Grateful for the Plan of Salvation- Testifying in Danish

Hello Family,

I finally find out on Wednesday that my Flight leaves tomorrow! So excited! My only opportunity to take pictures is later tonight. So I will send what I do have haha. We were able to teach Anthony and Tasha together. First time that Tasha has opened up to us. She realizes that she needs to be listening to our lesson. She has finally received the intent to change her life. After the lesson we had with her on Alma 32 on humbling ourselves and faith, it hit her. She said that a couple days ago, before our lesson, she was taking to her father on how to humble herself. She really wants to make a change. We are for seeing that her and Anthony will get married very soon. We are anticipating that both of them and Tasha's daughters, Sariana and Tishanie, will be baptized in October!!!!! We had a lesson at church yesterday on Gospel Principles about Eternal Families, I shared my Grandma and Grandpa Denning's life story. (I'll talk on that later) Spirit was so strong. I think it impacted Tasha the most.

We have practically stopped visiting the girl that we put on date for October 19th. Turns out she is still a minor and her mom doesn't want her to do anything with us. She turns 18 in December so hopefully the missionaries can contact her then.

Jennie and Donald King are both progressing very well. Jennie is still receiving everything great and nothing is stopping her from being baptized on November 2nd. Brother King is doing all he can to prepare to baptize her and he's working on getting the Melkesidek Priesthood. So exciting for both of them. They want to send me a Jesus Candle when I am in Denmark. Apparently there is a man who carves candles for a Profession. It looks pretty awesome, the one in there house, very detailed.

Back to Grandparent's (Denning Story.) Found out on Friday, from a letter from mom, Grandpa Denning was in pretty bad shape. We went about our day when I received a phone call from President Fenn that he passed away. It didn't come much to surprise.... but it did. Just came out of no where. I was a little heart broken that I couldn't see him after my mission. President Fenn asked about him, how he was in the Church and Grandma Denning. I told him that I was very close to him and he was very active in the church and Grandma Denning passed away about 10 years ago. He gave me his condolences and also congratulated me. Told me that is was a happy reunion with my Grandmother. It gave peace back to my soul and he also told me that he is now on the other side of the veil and he can now watch me on my mission and pray for me.(President Fenn kept losing the service or the call got dropped, and after the 3rd time calling me back he said "I swore I am going to curse this sprint phone if it drops on me while I am quoting the Prophet Joseph Smith" than his call was dropped. so funny. also helped me forget for a moment that Grandpa passed away)After the phone call/ conversation was over I was feeling good and I would like to think that Grandpa was with me the rest of the day. Watching me and seeing what I was doing as a missionary. It was pretty cool.

So Sunday I used the story, the lesson with Tasha, that when Grandma Denning passed away that I did not shed one tear. I keep going over the memory in my mind and I keep remembering that as an 8 year old child I understood the Plan of Salvation. I knew that I was going to see her again at that moment. I also shared that Grandpa Denning passed away on Friday. I told them that I was upset but than after President Fenn's phone call and thinking back on the memory of my grandmother.... I was filled with joy, happiness and peace. I knew that my Grandparents were sealed in the Temple for time and all Eternity. It gives me such joy that I will see them both again one day and will be with my family for time and all Eternity too. I also said that it doesn't stop there, as soon as I am married I will be sealed to all of my future family as well. Spirit was so strong when I told those things.

Also on Sunday, the Branch was practically pressuring me to go up and bare my Testimony one last time. I let them have it. I told them that no matter what language we speak, the language of the Spirit is the same. I testified in Danish for the first time in 6 weeks. It felt AWESOME I love every minute of it. Felt right back at home. After the meeting was over I had many people come up and told me that the Spirit was testifying to them strongly when I testified in Danish. They loved it but they knew they couldn't understand it verbally, but spiritually they said they got the message. That was Awesome!

Well I'm going to give Anthony Smith (for his Birthday) and Anthony O. (Because he's my first Investigator and I love them both) a tie. I will miss the Smith Family and Anthony. I am so excited to go to Denmark but that is the family I will miss the most. (Recent Convert/ Non member). I will also miss the Barr Family. Sister Barr has done our Laundry and has fed us dinner each week. She is a huge support of missionary work, maybe because her son got honorably released for medical conditions. She is awesome. She is my 2nd American Mom. Always made me feel at home. And she loved talking about Duck Dynasty haha.

I am getting better and more comfortable with door contacting. I thought about it once and I believe I was inspired my the Spirit to do this. But I went up to one door and I talked with love and testified, like I do when teaching, to the person at the door. I didn't have success but I could feel the spirit working through me to deliver the message. I truly made a difference to treat the person with love as if they are family. Which they technically are family. We are all Brothers and Sister to our Father in Heaven because we are his spirit children. So Awesome!!!!! Just got to translate that to Danish ahaha

Got to get going. I love you all. I am so grateful for the knowledge of a Plan of Salvation that our Father in Heaven has prepared for us. I am so grateful that I can one day see my deceased relatives. I do miss them. I love them and know I will see them again. Not "Death to you Part" but I will be with them for Time and All eternity. I love my Savior Jesus Christ and know he has helped me through all my difficult times, especially through my mission. I know that this is the True Church of Jesus Christ. For I have had the Spirit Testify to me and every person that I have taught that this work is true. I will deeply miss Pontiac, but I know my time is done here. I will write again in Denmark!

Jeg Elsker Jer!!!!!

-Elder Jantzen Richard Read

 

Awesome Birthday present for mom & Lehi/ Ron's Dream

Hello Everyone!

Well I obviously have emailed earlier than you were expecting. At least that's what I thought. I waited all week to receive news on my Visa. I have not even got an email from the church. I'm still in Pontiac and I am hoping to see if I will get transferred to Denmark on this next week. When the Illinois West Chicago mission transfers would be held next weekend. I'm trying to stay positive. Still crossing my fingers. I told myself yesterday that it doesn't matter if I serve in Denmark or in Pontiac. I will go where the Lord wants me to go. We are all children of our Heavenly Father. They are the same here and in Denmark. Just a little language problem haha.

Ok this past week. We had a new missionary training meeting. It was like a huge Zone Conference. I tried to spend as much time with all my Danish MTC Elders. We all realized that communicating in Danish to each other has gotten harder. It was really a huge relief to talk with them. Got some of that stress of my shoulders. I could actually talk with someone in actually Danish and they understand me as I do them. I love those Elders. After the meeting we stayed in Normal over night. Because our car was getting repaired for a dent. Apparently some one did a hit and run before I got on the mission. We were told that our car wouldn't be done until last Friday. And that was done on Tuesday. We took it in on last Monday. We had to walk 3 1/2 miles back home from the repair shop. Thought we would be out of a car for the rest of the week. We got a call during the Training Meeting telling us that our car was finished. By the time we got back to Pontiac the Car shop was closed. So we stayed the night in Normal.

Still trying to work on Anthony O. and his Fiancé Tasha. Anthony is ready to get baptized. But he needs to get married first and that requires Tasha moving here wedding date sooner. We're working with her and trying to help her get a testimony. Friday night we were walking back home and there was a drunk guy that saw us and started yelling at us. We just kept walking away from him. He just kept mumbling and yelling at us. Kind of scary. Luckily he was like 50 yards away. We just practically got ourselves home at that point. haha. It's getting darker at night and it's getting harder to go tracting even at 7:30.

Saturday we did a service project of cleaning up the River. We felt we wasted part of our day, because we couldn't go into the river and there is so much trash you can pick up on the side of the River. Anthony came to the service project and he went in a canoe. First time he has ever been in a boat that you actually had to put physical effort into moving the boat by paddle. He loved it and he was able to meet some more people that weren't part of Pontiac and were members. We taught Jennie that night also on the Word of Wisdom and she didn't even have a problem with it. She told us as soon as she runs out of smokes she is done. She is so solid. She is doing everything in her power to be baptized. She truly knows that this work is the right place to be. She just needs to come to church a couple of more times and she could be baptized. She's trying to get another job that doesn't require going on Sundays. Bonus! Her official date is November 2nd for her baptism.

Oh before I forget. Last Wednesday we had a media referral. Went and visited Lizz N. She talked with her Pastor the previous night about different religions and she was curious about the Mormons. She went onto Mormon.org and filled out a survey and wanted missionaries to visit her. We went over on Wednesday when we received the referral. She is 17 years old and she got suspended from High school because her 'supposed friends" didn't like here and put a plastic knife in her bag. And they reported on her. She got accepted into college. We gave her the Restoration Lesson she recognized the spirit and wanted more of that feeling. Right there for my first time the date of October 19 popped in my mind. I extended the baptismal question she said she would. I told her we would be holding a baptismal service on October 19. I asked if she would prepare herself for that day. She agreed. Just made this connection. There's a birthday present for you Mom. Love you :). Such an awesome feeling to commit someone to baptism. After the lesson we found out she was still a minor. Her mom wasn't present for the lesson so we won't teach her again until she gets permission. Her mom doesn't like her looking at different churches. We told her to ask her if it would be okay. She could even sit down on the lessons if she wanted to with us. 2 baptisms in one day wouldn't be bad either. We are continuing hoping and praying for her and her mom because they don't have the best relationship. But Lizz is pretty solid if we can keep teaching her.

Yesterday, Sunday, we talked with a man named Ron. He ran into us a week ago and wanted to talk about God with us. At first he thought we were Jehovah Witnesses. We corrected him and he still wanted us to come over. We talked with him and he said that he just had to share with us this dream because it was really bothering him. He dreamed a couple of days ago that he was on a path that was straight. and on both sides of the path there were beautiful flowers and bushes. Just beautiful he told us. He said he did notice that there were little devils jumping in and through the bushes. He knew that if he walked off that path that he would be harmed. He said that he stayed on that path and woke up. He thought it was one of those dreams that was really when you woke up. He was confused and wanted to talk to someone with it. Guess who the first people he talked to about it? coincidence I think Not! We left him a Book of Mormon and gave him the story of Lehi's Dream. Told him he could report to us Tuesday of what he thought about it. and if it resolved his concerns. He accepted and said he'd do it. He's a funny character. Kept telling us that if we stood him up he would hunt us down and that he would not be happy. I promised that we would and he laughed. Funny guy haha.

Well that's my report I thank you all again for your love and support. I thank those who have written me letters. I'm going to get back with you shortly on those. Hopefully soon. We have a long day today. Love you all!

-Elder Jantzen Richard Read

 

Goddag Familie,

I apologize no photos or recordings these past 2 weeks. I keep forgetting to do a recording at night. No photos this week. I'm sending a package with the memory card of all my photos home.

Side note I forgot to mention. We went and taught Jennie K. about the Plan of Salvation. Everything went great when her son said that there was a police man outside. She glanced and said that some ones car is getting looked at. We continued the lesson and we got a phone call from the mission home and from the Zone Leaders. We missed the calls on purpose to finish the lesson. Turned out that it was our car. Went out and talked to the officer. Our car was parked legally on the side of the road. We asked what was the problem. the police woman said that someone called our car in and said that it looked abandoned. She was checking out the car. One of the neighbors thought our car was suspicious. And called the cops. We straightened things out and didn't receive a ticket. Had to contact the mission home and they were panicking thinking we got abducted. They were literally freaking out. But everything turned out okay in the end haha. Had to call the Zone Leaders and they got a huge laugh out of it.

Yep that's my update. Love you all and miss you! Have a good one!

Elder Jantzen Richard Read

Plane to Chicago... lost picture... thanks Kerry Day!

Pitch and Hit & Teaching an Apostle :)

Hello Family and Friends,
   

It's been a quick week for us here. We actually did a Blitz last Tuesday. (A blitz is where me and Elder Wilcock go to the District or Zone Leaders and do an exchange down their) I am not able to drive because I am a Visa waiter. My district leader, Elder Pulotu, cannot drive because he is a Red dot Drive. He actually got in a car wreck here in the mission and is not able to drive for the rest of the Mission. Crazy! Since me and Elder Pulotu could not drive and it was impossible to drive down to Normal for District Meeting the next day without wasting gas money, we did a Blitz.

I learned a lot from Elder Pulotu that day. All we were able to do was go Tracking! Door Contacting. As everyone knows I don't like it. Because I do a repetitive door approach which is not the way to do it. It needs to be done with the Spirit. Elder Pulotu knew that I was struggling. He asked if I wanted to play a game? Why not? It's called Pitch and hit. He would say Pitch and turn the pages in the Book of Mormon. I would say Hit. He would stop turning the pages. He would tell me how many lines are in a chapter heading. I would give a number for a line and a number for the word on the line in the chapter Heading. And we had to use that word in our door approach. If we didn't than we would get a point. Whoever had the most points by the end of the day loses the game.

If you look in some of the Chapter Headings this can be difficult. I was given many words that were unique but easy. On many of my own door approaches I received 2 Potential investigators for the Bloomington Elders. One of the Potential Investigators came with the word of Zoramites. Don't ask how I used it. But it worked haha. I found when playing this game I was focusing on how to use the word instead of what to say. It worked out every time! It was a casual conversation and it was different every time. I came back home with Elder Wilcock and he doesn't like that game. I try doing it on my own but it's boring. I'll have to wait until I get to Denmark.

Me and Elder Wilcock have not gotten well together this past 2 weeks. We found out why. Last night we had companionship study and were guided to Teach people not lessons in Preach My Gospel. We came under the conclusion that we were teaching Lessons. We fell under a routine and realized we have made a terrible mistake. We asked for forgiveness. And we are determined to change and focus on our investigators. We are focusing on teaching our investigators and focusing on teaching to their needs, instead of teaching lessons. I can feel me and Elder Wilcock growing closer together instead of pushing each other away.

This week we have an appointment to teach an "apostle". Some crazy man called us from his apartment and talked with us. He was shirtless, smoking, need of a shower, and had a beard. Huh! Last time I checked we didn't have those kinds of apostles. We will see how well this goes. He was preaching to us and talked a lot about stuff "in the flesh". We call him Mike Davis in the Flesh. He just kept saying that over and over. haha. I stopped him and asked him if he really wants to hear our message. He thought about it and said he would be willing. this will still be interesting to visit him. It may be an hour with him or it will be 10 minutes. Whatever the spirit directs.

Well I will find out about my Visa probably Wednesday. President Fenn is interviewing our Zone then. Most likely I will be leaving next week. Man time has gone by so fast. Well you may not hear from me for another 2 weeks. I you do I may be here for another 6 weeks haha. I have mixed feelings about receiving my Visa. As Elder Wicock puts it "I'm excited to go to Denmark, but I am not excited to Leave".

Love you all thanks for your love and support!

-Elder Jantzen Ricard Read

Week 9 Virginia is a good name! Working hard and loving it in Pontiac!

Well another great week! I love it here. I had to go on exchanges last Wednesday with the zone leader, Elder Hunsaker, in Bloomington/ Normal. He is an awesome leader, the hardest part was teaching that night. We had to teach that a 9year old girl the first lesson. It was so tough. You need to keep it simple as much as possible. I struggled with her, because she already knows so much in the Bible and the Book of Mormon. She is an awesome reader. Her mom is a convert to the church. The only problem is her father is not a member and there is a family tension with getting her baptized. But she wants to find out for herself if it's true.
We later taught a mother who's daughter was converted to the church. She is now in provo BYU. She has to many questions and she is reading the Book of Mormon like crazy- she's so solid. It was awesome to see her desire and find out what her daughter got into.
We had Zone Conference the next morning. It was an amazingly spiritual meeting. President Fenn is an amazing speaker. It really was a huge spiritual battery charger. We were ready to go out and get to work again with that fire.
Friday we studied about how to talk about family history/ genealogy work. We were wondering how to talk about it with other people and to bring up the conversation. We got our answer an hour later. We went and did service at the Rec. Center, we found a woman who was reading the paper. It was a little awkward to say something because, I received a prompting to just open my mouth and talk. We were cleaning in our shirts and ties.We just started talking with her. She wanted to have a friendship not a religious talk. So we talked about National Parks. Yeah pretty legit conversation I'd say. that's her bucket list to go to all the National parks. I brought up did she wonder about her name and heritage? Her last name was Kraimer I believe. I was wondering if she was related to Maddie. She doesn't even know where the rest of her family is. The brothers all separated a generation before her. So it's a possibility. Her father served in World War II. I brought that up to her about my grandfather. We chatted on that. We gave her a mormon.org card and told her if she had any questions she could visit that site an learn more about us. I also was prompted to give her familysearch.org. she wrote it down and said that would be a good Winter Project for her. We think it will open up doors and she'll start learning about her genealogy and desire to find out more on the church.

(Zone conference we leaders taught us to follow our plans we make with the spirit at night, because if your going to plan with the Lord, the Lord is going to put people in your path. So it's important to obey your plans with exactness)
Yesterday after church, miracles happened. We went to go visit a slow progressing investigator. come to find out that he got put in jail for missing his court date. elder Wilcock said we should go back to the apartment and do our personal study for the day. Our back up plan was to go finding. But we could just get our study time out of the way right? We started back to the apartment. I felt the impressions in my heart. Go Finding! several times back to the apartment. we went to the apartment and I told Elder Wilcock we need to go finding. I got a feeling/an impression we should go. elder Wilcock told me to pick a street. I didn't feel like that's what we needed. I picked one randomly that was close to our next appointment. We gathered our bags, used the restroom and left.

come to find out that we already tract-ed that street the previous week. I went up to the door and gave a door approach. ( I really stink at door approaches, never is my best thing to do. So awkward to do, I really feel like I'm selling something. Which is not true. But if you get me through the door I'm good haha). My approach was a fail. Denied. We started walking towards our appointment. I was looking and searching. I knew that we were out here for a reason. I saw an Elderly woman sitting outside. I disregarded her at first because our appointment was in 5min. We went to our appointment and nobody was home we were stood up.(really a normal thing here haha). We went down that same street. This time the elderly woman's husband was with her. We were on the other side of the road. I told Elder wilcock lets tract this side and turn around and do the other side. We had one person who answered their door and he was not interested. I know that when we turned back up to go on that street we needed to see that couple. We knocked on a few more doors and skipped a bunch haha.

We went up casually to them. Instead of the usual door approach I just talked with them. Asked if they ever talked with missionaries like us before or heard of us. The older gentleman replied that his sister in law in one. He could see our white shirts but that was it. He was like 95% blind. His name was Mack Preston and his wife was Virginia (she didn't like her name that much, I replied it was a great name because that's my grandmothers name). They let us talk with them. We didn't talk much on the Gospel with them. They don't know anyone in Pontiac. Nobody comes to socialize with them besides their daughter. so they welcomed our company with joy. they loved us we spent like an hour talking with them. I think that it broke the ice. We told them hey we'll come back and chat with you again and maybe bring a message. We think they got the hint (hopefully, they really couldn't hear that part very good either haha) But what a great couple!

We went back to the apartment for our daily studies. We were an hour late. So one of our studies would have to be cut. elder wilcock jumped in his pj's because he figured that we would be home the rest of the night with studies. I just took my shoes and tie off and figured I could do that later. We started personal study, after dinner. After only a short couple of minutes we received a phone call. A member who has lived in Pontiac for a year was wondering where the church was and if anyone could visit him. We said we'll be there in half an hour. We hanged up the phone and just thought of what we just done. haha. We got re-dressed and took off.

He (Donny King) received a Book of Mormon from the Salvation Army last Friday. His wife Jennie (has a Baptist Background) found our number on the first page of the Book of Mormon and her husband called us immediately. We went over there to tell him where the church was. He was looking for us to teach his wife. She was open to it willingly. She apparently knows that the Baptist Church was not the place because when she went to the Minister/pastor asking for help at 19years old, because she had cancer. the Minister/pastor called her a liar and other things happened also. She knew that their was a God out there. She was seeking the truth.

We taught her the restoration and the spirit was strong. She wants to read the Book of Mormon right now. She said she'll read a couple of Chapters and more haha. We gave her the date for November 2 to be baptized. She said if she finds the truth than she will but only by her husband. he holds the priesthood so everything is set in stone.

The lord has truly blessed us. I truly believe it was only because we were being strictly obedient to our plans we made the night before. I know that the Lord has blessed us immensely. It has strengthened my testimony of how important this work is to the Lord .

Update on our current investigators. We got dropped by our mental investigator randomly. His associate told us off and told us never to come back. So that was depressing. Anthony O. is doing Great! He bought a suite last week and we think it's for his wedding haha. He's going to teach his children Family Home Evening tonight. So we are excited on that. We are trying to get Tasha more involved and continue to grow in her testimony. We really would like to see them baptized soon. We set a date for them on Oct. 19. I was hoping for the Sept 21. than it might be a for sure that I could baptize them. But it's to close for them to get married first. Either way I love this family. All of them came to church yesterday! Progressing very well.

Well this i my update thanks for everything! thank you for all your love and support. I wish each of you the world! Have a good week. Man this week has gone by fast haha. Love you all!

Fun with people in Pontiac

                                       
                              Anthony (a young man they are teaching) and Jantz playing soccer.

                      Elder Wilcock and Elder Read having some fun with the people of Pontiac

                                              Elder Wilcock and Anthony and young boy

Thanks for the kindness and love you have shown to our boy, it means the world to us!

Visa can wait... Great things happening in Pontiac!

Hello Everyone!

Where do I begin.... what a great week. Last week we had our investigator (Anthony O.) receive his answer to the Book of Mormon! This is the first man I taught out here in Pontiac, about the law of Chastity. The spirit has definitely touched his life! He got up at Sacrament last Fast Sunday and gave his testimony! He has grown so much this past week. He keeps telling us that he knows that God has a work for him to do. I truly believe that! He said that he was actually looking forward to going to church. He says that he wants to pray at least twice a day and read the Book of Mormon for at least once everyday. He says when he picks up the Book of Mormon and finishes a chapter he just stops and realizes that he wants to do nothing else and so he keeps reading!

We met with him yesterday after a Branch Picnic activity. (oh that is why I didn't email yesterday because it was Labor day and the Libraries are closed. So President Fenn put our P-day for today) We taught Anthony O. and his future Father in law (Anthony S. Baptized last year, has a very strong testimony and does not regret anything about joining the church and his faith) about the 3 kingdoms and about how Anthony O. and his Finance (Anthony S. Daughter) Tasha and their children can be sealed for time and all eternity. We gave him a commitment to be baptized on October 19th. They will need to be married before that. So he said that he would Talk to Tasha and pray with her last night about it. I would like to have the Baptism on the 21st of September (Because I might be leaving for Denmark then) but that requires them getting married this week or the next. So we prayed and felt like October would work for them better. My companion and Zone Leader will be seeing him again tomorrow to see if they received an answer. Crossing our fingers!

I will be going on Exchanges with one of the Zone leaders tomorrow. I guess it's a check up on how I am doing and see how well I've adapted to the missionary life. So that is why I won't be with Anthony Tomorrow if you were wondering.

My boss back at home, Scott T., might get a laugh on this. After we taught Anthony O. Anthony S. invited us for dinner and asked if we could help him. He showed us a box, I looked at the picture and my memory clicked. He asked if we could help him hang a TV on the wall. The box was the bracket and pieces to put it together. My training up at Weber State has paid off. I didn't think in a million years that I would be hanging a TV on my mission. I was so excited because I could do hands on work, mechanically you could say. We spent the time after dinner helping them put the bracket on the wall. Best hour of service that I have had yet! :) I tried to tell Elder Wilcock not to trust the rule of 16" for the wall studs. He figured since he has been doing construction all his life that there was not possibility that the rule of 16" could be broken. ( Anthony S. house and many houses here are in bad condition. These people live on practically the poorest looking homes on the outside.) Our stud finder was broken so Elder Wilcock trust his judgment on the rule of 16". He measured and took a nail to start a hole. He pounded the nail in and Missed! He repeated this process about 10 time until he found a stud. Luckily the TV will be covering the holes in the wall. haha

While we were hanging the TV Anthony O. was continuing asking us questions. Obviously we didn't scare him off with our lesson. He was saying that he want to teach his kid about this. He wants to share that with them. He asked us if we could help him do like a "family sit down" lesson. He wants to teach his kids this and give them a foundation. We is loving this gospel and knows that it is blessing his life. He has grown so much spiritually these past few weeks. He knows the Gospel is blessing him because he has 2 job offers and he is working both of them. And it's only been after he started receiving the missionary lessons that he has noticed the blessings coming to his life! He and the Anthony S. Family are going to be one of the reasons why it will be so hard to leave Pontiac. I love these people. They are practically and feel literally like my family. I will miss them.

Another investigator we have that has been struggling is Tyler Smith. He would always come to church with his friend Ned and be in a white t-shirt and jeans. We have been trying to contact him these past 2 weeks and have got no progress with him. Elder Wilcock was thinking of Dropping him. We had a dinner appointment at one of the Bekiatis house. Tyler actually showed up for dinner. We were able to teach him. I used my fathers folding a piece of paper and cutting a straight line to make the letter "t" object lesson. Never did that lesson before so I thought we not. Everyone struggled. Sister Bekiatis did it origami style, cheater haha. Brother Bekiatis started cutting and realized that he cut the wrong direction that he was attempting. His paper fell apart. He picked up his pieces and found out that he actually accomplished it. Lucky Duck.

I did my part and cut the paper, created the words : Faith Hope love and Atone. We testified of the Atonement. We used Alma 7:11-14 I believe, might be to verse 13. We gave Tyler a commitment to be baptized on the 21st of September. He said that he would think about it. We found out that there are some problems going on at home. He's been going through some difficult times. But he knows that he's going to have to put forth the effort. We'll see if this date works out.

Trying to work hard in Pontiac. Some days it feels like it is tough for the both of us. We keep pressing on because we know of the importance of this work! We keep saying to ourselves this work is for other peoples salvation. It is through us that we give them this opportunity to accept to work towards Salvation.

We are going to teach Rodolfo again tonight. He is the Hispanic man who we met on contacting. We taught him and he was having a hard time expressing himself in English. He was able to understand us well. (we hope) But we are going to bring Brother Astleford tonight to teach him. He served in Panama and he learned Spanish out there. He's going to be our translator. We are going to focus more on Jesus Christ tonight, because that's really Rodolfo wants to learn more about. We are thinking this lesson will go much better!

Well I'll keep you posted on the Visa haven't heard anything yet. (part of me is wanting it to never come, funny how that works) We are going to have a Zone Conference on Thursday, I hope that there are some of the Danish Elders there! It will be nice to talk with them again. Next Tuesday we will have a new missionary training meeting. I will for sure see them there. Love you all. This work is so true. I have seen miracles while being out here in the Field. The Spirit testifies to me everyday on this work. I know that as everyone reads the Book of Mormon we will all draw closer to our Savior and God. I know that the Book of Mormon is the only true book on Earth and that it contains the fullness of the Gospel. I'm so happy that I can be apart of this work! I am grateful for everything this Gospel has brought to my life. Until we meet again.

-Elder Jantzen Richard Read