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February 26, 2018  

This morning while I was in the customer service line at Walmart, waiting to get $10 in quarters to do laundry, I opened Facebook Messenger without even thinking and saw that my recent convert, CW, was online.

The other missionaries in Jonesboro told me at the beginning of this last transfer that he and his family were going through some hard times. He stopped coming to church, and I even heard that he started drinking again. His wife, J, was meeting with the Sister missionaries and had a baptismal date, when suddenly she told them not to come back anymore. C eventually told the Elders that he was going through a lot of issues and needed some space, so he asked to stop coming by. My heart broke when I heard that.

This morning at Walmart, I received a prompting to send a quick message to C. He replied back almost instantly. We ended up chatting for almost an hour. He told me about some of the trials he's going through. I told him that the first year is always the toughest being a member of the church, and that Satan is throwing a ton of trials his way, trying to knock him off the right path. I said it is right now of all times that he needs the church. He agreed and says that the time has come for him to come back. Please pray for him.

This week was awesome. Joyce Williams, our now recent convert, it doing great! She had some friends visit her and try and convince her that Joseph Smith was a false prophet, but she wasn't having it. She said she knows what she has felt, and what God has confirmed in her heart. She made made the right choice and chose to pray about it, and she felt the Holy Ghost bear witness to her that everything we have taught her is true and comes from God. She did that all on her own, and told us about the experience when we visited her on Tuesday. I was so proud of her!

Joyce's son Kenny, as I may have mentioned before, is living with her for the time being. He is 33 years old, and has major ADHD. He was really surprised when I told him I have ADHD as well, so I was able to connect with him on that. He's also my same height, and loves basketball. He's really good too. Because of the ADHD, and some other learning disorders, he qualifies for the special Olympics, but he pretty much dominates in basketball since he's very high functioning, and also really big.

He also loves the missionaries. Joyce calls us her sons, and Kenny calls us his Brothers. This Friday

we were able to set a baptismal date for the 24 of March with him, and he is super excited! We will be working to help him make some pretty big changes for the better in his life up until then to get him ready. On Saturday, he came with us to Russellville to see the baptism of one the Sisters investigators, Cassie. President Hansen was asked to baptize her, so Kenny got to meet him! President was very tender and loving to him and Kenny loved him! I was so grateful he got to have that experience.

I wish y'all could meet President Hansen. He's a dairy farmer from Idaho, who was simply foreordained to be the President of this mission. He is such a kind loving man, but also very strict and does not tolerate disobedience. He reminds me of Dad a lot actually. He is an all in all remarkable man, and I consider myself blessed to associate as closely with him as I do.

My parents sent me my suit that I used to wear before the mission, since I've ripped all my other suits. This suit is now even tighter than the ones I've already ripped. It's got me nervous as a snail on the Utah salt flats every time I sit down. Boy was I a skinny kid. I weighed 160 back then. I'm 200 now. The best part is all of that is muscle weight, thanks missionary handbook for making me work out every morning.

This week was a little hard because we went knocking doors almost everyday, and every time, not a single person was interested. But after 18 months, I really have learned to take righteous pride in experiences like that and know that I did my best. If someone says no, I smile it off. If someone is rude, I laugh it off. And I keep going. It's that simple, and it's made life so much more enjoyable.

So grateful to be here. The Church is true. Jesus Christ is our Savior.

Love all y'all, have a wonderful week!

PS. Elder Sotomarino goes home tomorrow! Crazy how time flies!
Pictures: New haircut this morning, this is all I got sorry folks haha