Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone!

I woke up this morning and it was snowing again! It is still snowing
and we are supposed to get more snow this weekend. Who knew I would
get a white Christmas out in the dessert of New Mexico. And a couple
nights ago we got transfer news for the last transfer that I am in the
mission field. Any guesses for what happened to me and Elder
Davenport? Drum roll please... Yep, we are both staying! I am so
excited to spend my last six weeks in such an incredible ward with so
many people that I have absolutely fallen in love with over the past
three months.

The Lord used me in an unexpected but awesome way this past week. A
trait I am blessed with, which I have further discovered on my
mission, is the ability to be bold when needed. It is a trait I am
known for throughout the mission. Last week I went on an exchange with
my zone leaders in Panorama Heights, the area I last served in, and we
had lunch with a great man who is on the path to re-activity. He made
some of the best enchiladas I have ever had! During our conversation
he mentioned a desire he had to get a tattoo on his side that said
"Thank You God", but he had not fully made the decision yet.

Immediately I told him not to do it. He looked strait into my eyes and
asked me why he shouldn't since he wanted to show the Lord how
thankful he was. I told him that if he really loved the Lord he would
show it by following his commandments, and that if he got the tattoo
it would serve as a lifetime reminder of his disobedience to God every
time he saw it. A big smile came across his face and he said the
decision with now made and he was not going to get the tattoo. He
praised God vocally and said that he has been struggling with this
decision for a long time now and had asked many people, including
several missionaries, but had not received a clear answer other then
"pray about it". Him and I are now really good friends and we both
know he was one of the reasons I was needed in that area on that
particular day. It is so amazing how perfectly the Lord works for His
children!

Quick subject change...

A while ago Elder Davenport and I felt we needed to read through the
Book of Mormon and mark every single reference to Christ we could
find. We started the day after Thanksgiving with the goal to finish by
Christmas day and we are now in 3rd Nephi and have found over 6000
references to our Savior! I have noticed that while we have been doing
this the scriptures have been filtering through my mind all day and I
have been looking at so many things differently, including something
as simple as tracting. Last night we had 30 minutes until dinner so we
decided to knock doors around our dinner appointment. While knocking
all I could think of was Nephi and other prophets preaching to their
people and how many rejected them. Their rejection of the prophets
led to their entire destruction at the death of Christ and they were
not able to be part of the multitude who felt the prints in His hands
when He visited the Americas, nor will they be able to return to His
presence after this life.

The first door we knocked on a guy came out waving his hands saying he
does not agree with our beliefs and is not interested in our message.
I asked him what beliefs he does not agree with and he admitted he
knew very little of our beliefs and asked what they were. As I began
teaching he saw that our beliefs were not far from his own so he cut
us off and told us that he was happy with his church, Calvary. What I
taught him does not match the doctrine of his church by the way. I
bore testimony to him and told him that I was aware that within his
church they hold many anti classes directly against us and promised
him that what they taught was false and invited him to learn more. He
said no and left us on his door step.

Door after door we were rejected and each time I bore strong testimony
and did everything I could to help them see what they were missing by
turning us away, but still they would not listen to us. We got one
return appointment, which is no less successful then tracting usually
is, but this time I left each door step with tears in my eyes as I
thought of the gift they were turning away.

They said they were Christians already, were happy with their church,
were to busy, or even that the Broncos were playing and the game was
more important. Were the Sadducees not happy with their religion? Even
the apostate Zoramites thought they were a religious and highly
favored people of the Lord before they were destroyed for priest
craft. Imagine what would have happened if Peter, Christ's head
Apostle, had said he was to busy with his work to follow Christ or
listen to His message. I'm willing to bet almost every home we knock
on would say that if they had lived at the time of Moses, Noah, or
Christ they would have followed and not stoned the prophets. Yet in a
time when the gospel of Christ is more readily available then ever
before they choose football over it. I want so badly to lead them to
the tree of life where they can freely partake of greater joy then
they could ever imagine, but many of them will not even let us into
their homes and instead chase of off their door steps. I now know a
little more how Alma or Nephi must have felt, and I have tasted a very
small portion of the pain Christ must feel for His wayward children.

Give someone the best Christmas gift they could ever receive and open
your mouth to tell someone you love that the Church of Christ is again
upon the earth!

Love,
Elder Inman

Merry Christmas

Ho Ho Hola,

I have to make this a very short email. This morning we ended up going
to a play that our investigators son is in, went out to IHOP with
them, and then had to go pick up some other missionaries that do not
have a car. Now we are super behind schedule and having to cut our
emails short. Sorry!!

We had an incredible experience this week that I wanted to share
before we had to leave emails. On Tuesday we went out to work after
our studies and lunch. We had scheduled to go try by several people
and then knock doors for a little while since we did not have any set
appointments. As we were driving to our first person my companion and
I both noticed that something felt different. By the time we arrived
to his house we both knew that the Lord wanted us doing something
different then what we had planned so we turned around and drove home.
When we got home we pulled out the area book, which contains names and
information on everyone the missionaries have worked with since the
area opened, and began looking through the names very prayerfully. We
spent hours doing this.

Then I opened to a family that was taught almost three years ago and
instantly my eyes filled with tears and I knew we had to visit them. I
knew completely that they would still live there(which is rare with
records that old), that we would be able to contact them(also rare),
that they would listen to us, and that I was looking at a name
prepared by the Lord. Before dinner that night we went by their house
and no one was home so I left a note on the door saying "The Lord has
told us that we need to visit you and we will be back tomorrow".
Normally I am not quite that bold, but I was so confident in the
impression I received that I thought they should know.

We stopped by the next day and he was outside by his car in his
garage. I yelled his name, knowing it was him, and we started talking.
If anyone ever thinks God is not watching over them think again! Our
timing with stopping by was so perfect that it actually ended up
taking a good amount of time just to convince him that his mom did not
send us over, who we found out is also a member but not currently
active. The day we stopped by his wife, the only person employed in
the family, lost her job and they were very worried. Amazing isn't
it?! The exact day we stop by is the day they found out that they had
no income going into Christmas. Right away I set them up with the ward
employment specialist, took them to the library and built her a great
looking resume, and suggested places to apply with me as a reference
considering I am friends with the owners. When I shared how we found
them they were both in awe and I was powerfully able to tell them that
we were sent by God because he loves them, and that their lives will
be changed by the message that we are going to share with them.

Ahhhh, I love being a missionary so much!

Love,
Elder Inman

Let it snow...

1st- Our morning workout today consisted of blowing and shoveling snow for the man we live with :-) 2nd- David and I right before the baptism 3rd- Us after the baptism 4th- My district 5th- My district again :-)

Hola, This was an amazing week for us. On Saturday we were able to attend the baptism of one of my close friends David R. I met him a couple months ago when I first came to this area because he was friends with the family we lived with and would come over periodically. Right away my hope was that he would get baptized but I was not sure how open he was to meeting with us to take the lessons. He talked about how he liked to play ping pong and mentioned how he was pretty good at it, so I challenged him to a couple games. Before my mission I was absolutely embarrassing at the ping pong table but after having served in the singles ward in Las Cruces where we had one in the institute, and having one in the basement where we lived, I got pretty good. I won :-) After playing we had some time to talk before I needed to head upstairs and get ready for bed, and we ended up becoming pretty good friends. Not long after this he decided to attend church and that week we taught him the first lesson and asked him to be baptized. He accepted the invitation without hesitation. As we wrapped up the lesson I asked him to say the prayer and suggested that in the prayer he ask if what we taught him was true. He said he would pray but he did not need to ask if what we taught was true because he already knew it. As his date approached we decided it would be better for him to be baptized into the singles ward so we transferred over to that set of elders to finish the lessons. The week of the baptism he called me and asked if I would baptize him. I told him that I could, but asked him to pray and see if there was anyone else the Lord would prefer, which he did. Saturday evening I walked into the water with him and was able to be a part of one of my new and great friends entering into the church. The rest of the week was great and full of miracles too, but I don't have time to write about the rest of those... I wanted to thank the Horowitz family for the letters they sent me and let them know how much they uplifted and strengthened me. My weekly letter from grandma Angel was another great uplift as well. I can feel the affect of the many prayers from home and others and am so thankful for that added support and strength! I love you guys! Elder Inman