August 18, 2026

This last week we enjoyed so many cool miracles and even that of a solar eclipse last Wednesday! We decided to do a last minute activity and we watched the eclipse with some friends. I'm sorry for no photos, but the best part may have been the drop in temperature. This last week actually we enjoyed some thunderstorms which also helped with the heat 

This last Friday night we contacted a new reference named Pablo. After multiple attempts to contact him during the week finally on Friday we were able to talk with him. The conversation was fantastic in every sense of the word. He is a quite educated man who has now been through his fair share of trials. He said, if it were just for the news, he would have never talked with us, but that he had been so impressed by his coworker who was a member of the church, that he had to figure what made him different. We taught him the most fundamental principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and when we taught about baptism, he said he had always dreamed of being baptized since he had seen a baptismal font in another chapel. He was in need of a change and was willing to do anything possible to achieve it. We set up another time to meet the next day. The next day he walked an hour and a half to meet us and he joyfully accepted the message of the Restoration. On Sunday he arrived an hour early having read the Book of Mormon to Mosiah, asking wonderful and intelligent questions about the witnesses and a clearly missing part of the book we had not provided to him (RIP the words of Lehi) This last Sunday, by chance, our Mission President came to church and did an hour interview with him offering him a blessing and other counsel. If all goes well, he will be baptized this upcoming Sunday! It is incredible how the Lord prepares people to accept His Gospel, but I would like to point out a few things that we, as members of the Church may do. 

Paul writes:

"Be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity" 

Our friends, coworkers, strangers even, notice our behavior and what we preach. We handle trials, difficulties, even successes differently. We celebrate when others may not and do not mourn when others might. We do not know the timing of their conversion nor should that be our responsibility, but let's keep living as examples and let God work miracles through us. 

Elder Dougall