"You're just too happy."

This was a quick week with P-day being last Tuesday, but it was a really good week, with a lot of really cool things happening!  On Thursday, Elder Johnson and I had the chance to train in the two district meetings on using short, simple statements of truth and did a pretty good role play with it.  After district meeting we went on exchanges and I went back to the good ol' Woody Hills!  I was with Elder Ybarguen, and we had a really good exchange.  Got the chance to talk to a lot of really cool people.  Especially one guy that says he's referred to as "Nasty Jack; Hillbilly Deluxe, or Whitetrash".  He was a pretty funny guy.

We also did some contacting in the park and found some guys named AJ and Ryan, and we challenged them to a game of basketball.  You know how that goes; if we win, we teach.  Surely we won.  By a large margin, but they were good sports and let us teach the whole Restoration.  One listened because he had to, the other took it seriously, and we're going to be following up with him this week, which was really cool.  Prepared people are everywhere!

On Friday, not too much happened up until evening.  Elder Johnson and I were together and were doing the Book of Mormon Experiment at Food truck Friday on a street here in the valley.  We had a ton of people do the experiment.  What was so cool?  We had two different people ask us, before mentioning the experiment, if we were Mormon's because they could "just tell".  Another guy mentioned that we were too happy.  I guess that's good being accused of that?  Also, side note, met Sean Smith's brother there. (NFL player who played at the U.)

Elder Johnson and Elder Martin after the Book of Mormon Experiment

We did everything we could this week as well to get all of our investigators to church.  We exhausted all efforts doing so, and had a couple people committed to come...well, that changes pretty quick.  Suddenly, we found ourselves in Sacrament with no one coming.  We had done everything we could and prayed a lot as well, that everything would work out for them to come, but nothing.  At the end of Sacrament, however, the in law, of someone in our ward approached us and said, "Elders, I'm ready to join the church."  We were shocked!  We literally didn't know what to say.  This mother in law, of someone in our ward has been coming for years but never took the lessons or anything, but now has the desire to be baptized.  It came because she has watched conference the last couple times, and took President Monson's counsel to read and ponder it every day.  She now loves the Book of Mormon.  Did I mention, she's been paying tithing since November?  What's cool is later on Sunday evening, the member of our ward calls us and talks to us about her and says to us, "Elders, you may feel this is coming out of nowhere, or you don't deserve it, but you've been working hard.  You must be doing something right.  The Lord is blessing you.  You are the Elders to do this."  It was really cool to hear that.

I know the Lord is in the details of our lives and is constantly blessing us.  Remember, the Lord's plan is always better than your own.  I learned that again this week.  I love you all.  The Lord loves you all.  Have a blessed week!

Elder Martin

Dinner with Kyle from the YSA ward

"One of life's great lessons is to learn that happiness come through obedience." 

 President Russell M. Nelson