Week 35

What a crazy week! We had an awesome new investigator last sunday at church... we set up an appointment with her for Tuesday. Tuesday morning she called and said she didn't want to talk to us, and she was not going to come back to church. It was sad. But don't worry, things got worse. But before things got worse, they got much better. We had an awesome training meeting for the mission, regarding the challenge to read the Book of Mormon in 60 days, the 60 days was up, so we all went and had an opportunity to report on our key learnings and bear our testimony. I'll share with you what I shared with the mission. Early on in my reading, I was in 2nd Nephi 27, and I was tired. I was resting my head on my hand, as I read verse 4 "For behold, all ye that doeth iniquity, stay yourselves and wonder, for ye shall cry out, and cry; yea, ye shall be drunken but not with wine, ye shall stagger but not with strong drink." And after I read that, I completely fell asleep. I was out. So I wake up and I read verse 5 "For behold, the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep. For behold, ye have closed your eyes and ye have rejected the prophets; and your rulers, and the seers hath he covered because of your iniquity." I woke up real quick, and I stopped REJECTING THE PROPHETS by closing my eyes, and sleeping during personal study. President Beck came and put his arm around me, and said "Elder Martin, I love you for your Honesty... I hope you learned a lesson." Everyone found it fairly amusing. President Beck gave an incredible sermon on faith, and committed us all to have more faith, and to work miracles. My faith has since increased. The spirit was very strong for the meeting.

Then we went home. Elder Kavatoe convinced us to go to this Hawaiian BBQ, so we did. I felt kinda sick after eating there, but was able to still do missionary work the rest of the night without any problems. As soon as we got home, my stomach was quite upset, so I went to bed early. I slept terribly! I couldn't sleep for more than 10 minutes at a time, and finally I woke up at 1 AM with my stomach in a great deal of pain... I got out of bed, worrying that I might throw up, I went to the bathroom, still not sure if I would throw up, as soon as I saw the toilet, I had to run to it... I was up the rest of the night. I thought it must have been that they had gotten some fish mixed in with my meat, or used the same utensils to cook them, but then Elder Jones was up throwing up as well! The verdict: We both got food poisoning. The next day was miserable, I thankfully didn't throw up again, but also I didn't eat again... I will probably not eat certain things for a few years. It was the first night I had ever stayed in from missionary work, and I dont' want to do it again. Throughout the whole thing though, I was very grateful to be having a trial to go through. I haven't had almost any trials my whole mission, so I rejoiced in being able to get so sick! Weird maybe, but still I was so glad for my afflictions, like paul I rejoiced in afflictions. The reason is cause I know it will bring me closer to God. Physical trials are easy for me. I'm not a fan of other trials though. We had to cancel a few really important appointments, that was not good.

Friday we met with a new investigator Matt. He wants proof. We gave him a few things to check out, it was a fun discussion, because the things we talked about are things I've studied quite a bit. He always says "I really hope that you can convince me to be a mormon, I really want it to be true!" No problem big guy! IT IS True! lucky for us. I think he will be a great benefit to the Kingdom of God.

Well that's all for this week my friends,

Ofa Atu,

Elder Martin