Welcome to Roswell

Hello family and friends!
How is everyone doing? I am doing extremely well! I finally got my wish. haha. I am officially serving in the Cumorah branch! It is so awesome here! there is tons and tons of people to talk to. This is definately the most dense hispanic population in Georgia I have seen. It will be an interesting transfer... here is the news.
So I was assigned to be companions with Elder Christian Carnley but to train a new missionary at the same time. His name is Elder William Blair. We have had to work out quite the interesting situation to make this possible. Elder Carnley and I are assigned as Zone Leaders for the Roswell stake and also assigned to cover not only the Cumorah branch but a Young Single Adult Ward. WIERD, I know. I never thought I would be serving any english speaking areas. haha. Let alone people my own age. It is pretty refreshing though being around a ton of rm's who know how to share the gospel and help their friends!

So the way it works is that Elder Blair is still my son. So we have divided the Cumorah area into two. Cumorah Inner and Cumorah ZL. I am in charge of taking care of the cumorah Inner area with Elder Blair. Elder Carnley is in charge of the other area with Elder Thomas. We all live together so that we can make this work but it is still pretty complicated. Whenever it comes to single adults, Elder Carnley and I are the ones who have to teach them. so about 2 days or so a week I will work with Elder Carnley and the rest of the time train Elder Blair. When Elder Carnley and I are working together Elder Thomas and Elder Blair will work Cumorah Inner.

This is a slight struggle for us because Elder Blair just came from the MTC and Elder Thomas is about seven months out in the field. The catch is that neither of them can speak spanish well enough to be on their own. Elder Thomas was switched assignments from english speaking to spanish speaking last transfer. So he only has six weeks speaking... meaning that Elder Blair's MTC level spanish is a little higher than Elder Thomas's. That is why Elder Carnley and I have to run two different areas while still being companions. haha.

It seems to be working out so far though. We discussed ways to make it work and I felt that it would be best if Elder Blair and I took over the Cumorah Inner area with a whitewash. This means that any investigators that Elder Thomas had in the area last transfer, we gave to Cumorah ZL. This meant that Elder Blair and I would start completely fresh with ZERO investigators. It might sound like a crazy stunt to pull but it was absolutely what needed to occur!

We have been blessed with tremendous amounts of success! We started on Wednesday by tracting. We were blessed with many people who allowed us to enter into their homes to share the restored gospel. In fact, we have mainly just been tracting the entire week. We've been extremely blessed by the Lord! Here are some of our stories so far.

On Friday we were moving forward trying to find some new investigators. We knocked on a door for a woman who was busy at the time but promised us that she would be home in one hour and that she would listen to us then. I guess we grabbed her attention in talking about faith, repentance, baptism and then posing the question, "have you ever wondered why there are so many religions?". We came back an hour later to find her absolutely excited to talk to us. The first thing she said was... "I've been thinking about your question and I cant figure it out. Please tell me." It was sort of a shock for us how well prepared she was!
We began to teach the doctrines of the restoration and the importance of baptism. Come to find out she has always been looking for the "truth" in her life. Although she was raised in another faith and her husband is of that faith. It is not what she believes in. She has studied with many other religions and found that none have been fulfilling to her thus far. She felt the spirit of the restoration as we shared the gospel with her and she agreed to come visit and find out for her self saying that "that is what I want in my life.". It was incredible! Definately feel that she will be ready for baptism soon.
On Saturday, we continued our finding efforts. We had gotten bailed on by a couple return appointments from earlier that week. However, we felt that there was someone to find. Soon after, we knocked on the door of a woman named Marcel. She just so happens to be from Venezuela and speaks alot like mom! haha. We testified of the power of the gospel in our lives and she allowed us to enter into her home. She quickly went to get her family and roommate that lives there.

The roommate came out from the back with great energy and a big smile on her face. Her name is Merly and she is from Mexico. She came out from the back and the first thing she said to us was, "I've studied the book of mormon before!" This kind of took us off guard but we soon found out how amazingly well prepared she was. We began to share the gospel with the family. It was the first time that Marcel had ever heard of us or what we believe in. As we shared we testified of gospel truths and so did Merly! haha. It was like having a member present with us in the room to teach.
The spirit was powerful and you could see the impact it was having on Marcel and her son Camin (13 yrs old). We commited them to read, pray, and attend sacrament. They agreed to it all in a heart beat wanting to learn more of the gospel. They are such a wonderful family who have been going through some rough trials. Marcel's husband has been placed in jail for "loitering" and is possibly facing deportation. He has been locked up for the past 4 months and this message was of great comfort to them.
As for Merly, Well, we found out she had taken the lessons in Mexico. A friend had referred her to the missionaries and she loved the gospel. She had desires to be baptized and join the church and just before she did she came to the united states. Now we were led to her and she has a baptismal date for July 31st. She is so well prepared and bore wonderful testimony of how the book of mormon and gospel had blessed her before!
To top it all off, Marcel has a 4 year old daughter who was feeling a little sick. We offered a priesthood blessing as we had talked about the apostle's authority to do the same. We soon administered to the daughter. After which Marcel and Merly said they could feel the power burn within their chest's and see a glow come about our hands as we blessed. We testified of the priesthood authority and could see the impact it had left on this family.
I am so grateful for the priesthood and for the gospel in my life. I know that it truly is the greatest gift we have and that when we share it and find those that are truly prepared to accept it into their lives we see miracles occur and feel the spirit testify. This has become an added witness to me that I know there are many of God's children being prepared to accept the gospel. I look forward to seeing what happens with this wonderful family.
Roswell is a great place and I am so happy to be back in a city once more. I am hoping I die here and get to serve Cumorah and Northpoint through December. I know that right now this is the place where the lord would have me be. Elder Blair has been a wonderful Trainee and I consider myself blessed to have yet another wonderful Elder to serve with and help train.
I will give you some more details on my companions and the area as we move forward. As for right now, we would appreciate your prayers that we may have the strength to continue forward and to find the Lord's elect people. I love you all! Dad, Happy late fathers day! sorry. I really am losing track of time!

Much Love,
Elder Erick Delgado