So this week was transfers and a lot of craziness went down. President Watkins couldn't leave me well enough alone, and so I'm a zone leader again this transfer. For my last transfer... It's also super weird because I'm still with Elder Son, and the other zone leader (who is Elder Baldwin by the way) is in a different ward in the stake. This last week was dedicated to figuring out how this split-ZL thing works. We've got things more normal now, but we were scrambling for a bit there. This zone is one of the biggest with 25 missionaries in it. We aren't super big geographically, but we live in the weird armpit of the zone that they made so they could split up downtown into a few different wards. It will be a different transfer this transfer. Other crazy things are happening, like sisters covering wards from multiple stakes, areas splitting, and some general madness.
This week we set a baptismal date with one of our investigators. His name is Adrian and he's wanting to turn his life around, and already has for a few months. He did some short time in prison and was on all manner of substances. He's been out for a while and been clean for a few months. He said he needs some more. That's where the Gospel comes in. He seems very sincere and we're meeting with him again this week. He was one of our miracles this week. The date is for September 14th, so we're praying and working hard to help him make that date.
We were also able to go up to Bill's baptism this last Saturday. He was very excited to see Elder Baldwin and me. I was able to be a witness and as soon as Bill came out of the water, he was very emotional. The first thing he said was "Thank you Jesus. It's been a long time." He was able to be baptized and not have it create a rift between him and his son, who is basically the only family he has left. A member family was instrumental in making this happen. When he was getting close while I was there, we asked the ward council to assign Home Teachers. One of the members in there volunteered and fulfilled his role faithfully. Bill became the family's adopted Grandpa. They were in good contact even after he dropped Elder Baldwin and I. They gave him books to read and talked to him about the church. Bill knew it was true about 5 days into us teaching him, he just had so much opposition coming from all sides. He was able to overcome it though, really with the help of those members. It was awesome to see. In the Pleasanton Stake Mission Plan, one of the initiatives was to have investigators home taught before baptism. It was a combination of a lot of things that brought Bill here, but without those members, he wouldn't have been baptized. He only had to be dunked once, which was something I had been praying for for weeks.
This was a really inspiring week for us. Despite all the things we had to do out of our area, we were still able to reach our weekly goals, and find Adrian and set that date with him. Now we have even more potentials and will be good for finding this week too. This area is starting to move even more then it was. It's exciting.
-Elder James Richards
The missionaries that taught Bill, Bill, his son, The members, and Elder Son (he snuck in).
Pretty cool, all my posterity was at transfer meeting. My sons and grandsons. Elder Son is on my right.