From Mafia to... Mormon?!

House pic! Elder Alexis, Elder Foster, Elder Hatch, me.​

Hello everyone!  So this week has been a tough week for everyone for some reason, the people that we find just aren't sticking. Lots of knocking with no solid new investigators. It's disappointing, but I'm sure it'll pick up. We're really pushing hard this month to hit our goal of 100 baptisms as a mission in April, so I'm sure God will provide miracles for us.

Speaking of miracles... we've had some crazy ones this week. Their names are Paul and Laila. Their full stories can be found in the voice recordings below, but here's a little summary:

Elder Hatch and I talked to Paul while walking down the street. He's really jacked and inked up. He comes up to us and says "I've been looking for you." We talk to him and turns out he just got out of jail after 14 years for being in the New York Mafia, and met a Mormon guy there named Ammon that introduced the church to him. He's read all of Gospel Principles and half the Book of Mormon. Wants to be baptized, but is on probation for the next 4 years which makes things difficult. Also he lives in the other Elders' area (bummer)... I've decided that if he gets baptized there needs to be a movie like the Saratov Approach made about him.

​The ganster life is getting to us.​

Laila was a media referral that we finally got in contact with. She's super cool, has a Mormon friend that's been talking to her and she's really interested in the church. She felt the Spirit super strong right when we first started talking with her. She's going on a trip for 4 weeks though and also lives in the other Elders' area (double bummer).

We did get a less active member to come to church though! His name is George and he's super solid now. He's committed to coming to church every week with his daughters now. His wife is a member too but she works Sundays, but she's working hard to get her boss to give her the day off sometimes. Really cool Haitian family, glad they're back.

We had to drop the J... L... family because they didn't come to church, which was super sad. Turns out the dad is super against the church and won't let them come. The older daughter reads in the Book of Mormon every day, and they all want to come to church but the dad won't let them. The little daughter even said "we could just try to sneak out while he's sleeping!" It was really sad, I almost cried for them on the car ride home. There's nothing we can do though, if the dad won't even let them come to church there's no way he'd give permission for them to be baptized. Bummer.

Gilbert might still be solid, but he couldn't come to church because his mom died the night before. He needs a little space for now, but we'll still work with him and see how it goes. Bummer.

​Pic I took outside the church cuz I was bored.

We do have a really solid "Haitian Mamie" that we're working with though, her name's Elvire and seems super interested in the church. We found her from just knocking, something that doesn't see a lot of success in this area (especially for finding Haitians). She understands the Restoration on a really deep level, and as we read in 3 Nephi 11 with her for the first time she would even explain what she was reading as she read it. Super cool, hopefully she stays that way.

Other than that, last night we had dinner with a couple in the ward that lived in Simi Valley! Their name is the Hunsakers. They're an older couple that lived there years ago, but they still knew where everything was and all the wards and church buildings so that was pretty cool. If any of you know them, send a note or something haha (I think they know the Moberlys, but so does every Mormon in Simi haha).

Hope all is well with you, keep me updated on everything you're doing!

Lanmou,

Eldè Stevenson