The Book of Mormon is the Word of God!

Hello!

We have gotten a little snow, but it has all melted, and it is currently raining!  It is crazy how warm it is right now.  Yesterday was in the 50's.

As I was heating some water the power went out in part of the house.  Went to the box, not to find a switch but these fuses that looked like bulbs! (just to tell you how old our place is).  After examining the different fuses, we found the culprit.  Luckily there is a store next door that sells them, and we bought one for about 3 bucks.  Learn something new everyday!
I also found pomegranates!  Since last winter I have been wanting to have chocolate covered pomegranates, so guess what I did!  It is so good!

On Wednesday we had Zone Conference.  The subject was the Book of Mormon.  When I started my mission I knew the New Testament better than I did the Book of Mormon.  But, making the Book of Mormon my central focus of study, I have gained such a powerful witness that it is true.  It is the word of God.  The mission president challenged us again to read the Book of Mormon highlighting things pertaining to Christ.  I decided to highlight His names (and pronouns) in one color, attributes in another color, times that people say 'in the strength of the Lord' or similar instances where the Lord strengthens, His words (or when the prophets say 'thus saith the Lord'), and prophesies about Him.  It is amazing what stands out.  Nephi says early on that he will show the 'tender mercies of the Lord'.  I never quite realized how many times after that the attribute of mercy is applied to the Savior.

After Zone Conference, we went on exchange with the Zone Leaders.  Elder Christensen (my MTC companion) was with me in Carthage.  We had a great time.  He is a hard worker and a great missionary.  We reflected a lot on the changes of the last 18 months.  It is crazy that we have been out 3/4th of our mission already.  MTC seemed like the other day.

At Zone Conference the church installed 'black boxes' in our cars (I need to get a picture of it).  But, it is mounted behind the rear-view mirror, and is connected to the car, monitoring speeds, acceleration, bumps, turns, and who knows what else.  (An Elder asked if it records our conversations and the President asks: should it matter?)  They have done it for two years in 6 missions and found that it saves the church a lot of money, and keeps everyone safer.  So they now have extended it to 25 missions and we are one of the lucky ones.  It glows in the night with it's blue and green lights.  'You better watch out, you better not speed, you better not screech, I'm telling you why, President Bulloch is watching your moves.'

Wednesday night Timothy and Luetta had their interviews!  Timothy is set to be baptized on Saturday (5:00) and Luetta the following Saturday (also at 5).  It is super exciting!  Michelle (Timothy's wife) shared her testimony in sacrament meeting yesterday.  It was very powerful.  What a great family!

As for Larina and Luke, we are pushing their baptisms back a little bit.

We also found a new investigator this week.  Her name is Carry.  Tracted into her, but she does have some cousins who are in our ward.  She has had a tough life, but she felt some hope as we bore testimony and we will be teaching her the Plan of Salvation this week.

I hope you all have a great week!  It is an amazing time to be alive!

Elder Shurtz