Week 16: October 17, 2016

This week, the Lord taught me humility. Like Icarus of old, I flew too close to the sun and have fallen...quite literally. This week marks the first week that I, myself, have fallen off of my bike. My companion fell once and I had a good laugh. Then, going down a hill, I hit a patch of gravel and my bike lost all traction and slipped out from under me. I scraped up my elbows real good. The second time I fell, my companion crashed into me and we both took a tumble. It's a good thing we were wearing our helmets because I hit my head pretty good. BUT! We are safe and sound! All is good in the Antioch neighborhood!

The work has been progressing very well! We have nearly 20 investigators that we are meeting with pretty consistently and they are all progressing fairly well. We have 4 people with set baptismal dates coming up! My companion and I are super excited for everything going on in the area right now! We get along very well and continue to learn from one another. Elder Cobabe is not afraid to talk to everyone that we meet and he's very eager to do the work. We have so many people to teach and talk to and it seems that we don't have enough hours in a day or days in a week. We are very blessed with an awesome ward that is really getting excited about doing missionary work.

Pray for Elder Kaitoku, that he may ride a bike safely and no longer tease his companions about falling, that he may learn humility. God's got a sense of humor. One story that our zone leaders shared with us was of a companionship that prayed for a certain amount of baptisms that month. There were exactly that number of baptisms...in another church. So they prayed for 2 baptisms the next month in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They got 2 baptisms...that moved to a different area 3 days before their baptism. Finally, they decided to pray for 2 baptisms, in their area, in the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints...and they got it. Lessons #1 to be learned: God has a sense of humor. Lesson #2: pray specifically. Ask specific questions to get specific answers. I know that as we do this, we will be able to better recognize the Lord's hand in our lives. I know He lives and I know He loves us. I love each and every one of you and thank you for your emails, prayers, and support! Until next week!

-Elder Kaitoku