The Work Continues...

Dear Sons of Mosiah,
A word of advice for all of you, and then I'll get on to the stories. Always always remember that there is no substitute for member referrals, and that it is important to always share the gospel with our neighbors. The prophets have taught that it is the responsiblity of all members to preach the gospel. The full-time missionaries are set apart to do it all of the time, to teach, and to baptize. However, it is much harder for us to do this without member support, and help. One of the reasons that Elder L. Tom Perry came to my mission, from my understanding, is to get the members to help with a goal that the apostles have. Now, I wasn't there for the meeting he had with the members, so don't quote me on it, but supposedly they have a goal for members to be so involved in finding people for the missionaries to teach that the missionaries never have to tract because the members are keeping us so booked with teaching their nonmember friends. Interesting, huh? Preach My Gospel says that tracting is one of the least effective ways of doing missionary work. It also notes that one of the most effective (if not THE MOST), is having members involved every step of the way (this includes inviting friends into their home to be taught by the missionaries, being the friend, helping them to church, etc.). I guess the apostles want us missionaries to spend less time finding, more time teaching. Great concept, isn't it? Help the missionaries out in your area.
Great news: The Jones Family that I was teaching in Benson got baptized! YES!!! I'm so excited for them. As well, I attended a baptism of a person my companion was teaching before he handed him over to the sisters in the singles ward. My companion was the one that baptized him. He's a great guy named Andy, and I'm so excited for him. Also, that day at the baptism, I met somebody's aunt and cousin...:-p
So, I think you'll find this next story interesting. I love being a missionary because of all the crazy things we get to do. Being involved with the lives of people is so fascinating. Especially when it's the life of a Catholic man named John Riggs.
Crazy Story of the Week: We are trying to get John Riggs to church, and he's an open guy. Still, sometimes you have to bargain with people to get them to do things, and they aren't always willing to investigate openly. So, my companion and I got permission to make him an interesting trade, and it worked. So, he's going to church with us, but in exhange, we had to go to a Catholic Mass with him. Hehehe...
Now, of course my companion and I aren't allowed to miss our own church, but we were allowed to attend an earlier session of Catholic Mass yesterday, and we did. HOLY COW!!! It was kind of like an apostate sacrament meeting, mixed with an apostate temple session. That's the only way to describe it simply. Also, you have to add all of their ritualistic things they do that have absolutely nothing to do with the true gospel. Some of the things are just entirely out there, and some of the things you can tell used to be part of the true gospel, but became corrupted by men. It's very interesting. The world has corrupted a lot of it. It's no wonder that the Lord didn't call somebody to reform a church that already existed, but instead called Joseph Smith to RESTORE Christ's Church. Some of the things the other churches do are so far gone that the gospel HAD TO BE RESTORED.
Now, I don't mean to bash on Catholocism. They are great people, they were very kind, and some of the things they do are fantastic. The real problem is simply that they don't have the whole truth. That is why missionary work is so important. We are called to help people find the truth that they don't even know they are missing, and to fill the void inside of them, that many don't even realize is there until we fill it. The authority is again on the earth, and the Spirit of God is upon the inhabitants of the earth once again.