How is everybody doing? Holy shmokes! This week has been tough. Not a whole lot to do. We did not meet with any of our investigators. The Wilson's, we've decided, are going to be dropped. They've hit a plateau and have been on that plateau for about a month now. They're not progressing and it's time I stop worrying about them, and start looking for someone who will pray about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. Shawn, it turns out, isn't interested in learning about a modern day prophet, but he did like church. So, we will probably drop him, also. He's too busy and when he does have time, he doesn't want to listen. He's a good guy though, so I hope one day we can teach him the Restoration and help him feel the Spirit and that this church is true. Stacy and her boyfriend Andrew felt like we were being "WAY too pushy." They both got jobs and not only have we not been able to meet with them because of that, but we have been backing off to let them cool off. We'll probably, hopefully, meet with them tonight. Timothy, our miracle last Sunday, is also SUPER flaky. We can't meet with him worth a hill of beans. He won't commit to anything, not even a time when we could drop by. All of our investigators have been super annoying this week...all but one. So, let's talk about them miracles.

I told you last week about who we had at church. A couple miracles. Timothy being one, and the other was the ex-communicated member, Jeff. So, I'll give you his background story. He joined the church when he was 12, when he moved to California from Samoa (btw, he doesn't look Samoan. He's half Samoan and half white) and only got baptized because his grandmother said: "You either get baptized or you get hauled back to Samoa." You know which one he picked. But he never understood what the church was about. So, at 16, he was ex-communicated for breaking the LoC with the bishop's daughter (obviously, the bishop had a grudge against him). He then went and joined the Navy, and moved to Washington where he met his wife, who is a Mormon. They got married, but her nagging to come to church, his past, and hatred towards the church for ex-communicating him drove him to be very Anti. His marriage eventually died as he chipped and cracked his wife's spirituality until it broke. She filed for divorce and is now making false claims to the court and authorities that he beat her, although he never did. The ward turned against him. But as the accusations were turned down, one after another, the ward slowly saw that his wife was lying. Anyways, he began drinking and smoking heavily. Every night, he would drown his pains away. Until one Sunday. The Spirit nudged him. "Go to church." He argued and argued as he got ready to go, and showed up at our building, during our time and was welcomed into the ward. He told us that he had been visiting all other churches and felt that there was something missing. When he walked in, he said he thought that he would be nervous, but in fact, felt at home.

We met with him the following Tuesday. We talked about all I just said and then some. Then, he pulled out "The Testaments," and said that he wanted to watch it. During the last scene when Christ heals Helam, Jeff began to cry. He told us that the movie echoed his life and that he wanted to be baptized. We left him to read 3 Nephi 11, and he loved it! We then met the following day, where he told us all about his experiences in repenting. He confessed a lot of sins to us that frankly, I didn't want to hear. He told us about how he stopped drinking alcohol, smoking and watching pornography. He told us about his war stories and we told him to confide in the bishop, rather than us, since it was his prerogative as to how to help him repent and not ours. Then, Elder Kerr taught the entire Restoration by himself. I was so proud. As his step-father, I was really surprised he taught so well for it only being his second transfer. We left him to read (and I only had him read this because I was guided by the Spirit) Lehi's vision (1 Nephi 8, 11-15). When we taught him two days later, I connected the vision to the Gospel of Jesus Christ lesson. You should have seen it click. There was this understanding I've never seen. Mom, he totally gets it. His problem is that he was Anti for so long, he didn't understand the basic fundamentals. The lesson went amazing! I've never felt the Spirit as strong, besides the temple, as I have felt it in his home. I cried the whole lesson as I bore my testimony and he gets it.

Lastly, we taught him the Plan of Salvation (speaking of which, I came up with this totally new, cool way to draw the picture, and teach the lesson. I'll tell you about it afterwards) and he just got it. We had him read before hand Alma 40-42, and so that helped him understand what happens when we die. He loved the lesson. We brought over a prospective missionary, and he brought over a movie called "Praise to the Man." So, I thought this was "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration," but it wasn't. It was this terrible documentary on Joseph Smith's life. The Spirit wasn't in the room when we watched the movie, even during the first vision and death of the prophet. Yup, if you would like to see the worst, most unimportant facts about Joseph Smith, this is it. It was crap. Jeff loved it though, and fortunately, because he has some background with the church, he understood most of what the movie talked about. Whew. Anyways, he met with the Bishop on Sunday. Our bishop loves him and is going to pull his records so he can get baptized. We're meeting with him tomorrow to teach my least favorite lesson...the commandments.

So, the big news. Like I told you, I came up with this new, totally awesome way to draw the Plan of Salvation. The entire lesson needs to be focused on Jesus Christ, but every time a missionary teaches it, they completely forget about that. So, instead of drawing the linear line, I draw in in a circle. I start with drawing Christ in the middle, and then draw the Pre-Earth Life in the top left corner. Then, going counter-clockwise, I draw Earth Life, Death and the Spirit World, Resurrection, Judgement and the three Kingdoms of Glory, with the Celestial Kingdom at the same level as the Pre-Earth Life. I talk about how we come down to Earth to get a body and gain experience. Then, because we have sinned and died, the only way to get back up is through Christ, which is when the drawing starts to go back up (with the Resurrection). I'll draw one and send it to you so you can see how genius it is. Also, I had some recent revelation. In my Patriarchal Blessing, it said that I would have the gift of discernment. I thought: "Sweet, now I can tell if people are lying or not. Awesome." But I discovered that it's not what it is. The gift of discernment is the ability to discern what the Spirit is teaching you. It's taken me a very long time to figure it out, but now I've learned how to listen to Him and he guides me while tracting, teaching and studying.

Last news, I got bit by a dog. Yup, Seriously. No joke. We were visiting some less active people, who wanted us to call before we dropped by. I did, and they didn't answer, so stupid me thought, "Nah, I'll just drop by anyways." Ha! The dog was outside and went straight for us. I stuck out my hand to have him sniff it, and when he snapped, I pulled back. He charged and bit Elder Kerr in his leg and Elder Kerr backed up into a car mirror and got in my way. The dog snapped at my leg, ripped my expensive Men's Warehouse pants, broke the skin and I ran. The lady came out screaming....AT US? "I thought I told you to call first! If you don't call, we can't put my dog inside and he will attack!" Well, why on Earth do you have this satanic, evil thing outside for it to bite innocent missionaries? She then cooled down and offered to buy me new pants. I refused the offer and went home, cleaned the wound and put anti-infection cream on it. It's healing nicely. I went to Wal-Mart, and got some super comfortable slacks for eleven bucks, and I'm totally fine. I forgot to get my camera to show you the wound. So, sorry.

Well, I've got three minutes left so thank you for all that you do. I love you all and am so grateful for your support. Loves, hugs and handshakes.



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Elder Courtney Casselman

Still Alive