Lawrence, MA. A City of Miracles.

So this last week we went from a teaching pool of 1 investigator, to a total of 9!  Ya, that's right, welcome to Lawrence.  It's been so amazing to get to start teaching some people, and to start teaching in Spanish - which is so much harder after barely using it for the last 7 months.  So each of our investigators has been found in different ways, and I want to tell you about a few of them.



Domincan Thanksgiving 2011

 We met with a recent convert a week ago who said would try to help us find people to teach.  Then a few days ago she called to set a time to teach her mother-in-law (in Spanish).  After we met and taught her, we were walking towards a potential investigator and we noticed an older woman with a few bags of groceries.  It was very cold and she had been walking for a while, and we just so happened to notice her right as she put her bags down to rest for a minute.  We then offered our help, she gladly accepted, and we carried her groceries back home.  When we arrived, we met her husband and son, and ended up teaching them all about forever families using The Family: A Proclamation To The World. The next day we went to a dinner appointment with the other Lawrence missionaries to the house of two investigators they have been teaching for a while (a mom and daughter with her family) (we helped them move into their new home last week).  While they taught the women, we kept the children busy with a few games and then a lesson about how to pray.  Then, on Saturday, we wanted to contact a few of the referrals that a member family had given us (we had gone to their house - 100% Spanish -  a few days before and after explaining our desire to start teaching people, they came up with six names for us!), so we called and they said to come on over at 2:00 and they wanted to help us.  So we went over expecting to get a ride with them to a friend's house, but to our surprise, they brought over their daughter, her boyfriend, and their children, and we had a great lesson all about the blessings that come from being a member of this church, and how they can come to know that it's true.  Then later that night we stopped by the house of one of the other Lawrence missionaries' investigators and ended up teaching a couple who live in the same apartment. 



Elder Blad, My New Companion

So things are really starting to pick up here.  It's tough because we have to walk everywhere (bikes keep breaking and/or getting stolen), and being a District Leader/Trainer is super stressful and time consuming, but it's all wonderful.  I'm working hard, and just trying to keep up with everything, and I'm happy.  I've been studying charity a lot lately because I spoke about it for my last week in Georgetown, and I was asked to speak about it this last Sunday (in Spanish), but then the schedule got changed at the last minute and I'm on the back burner for anytime the bishopric needs a talk on the fly.  But anyways, I'm glad I've been studying charity, because at any time that I start thinking that it's a bummer that I have no time to myself anymore, or that I spend too much time worrying about my new missionary companion or the others in my district instead of my own concerns, I am quickly able to remember Christ and his ultimate example of charity. 

I understand a bit more about the Atonement now, and how He didn't do it at all for himself, but that it was done for you, me, and everyone.  Not once did He allow himself to become too concerned with his own thoughts and feelings as to become selfish or put his needs before others.  His perfect heart full of charity was such that his only concerns were about others - not Himself.  And most of all Christ completed the Atonement - never did He give up - and this is what I am most grateful for during this Thanksgiving season.

From New England with love,

Elder Dustin Carr