ELDER AND SISTER ELKINGTON

13 September 2015

We have been calling on less-active members in the Heritage Park Branch.  We have gone to many doors where no one answers – either they are not home or do not wish to speak with us. But several have invited us in and we know why we are there.  We feel God’s love for His Native American children.  There have been a couple of families where we have seen Our Father in Heaven has prepared the family for our coming.  One sister said representatives of several different churches have called on her to recruit her to their church.  She said she could not understand why there were so many different churches when there was only one Jesus.  We pointed out to her that she faced the same dilemma that Joseph Smith did.  We gave them a lesson on the restoration and challenged them to read the Book of Mormon and attend Church meetings.  They said they would.  Her husband recently completed the LDS Family Services 12-Step Program.  We asked if he would rather have us teach from the 12-Step Program or teach the Gospel.  To our delight, he asked that we teach the Gospel.  They asked that we return next Sunday to teach them.

Another family has a young girl turning nine in October who has not been baptized.  We asked if she would like to be taught the Gospel so she could be baptized.  Her mother said that decision was the girl’s to make.  The young girl was anxiously nodding her head up and down.  We told her to discuss it with her mother and we would return for her answer.  She is already saying her prayers and encouraging her family to pray.  We expect to get her setup with the Elders to be taught.

Many of the children are being raised by their grandmothers because the parents are not part of their lives. Some of these grandmothers are not of good health and do not have much strength, but they willingly give what they have to their grandchildren.  There are so many who give so much!

Friday we attended a three hour zone meeting.  The training was geared to the young missionaries.  But we learned much that will help us in our work. 

We had a great Area Stake conference today.  It was televised to all the stakes in the Utah South Area.  There were several exceptional speakers.  But I especially liked Elder Ballard. He asked that we respect others in or out of our faith.  He asked leaders to respect those within the Church who ask questions.  He said many members who are faithful members still have questions about Church history or practices.  He asked that we,  (including leaders) not condemn people for asking questions, but to work with them to try to obtain answers to their questions.