Letter # 3 First week in NC (Nov. 10, 2008)

Family, I'm here in NC. I landed in NC on Monday. 2 of the elders from my district missed their connecting flight because they lost track of times. They showed up 2 hours later. It was great to see the mission president and his wife. 19 new missionaries arrived to NC and we had dinner and slept in the mission home. I got interviewed by the president. that went well. His name is Budge Wallis (I forgot his first name). Sister Wallis gave me the info for a doctor that works for the church who specializes in stomach conditions. I'll call him today and set up an appointment. On Tuesday, I found out who was my companion. He' a district leader. We are white washing an area. They transfer the 2 missionaries that were in the area out and put us in. My companion is amazing. He's been on the mission for 17 months. He a great teacher. We started hitting the streets Tuesday night. I never felt so uneasy as i did then to approach people. It was a bit scary. My companion has been doing the contacting. But i've been involved in the teaching and the coversations. I definately have bore my burning testimony of the truth of the Gospel. I bore it with enthusiasm, with love, and with urgency.
In NC, you teach a lesson to someone you contact by teaching them atleast 2 principles of the Gospel. For example, we believe in prophets, and we believe in the Book of Mormon. Sometimes we don't get to teach to people we contact because they don't want to hear it. We taught 32 lessons last week and we have 9 new investigators, or people who have agreed to let them teach them again. My companion said that his previous high in a week for teaching lesson was 35. We almost top that without a full week. We're going to be good.
We taught this guy named Joe in his home. He's very spiritual. He was very honest with us. He said that his wife is not interested in our church. We started teaching him and his wife came. We taught him about prophets and how Jesus established his church. I recounted the 1st vision. Then he said that he don't believe in Joseph Smith. "What does your church have to offer. I never been baptized." We kept trying to teach him about prophet and the importance of them. We taught him about the Priesthood and how it's been restored through Joseph Smith. He had a good questions and he really wanted us to convince him of the truth. I was getting impatient because he just wasn't getting it. He said that Moses and other prophets communicated with God, but who knows if they were on drugs and that could've been their imagination. His wife then said "Joseph Smith could've been bi-polar or something". That's when I said, "THEN I MUST BE AS WELL. I PRAYED TO KNOW IF ITS TRUE AND I GOT MY PRAYERS ANSWERED. I FELT THE SPIRIT." That's when i took over. There was 2 minutes left in the 4th quarter and i was running the 2 minute offense. I told them that I prayed to know if the Book of Mormon was true and I got an amazing experience. I told them that Jesus Christ visited the Nephites. Then i had Joe and my companion open to 3rd Nephi 11. I had us take turn reading it. My companion taught him more. He's still wasn't sold that Joseph Smith was a prophet. He said, "I never been baptized. I want to get baptized. Is there anyone in your church that has the authority to baptize?" My companion and I raised our hands at the same time. We taught him a little more. We asked him to pray to find out if Elder Barker and I had the authority to baptize. Even though he doesn't believe in Joseph Smith, he will make the connection that if we have the authority that means Joseph Smith was a prophet.
There are so many other things that happened this week. Not even a hundreth of the things which i experienced can be written in this email. I did teach a whole 1st lesson by myself to a less-active member. I bore my testimony and my life story. The Spirit was felt.
Family, this is the greatest feeling on Earth to be a representative of Jesus Christ in these latter-days. I know that God the Father and His son Jesus Christ appeared to the Boy Joseph. He is a prophet and the Book of Mormon is the Word of God. We have the Priesthood
I love you all.
Elder Olaya