder Holland speaks with so much boldness. He makes it clear that there is something to be learned and he doesn´t sugar coat it at all. There was a talk I liked a lot by Wilford W. Anderson. I think that was his name anyway. He spoke on having faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement. I loved how he said that there is always hope because Jesus Christ has overcome all. I also loved the story President Monson told about the sick little boy Lewis and the faith that he showed. What a powerful answer to his father. NEVER! Overall I just loved the whole conference. I wasn´t able to watch the Sunday afternoon session because it started at 10 here but I´m excited to read it in the Liahona in a couple of months. I learned a lot of lessons and received a lot of answers to prayers that I needed. I can´t wait for the next one haha! Anyway, we had a pretty good week in Crevillente. We found a new investigator named Lorena. We found her while visiting a less active woman in the branch. She is a spanish single mom that seems to have lost a lot of hope. She was born into the Catholic church but doesn´t agree with it one bit. She actually called them robbers haha. I hope she accepts our message and we can get her to progress. We also received a referral from a different less active woman in the ward. She told us about a man that I think she is dating that is interested in receiving the lessons. We have an appointment set up with them both today and I´m excited to see what happens! Its always good to receive referrals from less active members because as we teach their friend, they remember the testimony they have and come back to church. The ultimate goal is a baptism and a reactivation. Oh other good news! I don´t know if any of you will remember this but clear back in my first transfer I taught a man named Marcos. He was the boyfriend of the less active girl in the Ferreyros family. I talked to the elders in my old area and he has been baptized and she is active in church again! I was so happy to hear that. He also told me that all the people that were baptized when I was there are still active. It made my day haha. Well I don´t have much more to report for the week. The big activity is coming up this saturday and we are hoping to see huge results. I know its going to go well. I love you all and thanks for everything. I know God lives and this is his work. I know Jesus Christ lives and He has overcome the world. This church is true! Have a great week!

Love, Elder Langston