The language of the Spirit

Hey Family!

Well it was quite the week... Where do I start! I've been really busy as we've been all over the place. Monday was a normal day, but Tuesday was pretty amazing! Brother Heaton who is from the MTC (The principal writer of Preach my gospel) Came to our mission!

Elder Poulsen and I had the opportunity to go out teaching with him. It was amazing. At first we were worried that he was going to be super intense and criticize everything we did, but the first thing he told us was, "I hope you don't think that I'm here to evaluate you. I am here to combine my faith with yours so that God's children will more powerfully feel His love and influence in their lives." Man, he is probably the wisest, most humble person I have ever met. We went to teach Y, and we were teaching her in Spanish (Brother Heaton doesn't speak Spanish), and he seemed to know exactly what was being said the whole time. Y can understand English, so he taught a little bit here and there, and it was so cool because we never had to explain what was being said. He just always knew exactly what to say and exactly when to say it. When I was in the MTC, Brother Heaton gave a talk on the "language of the Spirit," and he is definitely fluent in it. Anyways, really good visit with Y. Later, we went to visit a Chinese guy named M that we had tracted into. We had taught him a few times before, and we weren't really sure how serious he was, but the lesson with him turned into one of the most spiritual experiences of my life. We were teaching the Plan of Salvation, and we were talking about Adam and Eve, and we asked him if he knew about Adam and Eve, and he said, "Yeah, the book says that if they wouldn't have eaten the fruit, they wouldn't have had children, and we wouldn't be here." So we asked, "What book are you talking about?" And he pointed to the Book of Mormon. So we asked how much he had read, and he has read about half of it! And he's obviously comprehending and retaining a ton. But anyways, after the lesson, we invited him to be baptized by someone holding the proper priesthood authority, and he gave us the usual, "I have already been baptized." So we re-taught authority and invited him to pray about it, and then there was silence. It lasted for about 5 minutes. That might sound really awkward, but President Jergensen is obsessed with silences during lessons. He says that it gives the Spirit the opportunity to add His two cents. But anyways, the Spirit in the room kept getting stronger and stronger, and after about 5 minutes, M just started praying in Chinese. Brother Heaton served his mission in Japan, and he learned some Chinese over there as well, and he said that M was saying, "Tell me. Help me. Show me the way. I need to know." And then after the prayer, there was another silence. We waited for about 45 seconds before M said, "Where is your church? I need to go." After we left Brother Heaton told us that an Asian realizing he needs to go to church is like a white person realizing he needs to be baptized. It's a pretty huge step. But anyways, the next day we had a leadership council with all of the Zone leaders and District leaders from the whole mission, and Brother Heaton opened up by telling everybody about our experience. He said, "Who would have guessed that Elder Poulsen, Elder Holman, and I would have had a King Lamoni experience when we went out on exchanges last night? I surely wasn't expecting it. But it happened. It happened right here in your mission." Man, probably in the top ten of my favorite experiences of my entire mission.

Well, I don't have a lot of time left to tell you about the rest of the week, but Arturo came to church again yesterday! A1 was staying with her mom again, unfortunately, but she will come next week. A2 told his wife that he is going to come to church from now on, and that he wants to get married in the temple in a couple of years. What a miracle. This guy is a testimony of change and repentance. He has been to jail on multiple occasions, and his life has totally turned around. It's pretty cool to see.

Oh yeah, just real quick, Y got Sundays off from now on! And her husband is back in the states! Now there will be nothing holding her back from being baptized, as long as her hubby isn't a jerk about it. She has turned into my favorite investigator of my whole mission.

No news on M. Keep praying for her.

Much Love,

~Elder Holman