Week 41: "But when I finally thought about my family and their needs, it was so easy to stop drinking. I love them so much."

I'll officially be hitting my 9 months on mission this week! Sister Namugenyi and I will be very excited to send you our 9 month photos next week!(:

This week we had Zone Conference and four of the zones got together. It was such a happy reunion to see all the missionaries! Zone Conference was very enlightening and I definitely learned a lot!

 I love my companion!

.Pizza Night with my companion!

Investigators:

Zoro: Brother Zoro contacted us and of course, he was drunk. I've learned to love the drunk people in my area because they too are children of God! He drinks every day because he doesn't have a job and drinks 4-5 Supers every day..not healthy. He told me that he wanted to change his life because he wanted to start living a righteous life. Of course, he asked if drinking was allowed in our church haha. As my companion talked to his friend, I went on to teach about the Word of Wisdom and the value of families. I asked him how his wife and children felt about him coming home drunk every night. He didn't have anything to say. I told him that if he loved his family, he would value their needs over his needs. He would spend time with them. As we were leaving, I asked him to think about how he showed his family that he loved them, and told him to tell me his answer the next time we saw him. Well, that was two weeks ago. We had our lesson with him this week and guess what? He hasn't had a drop of alcohol since we saw him! His wife came and told us and she couldn't believe what she was seeing. The man we taught that day was completely different from the drunk that we had met before. His answer to my question: "I thought about it, and I wasn't. I wasn't really do anything to show them that I loved them. I looked at things from their perspective and realized how terrible it must be to have a father/husband come home late every night drunk, and not spend time with his family. Once I realized that, dropping alcohol was easy. It was amazing. I've tried to quit before, and I couldn't. But when I finally thought about my family and their needs, it was so easy to stop drinking. I love them so much." I was absolutely touched by the experience because already, we can see how the gospel can change lives! Now that he's stopped drinking, I hope that my companion and I will be able to teach him about the church and that his entire family will be converted to the gospel!

Long night in the area after zone conference!

Brandon, Diana, Mama and Tashinga at their baptism!

This past week, we were able to baptized Sister Maulana and her children, Tashinga and Diana! Brandon was also baptized by his father this past weekend and so it was a happy time for the family. I was joyous to see Mai Tashinga and her children get baptized...they were ALL smiles that day, even if you can't tell from the picture. They love the Book of Mormon and the church...it takes them over an hour to walk to church, but they do it every Sunday because they know the church is true!

I hope that you have a good week fam! Love you lots...it's a holiday today so I promise I'll write more next week!

Sister Park