Thursday, April 20, 2017
April 5th, 2017
I am so blessed!!!!
So first I'll tell ya about how the work went this week. We saw miracle after miracle. We brought Susannah to a member's house to watch conference. She really seemed to like it and the Spirit of the members home helped so much. They are also amazing member missionaries because they invited her to the Sunday session and pretty much did everything on their own without us asking. It's so nice when you can put your complete trust in the members. She loved the Sunday session as well and we taught her Monday and talked more about it and she is still on the search but she is really enjoying her journey and is striving to do what's right. I had a cool insight while explaining to her how she will get her answer. I said that we all want to get to the top of the mountain (our answer). We know that there is a mountain there because we have a map (scriptures), a compass (Holy Ghost), and we have friends who have been to the top and tell us how great it is (members), and we have guides to help us (missionaries). The only problem is the pathway to the top is clouded by a super thick fog. We can barely see 5 feet ahead let alone the top of the mountain so we have to walk in faith hoping that the mountain is there and that the map and compass actually work. As we walk, the pathway is fairly easy but as we continue it starts to get steep and difficult to climb. This can be an evidence that we are on the right path because we are going up. Even though we know we are on the mountain now we still have to use the map and compass to keep walking in the right direction until the perfect day where we break he fog line and we reach the top and see clearly the thing we were searching for. In the end, taking the trip taught us just as much as what is at the top of the mountain. I love how much the Spirit teaches me as I try to teach.
Another crazy miracle we had was with a guy named Christian. Now we had met Christian a while ago through his roommate. They are both Romanian so there is a bit of a language barrier and when we met Christian he said he was a member. He explained that his mom and sister were baptized and he went to church with them in Romania. He has long since gone inactive and now he wants to come back so we shared the restoration with them and it was a powerful teach. Christian was stoked to come to conference and an awesome member named Charlie was able to give him a ride and we tagged along. On the way my companion asked when he was baptized and he said 3 or 4 months. We were confused and through clarification using pictures we found that he had never actually been baptized and he wasn't a member. It was so crazy! He loved conference.
There are so many cool miracles that happened to us this week and those are just a few but I would say the best thing that happened to me this week has been Elder Aguiar. So I found out last Monday that Elder Dey was leaving to be an office elder and I was going to get a new guy I had never met but heard great things about. On Friday we had a Zone Leader training at President Gubler's house and Elder Aguiar and I met for the first time. He has only been out for 7 months and he was on the island of Guernsey for the whole time which is a branch of 8 active members haha so Friday we became companions because Dey had to go in the office early and learn the ropes. Elder Aguiar and I became best friends shortly after. We have been together for less than 6 days and I have never been so happy on my mission. We have been working so hard, seeing so many cool miracles, laughing loads, and doing God's work. He is my best friend and I'm so stoked to be with him. I'm not exactly sure why we got so close so quick but it makes being a missionary so much fun when you are with your best friend. On Monday, 3 days into our companionship, we went to lunch with my favourite member in the area and we both walked away with headaches from laughing so hard and then went on to teach a really powerful lesson. Everyday has flown by and in the 6 days we have been together we have already forgotten to eat dinner twice because we have been working so hard. One of our random stories is we were driving home for really quick dinner and because we had an appointment at 6 and we saw to kids playing basketball (a very rare sight in this country) and I joking said to Aguiar, "wanna play basket ball?" And he said, "you won't pull over." So I did and we played with them for 20 minutes in our white shirts and ties and then got their phone numbers to play again and share a message. Then we walked away laughing just thinking what the heck just happened. We are having so much fun!!!!
So first I'll tell ya about how the work went this week. We saw miracle after miracle. We brought Susannah to a member's house to watch conference. She really seemed to like it and the Spirit of the members home helped so much. They are also amazing member missionaries because they invited her to the Sunday session and pretty much did everything on their own without us asking. It's so nice when you can put your complete trust in the members. She loved the Sunday session as well and we taught her Monday and talked more about it and she is still on the search but she is really enjoying her journey and is striving to do what's right. I had a cool insight while explaining to her how she will get her answer. I said that we all want to get to the top of the mountain (our answer). We know that there is a mountain there because we have a map (scriptures), a compass (Holy Ghost), and we have friends who have been to the top and tell us how great it is (members), and we have guides to help us (missionaries). The only problem is the pathway to the top is clouded by a super thick fog. We can barely see 5 feet ahead let alone the top of the mountain so we have to walk in faith hoping that the mountain is there and that the map and compass actually work. As we walk, the pathway is fairly easy but as we continue it starts to get steep and difficult to climb. This can be an evidence that we are on the right path because we are going up. Even though we know we are on the mountain now we still have to use the map and compass to keep walking in the right direction until the perfect day where we break he fog line and we reach the top and see clearly the thing we were searching for. In the end, taking the trip taught us just as much as what is at the top of the mountain. I love how much the Spirit teaches me as I try to teach.
Another crazy miracle we had was with a guy named Christian. Now we had met Christian a while ago through his roommate. They are both Romanian so there is a bit of a language barrier and when we met Christian he said he was a member. He explained that his mom and sister were baptized and he went to church with them in Romania. He has long since gone inactive and now he wants to come back so we shared the restoration with them and it was a powerful teach. Christian was stoked to come to conference and an awesome member named Charlie was able to give him a ride and we tagged along. On the way my companion asked when he was baptized and he said 3 or 4 months. We were confused and through clarification using pictures we found that he had never actually been baptized and he wasn't a member. It was so crazy! He loved conference.
There are so many cool miracles that happened to us this week and those are just a few but I would say the best thing that happened to me this week has been Elder Aguiar. So I found out last Monday that Elder Dey was leaving to be an office elder and I was going to get a new guy I had never met but heard great things about. On Friday we had a Zone Leader training at President Gubler's house and Elder Aguiar and I met for the first time. He has only been out for 7 months and he was on the island of Guernsey for the whole time which is a branch of 8 active members haha so Friday we became companions because Dey had to go in the office early and learn the ropes. Elder Aguiar and I became best friends shortly after. We have been together for less than 6 days and I have never been so happy on my mission. We have been working so hard, seeing so many cool miracles, laughing loads, and doing God's work. He is my best friend and I'm so stoked to be with him. I'm not exactly sure why we got so close so quick but it makes being a missionary so much fun when you are with your best friend. On Monday, 3 days into our companionship, we went to lunch with my favourite member in the area and we both walked away with headaches from laughing so hard and then went on to teach a really powerful lesson. Everyday has flown by and in the 6 days we have been together we have already forgotten to eat dinner twice because we have been working so hard. One of our random stories is we were driving home for really quick dinner and because we had an appointment at 6 and we saw to kids playing basketball (a very rare sight in this country) and I joking said to Aguiar, "wanna play basket ball?" And he said, "you won't pull over." So I did and we played with them for 20 minutes in our white shirts and ties and then got their phone numbers to play again and share a message. Then we walked away laughing just thinking what the heck just happened. We are having so much fun!!!!
March 29th, 2017
Well it's been a good one. This is the last week of the transfer and it has been pretty crazy. We had MLC yesterday and a few exchanges that were great! My favourite was with a newish Elder named McMullin who is from Utah and is serving in Brighton as a Chinese Elder. It was great because Brighton is always super fun and he was just so willing to work hard and learn so we pounded. I've found I learn a ton with people who want to learn because then we both learn together. The missionary work in our area has been a little slow because we spend so much time with other missionaries but we were able to teach Susannah and she is progressing well! Very excited for general conference and hoping to get her to that!
On Thursday and Friday there were some tough things that Dey and I had to help out with. I can't give too much detail but essentially there was a missionary who got too close to an investigator and we had to do an E-move. It was hard to see someone get moved like that but it was actually really good to be able to help the missionary out. Also the investigator had a baptismal date for Saturday and we were really worried that if this missionary got moved with no notice then they wouldn't get baptized. I was the one conducting the baptismal interview and before we started, Dey and I sat down and talked to the investigator about why the missionary had to be moved. The investigator didn't seem bothered by it at all which was a surprise to us but we proceeded to do the interview. I asked all the questions and the investigator gave perfect answers so I made sure to have them expound on the answer a bit and they did. I was feeling surprised but good about the interview and when I asked the last question which is something along the lines of, "are you willing to make a promise with God that you will follow Him?", the investigator said, "you know the answer." I said, "yea you are definitely ready." The investigator then proceeded to tell me how on Thursday they had a bad feeling and couldn't figure out what it was. They then sat and pondered and realized it was because they had been getting close with this missionary and they were stopping a missionary from doing their job. The investigator prayed and asked God for forgiveness and felt peace afterwards then had a strong impression to ask a member to baptize them. Now you must know that a week before this, the investigator said that if the missionary that they were close to didn't baptize them then they wouldn't get baptized at all. So the investigator asked the member to baptize them and when we came to do the interview they weren't surprised at all the that the missionary had left. The investigator really knew how the Holy Ghost spoke to them and knew how to receive answers from God. This experience taught me a lot of cool lessons and also was an amazing miracle. I love how the Lord works in our life and is perfectly aware of all of us.
On Thursday and Friday there were some tough things that Dey and I had to help out with. I can't give too much detail but essentially there was a missionary who got too close to an investigator and we had to do an E-move. It was hard to see someone get moved like that but it was actually really good to be able to help the missionary out. Also the investigator had a baptismal date for Saturday and we were really worried that if this missionary got moved with no notice then they wouldn't get baptized. I was the one conducting the baptismal interview and before we started, Dey and I sat down and talked to the investigator about why the missionary had to be moved. The investigator didn't seem bothered by it at all which was a surprise to us but we proceeded to do the interview. I asked all the questions and the investigator gave perfect answers so I made sure to have them expound on the answer a bit and they did. I was feeling surprised but good about the interview and when I asked the last question which is something along the lines of, "are you willing to make a promise with God that you will follow Him?", the investigator said, "you know the answer." I said, "yea you are definitely ready." The investigator then proceeded to tell me how on Thursday they had a bad feeling and couldn't figure out what it was. They then sat and pondered and realized it was because they had been getting close with this missionary and they were stopping a missionary from doing their job. The investigator prayed and asked God for forgiveness and felt peace afterwards then had a strong impression to ask a member to baptize them. Now you must know that a week before this, the investigator said that if the missionary that they were close to didn't baptize them then they wouldn't get baptized at all. So the investigator asked the member to baptize them and when we came to do the interview they weren't surprised at all the that the missionary had left. The investigator really knew how the Holy Ghost spoke to them and knew how to receive answers from God. This experience taught me a lot of cool lessons and also was an amazing miracle. I love how the Lord works in our life and is perfectly aware of all of us.
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