Lunch with a Catholic Priest

A picture of Lafe with his new companion, Elder Watkins.

Well another week has gone by here in Painesville Ohio and some how I am still here and have not gone crazy yet, like others that live here. I love this little city and all of the strange weird things and crazy/awesome people that live here. I am going to always remember and love this area.

Last Monday: I would like to start out by saying I am going to be a professional Bowler when I get back instead of going to college... I bowled a solid 70... well on my way to becoming a pro. Also, Elder Watkins continues to blow my mind with his knowledge of the scriptures. I have seriously learned more in the past 2 weeks from him about the scriptures and them relating to the gospel then all of my time in Seminary. (Seminary teaches a good foundation and I highly recommend it.) So it has been really fun to be his companion.

Tuesday: We found Rosetta stone at our library for free so we have been doing that for our language study and it has been such a great tool in helping my Spanish grow. It is hard being called to speak a language that I am not constantly immersed in or hearing all the time. But, it has grown my testimony of the power of the Holy Ghost. I had a hard time in high school remembering any words I learned in Spanish class but somehow now I am able to pick up and retain my vocabulary without using it all day every day. It has been a really cool experience.

Wednesday: Doug and Jessica are the greatest. They have progressed so much in the gospel in such a short time. The lessons that we are having with them now are really cool because they have a solid foundation and ask such great questions. They haven't missed church in the past 15 weeks! Jessica also has a job now and is getting back on her feet. Slowly but surely they will one day get baptized.

Thursday: Met with all Spanish less actives at once in the same house (they are brothers) because they happened to be visiting each other at the same time we had set up to meet with one of them. So we were able to teach all of them together. It was a pretty cool experience and we moved Raquels baptism to the beginning of March. Spanish people are very kind patient and accepting. I love being able to work with them.

Friday: Went over the baptismal interview with Tim and he passed with flying colors! He is getting baptized in two weeks and I am super excited for him and I have loved working with him and seeing the change that he has had and how much he has grown spiritually and in his testimony of Jesus Christ.

Once again I was picked to come up and talk at the Spanish AA meeting haha.

Saturday: I have met so many people in this town the last 6 months.  Now when I am walking down any of the streets I always see someone I have talked to and they wave or they will come over and talk to us again. It as been fun to become a part of the community here. I was picked again to speak in the Spanish AA meeting haha. We have made lots of friends and been able to teach a lot of the people that attend these meetings. It has been such a good tool in both learning Spanish and finding people to teach.

Sunday: Okay funny/cool little story,

We went to the last part of a Spanish catholic mass and afterwards the Priest came up to us and we got to talking about each others beliefs and It was a really good conversation and he was a super nice guy. But at the end he said " We should go to lunch this next week... We can either vent to each other about being ministers and missionaries and the work we do or you can tell me more about The Book of Mormon." So we accepted his offer and got his number and are probably going to go to lunch with him sometime this next week or so. I never thought that I would be invited to go to lunch with a Catholic Father but who knows, Catholics makes great Mormons too.

Well That is all for this week. I wish I could tell all of you everything that happened and all the cool little miracles that I see as a missionary each day.  I love serving in the area where so many cool/big things happened in the early history of the church. We are so blessed to have the knowledge of the restored gospel and all that comes with it. We are blessed to have a Prophet and Apostles that speak to us today. We are so blessed to have a loving older brother, Jesus Christ that atoned for us and for everything that accompanies that. We are so blessed to have a loving Heavenly Father who knows and loves each one of us. The Book is blue and the Church is true. I love you all.

Con Amor

Elder Frandsen