Don Sherwood Family Blog: Transfer 2, Week 5: Almost a Baptism

Hey Everyone,
How is life? Is it anywhere as exciting as here in Montana? Or is a missionary's weekly email a highlight for everyone, not just Mom? Well this week had quite an early twist to it.
So, first off, here in Montana if you didn't know, we are a electronic device mission. So we have the privilege of using our devices to further the work, which is really helpful. Very early in the week, the program that allows the church missionary department to monitor our devices, and help us only use them for missionary purposes, had a huge bug creep into it. It caused the program to basically go on a failsafe, removing our access to basically every app we were allowed to use until they fixed it, including our planning/areabook app. It ended up being the whole day, until about 9:30 at night. It was a good thing it was preparation day, and we knew what the whole day was going to consist of.
We got haircuts on Monday around 7:30pm. That is always great. It feels good to get trimmed again.
We sadly had to cancel the planned baptism for John this week. When we were helping him finish the lawnmower, we silently noticed a pack of cigarettes in his pocket. It occurred to us that John is once again smoking. We thought he had been doing really well up until this point. When we got back to the apartment to grab a quick bite to eat, and change into our proselyting clothes, we both had the feeling that we should delay the baptism for him. At that time we attributed the reason to he was still smoking. We had a good lesson with John that day, where we told him how we feel, and asked for his opinion, and he agreed that it should be delayed.
Later we called the zone leaders to let them know what is happening, and they gave us really good counsel that made me think, and really changed my perspective on baptism. Elder Madsen, who was on the phone talked about how one of the purposes of the Holy Ghost is to help us through our challenges. So, if a person who was struggling with this sort of thing, but is honestly doing their best to overcome it, they could become a member, and have the Holy Ghost's help to finish overcoming their problem. Of course we would still need approval each time on these types of situations, but it made me think about this whole experience for the rest of the day. I literally could not concentrate on anything else, even though we still went throughout the day, my mind was always coming back to it. I sat down, and studied about baptism, and the requirements to be baptised while Elder Manning was going to the bathroom. I was so confused why I felt good about going forth with the baptism on Sunday, but then it changed on Tuesday, and after the phone call with the zone leaders I was totally unsure on if I did the right thing.
Anyway my mind was drawn to the Book of Mormon, and how it has changed lives in so many ways. I read preach my gospel chapter 5, and several talks/videos on the subject. Then I remembered earlier parts of the equation. 1. John hasn't been consistently reading the Book of Mormon anymore, and 2. Bishop Giles had given us an insert from "Teaching of the Prophets: Gordon B. Hinckley" chapter 16 to give to John. It was a story of how a secretary overcame smoking by reading the Book of Mormon.
Finally, with all of these pieces put together, I understood what I believe was the bigger problem. We had been pushing the word of wisdom since I had arrived, with little success it seemed. But John was no longer reading the Book of Mormon, which is huge. So we have decided to focus on the Book of Mormon for a couple weeks. I do believe that miracles have happened as a result of the Book of Mormon. I have seen it in my life. And I know it can happen to anyone.
I don't think I would have come to this conclusion without the help of Elder Madsen. So, a big shout out to him for helping me recieve the revelation I needed to understand what John needs.
We ran the chutes again for Ross Contway this week. I love doing it. It is always a fun and exciting thing to do.
The rest of the week was pretty normal except Wednesday and Saturday. On Wednesday, everything but our lesson with Jerry fell through, and we spent the day basically planning as we went, because we had no plans at all.
Saturday was fantastic. We had a really full day. First off, we went to the Contways, and helped shoe a horse. Elder Manning knows how to do it, so it was kind of fun to watch and be that close to a horse. We had a lunch with the Phinney's before going to a lesson with Jerry. We read about Nephi getting the plates. Jerry loved it, and was planning on coming to church. Then for dinner, we went to a end of summer barbeque/party. We got to ride down a zip line.
Lastly we had interviews with President Larsen. It was great. They were supposed to start at 8pm. But we didn't get in with him untill around 9:30pm. Yeah, we didn't finish untill 10:30pm, so we stayed the night at the zone leaders apartment.
Jerry came to church this Sunday. We were so excited. That's 1 of at least 3 required times to be baptised. He said he really enjoyed it too, so hopefully he will come again after his 2 week trip to North Dakota.
Well, that's pretty much it on how the week went. I would share a spiritual thought, but we have kind if a busy day planned, it being Elder Madsen's last preparation day. And I already kind of shared one earlier. Anyway. I love and miss you all. I cant wait to hear from you next week. Have fun at school.

Love,
Elder Sherwood

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