Elder Riley Layton

Hey Y'all,

This week has been such a miracle! To start off, conference was just incredible. James and Martha went, and they loved President Monson's talk on Sunday morning. Afterwards Martha made the comment of how inspired it was, and how true it was that these days that the standards of the worlds are changing and we need to keep our guard up. Friday evening we got a call from Ana Victor. We have been teaching her and her boyfriend Freddy Acosta. Freddy is a member, but hasn't been to church in a long time. We got a call from Anna and she told us that she doesn't want to wait any longer to be baptized, so she is going to be baptized this Friday evening! How exciting?!

On Monday, we went to go teach Lois, Joe and Elaina and on our way in, we stopped and talked to this couple walking past. Their names were Lena and Ben Ngetich (Ben is from Kenya)... SWEET! We talked to them, Lena was just really impressed at the idea of modern revelation, and we got a return appointment for last night (Sunday). We went by and were able to share a quick message with Ben and set up a return appointment to see both of them again next week. Ben has been Christian his whole life and has a lot of questions about Christ. We are excited to start teaching them! Then, on our way out of the complex we stopped and talked to this big family gathered around the bed of a truck, and had a great lesson with them about the blessing of the Book of Mormon and about the opportunity we have to be a part of God's church. We shared with them some of the things we heard at general conference and the spirit was so strong! Sometimes as a missionary I take for granted the wonderful opportunity, we have to have the spirit with us all the time, so strongly. It was definitely very strong in that moment when we had the chance to bear testimony of the Book of Mormon and eternal families.

A month or two ago, Elder Boynton and I were biking under this freeway underpass and stopped and talked to this homeless man. He told us that he didn't want to talk to us, but he also told us he was reading the book of Mormon. We figured he was joking with us, and just kept going and forgot about it. Friday morning we got a call from the Spanish missionaries, Elder Lee and Elder Jackson. They were biking under that very same underpass and they got flagged down by a man lying on a bed up in the corner of the very same underpass. A few weeks ago, it rained, just poured and this man Jason had his Book of Mormon in his back pocket and he had no way protecting it. It got destroyed. So he flagged Elder Lee and Elder Jackson down and asked him for a new copy. He bore a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and wants to learn more about it. A familiar phrase comes to mind "from humble beginnings". Elder Duke and I are going to go teach him and get him baptized pretty soon. That is amazing!

The whole week has been amazing, and we have definitely seen the hand of the Lord all throughout.

Elder Layton