Week 88

Otra semana loca en Frogtown🐸

Hola todos😁 Had a super eventful week!

We got to teach Evelyn, the lady from Puerto Rico who showed up at church last week. We met her husband and daughter, and they live in a small basement room of this Hispanic house. They are so humble! Which is super great because they are receptive to the gospel of Christ. We found out Evelyn can’t read, so we are going over there to help read the Book of Mormon with them. When we went back the husband had underlined parts of the introduction and asked us questions about it. Super excited for them!

Went on exchanges with the Hmong elders. They were zoo heve (very good)! We set a goal to give away 6 copies of the Book of Mormon, and we hit the streets hard and passed out 7! It was sweet! Learning some more Hmong phrases, so next transfer I’m going to ask President to go into Hmong work haha😂

On Saturday we had an opportunity to go with Manuel, a recent convert in our ward, to the temple for his first time! It’s always so refreshing to feel the sweet peace that’s in the Lords house. 

Sunday was an eventful day to say the least!

First thing, we are so happy because Ashley Flores got baptized!! We originally thought we would have to push back the date, but we asked them if they were willing to make the sacrifices necessary to make it happen, and they did! Such an awesome family, and we are so happy to have helped them come back to activity and welcome them into the Spanish Ward. To see the change in them has been such a wonderful experience. Ashley was smiling during the whole thing and just gleaming with joy!

In the temple and during the baptism I had a lot of time to ponder on the covenants that I have made with God to follow Christ. I am so grateful for the promises I made at baptism and especially the opportunity to have the same feeling of being pure and clean every single week while taking the sacrament! I absolutely love the sacrament now, it has so much more meaning to me since being on a mission!

One more story from this week.

The spirit of the day took a weird turn later that evening. We just got done with a lesson in this apartment complex and we were walking back to our car and these kids run up to us and yell, hey! Are you here for Yoshi?! (This 13 year old kid who’s family is in our ward). They told us he needed help and he’s not moving on the couch. Long story short, it seemed as though he had some evil spirit inside of him that was possessing him, it was super freaky! My first time encountering something like that and it was crazy. But the weirdest part was before we could do anything he headed for the door and started running through this field and eventually across a busy street! We chased after him and made sure nothing happened to him. Eventually he made his way back to the apartment and his parents were there and they were able to get him to stay in his room. We then gave a blessing on the house to bring peace and cast out any evil spirits through the power of the priesthood, and after that there was a spirit of calmness in the house. Yoshi was pretty shaken up but he was alright. Man, I am so glad that we have the power of God restored to the earth today! Crazy experience😂

Well I don’t want to end on an unsettling note haha. So, I want to end by bearing my testimony. I know this work is truly the Lords work. I am filled with joy everyday as I serve the people here. I know Christ lives and loves us, and truly is our Rock and Redeemer. I hope all of you will find someone to serve this week as the Savior did. 

Love you all! Cuídense

-Elder Bolinder

Ashley Flores Baptism

The Flores Family

Dinner With Brother and Sister Vega

Frogtown (part of our area)