It's been a great week. We have had a lot of success and teaching; we are both happy and satisfied with the way things are going! Although it is the end of Elder Smith's mission, he is working very well and using all the knowledge that he has gained on his mission to help our investigators.
We have been teaching a couple name Scott and Hillary. Scott is the mayor's son and Hillary is his fiancé. They were married this week and it was an amazing wedding. Elder Smith cried at the ceremony. Hillary will be getting baptized this weekend. She is very sweet and she is very prepared. I will give you some pictures of the wedding.
I also had a very cool experience last night. We have been trying to meet with this guy named Josh Blackburn. We talked to him a while ago and he seemed very disinterested and very noncommittal. We helped him move into his new house which is close to where we are staying. We broke down a lot of barriers when we moved him and we just spent a while talking to them. We came by last night and talked for a little bit in the beginning. We then shared the restoration. I was very hesitant to share it at first because Josh is a very rough character. He drinks and smokes and has a very rough appearance. He swears multiple times each sentence and is honestly kind of a scary person. We went ahead and taught it anyway. He turned out to receive things really well. He believed everything that we said; his heart was broken and his spirit was contrite. Halfway through the lesson, he started to cry. He said that he felt a remorse for all the things that he's done wrong. He said he has done many horrible things wrong. We told him that he can be cleansed through baptism. He committed to be baptized October 3. The spirit was very strong and there were many hearts touched. It was a testament to me that you never really know if someone's heart is open or if it is closed. If it will be touched by the things that you will say or if it won't. You obviously try to make the environment the best but in the end, it's up to the spirit to do it's job! I love God and I am very excited to participate in his work. It has brought me great joy and I've had spiritual experiences that I will treasure forever. I know God is real and Jesus Christ lives. His atonement is all encompassing and he has power not only to forgive sin but to heal, to strengthen, and to lift! How wonderful is the gospel of Jesus Christ!
Elder Bass
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