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It's been a successful week. We found a couple new people and had some good lessons. We also had transfer calls on Saturday, and it turns out I'm leaving Lake Placid.
We got a referral from Brother Swift this week. We stopped by them, Andrew and Jennifer Baucom, and they said they would like to meet with us. They have 3 young women age daughters, which is something the branch is lacking in. It would be great if they would accept the gospel.
We also found a guy named Eduardo. He requested a bible a year ago and the missionaries dropped it off, but he refused a Book of Mormon. We stopped by and he actually said he'd like to meet with us. We stopped by and ended up doing some service for him for about 45 minutes before our lesson. Before the lesson we asked about his background. It turns out he is a youth pastor and has a lot of knowledge about the bible. We ended up giving him a Book of Mormon and he said he'd read and pray about it.
Gus, the guy we found last week, came to church yesterday. He had questions about how to have more faith when we met him, and it turns out our whole sacrament meeting was about faith. It's amazing how often that happens. We then had another lesson with him yesterday that went really well. He said he wants to join something with his family.
We are finally getting a lot done in Lake Placid, but it turns out I'm leaving tomorrow. I'm going to Rockledge with Elder Ward. I've been out 5 transfers and this is my 4th area. That is really crazy. I've heard a lot of good things about Rockledge, plus they have amazing P days there. It will be another good transfer as always. Goodbye city of murals.
This scripture brought me some comfort this week. The branch here had a hard week.
D and C 137:7 Thus came the voice of the Lord unto me, saying: All who have died without a knowledge of this gospel, who would have received it if they had been permitted to tarry, shall be heirs of the celestial kingdom of God.
It was a very eventful week, there was some good and also a lot of bad. I'll start with the bad. Brother Ferguson and his fiancee Sandy who we were teaching were in a motorcycle accident and they both have passed away. I'll talk a little more about that later, but here's the good that happened. We got to have interviews with President Clark and I got a lot of really good advice from him. We also had our temple trip on Thursday, it was my first one since getting to Orlando in October.
Brother Ferguson, the best member missionary here, and Sandy, our favorite investigator, have both passed away this week. They were in a wreck last Sunday and Brother Ferguson passed away instantly and Sandy passed away yesterday in the hospital. The gospel brings us comfort though. We know that they are well now and that we will see them again. I have a baptism this Saturday in Minneola, my last area, for Paul that I will have to miss to go to the funeral. That's a bummer for me, but that's enough sad news for one email. Here's some good news.
We had interviews with President Clark on Thursday. I always look forward to those. He had a ton of good advice for me about how to set solid return appointments that won't fall through. I also found out that I will most likely stay here in Lake Placid and Elder Hintikka will leave next transfer. I'll find out for sure on Saturday this week though.
We also had our temple trip on Thursday. We hitched a ride with Brother Short and the Sebring Elders up there. It was a fun road trip. I got to do sealings for my first time, it was a great experience. I enjoyed seeing the endowment for my first time since the changes also. Afterward while we waited for our ride to finish his shift as a temple worker we went with the Sebring Elders over to the Liahona book store. It was fun to hang out there for an hour and a half and read the interesting books there. It was a much needed break from the normal missionary schedule.
All in all it was a good week. We also found a new person to teach and I got to see some old friends from Palm Bay at church yesterday. And as always, I took a lot of pictures that are in the Google Drive. If you need access send me an email and I'll add you as fast as I can.
A little spiritual thought to finish the email up this week: I've been reading the Gospels this past month. I read one a week and just finished John. I've been amazed and how much even the gospels that every church uses point to truths that only we teach in our church. Even from the bible we can come to know that our church is true. Everything he did to set up his church, calling apostles and seventies, sending them forth 2 by 2, giving them the priesthood, etc. is now a part of our church. I know this church is true and I know that by living it we can find more happiness than we can any other way. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
March 4:Trust God and he will support you in your afflictions
I don't know what to put as the subject for my weekly emails anymore, so I'm going to put in a good scripture from now on.
Alma 36:3 And now, O my son Helaman, behold, thou art in thy youth, and therefore, I beseech of thee that thou wilt hear my words and learn of me; for I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day.
This week was a busy one, as always. We had zone conference on Tuesday and exchanges on Wednesday. On Thursday, we got to go to Lorida, somewhere that is usually too far away to ever go in our area. I also took some amazing photos for ya'll to enjoy.
Zone conference is the best. The entire southern half of the mission got together on Tuesday and we had lots of trainings and we got to hear from our mission president. They're fun because it's quite a road trip for us. We are the furthest area from Orlando, and it takes over 2 hours to get there. We got to hang out with the Elders from Sebring for a few hours. I also got to see Elder Squires and Elder Hodges, my trainer and MTC companion.
I got to go on an exchange with the District Leader, Elder Gibson, on Wednesday. We had a good day and I learned a lot. I had never been on an exchange with someone who had been out for more than 8 months. Elder Gibson has been out for 21 months. It's always fun to get a new companion for the day.
Thursday was the last day of the month, and we had 100 miles left on our car to use for the month, which is fantastic. We got to drive to the furthest point in our area, where I've never been, and visit people. We set up 3 appointments and had a lot of good contacts.
This week we also did 9 hours of service, which is great. Service makes the weeks go by way faster. We got to do service with the Sebring Elders at the Knapps home. They live right on a lake, so we got some really cool, fun pictures there.
Although we were very busy, we didnt have a single lesson this week. First time on my mission. We had 8 appointments fall through. I guess that's what happens sometimes, we can make invitations and set appointments, but people will always have their agency.
That's about it for this week. I know that this church is true. I also know people say that too much, but oh well. I love being able to study the gospel so much. There are so many miracles we see and hear every day, the spirit is too strong when we teach people, the good that comes from this gospel is too amazing to ever be able to deny the truthfulness of this gospel. I can't imagine my life without it, which is why I am sharing it with others. Being a missionary is a very difficult, challenging experience, but it is so worth it.
1. So close, it just needs a y
2. I know, I know, I forgot to wear my tag for service. Also, isnt Elder Hintikka such a handsome Elder?
March 11: Fourth Floor, Last Door
Mosiah 2:41 And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.
The subject for this email, Fourth Floor, Last Door, is kind of a theme for this week. It's from a talk by Elder Uchtdorf about how the blessings come after all the hard work, that it's amazing how many people are found by missionaries on the top floor and last door.
It was another not so good week as far as teaching lessons goes. We hit a streak of 16 straight missed appointments. We did have 2 bright spots, though. Plus I got to call my family twice this week:)
Last Monday I got to call my family and read some scriptures with them. It was fantastic as always. Then on Saturday it was my mom's birthday. With the new rules you are allowed to call for special events such as birthdays. So I got to call home twice last week. I love being able to see their beautiful faces each week. (Yes that includes your face Nate:))
On Friday all 3 of our appointments fell through.This meant that we had lots of time to go finding as a result. We were knocking doors and contacting people all evening and didn't have too much success. We were debating going back home because it was late and we had things to do in our apartment, but we decided to stay 5 more minutes. We saw a former investigator named Magdalena on Area Book and decided to visit her. She ended up telling us her and her daughter would start reading the Book of Mormon together every day and that we could come back next week. That was a miracle.
The other amazing miracle that we saw was on Sunday. I was speaking in church, so we were trying to get as many investigators there as possible. Only 1 of them, Sandy, ended up saying they could come though. We were greeting people before sacrament when a lady we had never seen before walks in. We introduce ourselves and she says her name is Katie, she had been mislead by lots of other churches, and came here looking for the truth.
We had been praying all week for a miracle and for us to be able to have a good lesson with someone and it hadn't happened yet. She sat with some of the women in Relief Society who were fantastic fellowshippers for her. I gave my talk on The Atonement, a fantastic topic to speak on. She then went to Relief Society where she bonded with 4 other women who talked with her 30 minutes even after church ended, which is amazing to see.
We set up a lesson with her for that evening. We went over with Brother Short, the mission leader, and taught her the entire Restoration. It went really well and we were able to answer a lot of her questions and she said she would start reading and praying about the Book of Mormon daily. Such a miracle day.
The other small miracle that happened with her was that she had been studying the Bible and couldn't quite figure out exactly what the Atonement was. Then she ended up finding our church and attending, on the same day that we had 4 talks on the Atonement.
It's experiences like this that make serving a mission worth it. I'm very blessed to be able to serve the Lord and see these miracles every week. The streak of 16 missed appointments has ended and I can see good things coming for this week.
This week was another good one. We got a referral that is already on date to be baptized from New York, I called 911 for my first time ever, and had lots of good lessons.
So we got a referral from some missionaries in New York. They have been teaching her and she is on date to be baptized in March. That's super awesome for us. The only problem is, she's now living with her dad who doesnt want her to meet with us and he wouldn't let her go to church yesterday. We need to figure that out quick. Hopefully this week we will be able to have a lesson with her.
This is the story of why we had to call 911. So there is a recent convert named James in our branch who has diabetes. We meet him every week, and on Friday we had an appointment with him. We went to the appointment, but he didnt answer, so we went in to check up on him because he has been in 2 diabetic comas in the past month. We found him in a coma and called 911. They came and helped him out. He had been in a coma for a while and his blood sugar was at 25. That's really low. It was a miracle that this happened on the day we had an appointment with him, because they said if we hadn't found him he would have died. He went to the ER and got taken care of and he's ok now.
The funny part is, usually we go out with the Branch President on Fridays, but our appointments fell through so we didn't. That gave him a chance to visit James. While he was there, he and Brother Ferguson gave James a blessing. One of the nurses was interested in what that was. They talked to her for a long while about the church and she even started crying and said she could feel the spirit. She got a BoM and said she'd come to church sometime. President also said he invited 5 other people to church while at the hospital. Our appointments fell through for a reason I guess. #thelordworksinmysteriousways #membermissionarywork
We also had lessons with Willie Allen, Sandy, and Paul. Willie we invited to be baptized and he said he would need to pray about it. We are seeing him tomorrow and will follow up with him.
Sandy knows the Book of Mormon is true and feels the spirit every time we meet, but she refuses to admit that that's what she's feeling. She has been to 7 churches and never joined any of them. She may take a little longer.
Paul's lesson went well. He was the one we found tracting a few weeks ago and we had a lesson this week. He had read the Book of Mormon and the pamphlet we gave him. We taught the restoration and he understood it really well. He had a few questions that we will answer at our lesson this week. He is ready to receive the gospel and really needs it in his life right now.
Missionary work is amazing. We see miracles every day and it's amazing to see the gospel of Jesus Christ change people for the better. I'm just glad I can be a part of it. That's all folks!
I dont know what's going on with my smile here. Oh well.
