Linstead - 6

This past week has been a good one! We now have 4 investigators on date for baptism..... but none of them showed up for church. That's definitely disappointing - especially when they promise to be there. We need to find ways to encourage them to come. In the end, though, they need to have that faith in Jesus Christ and that this is the ONLY way back to God. We're doing our best to develop that faith in them, and I've definitely been seeing improvement.

We've had several successful lessons with new investigators. We were walking about a mile from our house, and we walked by a man in his 60s chopping away bush with his machete. We wave and say hi, and he get's excited! "Oh Mormons! Sure I'll let you guys teach me, I like you guys...." He goes on for like 10 minutes on how he knew some sister missionaries that were super nice to him. He was busy then, but we told him we'd help him chop bush a couple days later. So a couple days later came, and Elder Hall and I showed up with our machetes and chopped bush for 2 hours. It was my first time actually using a machete for reals (and it was apparent), but by the end I was the machete master. Fun stuff. Lincoln is a cool guy. Likes us a lot. He's called us a few times at night and told us how much he appreciates us and loves us. Super cool guy. He came to a Friday-night activity at the church and loved it. He's also introduced us to several of his neighbors who we're now teaching!

Sis. Salmon delivered her (and Goffery's) baby this past Tuesday. Elder Hall and I came up to their house on Saturday for a lesson with Goffery. It was really cool to see how they're coming together as a family. We're hoping that they find some money soon to get married.

This morning, for P-Day, we got up at 4:30, started studies at 5, and traveled to a cave with the other elders in the district. A sister in the ward used to take people on tours in there, and she was able to hook us up with helmets and lights. The cave was amazing! We had to climb down a massive hole by holding on tree roots. The cave was filled with roaches/bats/crabs and cool rocks and crystals. WAY FUN. Great P-Day.

The mission is great. It's The Lord's work. I'm so happy to be a part of it.

Elder Ritchie