Last time on The District: Do you believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ was restored? I'm not sure. Ming Han doesn't have that solid Christian background. I don't really understand, and then he's just confusing me. We've got to focus a lot on finding. That's something we've been really struggling with. Brother Rodriguez, have you prayed and asked God if the Book of Mormon is true? Actually, no. Alydia's going up to Salt Lake to watch general conference. She thought that would have been a pivotal moment. The Spirit was so strong, and I was just so happy. After the Robles baptism, I said to myself, What's next?

I've had some events happen earlier in my life that have made me grow to love other people. The event that took place earlier in my life is very private to me. It's something that a lot of people don't know. But it's been a great learning experience; it's helped me to grow. I have cancer. I have something called Hodgkin's lymphoma. I was 13 when I was diagnosed. When you're as young as I was, being told that you have cancer is scary because you're not knowing what to expect. So if we have either a young man go or Brother Duncan and let him know what the activity's going to be ... I'm not the worst-case scenario; there're probably tons of either missionaries out there or different types of people that have been through a lot worse than I have. Brother Vargas! How are you, brother? Good to see you. Hey Ming. How're you doing? I know Ming knows we're there to help him to come closer to God. And so today we want to let him know how. You know, we're only going to be here maybe 70, 80, 90 years. And then we're going to leave. What's going to happen after that? Have you ever wondered anything like that? Honestly, no. No? You never have? We need to understand how important it is to create trust in our relationship with the people we teach—our investigators. If we don't, they're not going to trust us and open up their true feelings. What do you want in life, for you? Actually, I never thought about that. We want you to understand, Ming, why we're here. We're here to have you come closer to Heavenly Father. It's completely up to you, but we know how happy it will make you. Does that make sense? Yeah, it does. Do you feel like we're helping you, so far, to get closer to Christ? Yeah, because you guys talk about a lot of things that I didn't know before. Right now it feels helpless to live in this world. Even though I have my mom and my family, I still feel that something is missing. I went to a Christian church, and I prayed for guidance. And then right after that, you guys called me. It freaked me out! Did it freak you out a little? It was so fast. Do you believe that was a sign from God, that this is where you should go? Well, yeah, kind of like that. I forgot our picture book. I'm going to go get it this time. Give us one minute; we'll be back. That book you were talking about? Yeah, that book. We both felt impressed to talk about baptism. We just need to invite him. With the knowledge that Ming knew at that time, it was tough to bring up baptism because we didn't know what he was going to do with it. But the Spirit prompted us to do it, so we went with it. This is what we talk about when we say baptism. Okay, you guys do it in a full tank of water, that kind of stuff? We baptize the way Jesus got baptized— by immersion, meaning, the person stands in the water, waist high, and goes fully under the water and comes right back up. Oh, I don't swim, man. You don't have to swim; you can just stand there. This is the way we want you to come closer to Christ. And not only the way that we would like to but also the way that God has commanded us to do. Yeah, that's better. Okay, when you were talking about baptizing, I felt something. I felt something on my back. I don't know. What did it feel like? It's like calm, calm energy. Remember last week, we mentioned that that was the Spirit? You're starting to recognize the Spirit. Even if we're talking about baptism, where it's a big principle, Ming's going to understand it by his feelings. ... this is how we came to know if these things are true or not.

So for conference, what did you really think? And what I mean by that is, especially about Thomas S. Monson? I don't know; I just felt something. I just felt that what they were saying was true and— I don't know, I believe it. So do you believe that he is the prophet of God on the earth? Yeah. My first reaction was, Wow, are you serious? I didn't really know how to react. So how do you feel about baptism? I'm ready. Sometimes it's really hard to be a missionary because of your companion. Like Sister Voyles, she'll yell at me, and sometimes she hits me. Help me! Ofelia and Victor are super special. We've been concerned that they're going to become eternal investigators. When you come to church, you are going to be able to feel that peace, that Spirit. Tranquility. That is why we are inviting you to come, so that you feel that. Yes. I know. I know, and I feel that little by little, everything is getting better. Everybody goes to another congregation. Catholic. They are going over there, and I'm going here. I was starting to realize I didn't know Spanish, and I couldn't talk to these people; I couldn't understand what these people were saying. I could pick out five words, maybe. But I would just sit there. I will bring my other children that are not here so that they get used to it and feel how beautiful it is. I know that God will help me. She's coming to church on Sunday. She said she knows the Book of Mormon is true. At church, she's going to be able to feel the peace that comes from the Holy Ghost. ... our Lord, Jesus Christ, amen. Amen.

Leading up to my baptism, I was looking forward to it; I wasn't nervous. I felt that it was definitely the right thing for me, and I finally just felt really good about my decision. You showed faith by starting to read the scriptures, and ... The Lord is very aware of everybody and their situations. It needs to happen in His time, and it will happen if we put our faith in Him. Right as she was in the water, it was just a great moment of peace and a thankful heart to Heavenly Father that He was able to help us help her finally make that covenant. ... and of the Holy Ghost, amen.

I know that it's all washed away, and it doesn't matter anymore. I just feel clean and refreshed, like I have a new, clean slate to start off on. So it makes me feel really good to know that.

When we're standing there and investigators don't come to church, it just breaks your heart! You're thinking, No! Not again! Ofelia needs something, and we haven't quite figured out what it is yet. She hasn't quite worked through it yet. So we're just trying to figure out what she needs next. I was never really a popular person. I'd spend a lot of time on the side of my house just digging this hole, just digging it deeper and deeper. I liked digging. I think the deepest my hole ever got was about six feet deep. I don't know how I got in and out of the hole, because I did that when I was about five or six. I think my whole life, I've liked somewhat being on my own and also just kind of exploring and trying things out. I think when I was younger, digging that hole helped me to just do that.

We found Horus through his friend Jonathan that we met on the street, and they're both in a Christian rock band together. They offered me an invitation to go to church, and I'm involved very actively in the ministry at the church I'm attending right now. But I decided to go. I'm really open to talk to everybody, and like I said before, to me you guys are an inspiration. I see young men trying to reach people out there. Well, thank you very much. We can tell that you have a very strong belief in Christ I do. and that following Him is important to you. I wasn't born within a gospel context, really. In my background, I was a criminal, and I was really doing bad things, drugs, and really playing in the world. And now it's a completely different story. Our Heavenly Father provided a way for us to know that the Church was restored again through Joseph Smith, and that way is through the Book of Mormon. Just as you have the Bible, this is another testament of ancient people, here in the Americas. Why do you think God would reach out to us and give us more of His word through another book of scripture? Well, I've always had the question that, Why would you make God exclusive of the Jews? So I was thinking, what about the whole America? And yes, I believe that God is one, is universal, and He's almighty. And I was always longing to see a manifestation of Christ in the Americas. So, I don't know anything, really, about the Book of Mormon. I'd like to read it. I'm willing to change everything and put everything aside if I hear it and if I feel that God is telling me do this, go here, do that. He saved me from death, you know? I got shot in my head right here, you can see. And my hands, I had ... I was like this when they were spraying me. I've got bullet wounds all over. I still have a piece of a bullet right there. I know that if God, Jesus Christ, kept me from dying, it's for a reason. At this point I'm just His servant. I want to testify to you from my heart that this is what you're searching for and that through studying and prayer, you'll know that from God. And when you know that you have ended your search and that the journey's begun, will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding that restored priesthood authority of God? Well, I know that God is a God of order, and in His given time, I will do as He says. I'm really open to it. I will really consider this. They responded very humbly and with a lot of faith, with a lot of respect. They might not be aware of many things, but they know one thing, and that's what they shared with me. And that's what impacted me the most, coming from young people like them. I know that they are a great instrument for God. I'm especially asking You, Lord, to reveal to me as I read this chapter Your will, and to shed some light into my heart and to awaken that desire of doing things right. It's a crucial time of revelation, a crucial time of commitment, Lord, and I don't want to make the wrong choice.

Being on a mission is very important to me. When I was diagnosed, I remember every single morning when you wake up, the question in your mind is, Am I going to live today, or am I going to pass on? because cancer's so unpredictable. Hi, Sister Rodriguez! Hey. Come in! We're on exchanges! Oh. I'm not permanent. You're not permanent. This is just for the day. The purpose of the exchange is to learn from one another, and also to train. All right! You learn more things than you think you would just because you're with different people, and you get to see how they teach. What do you expect when we come to meet with you? To tell you the truth? To try to convince me. Convince you this is right, right? I'm glad I asked because that's absolutely not why we're here. We are here to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel. And that very much includes giving you your agency and your ability to act on what we share. How do you feel about that? My heart was wrenching a little bit during that lesson. I'm thinking, Hopefully we're not losing our relationship. I was wondering how this is going to end up. Does that specifically say that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only, how do you say it, the Lord's kingdom on earth? That's exactly what it's saying. My case is different. It's not the same as with Joseph Smith because right now, I have my religion, and I believe in it. So, in other words, I'm not lost. Yeah. No, you're not lost. No. Brother Rodriguez, we're not trying to tear down your faith or say that you're lost. You can tell how much you care about people in the way you sound, the way you look at them. And I think if he was just caring about him just a little bit more, the attitude of that entire lesson may be a little different. You're welcome! Nice to meet you. Growing up in the Church, I never had a testimony. I heard a lot of people around me say, I felt this feeling at church, or The Spirit; I felt so good! I was thinking, I'm hungry. I don't know what you guys are talking about. This is ridiculous. And that bugged me really bad that everyone kept saying they feel this Spirit and that they know there's more after. And I'm thinking, You don't know that. That's all in your head. You're making this all up. It came to a point when one of my best friends growing up, who's a nonmember— his name's Ronny, and we've been best friends since I can even remember. And this one night he came to me, and he was expressing to me a lot of sorrow about how his aunt died. I just remember him asking me to say a prayer, and it was the first time I think I had really prayed. And I remember just asking, I want to know if You're there. And I felt the Spirit for sure, and my friend felt the Spirit for sure. It was something I definitely couldn't deny. I'll never be able to deny that. I felt like that really started my connection with God and started me finding who I was, really, trying to figure out what everything was about.

Hey, there's the one we're looking for. How are you? How are you? I'm doing good. Your hands are cold. We met Jynx on the street. I think the first thing she said was, Nope, I don't want to hear what you have to say. I just said, Oh, why? What's wrong? and she said, I know what you're here for; you just want to convert me! And I said, Yeah, that's what we want to do! And she was laughing about that, so we talked some more. It ended up that she said, Well, yeah, you can come back another time. ... amen. All right, well, first of all, how was church? We weren't able to talk to you after, so what did you think about church today? I liked the educational classes a lot. My brother's terrified of you guys, so ... Why is that? Cult, cult, cult! What did you say? I didn't get a chance. Well, her intent is, she just wants to follow Jesus Christ; she wants to do what's right. She does not want to go to hell. How do you feel about it now, from what we just explained? Well, it's ... I guess I will believe it until I find something in the Bible that makes me not believe it. It's part of the research process. Awesome. But I want it to be true. What do you mean you want it to be true? I like what I've seen of the Mormon religion. I'm not looking to prove it's wrong. I'm hoping to prove to myself that I'm in agreement with it. You're looking to get more knowledge. You're looking to get a clear— with the hope that I've found my church. We had a plan to invite her to be baptized. And for some reason, it didn't come out; it didn't feel right. I don't really know the whole reason why we didn't do it. It seemed to both me and Elder Christensen, as we talked about it afterward, that that wasn't the right time to ask her to be baptized.

It's amazing that I'm here actually serving a mission because none of my brothers or sisters ever served a mission. Right before I was going to leave, my whole family got into a big argument of, why was I going? And my dad was the one who was trying to get me to not go. I stood up and I said, I know what I must do. I know what the Lord wants me to do. I walked out of the house, and I remember sitting outside under a tree. My dad comes around a corner and sits down beside me, and he says, Is this what you want to do? I said, Dad, I'm certain. I've never been more sure in my life about anything. And he knew I didn't have enough money to provide for my mission. So he looked at me, and he said, Give me all the money that you have right now, and I'll pay for the rest. How did that chapter go for you that we left? I read it; it was pretty precise. Basically, it was just a different version of what a Christian should do. Did you pray about it after you read? I certainly prayed about it. Do you feel like God's answering your prayers, that you've received an answer to know that it's true? I believe it's true, what the book says. So, you feel like God is telling you that that's the path to follow? I have a question for you guys. Is the baptism that I had, in water, in your perspective, in your eyes, valid?

When he asked that great question, in my mind, I was first thinking, Who's going to answer? Oh my goodness, I don't want to hurt this man. I don't want to tell him, Your baptism wasn't valid. We profess the same things, or at least, the idea, the perception that I have of the gospel and everything, based on the Word, is basically the same. I want to know if what I did, out of faith— I felt pretty genuine. I mean, I could go and baptize with you, just for the experience. Is that really going to change anything? That's a very good question. Although your baptism was a great experience for you, and it was you showing your desire to follow Christ, it wasn't completely valid. I don't want to say that to diminish what you've said because I know that was a great experience; I know you have sincere desires to follow Christ. But we're going to show you how it can be even better. And again, we don't want to hurt your feelings in any way or hurt you that way. No, because we know it was a great experience for you. Yeah. It awakened this alarm within myself, like What is happening? Basically, what you're telling me is that it was a great experience because I acted truthfully and because I acted sincerely. But you're telling me that that's not enough because these people didn't have that special authority. You're saying that that can be traced back to Jesus Christ, to put it in your own words. It's a very crucial, crucial point, and wow, I feel uncertain. What we're saying is not that Joseph Smith started another church but that through him, just as in times before, God and Jesus Christ restored that same Church back on the earth and put back that priesthood authority, because that's the ability to baptize and to make a baptism completely valid in God's eyes. That was like the last straw, for somebody to come and tell you, Well, I don't think you know Jesus. It makes you feel like, Wow, this is not what I was intending to hear.

Good to see you, good to see you. Hello, hello. Hello, hello Hi, hi. Hi, hi. Come on in! In response to Joseph Smith's humble prayer, they told him that if he would be faithful, through him they would bring back Christ's Church to the earth, and that by doing so, they would bring back the complete, full understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ. What do you think about what we've told you? How does that make you feel? What you're saying, it's not against what I learned growing up. But it's like another branch on the same tree. So, when you come to know that these things are true for yourself, will you be baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God? If I get to that point, yes. Absolutely. Okay, well, I can promise you, Jynx, that the things we have taught you tonight are true and that they will bless your life more than anything else.

Ming, he has a smoking problem, so the Word of Wisdom was something on the back of our minds the whole time. And as a missionary, you have those moments where you're a little bit apprehensive on sharing certain lessons because you don't know what their reaction's going to be afterwards. I was 13 or 14, when I started smoking with my friends. Most of our prayers at nighttime and in our companionship study have been for Ming and his addiction. Do you believe that God can help you quit smoking, Ming? Yeah. He already saved my life, so why not quit smoking? What's smoking compared to saving a life, right? So maybe a goal you can have is to get the cigarettes that you have and go chuck them in the garbage, or give them to a friend, or whatever. Just get rid of them. I'll do it for you. I'll chuck them as hard as I can. Is that a goal you can set? Yeah. Ever since he's decided to be baptized, he's really more sensitive to the Spirit, and he wants to learn more, and he feels more. He lets us know that he feels more. So his openness just lets us know how ready he is. And if you would like, today, we would love to give you a blessing to be able to withstand. We would lay our hands upon your head, and we would give you a blessing from God so that you can have the strength and the energy and the perseverance to be able to quit smoking for good. Would you like to receive a blessing? Yeah. We are going from just a robotic missionary to teaching lessons to a servant of Christ, and loving people and trying to help them. ... we give you a blessing, Ming, so that you can have the strength, and ... After chemotherapy, you're so weak. You can't really do much; breathing hurts, you know? So you're sitting in a bed, and you just want to scratch your skin because it itches, but every time you touch it, it just hurts. I remember sitting in a bed, just bawling.

I remember looking out the window, looking at the Utah, mountains and looking at the dark sky, just talking to Heavenly Father, just saying, Father, please. I'm dying. I don't know if I'm going to live. I want to be normal. I want to be a normal boy. Please help me live through this. I don't even know why I have cancer. And I remember the biggest peaceful feeling came over me, and I knew that Heavenly Father was there, and I knew that He loved me. I knew that no matter what's going to happen, it's going to be okay that even though I was only 13 and I was scared and I was weak and I have a disease, I knew that no matter what's going to happen, it's going to be okay.

Coffee! No coffee? Why do you think the Lord would want us to stay away from these types of things? I could understand harmful or addictive substances and illegal drugs and tobacco. But I like my beer, and I drink coffee every morning! You getting a confirmation that it's true would have to come through experience and maybe living it to try to find out if this really is inspired from God. Just like if you want to find out if Joseph Smith was a prophet, you have to read the Book of Mormon. And likewise, we invite you to see the fruits of living the Word of Wisdom. Will you live the Word of Wisdom, so that you can prepare yourself for baptism? You mean start now? Pick one thing. Pick one thing. Okay, I give up tobacco. That you do. No, just live the commandment now. I figured I had several things I could give up before we got to the good stuff. You could try it all, but if you had just … I'll choose all the illegal drugs first, right? Yeah. I'm giving up illegal drugs. My big concern is all your little rules. Maybe when I read this, I'll see that God says in here somewhere that all those D&C's are necessary. So will you commit to live the Word of Wisdom? Okay, I won't drink beer. That's the only thing? But I have to keep my coffee going this week. Okay. And next time we meet, will you give up coffee? We'll see. Okay. It's just that I have so few vices, and that little cup of coffee in the morning, it's nice. But you can—

Right now, it's not looking so good with Horus. We called him every day this week, and he hasn't answered. The other night, we went by and we saw him outside talking with someone in a car. He got in the car and left. I feel that they're like, Man, what did we do wrong? Where did we fail? I mean, they didn't fail. We just had a little difference in doctrine. It's been a real struggle; we've been doing everything we possibly can. I'll be honest with you. I felt that the Lord has let me down at times. I have never been so on the edge before of just giving up.

How has your last day been? Have you had any questions come up, or anything you ... I'm just having some heavy reactions about smoking. Wow! How has that been going? Every time that I want to smoke, I just feel like I want to throw up. Good! Wow! So you've been withstanding? Yeah, he has! Good. Way to go, Ming! That's way good! When he shared with us that every time he wants to smoke, he wants to throw up, it just lets me know how powerful God is. We prayed and blessed him that that desire would leave him. Heavenly Father works in mysterious ways, and if that desire leaves by him being sick and not being able to do it, then so be it. Hi! Hi! So, today was ... Today was pretty good. Yeah, I'm going to put my head back. We learned about the Book of Mormon. We're going to try and do that with some new people that we're visiting today, and the people that we're committing to be baptized today, which is a hundred. At least a hundred. But maybe just the four appointments that we have set. We've been committing everyone! And everyone says No, but that's just because Satan's working with them. Don't listen to Satan. Our Heavenly Father, we're grateful for this morning and for the opportunity that we've had to study and learn from the scriptures. We wanted a lot of investigators at the baptismal service. Well, we just decided to invite anyone we possibly could. The morning of the baptism, there was no one that was going to be able to. But we decided, and we set a goal in faith that we would have four people at that baptismal service. First we started with a list of all the possible people we could still invite to come, and we went out and we visited all of them and gave them that chance. All five of those people said that they'd be coming, and we were really excited. Yeah, could we plan on meeting you there? Do you remember where it is? I had fasted that day. I fasted that we could have a baptism. And I ended my fast at 5:00 that evening, just asking, Heavenly Father, I know it's Thy will. But if possible, could we just have a baptism? We've been working hard.

Good evening, brothers and sisters. The baptismal service started, and there was no one there. The Apostle Paul taught that faith is the substance, assurance of things hoped for- I felt a little disappointed that no one had showed. The Lord has wanted us to learn patience and also to just exercise our faith. And it's taken a lot of work, especially looking around and seeing other missionaries baptize great families and teaching amazingly prepared people. It's been hard. When I watched Ming get baptized, it just built my faith to know that these people are out there; we've just got to find them. I want you to know that your family just got a lot bigger. When you joined the Church, you picked up a lot of brothers and sisters. After the actual ordinance, Eric Guevara showed up. And he sat there just in time to see the welcome to the ward. He said he was a little confused, and he thought it started at 6:30. We felt that we needed to just ask him what's going on and if he really needs our help. And so we were able to talk to him about it, and he now is opening up to us even more. Within these past few months, I feel like I've come to know my Heavenly Father even more. I've grown a lot closer to Him, and maybe that's what He wanted me to learn. I've learned a lot more about how much we really do need to rely on Him. The Lord promises that He will never let us down. And if you know you've done everything you can to be what the Lord wants you to be and to do what He wants you to do, then I think there's no problem with that. I know that that is an answer to my prayer and fasting. I know that if we're doing everything we can, God will take care of us. I believe He's watching over me. He's guiding me. Also, He's teaching me something. ... and say unto you, receive the Holy Ghost. Sometimes I think it's like God is already preparing a road for you to lead you. I know that God has saved my life so I can serve this mission. It's the priesthood. It's my dad's special blessings given to his son; that's the reason of me being on a mission. And I know that I'm out here. I don't know if I'm going to live too much longer after my mission. I don't know that. But that's not what worries me. What worries me is that my weaknesses don't keep me from finding everybody that Heavenly Father wants me to find while I'm out here serving His mission, because I know He saved my life for a reason.

Up next on The District: He was holding a couple of beers in his hands! The whole tattoo thing, what is the Church's stand on that? My husband has been Catholic forever, and I feel scared to talk to him. We can't really do anything unless she comes to church. The baptism thing, how does it work? The words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do. Are you willing to live the Word of Wisdom? Back then, grape juice wouldn't hold. It had to be wine. Everything is weighing on what you're holding in your hand. And you haven't read it. It's irritating. Something's developing in me. I got an answer: The Mormon's not for me. Well, that's pretty stupid. The Spirit was there so strong. It was like a wall; it hit us. I relapsed last night. It's really frustrating. Just come to church! Will you follow Jesus Christ by being baptized?