Elder Rhett Aaron Shaw

Aloha Aiga! (Aiga is family in Samoa)

This past week flew by again....crazy! Just a brief update:

Darrell and Drew are still set for their dates in Feb (6th and 27th).
We had to push Fabian's back due to conflicts with his wife. He really
wants to be baptized and wants her support. We are praying that her
heart will be softened. We are going to have a lesson with the
Sifuentez family at the Talley's on Weds. We are looking forward to it
since both family's have so much in common. They will hit if off
great! :)

We had several miracles this week! We were able to teach 24 lessons
this week. :) WHILE TEACHING WE FOUND 5 NEW INVESTIGATORS!!! 

We are so pumped! We are now officially teaching Tracy at the Morehouse's 

(their daughter), Jessie Floyd in Nancy and Corey Crums home, and several
others who we are super pumped to start teaching and setting lessons
up in members homes! We are working really hard to have a constant
''Escalator'' instead of an ''Elevator'' with our teaching pool.
Hopefully we will be able to set some dates with Lucy, Tracy, Casey,
and Jessie here real soon! The Lord has blessed us so much! We also
had 5 investigators at church!! :) Hard work does pay off in the long
run I just know it!!!

The Villalobos family and AJ, an investigator
 that we have been teaching in their home.

This week we were able to have a World Wide Mission Devotional over
"Repentance Unto Baptism: Baptize Converts." It was great! Learned a
lot! Whenever you have no idea what to say to others when sharing the
gospel, just testify of our Savior Jesus Christ. The following day we
had our Zone Conference and guess what the topic was?? "Repentance
Unto Baptism." Pretty cool! This whole week's theme has been
"Repentance Unto Baptism!" While teaching our investigators without
even realizing it, we have brought up repentance. Through repentance
we invite others to act so that they can qualify for the blessings of
heaven through their faith. It is the only way. Change may be a
difficult thing, but it is the only way that we can return to live
with our Heavenly Father again. We are learning our way back to
heaven.

I hope that this e mail finds you all healthy and happy. I am so
grateful for your continuous love and support!

Recently I have started to re-read the Book of Mormon and have
absolutely loved it!! I have been trying to memorize some scriptures
that stand out to me and I have loved the experience. My challenge
that I would like to issue this week is to memorize the last 2
paragraphs in the introduction in the Book of Mormon:

"We invite all men everywhere to read the Book of Mormon, to ponder in
their hearts the message it contains, and then to ask God, the Eternal
Father, in the name of Christ if the book is true. Those who pursue
this course and ask in faith will gain a testimony of its truth and
divinity by the power of the Holy Ghost. (See Moroni 10:3–5.)

Those who gain this divine witness from the Holy Spirit will also come
to know by the same power that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the
world, that Joseph Smith is His revelator and prophet in these last
days, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the
Lord’s kingdom once again established on the earth, preparatory to the
Second Coming of the Messiah."

This is our invitation to the entire world: To read from the Book of
Mormon and to ask God if the book is true! May we read and feast on
its pages and invite others to do the same. I know that we can come
closer to our father in heaven and our savior by reading from it
daily. I am so grateful for this wonderful gospel. It is such a
blessing in my life. I love sharing it with everyone that I meet. :)

I hope you all have a great week!

All my love and more,
Elder Shaw