Transfers and a Box of Roses

Transfer day was snowing hard, snowflakes the size of golf balls

Well, it happened again, six weeks have passed and people moved, I stayed in Post Falls, and my new companion is Elder Judd, so far we have had a great time here in Post Falls.

Well we met her a while ago, but we were finally able to have a lesson with a person we just walked into on the street a couple weeks ago, she has been recently divorced and was looking for something to help her through some of the rough time whe has been dealing with recently.  The lesson we had was so good, she was so receptive and willing to learn more, and we even got her to commit to coming to church THE NEXT DAY!  And she said she would read the Book of Mormon as well.....  THATS AWSOME!

Before met Elder Judd he had to sit in Trainer training,  so I had a temporary companion (Elder Dunn) and we tracted for three hours in Spokane.  It was snowing preety hard, and since it was transfers I did not bring my coat because I thought it would be a quick exchange, I was wrong.  So there I was, in my suit, shoveling snow for an old guy we encountered along the way, we were able to stay warm because we got to do lots of shoveling and we even got hot chocolate.  We also met some lady who was pretty nice to us, she was a non member and we talked for about 40 minutes, she told us that she had been praying to have compassion on the missionaries "because I hate them" those ate her words.

Well, not much else happened we have been doing a lot of finding and have not found much people with potential yet.

Scripture time:

Mark 11:24

24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

In my area, we have seen first hand the power of prayer, we have seen how we have been guided towards those who need us most and those who need comfort.  Know that the lord hears your prayers, and helps you through all your trails.  I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ amen

Thank you all for the letters and emails that you send me they are really appreciated.

  

By the way, these are the rules that we have for contacting family.  (We can now call and text people.)

President Thompson :

"Elders and Sisters I just received some clarification in regards to contacting family. I just received this in an email this morning:

1. Family is defined as the missionary’s immediate family (mom and dad and siblings living at home)

2. Calling home for Birthdays is only outlined as for the missionaries parents birthdays.

3. The missionary should be the only one to initiate all communication with their family whether it’s Skype, Chat, text etc.

4. All of this communication should be done on Preparation Day and conclude by 6:00 pm

5. Missionaries can call home for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Christmas.

6.The Brethren don’t want us to be putting time limits on the communications, but are giving more trust to the missionaries to do the right thing with their use of time.

7.The intent of this is to keep it simple. Teach correct principles and let the missionaries govern themselves and to bring the blessings of their family by helping support the missionaries infield."

Though the roads be slick and the winds be strong, go forward in faith and it won't be long. -Elder Willis

Wasn't My Idea

Welp its official, we got two people on date for baptism again, woot woot!

The first one is nice. She is a lady who watches the kids of some members, and she was introduced to the church through the family.  So far she has been very nice and patient with us missionaries.

The second is also a lady.  She had been previously married to a member but they split up a while back.  She has three kids, which makes teaching lessons difficult sometimes. 

Recently, we got invited to a member's house for dinner.  When we first got there we were both given a Root beer and watched General Conference while dinner was being finished. The member told us that when we wrote home next, say that we were "given a beer and watched television".  We all had a good laugh after that.

Well, we must have been good, because every time we ate out this past week some mysterious member have been paying for the whole group. (Let it be known that we were eating out as a district.  That's 9 missionaries to pay for right there.)  The first was at a trendy ice cream parlor called, Gooey's.  We met some members from out of town on our way there and they seemed to be pretty nice.  Once we were all seated, the others ordered big ice cream bowls to share (most of them couldn't finish them) while I ordered a small single scoop (I'm trying to spend less cash while eating out).  Once we were all satisfied we asked for a check.  The waiter said the bill was covered, by someone they could not say. That was a pretty hefty bill.

District Council

The second was after District Council, and once again we all, elders and sisters, went to Texas Road House.  It was surprisingly less expensive than I though it was going to be.  We all ordered, and while waiting for the food we were approached by some members from the local ward. They just said, "hi" and "how ya doing?"  After we had all been satisfied by our meals, we were told once again that a mysterious stranger has covered our bill. I was dumbfounded that something like this happened twice in the same week.

Yesterday, we were visiting potentials in our area with our car. It was snowing and there were a couple inches on the ground already.  We got to a steep driveway that led to two separate houses. My companion was sure that we would make it (he is  from southern California - not having much experience driving in snow). I assured him that we could get back out, but neither of us saw how steep it actually got near the bottom.  After the house we visited said, "Go away. This is my castle of solitude and I don't like to be bothered."  So we tried to make it out but, to no avail. We couldn't make it.  So having experience driving in snow, I wanted to give it a try,  I couldn't make it any further than my companion. We asked the people we just visited for some shovels so we could get the snow out of the way.  While we were shoveling, the people in the other house came out and gave us a hand.  In the end, it all played out well.  The locals had to get a tractor to plow all the packed snow off the driveway. We maneuvered the car in a way to get a better grip on the drive, and we made it.

Snow Day

Idaho recently has gotten some pretty rare Utah weather.  The snow that fell was all fresh light powder.  It snowed about a foot in one day. The next day we got strong winds for the entire day,  All the snow piled up on drifts and some of these drifts piled up taller than me.  Did I forget to mention that with the wind chill it was -11, and we still went tracting. (With my awesome coat I was more toasty than...  he he, bread in a toaster.  That makes me think, when you put bread in a toaster and toast comes out, where does the bread go?) 

"Because I have been given much I too must give."  As a missionary I have been given a chance to represent the church in all that I do.  I have to study the scriptures daily, and what do I do with all this scripture knowing well...  "Because I have been given much I too must give."  I must share all that I know and all the faith I have in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

As a missionary I can't make people believe what I know, so I tell them to ask in prayer, just like in this scripture:

Moroni 10 3-5

      3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.

4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost, ye may know the truth of all things.

We are Reenacting Abraham and Isaac

 

Thank you all for your support and messages, I love talking with you.

By the way. it's transfer week for me, and I'm staying here in Post Falls 1st and 5th wards.

They Had a Wolfish Grin

Zone Conference

We had dinner with wolves.  We ate ribs while our host, Chuck, would talk about his crazy history in the military.  He was a mail man and an expert con man, usually getting his way.  He told us he would do things like race the plane that's carries the mail to the airport.  He also told us many more stories but, for the sake of time I'll leave it here.

Zone conference happened. We got an awesome message from our mission president.  After the message, we were able to see other missionaries in our area.  We all had crazy stories to share with one another, and we also had lots of training to do that day as well, I got to see Elder Smith (Elder Vazquez's last companion, he was in my last district as well.) 

More Zone Conference - I'm on the Left

Well, our other on date Holly, wanted to

 postpone her baptism, because she wants her boyfriend on the same page as her, which is ok, The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Later Day Saints is all about keeping family's together.  She still wants us to visit her and teach her, so that's good.

Nothing much else happened this week, and I forgot my scripture last week I think so, I got a talk from general conference this week.

Yesterday I read a talk from David B. Haight (Feed the Flock)

He was speaking about the troops stationed in South Korea during the Korean war.

Elder Haight was speaking with the troops and seeing how their relationships were with their wards at home. Many of then stated they knew not whether their wards knew about them or supported them in the war efforts. Eventually he came to one soldier who confidently said that he knew that his family and ward supported him, and would often send him letters of encouragement. 

Pretty Pictures from the Hike

Elder Haight said that the term "The old saying, ‘We live or die at the mailroom’ never was truer than in the military.” He later spoke on how simple forms of contact to missionaries could often uplift and encourage them in their work, sometimes even giving them that good emotional boost to help them smile their days away.

I myself am not fishing for more emails and letters, I am encouraging those of you who know missionaries out in the field, to send them simple words of encouragement, even asking them how they are doing in their mission could be of help to them.  I can't count how many times other missionaries would say they were jealous of how many letters I got from my family and friends.

More Hike

I know that everything happens for a reason and that the lord works in mysterious ways. Through us he can be the very light that others need In their lives, 

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

By the way I probably butchered the actual talk. I encourage you to watch or listen to it yourself.

David B. Haight, Feed the Flock

Hammacks From the Hike