So this week was pretty interesting.....gotta pull out the old planner/brain so i can remember it....so on tuesday we had splits. I went with the Duff man and did his hometeaching basically we read the article and they werent very interested so naturally i talked for like 10 minutes to hopefully get them discuss something with me. but no luck. So we left there and went over to Nikki Wilkes house and gave her a blessing for her health, it was kinda wierd im not going to lie, but the next day a member came over and told me that Nikki was really happy that we came over and that the blessing brought her a lot of comfort and peace, so that was sweet.
President is doing some wierd things lately, thats how im going to start this story off.....So there we were...in our apartment, we get a call from the Zone leaders and they tell us that president wants them and us to go on trade-offs with the sisters......my first thought was someone is lying or playing some joke on us. but nope. we went over to traverse city and met up with the zone leaders and cruised down to cadillac, turns out we show up 30 minutes late....the sisters are nowhere to be found.... we call them and they totally didnt believe us, so they ended up calling President and he told them that it was true. so they come down to the church and meet up with us. We watched them do their weekly planning and it was super awkward, they still didnt believe us by the way....so finally the moment comes when we split up and NOW they believe us. so me and Elder Lloyd went with Sister Davies, who has been out for 3 months, and the Zone leaders went with Sister Barras who is still in training and for the whole day we went to appointments with them and it was kinda wierd, the sisters were freaking out at first but things were good after that and we had some fun. So then we went back to Traverse City, and the elders apartment there was so cool. It has this balcony and it was on a hill so we could overlook a lot of the country around there and there were hills and stuff, so it reminded me a lot about home, so that was sad, but im over it now. Me and Lloyd stayed out there for like 5 hours that night so we only got 3 hours of sleep because zone conference was the next day, so we were up and like 5 and drove for over 2 hours down to mt pleasant. Zone conference was pretty sweet i guess. Darley brought me 6 big bags of m&ms, he comes over to me so our backs are facing everyone and opens up his backpack, like we are doing some drug-deal, and the entire thing is filled with m&ms haha! hes a stud. So heres some exciting news. On June 19th the entire mission is going down to Ann Arbor to see Elder Bednar with the Detroit mission! I dont know how PJ is doing all this but i like it. so im excited for that. I guess we are all just going to meet in the chapel and gym of the stake center and he is going to talk to us for 3 hours. Answering questions and teaching us. so thats way exciting!
We had a lot of canceled appointments this week which was frustrating because we were already 2 days out of our area, so our numbers suffered from that, but its all good. Branch President Thomas called us into the young womens yesterday and had us tell all the girls about our investigators Noel and Stephanie Kimbler, so they are going to go over to their house next wednesday and see them and invite them out to church! So that was really cool. Branches are so cool like that, we also had a good-bye party after church for two members that are moving to arizona, haha. Only in a branch, thats for sure. everyone is pretty close up here. Oh heres something funny. So this branch feeds us pretty dang good like 5 times a week about. but Bro hoover had to cancel, so he called up Brother Utykanski to ask him who he should call to have them feed us. Well he wasnt able to find anyone to feed us. So bro UTY caught me yesterday and asked if we got fed and i said no, but its all good people are busy, it happens.... things like that, and he looks at me and says Thats bull crap(edited for the delicate minds out there) then goes on about how we send these kids out and the least we can do is feed them so they dont starve to death doing the Lords work, and he just went off. he was so mad that we missed one day last week. HAH! This branch is so cool. i love it. We found out Scott is still smoking, i guess its down to one a day, but that was disappointing because he said he was done. We are going over there tonight to tell him to put away the childish things dadgumit!
This coming week is going to be good though. We have trade-offs with the Zls and there is an inactive lady that buys a lot of illegal fireworks and she is going to shoot those off and golf in her backyard, plus we might be going fishing with this guy that has been coming to church for 4 years that isnt baptized. so maybe we can catch something there(if you know what i mean), so it should be pretty good. So get this Austin Allen just emailed me and he didnt go snowboarding ONCE since i left! what the crap? he is in SLC right now finishing up his massage therapy school. he says he is graduating this fall, so thats good of him.
So life is good right now. Elder Lloyd is awesome! the work is picking up and we have some sweet goals for the rest of this transfer, so life is good, me and Elder Lloyd have gotten into some crazy discussions this last week about the gospel and the plan and its so crazy how God has made everything so complex...yet so simple. Thats always been the weirdest thing for me. At first glance, for example the Gospel, its really quite simple. We need to have faith, repent, get baptized and receive the Holy Ghost and endure to the end., but when you start to study its design and the why and how it gets so dang complex i have to take a nap every 10 minutes, its like a mind-grenade! But we dont really need to know, He just tells us to follow it. I have been learning a lot lately. Seems like this week it has been about Gods organization and how everything is in order and fits perfectly where it is placed. I cant give you an example or i would just confuse myself, haha. But God is a God of Order, when you start looking around you and when you start breaking things down...its all so perfect. and its when those things get out of order that when the world or an individual starts to digress. I hope that makes sense. i dont know how to explain it without going into too much detail, but back to the basics. God Loves us thats what i know, we wouldnt have such a beautiful world if he didnt, and we sure as heck wouldnt have the blessings that we do have, He is there, and He wants the best for us. God would never give us something or do something that would hurt us spiritually. Life is full of problems yes but those are the times that we grow the most and learn the most. Just like in Alma 7 when it is talking about Christ suffering for all our temptations and pains and everything, it says "that He may know how to succor his people." and so he can know how to have mercy. And something i was thinking about is we all do the same thing up to a point, its our own trials that we overcome, but when we do overcome those, thats when we really KNOW what it feels like for other people in that same situation, THEN we can help them because we have been there. so maybe our trials aren't necessarily for our own personal growth always, but for those people that we will come in contact with that are going through a similar experience. Chew on that! But of course we always have Christ. He is our strength and our hope, Only he can save us from the Fall and He has if we will follow His gospel and thats what ill leave you with, so i hope i wasnt in ramble mode there, but there you have it. So i hope all goes well with you guys this week. Love you bunches.
--
\m/ ~ Elder Larsen ~ \m/
Monday, May 24, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
May 17,2010
Hello all.
I got to go to the temple! Woot woot! It was really cool. Detroit has a pretty small temple, there was only one endowment room and a small baptismal font, but it was still the temple! It was really refreshing going back. I forgot a lot of stuff, so im glad Peej was able to get one approved. It was a long drive though! We left our place at 630 in the morning and got down there at 11, we ended up getting home at 6 or 7 that night. hah, so other than the kinked neck and the long drive it was pretty sweet. Oh and the awkward missionaries. I was kind of on one that day and so in the van i was just talking to everyone having a good time. getting to know the kiddies and there were two elders that were the most robotic, awkward missionaries i have come across yet. so that was fun. i ask them a question and they just give me a wierd look and turn around...whats up with that? there was a greenie sitting next to me that was more social than those guys. man im just venting now. It was a good time.
We talked to Scott last night, and he has been off of cigarettes since last wednesday! yay! We moved his date to June 12th, which is probably my last weekend here. So that worked out perfectly. now he just needs to get off of coffee and he will be set for baptism! im so excited for him. He is a stud. oh i just remembered that i still havent sent pictures to you guys, im a horrible person.
so i have been sitting here for like 10 minutes thinking of what else happened this week and i cant for the life of me think of anything....i even have my planner out. Im pretty sure it was just another boring week. Oh, our branch mission leader is kinda making me mad.....he keeps giving me all these assignments to do, like paperwork .....stuff that we shouldnt even be doing. And he calls us like 3 times a day. and he told us to be 15 minutes early to everything. its all so dumb. We were 1 minute late to a meeting that always starts 10 minutes late and he freaked out and told us that we were late, and now basically he is baby-sitting us, and its only a matter of time before i put him in his place..hah i just had to let that out. He called us this morning at 6:35...who in their right mind, besides missionaries, are up at 630? frustration is what it is. I know he is just trying to do his calling, but he is steppin over the line a bit and im going to break his leg. hah! not really, i just wanted to use that line. so hopefully next week i will have some good updates on that for you. But other than that i dont have much else to say. Im kind of in a stupor right now. So ill end this ridiculous email and say adio! love y'all
I got to go to the temple! Woot woot! It was really cool. Detroit has a pretty small temple, there was only one endowment room and a small baptismal font, but it was still the temple! It was really refreshing going back. I forgot a lot of stuff, so im glad Peej was able to get one approved. It was a long drive though! We left our place at 630 in the morning and got down there at 11, we ended up getting home at 6 or 7 that night. hah, so other than the kinked neck and the long drive it was pretty sweet. Oh and the awkward missionaries. I was kind of on one that day and so in the van i was just talking to everyone having a good time. getting to know the kiddies and there were two elders that were the most robotic, awkward missionaries i have come across yet. so that was fun. i ask them a question and they just give me a wierd look and turn around...whats up with that? there was a greenie sitting next to me that was more social than those guys. man im just venting now. It was a good time.
We talked to Scott last night, and he has been off of cigarettes since last wednesday! yay! We moved his date to June 12th, which is probably my last weekend here. So that worked out perfectly. now he just needs to get off of coffee and he will be set for baptism! im so excited for him. He is a stud. oh i just remembered that i still havent sent pictures to you guys, im a horrible person.
so i have been sitting here for like 10 minutes thinking of what else happened this week and i cant for the life of me think of anything....i even have my planner out. Im pretty sure it was just another boring week. Oh, our branch mission leader is kinda making me mad.....he keeps giving me all these assignments to do, like paperwork .....stuff that we shouldnt even be doing. And he calls us like 3 times a day. and he told us to be 15 minutes early to everything. its all so dumb. We were 1 minute late to a meeting that always starts 10 minutes late and he freaked out and told us that we were late, and now basically he is baby-sitting us, and its only a matter of time before i put him in his place..hah i just had to let that out. He called us this morning at 6:35...who in their right mind, besides missionaries, are up at 630? frustration is what it is. I know he is just trying to do his calling, but he is steppin over the line a bit and im going to break his leg. hah! not really, i just wanted to use that line. so hopefully next week i will have some good updates on that for you. But other than that i dont have much else to say. Im kind of in a stupor right now. So ill end this ridiculous email and say adio! love y'all
Monday, May 3, 2010
May 3,2010
Hello my wonderful family!
So its been a pretty bomb week. I have thoroughly enjoyed myself. So ill start with transfers! Im staying here and i am getting Elder Lloyd. I have heard really good things about him. Little served with him too(by the way im not sure when his homecoming is...ill find out later.) So we should have a pretty solid time. So thats exciting. transfers are tomorrow. We get to talk as long as we want on sunday so thats sweet. Ill be at church from 8:30am - 1:30pm my time. so at maybe 12:00 your time i can call you guys. thats if my comp doesnt call home first. Hopefully a member will be cool with us using a phone or something, so we can both talk all day, hah so ill plan on planning nothing that day so we can chat it up.
So we rocked it up this week. And we only went over like 120 miles! So hopefully PJ wont beat me like last time. haha. So heres what happened. Marcia Haycraft. Shes been an investigator thats just been chillin in our stew pot. We finally were able to get a hold of her and set an appointment. We went over on Splits. I was with Bro Chowhan, and we basically team taught the restoration. He still knows how to teach good! wierd. But it was a very spiritual lesson. She wants us to come over one night and have a campfire and play guitar and stuff, so that will be exciting! Shes a sweet lady, she says if she finds us a mormon husband then she will get baptized. haha! Shes like 65 years old! she complimented me for like 20 minutes about going on a mission and how we are going to be so much ahead of everyone else. and wont have to get divorces and about my dazzling looks. hah, shes halfway blind, so i just took it in stride. hah not really. so she came to church yesterday too.
Then the next day on splits once again. This time i was with Bro Brown, we went over to Scott Schrams! We have been really confused about what Scott needs and if he has been understanding everything, so its been a little bit tough. I taught a lesson on faith and repentance and halfway through i got the thought that i should relate it into the missionary purpose and how we are out her to baptize people, i didnt say it like that but thats the result. Then i gave him a soft-baptism comittment, which is basically when you come to know the church is true we would invite you to be baptized.(which we should have done like 3 lessons ago.) but he said yes...then i asked how he felt about joining the church and getting baptized, because i was still confused about it all, and he said "I want to do it! What do i need to do to get that going?" Hah so i about fell out of my seat, because we still werent sure about how he felt about his baptism in the RLDS church. But i comitted him to May 15 which might be too early, because he smokes......But we are going over that today, The stop smoking program. I think im going to go buy the stuff for him, because he is struggling right now to buy gas to go to work. Im going to make sure he is going to do the program, go over the whole thing and make sure he will do everything. then go pull the stuff out of the trunk. haha im way excited for him. He wants his dad to baptize him so hopefully his dads health improves so he can. see what happens when i go on splits! Miracles! haha Definately was helped there.
we picked up a new gator too. Shes an 18 year old girl, she is definitely searching. She started getting very dramatic talking about how all the religions are so confusing and nothing makes sense. She is going through the old testament and stuff. But she agreed to come over to her grandmothers house(who is a less-active member) every week and learn the lessons. WOOT! Shes golden man, im way excited for her. so those are the biggest things that have happened here. with many more to come! But the Lord has definately blessed me this week. I have been trying really hard to do everything right I slip into lazy mode every now and then, and im sick of doing that. So these past few weeks i have really been trying to do things the Lords way instead of always doing things my way, and its helped me out a lot. Im a lot happier now and im learning a lot more too. So hopefully next transfer we can have some more baptisms coming up, i swear it feels like we are on the tipping point where everything can go amazing and we can have a ton of success. So im excited to talk to you guys next week. I have started getting into the new testament again. Its hard work man. I have been reading one chapter at a time and then going to Jesus the Christ and reading about evertyhitng that i read in that chapter. Its a tedious process but i have learned so much and its made me so much more appreciative of the things that have been done for us. We are so blessed, i never realized how awesome the Bible is too.....dang utah boy. haha its amazing! Its increased my knowledge of the savior tons, who woulda thunk? I have felt the influence of the holy ghost a lot this week, i have said some things that normally i would never say. and im completely comfortable when i teach too, thats how i notice when he is with me in the lesson. I can just sit back and talk like crazy, so things are good in my hood, talk to you next week! bye bye
So its been a pretty bomb week. I have thoroughly enjoyed myself. So ill start with transfers! Im staying here and i am getting Elder Lloyd. I have heard really good things about him. Little served with him too(by the way im not sure when his homecoming is...ill find out later.) So we should have a pretty solid time. So thats exciting. transfers are tomorrow. We get to talk as long as we want on sunday so thats sweet. Ill be at church from 8:30am - 1:30pm my time. so at maybe 12:00 your time i can call you guys. thats if my comp doesnt call home first. Hopefully a member will be cool with us using a phone or something, so we can both talk all day, hah so ill plan on planning nothing that day so we can chat it up.
So we rocked it up this week. And we only went over like 120 miles! So hopefully PJ wont beat me like last time. haha. So heres what happened. Marcia Haycraft. Shes been an investigator thats just been chillin in our stew pot. We finally were able to get a hold of her and set an appointment. We went over on Splits. I was with Bro Chowhan, and we basically team taught the restoration. He still knows how to teach good! wierd. But it was a very spiritual lesson. She wants us to come over one night and have a campfire and play guitar and stuff, so that will be exciting! Shes a sweet lady, she says if she finds us a mormon husband then she will get baptized. haha! Shes like 65 years old! she complimented me for like 20 minutes about going on a mission and how we are going to be so much ahead of everyone else. and wont have to get divorces and about my dazzling looks. hah, shes halfway blind, so i just took it in stride. hah not really. so she came to church yesterday too.
Then the next day on splits once again. This time i was with Bro Brown, we went over to Scott Schrams! We have been really confused about what Scott needs and if he has been understanding everything, so its been a little bit tough. I taught a lesson on faith and repentance and halfway through i got the thought that i should relate it into the missionary purpose and how we are out her to baptize people, i didnt say it like that but thats the result. Then i gave him a soft-baptism comittment, which is basically when you come to know the church is true we would invite you to be baptized.(which we should have done like 3 lessons ago.) but he said yes...then i asked how he felt about joining the church and getting baptized, because i was still confused about it all, and he said "I want to do it! What do i need to do to get that going?" Hah so i about fell out of my seat, because we still werent sure about how he felt about his baptism in the RLDS church. But i comitted him to May 15 which might be too early, because he smokes......But we are going over that today, The stop smoking program. I think im going to go buy the stuff for him, because he is struggling right now to buy gas to go to work. Im going to make sure he is going to do the program, go over the whole thing and make sure he will do everything. then go pull the stuff out of the trunk. haha im way excited for him. He wants his dad to baptize him so hopefully his dads health improves so he can. see what happens when i go on splits! Miracles! haha Definately was helped there.
we picked up a new gator too. Shes an 18 year old girl, she is definitely searching. She started getting very dramatic talking about how all the religions are so confusing and nothing makes sense. She is going through the old testament and stuff. But she agreed to come over to her grandmothers house(who is a less-active member) every week and learn the lessons. WOOT! Shes golden man, im way excited for her. so those are the biggest things that have happened here. with many more to come! But the Lord has definately blessed me this week. I have been trying really hard to do everything right I slip into lazy mode every now and then, and im sick of doing that. So these past few weeks i have really been trying to do things the Lords way instead of always doing things my way, and its helped me out a lot. Im a lot happier now and im learning a lot more too. So hopefully next transfer we can have some more baptisms coming up, i swear it feels like we are on the tipping point where everything can go amazing and we can have a ton of success. So im excited to talk to you guys next week. I have started getting into the new testament again. Its hard work man. I have been reading one chapter at a time and then going to Jesus the Christ and reading about evertyhitng that i read in that chapter. Its a tedious process but i have learned so much and its made me so much more appreciative of the things that have been done for us. We are so blessed, i never realized how awesome the Bible is too.....dang utah boy. haha its amazing! Its increased my knowledge of the savior tons, who woulda thunk? I have felt the influence of the holy ghost a lot this week, i have said some things that normally i would never say. and im completely comfortable when i teach too, thats how i notice when he is with me in the lesson. I can just sit back and talk like crazy, so things are good in my hood, talk to you next week! bye bye
Monday, April 26, 2010
April 26,2010
Hey there,
So this week we didnt have a whole lot happen with our gators. It was kinda stupid but it happens. It was actually our worst week yet as far as numbers are concerned. And it was perfectly timed too, because we had branch council on sunday so we got to show everyone how bad we did. Hah it was a rough week, we dont have any miles to do anything and we had a bunch of cancelled appointments and stuff like that. The church is cutting back miles a ton. Its getting hard to do anything anymore. We have one of the biggest areas in the mission. It takes about an hour to get from the northern part to the southern, and we are only given like 900 miles for an entire month...so it gets tough sometimes but its all good, so nothing new there. But we were able to hand out about 250 pass-a-long cards before the parade started. It was way tight, we actually got a referral this morning from it. So pray that other people will call in so we can have more people to teach! We are hoping they flood in. But im kinda expecting only like 3 out of all of those cards. Hah maybe im just being pessimistic or something. so that was a fun time. We sat in our windows and watched the parade. then after we tried to talk to some people, but the street emptied in minutes, it was nuts. So then it rained the rest of the festival, so thats good.
We had a district meeting friday and SURPRISE! President showed up, so i actually had to tie my tie and tuck my shirt in. But it went really well actually. He talked to us about some good stuff. then we had interviews, and it was actually one of the best i have had. normally i get some kind of rebuking, hah. But he was giving me mad props about some stuff that i had been working on, so that was helpful. Hopefully he doesnt want me to train or be DL, that wouldn't be good. but i doubt he does. So nothing much else happened. We made a turkey yesterday. that was sweet! Im totally out of food so thats all we had left. I couldnt eat any more expired mac n cheese so we roasted a turkey, and i think it gave me diarrhea for a minute. so thats not good. We are going on trade-offs again! YAY! Darley is coming here and we are going to have a partay. So its been a pretty boring week. sorry theres nothing more to say. But things are going good with me. I learn so much, especially lately. I have been reading a ton. I study a lot, yesterday was raining cats and dogs and we couldnt use our car so we didnt do a whole lot. So i got to study and take a nap. That was refreshing! so ya. Thats about all that i have for you this week. I was going to tell you something sweet i was studying, but i cant remember now. Thats awesome that mom and bri are starting to read together. Everytime you open it you learn a lot. And another thing i noticed is that whenever im mad at my comp...well more annoyed than anything and i open the bom my attitude completely changes after im done reading and all that goes away. Just another testimony of its truth and the Spirit blessing my life every moment of every day. And it does, im beginning to see it more and more. And its always the times that are hard that i realize that i hadnt prayed or i hadnt done something right, haha so its so important to live so we can have the Holy Ghost because it blesses us more than we know. So i hope you guys are doing good. Thank you for your prayers, i need them. Love you guys so much!
--
So this week we didnt have a whole lot happen with our gators. It was kinda stupid but it happens. It was actually our worst week yet as far as numbers are concerned. And it was perfectly timed too, because we had branch council on sunday so we got to show everyone how bad we did. Hah it was a rough week, we dont have any miles to do anything and we had a bunch of cancelled appointments and stuff like that. The church is cutting back miles a ton. Its getting hard to do anything anymore. We have one of the biggest areas in the mission. It takes about an hour to get from the northern part to the southern, and we are only given like 900 miles for an entire month...so it gets tough sometimes but its all good, so nothing new there. But we were able to hand out about 250 pass-a-long cards before the parade started. It was way tight, we actually got a referral this morning from it. So pray that other people will call in so we can have more people to teach! We are hoping they flood in. But im kinda expecting only like 3 out of all of those cards. Hah maybe im just being pessimistic or something. so that was a fun time. We sat in our windows and watched the parade. then after we tried to talk to some people, but the street emptied in minutes, it was nuts. So then it rained the rest of the festival, so thats good.
We had a district meeting friday and SURPRISE! President showed up, so i actually had to tie my tie and tuck my shirt in. But it went really well actually. He talked to us about some good stuff. then we had interviews, and it was actually one of the best i have had. normally i get some kind of rebuking, hah. But he was giving me mad props about some stuff that i had been working on, so that was helpful. Hopefully he doesnt want me to train or be DL, that wouldn't be good. but i doubt he does. So nothing much else happened. We made a turkey yesterday. that was sweet! Im totally out of food so thats all we had left. I couldnt eat any more expired mac n cheese so we roasted a turkey, and i think it gave me diarrhea for a minute. so thats not good. We are going on trade-offs again! YAY! Darley is coming here and we are going to have a partay. So its been a pretty boring week. sorry theres nothing more to say. But things are going good with me. I learn so much, especially lately. I have been reading a ton. I study a lot, yesterday was raining cats and dogs and we couldnt use our car so we didnt do a whole lot. So i got to study and take a nap. That was refreshing! so ya. Thats about all that i have for you this week. I was going to tell you something sweet i was studying, but i cant remember now. Thats awesome that mom and bri are starting to read together. Everytime you open it you learn a lot. And another thing i noticed is that whenever im mad at my comp...well more annoyed than anything and i open the bom my attitude completely changes after im done reading and all that goes away. Just another testimony of its truth and the Spirit blessing my life every moment of every day. And it does, im beginning to see it more and more. And its always the times that are hard that i realize that i hadnt prayed or i hadnt done something right, haha so its so important to live so we can have the Holy Ghost because it blesses us more than we know. So i hope you guys are doing good. Thank you for your prayers, i need them. Love you guys so much!
--
Monday, April 19, 2010
April 19,2010
Buenos dias!
So i dont know if you guys know it...but mothers day is in three weeks. So thats good right!? So trade-offs were really good. It was nice to be with Elder Darley for a few days. He is such a stud. He said he was going to email you mom, so you will have to let me know if he did. email him back for sure. He is sweet. But ya i think we are doing another trade-off next week too, haha so thats sweet. He is supposed to do two, and we are the only other elders in his district, so yippie! This week we have interviews, so ill let you know how that goes. We had district conference, i think i told you about that. There is a guy in our ward, hes in his twenties. He come up to me and says "your mission president isnt like my mission president. Yours isnt a good speaker, he wont be a general authority, he might make it to stake president, but no further." haha it was so funny, then i told him the talk he gave was basically our zone conference. hah it was funny. finally someone that feels my pain! Its all good though.
So this week we did some good stuff, we picked up some old investigators, so that was good. I strategically shared a message about the book of mormon to break the ice a little when they straight up and told me all their issues with our beliefs. but they were way open to learn again, so thats pretty sweet, shes a nice lady. She feels bad we are away from our moms so she gives us hugs all the time, haha. thought you would like that mom. We keep having problems with our gators! Valorie cant come to church so we cant invite her to be baptized. I asked if there was anthing she could do to get sundays off or change the schedule around and she said it would be hard and that we are her excuse or church, she counts us.....And then we had a talk with Scott the rlds baptized guy and got into a discussion about the history of the church and where it split and where the priesthood authority went and the difference between us and them, but im not sure if it clicked that he needs to be rebaptized....so i dont know. He came to church again, so at least we didnt scare him off.
Basically thats all the exciting stuff that happened, we taught a bunch of less active people, but not a whole lot happened with them, just the same old same old. This week there is the trout festival, its a pretty big deal around here and i had all these great plans for it and they are getting smashed one by one.....its frustrating. These were my plans, There were some missionaries in our mission that made a ginormous Book of mormon to carry around. I was going to get that and go through the parade with it and get some other missionaries to come and pass out cards down the road. but for some reason we cant get in the parade. We were going to set up a booth at the flea market, but it turns out if costs 50 bucks to do it because they are almost full now.....And im not about to pay that much just so i can stand around all day and talk to a bunch of ignorant people. haha so basically everyhting fell through. Im still going to call PJ and have him bring the book of mormon up to us and i guess we will just walk around and talk to people. So that will be fun, and i was wondering if i could get some dough for the flea market this weekend. I hate asking for money, but im pretty sure im running low again, im not sure how..... so if you could that would be sweet, if not its all good. but ya, my friends are all doing really good. you keep asking and i think i forget to answer. But ya they are all happy. Adrian is getting a new comp soon. he is sick of finding he says. They find for like 35 hours a week, thats rediculous if you ask me, but whatev. So ya i think his bday was last week or so.....so ya and tylers i think is the 30th. I might have those two mixed up but i think im right. haha so ya, they are good. And im good and im loving it here. Im growing a lot and ecoming a better teacher. The Lord had blessed me a lot since coming here. My knowlege of his plan and gospel have increased and im just about to start the book of mormon over again. It should be about the 6th time i think! Its so sweet how much you learn everytime you read it. PJ gave the same bom challenge to the whole District up here so that was kinda cool. The church is true, Christ reigns, The signs of the times are here! They are popping up everywhere. I was actually reading in mormon last night and he talked about the 'vapors of smoke' and pollution in the skies' sounds a lot like a volcano i heard of right? and what the crap is up with the earthquake in Utah. did you guys know the wasatch faultline is waaay overdue for an earthquake? just an FYI nothing to be afraid of though! God is with us and if we die we die! who cares! haha so ya . Read the Bom and the bible. i cant wait until i can study Isaiah more. Its stressed so much in the Book of Mormon. Its pretty sweet. Nephi says to read it, Christ says to read it, Mormon says to read it and im sure there are more. But its pretty sweet. i study it in sacrament meeting haha cuz i kinda dont like that hour, except for the sacrament of course. so ya. Thats my food for thought...actually chew on this. Where do you think the 3 nephites are right now?, this doesnt have anything to do with salvation, but its fun to think about. Maybe i will draw you guys a picture of what i think they look/ed like and where they have been and what they have been involved in. Seems like im just rambling now so i guess ill stop typing.
I dont know if that garden could possibly be put back together. Didnt it kinda become the field? hahah You guys should make one though. Like maybe where the sandbox is. Put a border around it and stuff. make it real nice. that would be cool, cuz m pretty sure the end of the world is right around the corner, so maybe it would be wise. You know the apostles and prophets said to have food storage and a garden for like 40 years, and in the last few they havent even mentioned it. So maybe they think that if you cant remember or dont do it, then good luck to you. I wouldnt quote that on being their exact thoughts but maybe something similar.
Love you guys. Have a good week!
So i dont know if you guys know it...but mothers day is in three weeks. So thats good right!? So trade-offs were really good. It was nice to be with Elder Darley for a few days. He is such a stud. He said he was going to email you mom, so you will have to let me know if he did. email him back for sure. He is sweet. But ya i think we are doing another trade-off next week too, haha so thats sweet. He is supposed to do two, and we are the only other elders in his district, so yippie! This week we have interviews, so ill let you know how that goes. We had district conference, i think i told you about that. There is a guy in our ward, hes in his twenties. He come up to me and says "your mission president isnt like my mission president. Yours isnt a good speaker, he wont be a general authority, he might make it to stake president, but no further." haha it was so funny, then i told him the talk he gave was basically our zone conference. hah it was funny. finally someone that feels my pain! Its all good though.
So this week we did some good stuff, we picked up some old investigators, so that was good. I strategically shared a message about the book of mormon to break the ice a little when they straight up and told me all their issues with our beliefs. but they were way open to learn again, so thats pretty sweet, shes a nice lady. She feels bad we are away from our moms so she gives us hugs all the time, haha. thought you would like that mom. We keep having problems with our gators! Valorie cant come to church so we cant invite her to be baptized. I asked if there was anthing she could do to get sundays off or change the schedule around and she said it would be hard and that we are her excuse or church, she counts us.....And then we had a talk with Scott the rlds baptized guy and got into a discussion about the history of the church and where it split and where the priesthood authority went and the difference between us and them, but im not sure if it clicked that he needs to be rebaptized....so i dont know. He came to church again, so at least we didnt scare him off.
Basically thats all the exciting stuff that happened, we taught a bunch of less active people, but not a whole lot happened with them, just the same old same old. This week there is the trout festival, its a pretty big deal around here and i had all these great plans for it and they are getting smashed one by one.....its frustrating. These were my plans, There were some missionaries in our mission that made a ginormous Book of mormon to carry around. I was going to get that and go through the parade with it and get some other missionaries to come and pass out cards down the road. but for some reason we cant get in the parade. We were going to set up a booth at the flea market, but it turns out if costs 50 bucks to do it because they are almost full now.....And im not about to pay that much just so i can stand around all day and talk to a bunch of ignorant people. haha so basically everyhting fell through. Im still going to call PJ and have him bring the book of mormon up to us and i guess we will just walk around and talk to people. So that will be fun, and i was wondering if i could get some dough for the flea market this weekend. I hate asking for money, but im pretty sure im running low again, im not sure how..... so if you could that would be sweet, if not its all good. but ya, my friends are all doing really good. you keep asking and i think i forget to answer. But ya they are all happy. Adrian is getting a new comp soon. he is sick of finding he says. They find for like 35 hours a week, thats rediculous if you ask me, but whatev. So ya i think his bday was last week or so.....so ya and tylers i think is the 30th. I might have those two mixed up but i think im right. haha so ya, they are good. And im good and im loving it here. Im growing a lot and ecoming a better teacher. The Lord had blessed me a lot since coming here. My knowlege of his plan and gospel have increased and im just about to start the book of mormon over again. It should be about the 6th time i think! Its so sweet how much you learn everytime you read it. PJ gave the same bom challenge to the whole District up here so that was kinda cool. The church is true, Christ reigns, The signs of the times are here! They are popping up everywhere. I was actually reading in mormon last night and he talked about the 'vapors of smoke' and pollution in the skies' sounds a lot like a volcano i heard of right? and what the crap is up with the earthquake in Utah. did you guys know the wasatch faultline is waaay overdue for an earthquake? just an FYI nothing to be afraid of though! God is with us and if we die we die! who cares! haha so ya . Read the Bom and the bible. i cant wait until i can study Isaiah more. Its stressed so much in the Book of Mormon. Its pretty sweet. Nephi says to read it, Christ says to read it, Mormon says to read it and im sure there are more. But its pretty sweet. i study it in sacrament meeting haha cuz i kinda dont like that hour, except for the sacrament of course. so ya. Thats my food for thought...actually chew on this. Where do you think the 3 nephites are right now?, this doesnt have anything to do with salvation, but its fun to think about. Maybe i will draw you guys a picture of what i think they look/ed like and where they have been and what they have been involved in. Seems like im just rambling now so i guess ill stop typing.
I dont know if that garden could possibly be put back together. Didnt it kinda become the field? hahah You guys should make one though. Like maybe where the sandbox is. Put a border around it and stuff. make it real nice. that would be cool, cuz m pretty sure the end of the world is right around the corner, so maybe it would be wise. You know the apostles and prophets said to have food storage and a garden for like 40 years, and in the last few they havent even mentioned it. So maybe they think that if you cant remember or dont do it, then good luck to you. I wouldnt quote that on being their exact thoughts but maybe something similar.
Love you guys. Have a good week!
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
April 12,2010
Hello Family,
So this week was a little bit crazy. kinda boring at the same time. Tuesday we went on splits and i was able to go with bro Chowhan! He is the most enthusiastic, excited guy i have ever met. He was so fun to talk to. He actually lived in Smithfield for like a year or two, kinda by the auction place. And he is a power-lifter, so i got to talk all about dad. Hah he was pretty impressed needless to say. It was way fun though he kept driving past everyones houses that we were supposed to be seeing because he would start telling me a story about something on his mission. Pretty dang funny. He went on his mission to Ft Lauderdale FL when he was 25 and he was benching 350 his whole mission. hah i thought that was sweet. So we had a good time there.
Wednesday we had Zone conference, which was pretty sweet. We talked a lot about the atonement, so i learned a few new things, then talked numbers for the rest of it. Elder Little gave his departing testimony. It was so funny! Everyone before him was like "I cant believe im up here right now, im in denial i think." Then he gets up and puts his arms up and says "I have been waiting for this moment for a long long time!" And said a bunch of funny things. So he will be going home on Cinco de Mayo. So you guys will have to go to his homecoming talk or something, i love that kid, hes so dang funny.
so right after that we went over to Sis. Wysockis...I dont think i ever told you about her....Well we were getting mail one day and this lady stops us and starts talking to us and to make the story short she has been a member her whole life and has been inactive for 30 years, so she invited us over. We went over and she said she doesnt believe in God, shes more into the scientific view of things. Which is probably the first time i have met someone here in Michigan that doesnt believe in God. But we got to talking and i asked if we could share some things that we really believe and she accepted and so we taught her the Restoration, Then she invited us over for dinner. We had dinner with her and turns out she had invited her son-in-law over, because of the whole single sister rule. But after the meal she asked if we wanted to share something, so i popped in the Finding Happiness dvd, which just talks about how there seems to be a design in nature and how there must be a designer. and after i just bore my testimony and she said "That was really peaceful" But I dont think she knew what that was....Anyways her son-in-law started asking us questions about the church and we talked about some of the history of the church and basically taught the Restoration again. But his questions were way cool. So hopfully there is some good potential there, he said he might take his mothers BoM and read it if he gets a chance. So that was really cool.
Then on Thursday we ran into a lady that has been inactive for a while. It was really funny because her son answered the door. He was probably in his 40s and he opened the door and he had this crazy, glazed-over look in his eye, and he looked like he was about to shoot laser beams out of his eyes, then i glanced down and in his hand was a knife! So before i could even say anything to him about who we were and who we were looking for, he just said "Come on in..." So i was like oh , I'm about to get stabbed." I stepped inside and walked past him real quick, just tense and ready to pounce on him if that arm moved. Luckily he turned out to be a nice guy, but he just about got administered to by the laying on of hands! if you know what i mean! He was watching his mother that has been a member forever and has worked in the temple for a long time and stuff, she has just been sick and wasnt sure where church was, so that was sweet.
Then on Friday we were able to see Valorie Palmer, who is now our top investigator. It was sweet we went over like 25 minutes late(we called dont worry) but it was sweet because she used that time to study some more so when we got there she had read what we had asked and even a little bit more. But we decided to teach about prayer. Which was perfect because she started talking about how she has been praying and she wasnt sure if she was doing it right, so we got to clear that up and taught a pretty spiritual lesson on prayer, it was the first time i have actually pulled out PMG and read something from there, and it worked really well, i just read about what some of the blessings of prayer was and bore testimony. It was way sweet. She had even written down some of her questions that she had come up with, and i was giving her mad props for doing that and she was like " Ya i have to write everything down becuase ill forget if i dont" And as she was saying that she was showing a little bit of her notebook, and i noticed that she had been basically re-writing every verse she read! She had 3 whole pages of notes about the things she had read in one chapter. I was blown away! I said" Wait a minute hold up! most missionaries dont even do that!" Hahah it was really sweet. So she is basically golden, so that was sweet.
Then on Sat and Sun, we had District conference(like Stake conference....but a lot smaller)
That was kinda boring, PJ just got up and gave the exact same talk he gave in the last 3 zone conferences. haha it was all good though. But afterwards we went on Trade-offs! So im in Bear Lake right now With Elder Darley, he is a stud. We are having a three day vacation. I mean Trade-off.....Its sweet though. So funny story. Last night we went down by the beach to shoot some hoops for a bit, and i took off my watch and my wallet and set it down by the hoop. Well you can probably guess, i left it there. And this morning, well actually like noon, i realized what i had done and we cruised back down there, i was just about getting ready to punch a whole in the window, But good news It was still there! Woot! The only thing they stole was my temple Recommend. And i dont even need that out here, so its all good! No not really im just messin. I was so scared though. Rediculous.
So thats basically my week. We have had some good stuff happen, so we have been pretty blessed here. Im getting to know the area more and starting to teach some sweet lessons. So things are good. The church is true, The book is blue, have a great week.
--
So this week was a little bit crazy. kinda boring at the same time. Tuesday we went on splits and i was able to go with bro Chowhan! He is the most enthusiastic, excited guy i have ever met. He was so fun to talk to. He actually lived in Smithfield for like a year or two, kinda by the auction place. And he is a power-lifter, so i got to talk all about dad. Hah he was pretty impressed needless to say. It was way fun though he kept driving past everyones houses that we were supposed to be seeing because he would start telling me a story about something on his mission. Pretty dang funny. He went on his mission to Ft Lauderdale FL when he was 25 and he was benching 350 his whole mission. hah i thought that was sweet. So we had a good time there.
Wednesday we had Zone conference, which was pretty sweet. We talked a lot about the atonement, so i learned a few new things, then talked numbers for the rest of it. Elder Little gave his departing testimony. It was so funny! Everyone before him was like "I cant believe im up here right now, im in denial i think." Then he gets up and puts his arms up and says "I have been waiting for this moment for a long long time!" And said a bunch of funny things. So he will be going home on Cinco de Mayo. So you guys will have to go to his homecoming talk or something, i love that kid, hes so dang funny.
so right after that we went over to Sis. Wysockis...I dont think i ever told you about her....Well we were getting mail one day and this lady stops us and starts talking to us and to make the story short she has been a member her whole life and has been inactive for 30 years, so she invited us over. We went over and she said she doesnt believe in God, shes more into the scientific view of things. Which is probably the first time i have met someone here in Michigan that doesnt believe in God. But we got to talking and i asked if we could share some things that we really believe and she accepted and so we taught her the Restoration, Then she invited us over for dinner. We had dinner with her and turns out she had invited her son-in-law over, because of the whole single sister rule. But after the meal she asked if we wanted to share something, so i popped in the Finding Happiness dvd, which just talks about how there seems to be a design in nature and how there must be a designer. and after i just bore my testimony and she said "That was really peaceful" But I dont think she knew what that was....Anyways her son-in-law started asking us questions about the church and we talked about some of the history of the church and basically taught the Restoration again. But his questions were way cool. So hopfully there is some good potential there, he said he might take his mothers BoM and read it if he gets a chance. So that was really cool.
Then on Thursday we ran into a lady that has been inactive for a while. It was really funny because her son answered the door. He was probably in his 40s and he opened the door and he had this crazy, glazed-over look in his eye, and he looked like he was about to shoot laser beams out of his eyes, then i glanced down and in his hand was a knife! So before i could even say anything to him about who we were and who we were looking for, he just said "Come on in..." So i was like oh , I'm about to get stabbed." I stepped inside and walked past him real quick, just tense and ready to pounce on him if that arm moved. Luckily he turned out to be a nice guy, but he just about got administered to by the laying on of hands! if you know what i mean! He was watching his mother that has been a member forever and has worked in the temple for a long time and stuff, she has just been sick and wasnt sure where church was, so that was sweet.
Then on Friday we were able to see Valorie Palmer, who is now our top investigator. It was sweet we went over like 25 minutes late(we called dont worry) but it was sweet because she used that time to study some more so when we got there she had read what we had asked and even a little bit more. But we decided to teach about prayer. Which was perfect because she started talking about how she has been praying and she wasnt sure if she was doing it right, so we got to clear that up and taught a pretty spiritual lesson on prayer, it was the first time i have actually pulled out PMG and read something from there, and it worked really well, i just read about what some of the blessings of prayer was and bore testimony. It was way sweet. She had even written down some of her questions that she had come up with, and i was giving her mad props for doing that and she was like " Ya i have to write everything down becuase ill forget if i dont" And as she was saying that she was showing a little bit of her notebook, and i noticed that she had been basically re-writing every verse she read! She had 3 whole pages of notes about the things she had read in one chapter. I was blown away! I said" Wait a minute hold up! most missionaries dont even do that!" Hahah it was really sweet. So she is basically golden, so that was sweet.
Then on Sat and Sun, we had District conference(like Stake conference....but a lot smaller)
That was kinda boring, PJ just got up and gave the exact same talk he gave in the last 3 zone conferences. haha it was all good though. But afterwards we went on Trade-offs! So im in Bear Lake right now With Elder Darley, he is a stud. We are having a three day vacation. I mean Trade-off.....Its sweet though. So funny story. Last night we went down by the beach to shoot some hoops for a bit, and i took off my watch and my wallet and set it down by the hoop. Well you can probably guess, i left it there. And this morning, well actually like noon, i realized what i had done and we cruised back down there, i was just about getting ready to punch a whole in the window, But good news It was still there! Woot! The only thing they stole was my temple Recommend. And i dont even need that out here, so its all good! No not really im just messin. I was so scared though. Rediculous.
So thats basically my week. We have had some good stuff happen, so we have been pretty blessed here. Im getting to know the area more and starting to teach some sweet lessons. So things are good. The church is true, The book is blue, have a great week.
--
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
April 5,2010
So conference was awesome! We were able to get Scott Schram one of our investigators to priesthood session and another session, so that was way cool! He liked it a lot, so hopefully we can get him in the water soon, he was raised rlds and so he has already been baptized and has told us that, so we are going to have to go into detail about priesthood authority and probably the history of the church. he is way sweet though. So i left my notes at the apartment, but my favotite talks were probably Dieter F Uchtdorfs talk about patience, i wrote a page about that talk, good stuff. Boyd K Packers talk cleared up a lot of things for me about blessings and priesthood and stuff, President Thomas's talk were all amazing, he is such an awesome guy, it blows me away. Henry B Eyring is one of my favorite speakers too, his talks were good. I wish i had my notes i had so many good quotes and i cant think of them right now. but ya there were some sweet ones. Some of them i will be sharing with my gators when i can print them off.
But other than conference it was just a normal week. We were able to teach some of our gators. We have some really cool ones right now so hopefully in the time im here we can baptize them. that gives me three months. if not whatev. We have Scott, who came to conference, we will hopefully be going fishing with him soon, Valorie Palmer is really interested in Joseph Smith and thats why she started wanting to learn more. Weaver gave her Our Heritage, so she can read about him, i would rather she read the BoM but whatever, Marcia i havent met yet, but she seems pretty solid from what i have heard, Chris has been an investigator, he is the one i think is a crack addict, hopefully not. He needs to get in da wata too. One thing cool that happened, Wednesday i went on splits with some members, i went to some old ladys house and her son and his family were there, so i was like score, i can teach the whole family now. I had it all planned out in my head what scriptures i would share and how to bring up the BoM and everything, and i asked if i could share something and they said yes, and i asked if they were religious at all, and they said, ya were mormon, we just dont go.....i was happy but at the same time sad because i wanted to get some new gators. But it turns out the daughters that were there arent baptized and so one of them asked how our church is different than the Baptists(i dont know why we are always compared to the baptists)so i got to talking about the restoration of the gospel and the priesthood and they were all listening to the lesson and it was way cool. They want to come to church and have us come over more, so that was good, but the two daughters have now become our investigators, yay!
This district is absolutely insane....I cant stand it actually, 5 sister missionaries 4 elders, and a senior couple.....shoot me in the head. There is only one guy i like and thats elder darley my district leader. We have a 29 year old sister that acts like a 17 year old.....i think everyone here remembers bessie smith...its like her all over again. Its rediculous, i just kinda sit in the back and fall asleep while all the girls are talking....Woe is me!
Im giving you my address again so you cant say you didnt get it
P.O. Box 912
Kalkaska, MI 94646
Sorry this was so boring, but it was a boring week, welcome to the great north!
But other than conference it was just a normal week. We were able to teach some of our gators. We have some really cool ones right now so hopefully in the time im here we can baptize them. that gives me three months. if not whatev. We have Scott, who came to conference, we will hopefully be going fishing with him soon, Valorie Palmer is really interested in Joseph Smith and thats why she started wanting to learn more. Weaver gave her Our Heritage, so she can read about him, i would rather she read the BoM but whatever, Marcia i havent met yet, but she seems pretty solid from what i have heard, Chris has been an investigator, he is the one i think is a crack addict, hopefully not. He needs to get in da wata too. One thing cool that happened, Wednesday i went on splits with some members, i went to some old ladys house and her son and his family were there, so i was like score, i can teach the whole family now. I had it all planned out in my head what scriptures i would share and how to bring up the BoM and everything, and i asked if i could share something and they said yes, and i asked if they were religious at all, and they said, ya were mormon, we just dont go.....i was happy but at the same time sad because i wanted to get some new gators. But it turns out the daughters that were there arent baptized and so one of them asked how our church is different than the Baptists(i dont know why we are always compared to the baptists)so i got to talking about the restoration of the gospel and the priesthood and they were all listening to the lesson and it was way cool. They want to come to church and have us come over more, so that was good, but the two daughters have now become our investigators, yay!
This district is absolutely insane....I cant stand it actually, 5 sister missionaries 4 elders, and a senior couple.....shoot me in the head. There is only one guy i like and thats elder darley my district leader. We have a 29 year old sister that acts like a 17 year old.....i think everyone here remembers bessie smith...its like her all over again. Its rediculous, i just kinda sit in the back and fall asleep while all the girls are talking....Woe is me!
Im giving you my address again so you cant say you didnt get it
P.O. Box 912
Kalkaska, MI 94646
Sorry this was so boring, but it was a boring week, welcome to the great north!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)