FW: Weeks of Miracles!

President Seals instruction this past week has really opened my mind to the things that need to happen in order to do missionary work and help my brothers and sisters learn the true gospel. This important lesson was taught to me through Alma 12:9, it explains the process of learning the mysteries of God. What it might mean by "mysteries of God" could be anything that you don't know, like for people that we teach it might be that they don't know that there is a prophet that has been called of God to lead and guide us, or they don't know the plan that can bring them salvation. But in the last sentence it tells us how we can find anything out, knowledge of the mysteries of God is given to us "according to the heed and dilegence which "we" give unto Him." So the lesson I learned from this is if I want to be successful and see miracles I have to be diligent and give heed to the council of those who are around me and are put into a possition to give me council. This is why I ask tons of questions on exchanges with the leaders that are over me.

I know that this principle is true because I have been living it and I am seeing miracles. The Miami area is moving again and the ward is on fire with the spirit of missionary work. This past Sunday was our fast Sunday, so Elder Robinson and I made this plan to get up and bear our testimony first and get the topic of the testimonies to be on the restoration and missionary work and it worked! It was so sweet, and the Spirit was so powerful there! Several members had brought non-member friends with them and we had a total of six investigators there as well! In gospel essientials we taught the restoration to this way sweet awesome lady that this way sweet awesome family brought with them! The spirit was there as several people bore their testamonies of the gospel . I could tell that it really was hitting her.

We have five baptism dates set and several more that we are going to be setting in the next few weeks, I'm super excited for this place! I know its nothing that I'm really doing, its because I'm doing my best to be obedient and diligent so that my Heavenly Father can bless me more and more. We have found 18 new investigators these past two weeks and I know that there are still more out there. Our teaching pool is getting bigger and bigger!
Another sweet experience that happened this week was while tracting. His name is Aaron and when we knocked on his door he let us right in and let us teach him. We left him with a Book of Mormon and set up a return appointment. When we went back I was super nervious and anxious. I could just feel the Spirit radianting from his house and it got me charged up! Well when we got there he wasn't home, his wife answered the door and told us that he would be back in ten minutes. When things like this happen and they aren't there it's sometimes because they don't want you to come back or they have heard something about us. So we went back to the car and went home and updated our area book till it was time to go back. When we got there I just had this thought that everything was going to be alright and that what we where doing was right. Aaron was home and we taught him a very deep lesson about the original church of Jesus Christ and the apostasy and how we needed a restoration. It was lead by the Spirit and very powerful, Aaron even said that he could feel the power from the message and that he could also see it in our eyes. When we left and got into the car my companion and I were giving each other high fives and shouting because of how awesome the lesson was and the Spirit that we felt. Just thinking about it right now puts a big smile on my face and gets me way excited to go out and work.

Transfer calls are this up coming Saturday, the fourth of April and I really hope that I get to stay because I love this area, I love the ward, I love the people that we are teaching and I feel like my work isn't done here, but I quess I'll go where ever I'm called.

Man time is just flying by now and it really scares me because I feel like I still have tons of things to learn and not enough time to learn it!

Love your son,
Elder David Kelly Conrad

FW: The Big MIlestone!

This week has been a very good week. I went on two exchanges that have really helped me see how to do missionary work better. I can't quite explain how it really happened but it was done.

These past 3 weeks have prepared me for the lesson that was taught to me this past Friday while I was on an exchange with my Zone leader, Elder Blunck, here in Miami. I love going on exchanges because I get the chance to pick the brain of a more successful and more experienced missionary. As I asked Elder Blunck all the questions that I had on my mind and I learned several things. First I learned that there is always going to be things that are hard to do, next I learned how to better follow the prompting of the Spirit by watching his attitude and example. Earlier that day we had the exchange, we had Zone leader follow up, which is a kind of district meeting that is put on by our zone leaders. Well, at this meeting Elder Blunck taught us how keep the fire of doing missionary work. He used Jeremiah as an example of someone who saw no real success and how he almost forsook the Savior, but he couldn't because of the fire which was in him. The fire is the Holy Ghost, and what I learned from his talk was that there is a sure way to have the Holy Ghost and that is by reading the scriptures and living the gospel. He used a scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants that illustrated that the Spirit quickens things. Quickens means to make a life. So in a roundabout way and through certain connections that I drew in my mind I was taught how to handle situations that might be discouraging and keeping me from doing what is hard. It's all about attitude and where my hope lays.

During a lesson with the Hughletts I read a scripture in 2 Nephi 31 that furthered my learning from that district meeting. The last two verses answered the question of where my hope needs to be. As I read it was like the Spirit slapped me and told me to wake up and that I have had the answer all along, but that I actually needed to apply it into my life. The scriptures tells me that I must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect hope in Him and to have an attitude that I must hope for all good things through Him! So now I have hope and that hope is helping me to do all the hard things that I will be subjected to for the rest of my life. A pretty big mile stone I think because now I have the fire that Jeremiah had, even when facing adversity. This wasn't my funniest lesson learned by far, but I am thankful for my Heavenly Father teaching me this.

I'm seeing a lot of blessing happen here. We have two people with baptism dates and two more on the way. Richard (the guy who came up to us at Wal-Mart) is doing good, except for the fact that he is moving to New York to be closer to family and live in a nursing home. We will get his address and get some missionaries up there to visit him. Now that he is leaving we have six real investigators that we are teaching. They are all very solid and I am very excited to see them progress in the gospel .
I'm trying my best to set a good example for Elder Robinson and to help him to improve. He has really come along way and It makes me happy to see his improvement. As I progress, he progresses, that is my goal.
Well this is my week, there is always more to write, but there is never enough time. If I ever come home we might have more time. I love you all and know that you are all being taken care of.

Love,
Elder David Kelly Conrad

FW: Cheered Up!

This past week was a good one. We found a ton of people to teach and we are still finding them. Elder Robinson and I set an all time high this week for our whole mission. Kind of like a personal best.
In summing up the week I would call it "learning by trial and error." I have thought a lot about why the Lord has placed me where I am at and why I am with Elder Robinson and not some missionary who has been out for a while. I would think that I could learn a lot from an older missionary who could show me the ropes, but after trying my best this week I am slowly learning how to be better and a more effective missionary. I'm still way excited to be here and to learn and to grow from this place.

We had a pretty crazy experience last Wednesday. We went to an older mans house that was a referral that we had gotten from church head quarters. We had met the man that was referred to us earlier; we met him at Wal-mart while shopping. In fact we were the ones that gave him the pass along card that he called in on, but that beside the point. His name is Richard and he has met with missionaries several times through out his life. He told us that he was born and raised in Palmyra New York and that he likes Mormons. If those of you don't know the importance of Palmyra, this is the place where Joseph Smith lived and where he was lead to the Book of Mormon. So Richard already knew a lot about the church and when I asked him out right if he believed that Joseph Smith was a prophet he said yes! After teaching him some more we set a baptism date with him and he accepted. It was so sweet; we still have along way to go with him but nothing the Lord can't handle. Bro Gibson says "You find them and He will clean them."

For some reason I have thought about my "conversion" this past week. In gospel principles this last Sunday there was a young woman that asked the question, "How do you know which church to join?" She was sincere in her question, which got me thinking about the life that I have lead and how I knew the church was true and that I wanted to be apart of it. What I came up with was pretty deep and I found more strength in my testimony that I had never seen. I don't have a lot of time to share it, but to sum up my thoughts; there has been a lot of divine intervention in my life to get me to this point of my life.

Thank you so much for your love and support, it really helps me. I love you and pray for you always.

Love
Elder David Kelly Conrad

Ps, the pictures were taken at the Coleman Theater out here. Pretty crazy place!