Dear Friends and Family,
How is everyone? Thanks for the emails and letters! I feel bad, my comp doesn't really get mail at all and few emails. But he keeps his spirits up nonetheless. So last Monday we walked down our usual 2nd Street downtown where we have a few investigators, making little progress, but we still like to stop by now and again. We walked down the dirty streets, almost everyone was outside on there porches to watch the action as the ambulances and cop cars pulled up to one of the rowhouses. We don't know what happened exactly, but cops were searching. As we walked away later that night around 830, we heard gunshots in the near distance....soooo we hastened our pace a bit. But all is well i can assure you. On Thursday we were getting cheap deep fried cheese steaks on the same street, again at the corner, there were 8 cop cars doing a major drug bust just in the middle of the day this time.
Our investigator, Jim, had a stroke about 4 years ago and is a bit slower. He mentioned to us how hard it is to get caught up on his words. He is having a tough time with his wife right now, and we didn't really know that before we had dinner with them at a nearby member's home. So we gave her a Book of Mormon for the first time, she was a little skeptical and had been scared that God had left her earlier in life. We hope they both come around, but they may need to time to figure some things out. We powerwashed Jim's house the other day and he showed a little disinterest in moving forward. He doesn't see the need for much of God and/or the Book of Mormon. It was kind of heartbreaking bc we know the gospel is the only thing that can truly help him. We will continue to friendship him, but the baptismal date we were hoping to set with him will obviously be postponed.
Latisha is moving out of our area because she was evicted this week. She saw us on the street and in tears told us she had prayed and read the BOM, but hadn't felt anything and wondered if God even cared. I read aloud to her Matthew 11:28-30. "Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." I sure felt the Spirit, and I'm pretty sure she did, even though it's hard when we are outside on a busy street with loud traffic. She kind of turned away after I prayed for her there. Then went off cussing at a few people. So we don't exactly know how to help her at this point, especially if she doesn't answer her phone and is out of our area.
Another guy we met, named Xavier, reads the Book of Mormon and loves the feeling he gets when he reads it. He knows he needs to be baptized and is progressing after his drug addiction therapy. But we invited him to church sunday, went with a member to pick him up, and knocked anxiously on his door, praying in faith that he would be there. And he wasn't. I was heartbroken. I prayed, wanting to know why all my efforts and faith had been in vein. Then I realized that these people are God's responsibility, not mine. He will be prepared by God, not me. So that helped me get through. God is in control of the details of our lives.
I came upon 3 Nephi 17:7-9..."your faith is sufficient" I Love that bc I know I don't have perfect faith, but what I offer to Christ is enough. He can heal each of us of whatever we are struggling with. Just ACT in faith. It's that simple.
More thunder and lightning right now.
Love you all,
Elder Jacob Robins
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