A baptism, a warzone and some old friends.

My City

Hi,                                                               July 6, 2016

     I would like to start off my letter by letting everyone know that the ghetto of Cleveland is the place to be on the 4th of July. If you have ever wondered what it might be like to be on the front lines in an old civil war battle, then just make your way to Cleveland and you wont be disappointed. There were large firework shows on every corner and there were people sitting in their front yards shooting their guns in the air. When we were riding our bikes home we couldn’t see more than 50 yards in front of us, due to all of the smoke. The fireworks didn’t stop until 4 in the morning, the whole night it felt like our house was shaking because of all of the noise. It was definitely something that I wont forget. Also, the Lakewood ward is pretty great, they had a bunch of things going on all day and the 4th fell on preparation day so we got to do stuff with the members for most of the day.

     On Saturday Mercedes was baptized! Luke ( a young man who came home early from his mission) has been coming out with us a lot to get ready to go back out on his mission and he has helped a lot with the Stubblefield family and Mercedes wanted him to baptize her. It was a really good experience for both of them. Another miracle from Mercedes being a baptized a week later than originally planned is that her cousin is staying with them now and she was able to watch as Mercedes got ready for her baptism and was baptized. So we taught her the restoration and gave her a Book of Mormon and the next day we came back and she had already read a couple chapters and said she was ready to be baptized. She asked her mom for permission and she said yes so she came to church on Sunday and has a baptismal date for a couple weeks from now. Oh and this week luckily the font was filled up on time so no garbage cans were used to fill up the font. 

     On Sunday Doug and Jessica (investigators from my last area) came to The Lakewood ward to visit me. It was so awesome to see them again and to see that they are still just as strong in the gospel as before, Jessica also said that She quit smoking 6 days or so prior and feels like she has finally kicked the habit! They met with President Brown and will hopefully be getting baptized in the next month or two. Missions are awesome. I am grateful for all the friendships that I have made while I have been here. 

     One other miracle, Charisse’s husband is an alcoholic and hasn’t been living with them because she wont allow it. But he has visited a few times while we are there and has been nice and sort of listens but he visited the week after Charisse was baptized and said that she seemed happier or something was different and he wanted it because he hates where his life is going right now. So he asked her to give us his number to come over and teach and help him. Charisse has been praying for her husband to soften up and see the light and the answer finally came. We are going to start meeting with him this week. God really does know each of us and our situations personally and is constantly helping. 

    Well I have loved serving here in Cleveland and there are so many weird things that I see everyday but have now just become a normal part of everyday life... I dont think my life will ever be the same after living here. 

The church is true and the book is blue,

Don’t forget to read your scriptures.

Romans 8:28

Until next week,

Elder Frandsen