Knocking is ACTUALLY FUN?!? Zone conference, building trust, following promptings….

Hey everybody! This week, I guess like all the other weeks, has been great! I’m going to try to keep some summaries shorter, but I guess we’ll see what happens!

Monday, of course, was P-Day, so we emailed, and then went shopping. When we got an aloe leaf, just because they were selling them! It tastes kind of bland, but it was really fun 🙂 As we were coming out of the store, we met a guy named Ken. He said that he had gone to the Mormon church when he was a kid, but hasn’t gone since then, so hopefully we can meet up with him sometime this week! Because we talked to Ken, we were running late, so we jumped in the car and started driving, but realized too late that we were driving in the complete opposite direction of our dinner appointment, and so when we were basically home, we turned around and headed BACK towards the Fosters. We got there a little late, but had a great dinner and a fun conversation with them. As we were leaving, Elder Jacobson backed up pretty quick like usual, but there was a car in the opposite driveway that he was headed straight towards, so I freaked out and started tapping on the trunk like crazy, and Elder Jacobson stopped the car literally about 6 inches from the car! The Lord is in the details, and in a regular situation, that could have been bad, but I’m sure we had the Lord’s help. (***Mom Note: the rule for car driving missionaries is that one companion backs up the car while the other companion stands behind to make sure the way is clear and safe. The way was NOT clear and safe in this instance and banging on the trunk alerted the driver to danger.)

On Tuesday, we spent the morning helping Sister Phipps. She moved into a family owned house on the Cape and there was a bunch of stuff just in the garage. The driveway leads right to the garage on a downhill, so a ton of rain went in and made everything moldy, and the driveway is fixed now, but she asked us to help her lift some of the heavy stuff. Her friend came down from New Hampshire and it turns out that she and Elder Jacobson are both related to John Tanner, just through different lines! We had a great time cleaning with Sister Phipps and I experienced that sigh of relief that my mom taught me about when you clean out all of the junk that you don’t need. Cleaning out your life has the same effect and is really really rejuvenating. That night, we met with Brother Woolfrey and had a longer lesson with him. We talked about scripture reading and we invited him to come to the musical night that we are hosting this Friday night at 7! He is always willing to help us and even though he isn’t very active, if we ever need anything, we just call Brother Woolfrey! After Brother Woolfrey, we had dinner at the Minkles. We shared a message about prayer and how we should consecrate ourselves to the Lord. We also shared a quote from Gordon B. Hinckley’s talk “If Ye Be Willing and Obedient”.

“I believe I am always divinely guided.

I believe I will always take the right road.

I believe God will always make a way where there is no way.”

It was a really powerful moment and we could feel the spirit strongly. God had led us to share that message and it was able to touch us all.

Wednesday we checked on Br. Peters, since he is moving and needed to get his paperwork in to solidify everything. Throughout this last week, we have visited him probably about four times, but everything is working out great! We set up a lot of appointments on Wednesday: Tashanna, getting a hitch at U-Haul, giving a flyer to Donna, setting a date to move Br. Peters. There was a lot of prep work done on Wednesday. We were able to have dinner at the Rosbach’s that night, which was delicious as always, and then went on exchanges with President Johnston, the BRanch President. We got to meet Derek Anderson, who is Valerie’s husband. Derek has investigated a lot, and we are hoping to start teaching him again. We talked to him for probably about twenty minutes and gained trust with him. We also visited a potential who ended up being open to learning about family history, and a Part Member family whom we are hoping to teach.

Thursday was just busy with the Library, which was probably the most empty I have seen it in a long time, since school just started. We actually got done early and walked back home. After that, we started fixing Elder Jacobson’s tire with a guy who works at the Falmouth Bike Lab named David. He helped us with getting the wheel off, which we took in later and got a new tube for. That night we had dinner with the Emersons, who also have great cooking. THERE ARE JUST SO MANY GOOD COOKS DOWN HERE! We had pulled pork and smashed potatoes, which were awesome! I got smashed in Foosball, again, but we shared a message about acting on our faith, and had a great time with their family!

Friday we had Zone Meeting. They talked about what Elder Rasband had talked to the Missionary Leadership Council about. They focused on avoiding complacency and serving with all our heart, might, mind and strength. It was really eye opening and refining. They challenged us to read from the Topical Guide about one of the many subjects under Jesus Christ. Elder Rasband promised that as we come to know more about him, we will come to love him more. As we come to love him more, we will want to serve him more. I love this promise so much! As we come to know the Savior more, everything else falls into place. Keep learning about the Savior and progressing every day! After Zone Meeting, we obviously had lunch at Little Sami’s. We were shooting hoops after and I swooshed a couple long shots, so I was pretty satisfied with that. We drove home and dropped off the Martha’s Vineyard Elders.

Friday night was all a miracle. They also encouraged us to follow our first impression from the Spirit, so I was committed to do it. We visited Wendy Smith, but she wasn’t there, so we went to visit the Chases and they were interested in Family History, so we will go visit them this week. As we were driving away, I had the impression that we could knock doors, so we stopped and saw a house, and though he wasn’t interested, we asked who he might know who is, and he told us maybe the guy two houses down. We went over to his house, and he was friendly and we invited him to the musical night, but he said that he was all set. We asked him again who he might know who is interested, and he told us most of the people in the neighborhood were nice and we could just talk to anybody, so we thanked him and went next door.

This experience was amazing. I knocked on the door, a young mom answered, I said what we usually say and mentioned families, and she said that we could come over and share more of the message with her! At that point, I was so happy and dumbfounded at the same time, it was crazy!

As we were walking back, we almost left, but like in all of the amazing stories, I said,”Let’s just do one more house.” We walked next door and Elder Jacobson saw a guy sitting up on the steps in his front yard. We went to talk to him and he seemed pretty cool! As soon as we finished with explaining who we were and what we taught, he said,”Yeah sure, do what you guys do…” So we just started teaching. We taught him the whole first lesson right there and he wanted us to come back. We had come at a tough time for him. He was down in the dumps basically and had had a tough day and a half, and said it was really cool that we showed up when we did. His name is Tyler and we are planning on meeting with him tomorrow. He is a real genuine guy and promised to take a look through the Book of Mormon. We can’t wait to teach him again. After we left and told him again that we almost didn’t come to his house, but we did and that it was amazing that we ran into him, we were walking back and I had an impression to go back and knock on the door of the guy who we invited to the musical night. I was pretty sure that that would be crazy, but told Elder Jacobson, and so we went back.

There was a family that had just pulled up there, so we shared a card with them and then started walking back.

The impression came again, and I still thought it was crazy, but decided to go back. We knocked on his door and thanked him for his kindness and assured him that everyone in the neighborhood had been very kind and loving. I started to bear him my testimony and told him that I knew that God loved him, that he had restored his church through Joseph Smith, and that everything we taught was because God loves us. I told him that this is why I knock doors and this is why I was out here knocking on his door. I started to tear up a little bit and I still can’t remember all of it super clearly, but I remember asking if we could share this with him, and he let us right in. He proceeded to share with us his family history that dated back to 1303 in Ireland. His name is Richard Blake and the name Richard had been passed down through the centuries to remember their ancestors. We talked to him for probably a good hour and are going to visit him again. We left him with a flyer about the music night and said goodnight.

We received another impression to share another card with the family that had just gotten back into their car and followed that impression. Following the impressions of the spirit helps us to do the work of Heavenly Father and find those that need our help. As we listen to the still, small voice, we can be God’s hands on this earth.

Saturday was a cleanup and a splits day. We cleaned the kitchen, just like we cleaned Sister Phipps garage, and it looks so much better now! We got a lot of stress off our back by doing that! That afternoon, we went on splits with Brother Hofhines, who sells for Vivint Solar on the Cape. We started by doing stop-bys, but those were falling through, so we started knocking doors. Since Brother Hofhines has been doing this for years for his job, he gave us some tips, and now we are a ton better at making them comfortable and not being awkward when we knock! He’s going to come to the District meeting on Friday and do a training for all of us in our District, so we are excited about that! He also took us out to a Thai restaurant, which was the definition of hole-in-the-wall. He told us straight up, “This place may seem sketchy, but it’s really good.” And he was right. Krua Thai right by the railroad bridge over the Canal is super good. We had a great time with him and it was definitely a trust builder with him.

Sunday was spiritual as always and we had a lesson with Walter Mason which basically was a quick overview of the first lesson. Dinner with the Spearins was fun too, and we were able to share the first lesson with them.

I know that God lives and is our loving Heavenly Father. I know that He loves you and me. I know that He has a plan for each of us and we can come to know it more fully by obeying His commandments and listening to the Holy Ghost. I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way back to live with Him and with our families. I know that it provides so much joy for us in this life and can help us to prepare to meet God.

Live the Gospel please! I’m begging you! It will help you so much. Just Do It.

Keep Listening to General Conference Talks, especially Hartman Rector, Jr.,

Elder Davis