Anything Can Happen

Hey everyone!

How have you all been this week?  I am glad to hear that mom is getting the issues with the surgery worked out, and that dad is ok after the accident.  I have been praying for you guys a lot this week!

This last week was consejos, so we were pretty busy getting everything ready on Tuesday.  We had to get all the mail organized and things like that ready to go, and on Wednesday, we were able to listen to President Carmack talk about the importance of "Preach My Gospel". It was a great spiritual meeting.  He talked a lot about the importance of doing companionship study, and using “Preach My Gospel” and the Book of Mormon to find answers to our investigators' questions and doubts.  After the meeting, we ate Papa Johns and took tons of pictures.  Most of the Elders and Sisters that came to Panama with me were there, so it was fun to talk with them all and see how they are doing!

There is a gringo from Salt Lake living here, named R.  He is not a member, but grew up in Sandy, so he knows quite a bit about the church. The mission nurses, the M's, from St. George introduced him to us a couple weeks ago, and in Saturday, we invited him to a park by the coast to play some pick up basketball with some locals. We are really trying to open the door a little more before we start really teaching him the gospel, but we share a small message with him whenever we see him, a short scripture or a hymn, and he enjoys it, but just is not too interested in coming to church yet.  We will keep getting to know him and see what happens. 

We were able to meet with C's boss D this week.  C gave us his reference and we took him to the temple a couple weeks ago.  We met him in his office and taught him about the restoration.  We thought it was a bit of a shaky lesson, but at the end he said, "Well, it is hard for someone to accept the message of Joseph Smith right off the bat, but anything can happen!"  He definitely is curious to learn more and is reading the pamphlet and praying.  He says he wants a little bit of time before he comes to church, but I know that he will come around soon.  C is still a tough one.  He came out and told us of some more doubts he has, so we are studying hard to help him.  He has a hard time accepting the Bible, but says he believes the Book of Mormon, and we are working to help him find scriptures that will help him progress toward baptism.  He is a really intelligent man and I know that he will eventually realize that this is the only true church on the earth.  I want to help him so much it is not even funny!

It is good to hear that BYU started off the season running!  Beating Texas by that much is pretty crazy!  And the Titans too!  Let’s hope they can have a better season this year.  Speaking of sports, tell Lionel to write me so we can make some sushi and Mountain Dew bets! haha!  Well family, it is about time to hop off, it is mission wide cleaning day so we gotta get going to clean the house!

Love,

Elder Austin Michael Kipp