October 2, 2013

Dear dad,

The week went great.   We found 1 new investigator named "V".  He is not your ordinary investigator. During weekly planning of last week I was going through the potentials list and one of the names that I felt impressed to go see was a man named "V".  But I thought..." I don't think I'm going to see him, he speaks Russian and I don't know how we would speak to him".  So the next day, the Spanish sisters gave us a referral for a man named "V", and I was like okay we are definitely going to see him this evening.
So that evening we saw him and he has an amazing story. To sum it up, he lived in Russia and became Christian and then left Russia because of religious persecution. He went to Italy and met a man who had a copy of the Book of Mormon in Russian.  There is so much more about his story I will share later....like him meeting President Benson as well as...Elder Monson.
He wants us to come by again and we are going to find someone that served a mission in Russia and help us out with teaching. so the next visit we are going to talk and help him to be baptized. it was an honor to meet him and we are excited to see what happens next.
I just got my new suit today and it fits great! got it at Macys......and yes I would like the new smaller messenger bag.

love you ,

Elder DeMarco

 

September 23, 2013

Yesterday we had a baptism for "Y". It went great. "C" baptized her and next Sunday she will be confirmed. Since I've been here for awhile I've seen this family grow. After we baptized "C" and "T" their family has increased. "T's" mother "P" , was a less active most of her life but because of them being baptized she became more interested. Eventually  her son "S" was baptized and then a month later "T's" sister "Y" wanted to be baptized also. It's an honor to see the effects of how 2 people who are baptized will have forever changed the life of their family. And now they all attend church , they're living the gospel and enjoying the blessings from it.

We found 3 new investigators this past week. His name is "J". He said he was catholic and wants to become closer to God. We taught him about the restoration and he invited us to come back again. We are planning on seeing him tonight. 

We also found a family of 7 to teach.  We were doing harvest blessings and they said to come back later that evening. When we came back we taught the mom and dad. They said they are open to learning more.

Tell grandma thanks for the package and thank you dad for the messenger bag. It's great and it works fine ( I feel like the kid on the movie " premium rush")  ....the only thing is , since I am not a big person would you be able to get a smaller one and I forgot to tell you I wanted a small one because I only want to carry books of Mormon and that's really it.

Well I got to go,

love,
Elder DeMarco

 

September 16, 2013....

 

 (Sorry I haven't updated in so long...)

This week has been pretty good for us. Our investigator "Y" is still doing great. She came to church this past Sunday and is on track for Sept baptism. Unfortunately our other investigator who has a date for Sept 28th didn't make it to church this Sunday. We are not giving up!

We taught a great lesson with our investigator "T". She said she feels it to be true but is afraid of leaving behind what she knew to be right. We told her that we are building upon those things she cherishes and some things might be a change for her but it's worth it. Our ward mission leader who was with us bore his testimony of his conversion and the spirit was strong. I asked her what she felt, she said I feel good. She knows that feeling comes from God and recognized the spirit.  She still wants to meet with us, so Elder "L" and I will continue to pray and work with her. I have  realized on my mission how powerful someone's agency is. All we can do as missionaries is invite but never force someone to the gospel and pray that their hearts will be softened.

That was pretty much it, thanks for the pictures.

love,

Elder DeMarco