Listening with Love

Hellooooooo!!!!

Thanks so much for the Halloween package! We loved it, especially the gold stars for our demerit chart! haha.

We had a pretty good week this week, unfortunately we weren't able to accomplish as much work as we would have liked to because we were so busy! We had Zone Conference today with the two zones from the Athens Stake. It was of course super good and super spiritual and super educational. The focus was on the Holy Ghost--how we can feel the Holy Ghost and how we can help investigators feel the Holy Ghost and how we can be led by the Spirt in our work. The Holy Ghost is the ultimate teacher; no conversion can come without him. We are told to always have God's spirit to be with us, so it was good to learn about all those important things. Elder Whitehead and I want to work harder at being led by the Spirit and I know that we will see improvement as we do all that we can and try our hardest to be worthy.

We got some new missionaries this transfer and one of them was a kid I had classes with at Payson High! His name is Sam Jackson. I was so happy to hear that he came out on a mission, especially to GANM! That now makes 5 kids from Payson High in the mission and 4 of them are in my zone! Elder Waters got transferred to Hartwell, so now we are in the same district--that's gonna be a party for sure! It's so funny to see what a small world it is. I was talking to another missionary at Zone Conference and it turns out he was friends with like 6 of the kids I knew at BYU that are my friends too.

We went to visit an investigator in an apartment complex last week who wasn't home. When we walked back out to the parking lot, these kids were riding their bikes around and one of them told me I looked like James Bond! haha Maybe it was because I was wearing a huge jacket because it was cold out-- haha idk.

We went on a team up with a recent convert in our ward who we are good friends with. He is tons of fun and close to our age, so we always hang out with him at church and stuff. He's really nice. Anyway, it was sad hearing about his life before he got baptized. He doesn't come from a good family background and it was just sad to hear about all of the poor decisions that his family members have made. It's sad to see how many people in this world turn to drugs and alcohol to cope with their problems, when really those substances will never solve anything. That's why we need to find those who are stuggling and bring them to the light of Jesus! yeahhhhhhh!

Well here is a Southern Baptist term for you that I love. Backslide(r), (ing), etc. It's what Baptists say when they know they are doing something that is against what their religion teaches. I love it because they always say it in such a sheepish manner; it's just so funny. Last week we were talking to this old guy who was given a copy of the Book of Mormon years ago. We asked him if he ever read it and he said, "No, I never read it. I'm kind of a backslider; I haven't been to church in 40 years." (to be read in a deep southern accent slowly :) ) I love the south and the terms/things that they say-- so funny so funny.

In Preach My Gospel there are a few pages that talk about the importance of listening to investigators with love, that we might be able to understand how to best help each person. This week we taught a lesson to the lady in our ward who we helped through her reactivation/repentance process. After listening to a conference talk, we asked her some questions and then just listened to her. By allowing silence for her to think and whatnot she shared with us another problem that she is going through. We talked about some solutions with her and it really cheered her up. It was a good experience. We find that there are a lot of people who do want religion in their lives but they just feel too guilty about the addictions that they have or stuff like that. By listening with love we are able to sometimes help them realize possible solutions. That was just a cool experience from last week I wanted to share. :)

We had dinner at a part-member family's house on Saturday evening. They invited us over to eat and teach a lesson on the 10 commandments. They were so nice--they went to the store and probably spent 200 dollars for the 8 of us to eat. They said they wanted to give us a good meal while we are out on our missions. People are so kind to us missionaries. We appreciate it so much. It really just touched my heart to see how they wanted to take care of us, and the thing is pretty much all of the members out here feel the same way. I am very blessed to be serving in a ward full of such great people.

Well I love you so much and I hope that things are going well. Thanks for all of the cards and letters. Remember that the Lord loves you and wants to bless everyone if we will just come unto Him.

Elder Caplin

ONE LOVE!!!