Elder Holand's Interview

This week has been full of traveling, meetings, and conferences. My companion and I flew to Cusco on Thursday, and stayed until Saturday night. In Cusco, we had a few meetings. The WHOLE mission came to Cusco. Our mission is pretty spread out, and it`s the first time that we`ve had the whole mission come together. All of the missionaries got to Cusco on Saturday morning to be at the special conference we would be having with Elder Holland. It was honestly an amazing experience. Elder Holland shook each one of our hands, and looked us in the eyes. After, he explained that he`d had an interview with each one by looking us in the eyes. He taught us about obedience and the value that the mission has. He explained how much the mission meant to him, and how much it should mean to us. It was honestly an amazing experience. 

We had a lesson with our investigator, Manuel. We`d been talking with him about marriage and baptism the last lesson, and when we started the lesson this week, he asked us, ``So, what you`ve explained to me is that I sinned by forming my family?´´ He`s not married with his wife, who`s a member. He looked at my companion with a stern face, almost a mad face, and afterwards my companion said that he was frightened by him haha. I looked at Manuel and told him that it was a sin to form a family outside of the bonds of marriage. He looked at me, and said, ´´ok´´ We went on to bear our testimonies. He went on to say that he wants to feel that these things are true like we do, but he still doesn`t know that the Church was restored. So, we read 2 nephi 31 with him right there. We then said to him that he now had the opportunity to feel what we feel. We then invited him to kneel down with us and ask Heavenly Father if the Book of Mormon was the word of God. He said that we were very persistant and that he would do it. We kneeled down, and he gave the most honest prayer. He asked that he could know that the Church and the Book of Mormon were true. I felt the spirit, and as we left their home I could feel a wonderful peace as we walked to dinner. I proclaimed to my companion how thankful  I am to have this in my life. It`s been a good week, and although we were struck with sickness and tiredness from the trips and meetings, I can tell you that the priesthood has been a blessing this week and helped me and my companion be able to overcome and continue to help souls to come to Christ. 

I love you MOM and DAD and SISTERS and FAMILY and FRIENDS. I hope you have a great week!! 

Elder Jeffery 

Cusco Trip