Another late e-mail. My apologies. Life is hectic here in the office so we are always busy. But the blessings outweigh the sleep deprivation. :)
This has been an interesting week to say the least. Fast Sunday was amazing. Covering 3 wards is such a blessing on fast Sundays because we get the chance to hear three hours or so of members share with others their conviction in the gospel. Its amazing to hear such powerful testimonies. And what's even more amazing is hearing them share that testimony with complete strangers as we take them out to lessons with investigators. Without the help of members this work would not progress. Let's face it, who's going to believe a couple of young-bucks in shirts and ties. Maybe a few, but not enough to fulfill the many prophesies of the gathering of Israel.
This week we had the opportunity to solidify plans to have Dominic to be baptized and confirmed this weekend. He is a 9 year old who's mother has had a rough life but has now come back to church and wants her son to grow up with a solid foundation. Her love for her son is not unfamiliar to me. As I look at her, Kelsie, and see her willingness to usher her son into the fold, I cannot help but think of you Mom and your unwavering desire to have each of your wonderful beautiful and borderline perfect kids come unto Christ. Thank you for your faith and patience with us.
We also sat down with one of our investigators, Claudio. No not the General authority who will be visiting our mission on the 19th, but a father of three young boys and the husband to a wonderful wife, Graciela. Unfortunately our second visit with them did not turn out too hot. We were able to teach them the first lesson las week but this time Claudio invited a friend. Claudio was under the impression that this friend was simply interested in coming closer to Christ. And it seemed that was too as he walked into the house with the Book of Mormon and two other church publications. However, we soon were able to discern his intent as he was flipping through his Book of Mormon and both Elder Holt and myself caught a glimplse of a sticky note with the words "False Prophesy" and an arrow pointing to a verse. What followed was a spiritual battle. He attacked our faith without having read the Book of Mormon. He made very uneducated assumtions and accusations. All of which would have been made worse had we not brought along Brother Warthin, a former mission president. His testimony and ability to harness the Holy Ghost in an effective manner against this young man and the evil spirit he brought was incredible. We all left that appointment mentally and spiritually drained. In fact I was weak the rest of the day. We did leave them, however, committed to reading the Book of Mormon before making any other conclusions. As for Claudio, he has not turned to the world for education on our faith so his perspective is still based of what we have taught him so far. But as for the friend, it seems he was able to find holes in his attacks of which he will simply try to patch rather than cease the attack.
The Lord's work is the most important work to be done. I am thrilled and honored to have such a calling. I am slowly gaining the experience to win in these spiritual battles and I feel the Lord has a great deal of trust in me. Thanks for all your prayers and support.
Love,
Elder Cronin
P.S. We accidentley deleted all of Presidents documents yesterday morning. But were able to recover them after about 3 hours of hard work last night near midnight :) The Lord does provide!
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