Hello! This week has been great and we have some new goals set for the
Zone so stay tuned 😉
During the whole week, it’s been a little cold. Sometimes in the 30’s,
sometimes worse, but it was pretty chilly overall. At the beginning of
the week it was ok, and one day, we went to the park across the street
for exercise time and threw a frisbee! There was also a small zipline,
a climbing rock and some climbing stuff.
Tuesday morning was slow, filled with some referrals, trying to visit
people, but we found a potential knocking doors. We had some time
before an appointment and found Grace! She has a very busy husband,
which is tough, but she used to live in Salt Lake City and knew lots
of Mormons! She said we could walk with her while she is walking with
her kids one day and talk since she is also pretty busy. After Grace,
we picked up Vickie, who is a devoted church going lady, who wants to
increase he relationship with God. She took a Book of Mormon and we
taught a lot about it to her. She was actually going to stay home that
evening from her Bible study class since she was really tired and said
that she would spend some time, especially at work when she has
nothing to do, reading the Book of Mormon and the Bible. We also
picked up Thomas Evans, who has gone through just about everything. He
did drugs as a teenager and young adult, got put in jail multiple
times, and eventually decided to turn his life around. In the process,
he got cancer, drug addiction, and Hep C all at the same time, while
he was in prison. A guard had pity on him and helped him find a
doctor, and by the grace of God, he is still alive today. I guess he
is a motivational speaker now and talks at many different functions,
so he is pretty busy, but he is a God loving man and hopefully we can
teach him again. We had dinner with the Kestle’s and Brother Kestle
actually served in the Geneva Switzerland Mission about 10 years ago,
which was the mission that my mom served in. He served in Valens,
which was one of the areas I remembered my mom served in as well! We
talked about language, since that is what he is studying, and we had
fun listening to him speak Spanish, French , and Old English (which
was fascinating since my Junior and Senior projects were on J.R.R.
Tolkien). We also got to go to Institute, where we talked about what
to look for in a spouse. It was a good lesson, especially since we
meet a ton of people on our mission, but one where I can store
knowledge for about 16 more months and use it then!
Wednesday was a good long day. We had a lesson with a Less Active
member named Gary and shared the video based on Elder Holland’s story
of the two boys climbing the rock ledge with no equipment. At first, I
had to think about how it applies to us, but Elder Greding brought up
some great points that made me think, like how much Jesus is there for
us, and how He comes right when we need him when we are at the
breaking point. It’s great having a companion! We went to Frank Pepe’s
for lunch and got a large pepperoni pizza. Frank Pepe’s is one of the
original pizza places in America, and the one in New Haven is their
original restaurant! I had been to the one in West Hartford, so it
wasn’t as new, but it was still a fun trip. I also got a Foxon Park
soda, which is the quality soda out here. If you ever hear of it, grab
one! In the evening, we spent a little bit with Mike Wise. He became a
member when he was in his early 20s, served a mission in the Hartford
Connecticut Mission, decided to move out here after his mission, and
now sells power door to door, tracting as he goes. He LOVES his Mtn
Dew as well. Elder Greding has said that he will always think of Mike
Wise whenever he sees Mtn Dew for the rest of his life. We saw a guy
named John, who wasn’t really solid, but we taught him the Restoration
and he lives with a member family. He also gave Elder Greding some
Dew, so he was happy about that. At the end of the day, we saw Argenis
and his family and taught him a few lessons in one: Baptism and
Confirmation, Follow the Prophet, Tithing, Law of the Fast, and Obey
and Honor the Law. Yep. He’s 8 though, so a lot of those can be
brought down the basic level. He will be baptized this next Sunday
after church, so we are excited for him!
Thursday morning was a little slow, especially since we were really
tired, but we got our weekly planning done and put it on a board in
our room so we can just look at it whenever we are going to teach a
lesson and know what to do. We also played some ping pong, which took
a load off of our shoulders. We saw Sergio, and even though we didn’t
teach a ton, he mentioned he is starting to see a lot of
“coincidences” in his life surrounding our Church. He has to read a
book about B.H. Roberts (an original mormon) in a few weeks, and while
he was watching a soccer game, Wolverhampton was playing and he
decided to look up Wolverhampton, and then he read in the beginning of
the B.H. Roberts book, and guess where he was born? You guessed it,
Wolverhampton, England. he about freaked out, but it is peaking his
interest and we are helping him to understand the Book of Mormon from
the intellectual side first, and then from the spiritual side. We
picked up a guy named Travis as well. We weren’t sure if he would be
home, but he was and then he welcomed us in and everything. He seems
really solid and he has a desire, which is the most important part. We
taught him the Restoration and he committed to pray and read, so we’ll
update on him next week. After him and dinner at the Stewarts, who are
just like out family (5 kids in under 10 years, busy working Dad in
school, pretty busy and a crazy house), we drove to Trumbull’s area,
since we cover the YSA, and talked to a former investigator who was
probably high or intoxicated. It was pretty interesting, and it was
freezing cold outside, but we both had fun!
Friday was Zone Meeting! They did a fantastic job in MLC we heard, all
of the trainings were done individually and by the Spirit. They taught
in Zone Meeting about leaving commitments and how making the
commitment the point of the lesson is what makes them powerful. We
also talked about how God is a God of miracles and has never ceased to
be. Lastly, we talked about faith and how if we have faith, God can
work through us and make miracles possible. Their commitments to us
were to Study PMG every day, evaluate after every lesson, and do all
the commitments that you leave with your investigators. It was really
uplifting and very inspirational. I loved it and can’t wait to work
towards the goals that we have for our Zone. New Zone Standards for
March are: 30 Baptisms, 80 Investigators at Church, and 81 new
Investigators. Exciting and a stretch, but all things are possible
through the Lord! In the afternoon, we saw Argenis again and taught
him about the Priesthood and Missionary Work. His family fed us, and
his member grandmother was there as well. He is close, and knows just
about as much as any 8 yr old in the church, so we are excited for
him. That evening, our appointments canceled, so we were left with not
a ton to do. We drove around for a bit, but then felt that we needed
to go see someone on the Less Active list. They lived near one of our
appointments that didn’t go through, and we knocked a ton, but no one
answered. It was tough because we had felt a prompting to go there,
but nothing came from it.
Where the Lord Wants Me 