Oh my favorite people,

     I hope everyone has had a great week as fall begins to set in. Here in Chicago all is well so far. We had MLC this week at the mission home and it was, for me at least, a very powerful experience. I felt surrounded by spiritual giants, people I can look up to and asks for advice, but who are humble to know when to change their behavior for the better. In studying some conference talks before our meeting, the story of Daniel stuck out in my mind. Throughout my life, I have often run into situations where I have called upon the Lord for help, and hoped that my desires were His will. In MLC, when we were discussing patience, I was reminded of a particular talk that spoke about enduring. "Our Lord will deliver us, but if not..." The idea of waiting on the Lord is so essential to our spiritual growth, and I feel like I can ask the Lord for help, knowing that He will will deliver me, but if not, I will continue to endure with faith and hope.

     We also went on exchanges with the APs, which was awesome, and I went with Elders Patrick and Lewis. I love these missionaries, and I loved contacting and teaching with them. We taught a young man named Diego, who attends a Christian University near my very first area, Skokie!. We taught the restoration to him, and he seemed to process everything really well. Something that we tried to do was bear testimony more in the lesson, I thought because as much as he understood, Diego still needed a spiritual witness that what we were saying is true. That is something I really love to do when we teach people about the gospel, is tell them that they need to take it to the Lord. People tend to see us missionaries as traditional preachers, who simply present our "point of view," in the melding pot of religious ideals and philosophy, when we offer so much more. I can preach to you until I'm blue in the face, but without the spirit to testify to us, none of what I said matters. I thoroughly enjoyed inviting Diego to read the Book of Mormon and ask his Father in Heaven if it is true. After the lesson, we contacted for a bit just off of the college campus, where we were able to make some really solid contacts.

     One such contact was a student named Taylor. We stopped and talked to her across the street from the University, where we asked her what she knew about our church, and what her religious background was. She told us of how she wasn't really raised in a religious household, but has found a home as a 'born again Christian.' When asked how she knew about our church, Taylor said that she had seen the play, but that it didn't seem like an actual representation of the church, and said that she would love to learn more about Mormons, and what we believe. We then got her contact info, and the APs will hopefully be teaching her in the next couple weeks. 

     Those were the highlights! We were kept pretty busy running back and forth to the mission office, but it's been a lot of fun, constant work. Love you guys, I hope you have a good week!

Love,

Elder Fa'afewaffles

(I promise, this picture is distorted and is making him look a bit wider and shorter than he actually is!)