Well this week was great. The double dose of Elder Holland was a rare treat. In the Pleasanton Stake, he talked about Acts chapter 3, and gave 3 unique insights. If you read it, this will make more sense.
1) You can't argue with the evidence. The lame man jumping up and down can't be argued with. The lives of the members, the fulfillment of prophecies, the Book of Mormon, the good things that come from the church, are all evidences of the truth. Heap on top of that the personal witnesses and encounters from the spirit, and you have an immense amount of evidence
2) You get more then you give up. The man expected to get a coin from Peter and John. That would have been nice, and he would have been happy if he'd got one. But he got so much more. The gospel is about initial sacrifices with intense blessings poured out upon us.
3) You can't kill this. The Pharisees thought they had killed the work with Jesus Christ. But you can't stop it. The stone cut out of mountain without hands (Daniel 2) will roll forth and fill the whole earth, whether some people like it or not.
Great meetings all around.
We also had a great week with the work. We started teaching a 16 year old guy names Silaa. His parents are Thai and he's been to church twice. He's been coming with a girl in the ward. He accepted a baptismal date for April 20th! He's very prepared, and we're really excited for this. Bill continues to move in the Gospel, but struggle financially. He's got more problems than any 90 year old deserves. He still wants to be baptized, but tithing is still a big issue. We don't really know what to do for him.
This week we got a great compliment from the 2nd counselor in the stake presidency, who we had dinner with last night. He tells it like it is, and doesn't sugar coat things, so it was kind of cool to hear. He said the zone has really improved in the last 4 months. And it has. Last week the zone taught a collective 104 lessons, almost a 21 per comp average. That is the first time that has been done. We're super excited.
We're looking at at least 3 baptisms in our area next transfer. That will be more then I've had in any one transfer. My how this area has changed.
-Elder James Richards