Wonderful Branch Member!

The sister in the branch that took our picture at the hospital is awesome. She feeds us every Sunday. She also has a son on a mission in England. He is about ready to come home, and he will be back either this transfer or next. 

Parley P. Pratt Memorial

The Parley P. Pratt Memorial is within our mission boundaries.  I probably won't get to see it in the near future because it is quite a long distance from where we are.

(My brother and I portrayed Parley P. Pratt's sons in the Nauvoo Pageant Workshop at the LDS Conference Center Theater in Salt Lake City in 2007.  This is our "family" picture.)

Looking Back, Looking Forward...

It seems like yesterday I was coming into my second area of my mission. It seems like two days ago that I left the MTC (Mission Training Center). It feels like a whole week since I entered into the MTC. I am very scared that my mission will go as fast as the speed of light.

On a happier note: It's almost tornado season!!!! (Don't worry, our area hasn't had a tornado since the '70s or '80s.) Pretty excited for that.

I'm also excited for fireflies!!!! I love fireflies.

The Work Is Progressing!

We have been VERY busy.

• We were able to get a couple of promising potentials and two new investigators.
• A less active member, who we haven't met until this week, wanted us to teach her husband and children and everyone else who were in the house. It was awesome. We had dinner with them, and were able to teach her husband and one of her daughters. They live close to another investigator we have. 
• We went home teaching with a member of our ward, and did a TON of service this week. 
• We met someone at the store who was interested in our church because some of her nieces/nephews went on missions!
• We visited someone in the hospital, too.

 

Funeral = Pallbearer and Pianist

We had a funeral service for a member in our branch. We were pallbearers, and I had to play the piano for a little bit.

Not Getting Transferred!

My companion and I are both staying in our current area for the next transfer.  (I am very happy about that, because they have a Cruizers down here, which is like another "shake shop" at home, but 100000000000000000000x better).

Still a Missionary!

A sister missionary in our mission died in a car crash shortly before I came on my mission. She is still assigned as a missionary in the spirit world. It is so amazing. This mission is the best in the world. It was her time to go. She is still assigned to this mission, too....I think that is so cool. I have seen the power that her testimony gives. It is amazing.

Three New Plans...

This week has been a little interesting. We had an attack on our investigators (well, they were potentials, but we have been trying to get a sit-down lesson with them). We have had to drop all but two of them.  But that's alright, because we are implementing three new plans that will get this branch growing.

1. First plan, as usual, is tracting: Sounds very unproductive and unplanned, but we were just informed this Sunday that our investigators weren't the only ones who were attacked. Another church denomination in our area has split. We are going tracting to find those who will be humbled enough to listen. In addition, a second denomination in our area is also in turmoil. Hasn't split, but we should be able to find our way into some of the hearts of those people also.
2. Second is referrals: We asked for referrals from everyone in the branch with the advice from our branch mission leader (and he is a spiritual powerhouse). We now have a ton of "potential referrals".
3. Third is dinners: We have a new goal that is mission-wide. We need 60% of our dinners to be with less-actives or non-members (or both). Our branch mission leaders wants 100% of our dinners to be that way, so we are going to ask everyone of our dinner appointments to bring someone to dinner.

This week, my companion and I will have to rely on the Spirit a lot to know what to say to the people me meet.

Don't Forget to Pray!

We still have the same potentials. We have a lesson or two with each of them every week. However, we almost always forget to have an opening prayer. So we're working on that.

Zone Conference!

Our mission president is awesome and we get to be around him, and be taught by him, this week at a zone conference.  So excited for that!

Dinners = Lizards and Rumors!

There is this awesome member who has a lot of lizards! We named them all while we went over there for dinner, and I got to hold a lizard or two. Well, more accurately, they jumped on me and started climbing my suit. It was awesome.

One of our members has taken us out to dinner every week so far. We were at the restaurant when the rumor spread around us that we were converting the member who was taking us out to dinner. He is famous down here because his face is on EVERY billboard at the entrance of our city because of his job.. :j It was hilarious. We met an investigator there, too, and were introduced to an inactive member. It was amazing.

I Still Have My Fingers!

I was bit by a dog a couple days ago on the finger. I was hoping it was a radioactive dog, so I could suddenly get doglike powers, but so far, I don't have claws or fur. On the bright side, I don't have a strong desire to fetch sticks or chase squirrels up a tree.. I was also kind of hoping that it had taken off one of my fingers because it would have made a really interesting story to share with the ward when I get home...or to my family, or to my future children, or anywhere. I would be the "Nine-fingered Missionary". That would be awesome. But nope, it didn't happen.\  I still have all my fingers!

Searching...and Finding!

We are in a finding process.  However, we got four lessons more than we did last week! We still haven't met the standard of excellence here, (six more lessons to reach the standards of excellence of the total number of lessons, which is 20.) but we are going to by the end of this transfer. We do have a few more potentials, and two new investigators (we were able to reach the New Investigators Standard of Excellence [2]).

We are meeting with a potential today, so I am quite excited.

Other Miscellaneous News...

One of our ward members has his face plastered on every billboard at the entrances to city :D. It is funny.

One of our investigators went to the hospital this past week. We don't know why, but we found out he isn't going to go back to the nursing home. We talked with another individual about it, and he has a beautiful testimony. Truly.

We have another investigator who has a three-legged cat. It's amazing!

Feasting on Scriptures: Ancient and Modern!

I bought a 32 gig flash drive, and put a ton of General Conference talks on there, the scriptures, and Jesus the Christ.  I have been listening to a bunch of these talks. I still have a couple of talks that I am going to download, but I already filled up half of my flash drive with about 2000 tracks of talking.

Feasting - Physically and Musically!

This week has been absolutely amazing. A member family fed us a feast, and I found out that Mormon Tabernacle Choir sang the same arrangement of "The Lord Is My Shepherd" that I sang during my senior year.  I am listening to it right now.

More Freezing Rain!

Freezing rain came again this week...and again...and again...and, well, you get the picture. We don't have a truck in this area, and we were unable to get out of our apartment complex due to ice, so we walked. That was awesome.

More Mileage and Contacting People!

This week has been spectacular!

THE MILEAGE IN OUR MISSION HAS CHANGED NOW!). Our area now has 1250 miles for the month because our mission president determined the mileage by the size of the area instead of having every area the same. It is awesome

My companion and I are still in the process of finding a ton of people. We are tracting and contacting individuals from 1-9, everyday.

He Wants to Come to Church!

We are teaching this young man. He wants to come to church, but his mother won't let him. He asks us a lot of questions it is cool.

We also have a potential investigator that reminds me of my mom's sister. It's funny.

Snow is Cool!

I love snow. It's snowing here and it is really cool....both literally and figuratively.

Heard, But Not Seen...Until Now!

Throughout the two weeks I have been here, I have heard at least four trains a day, but I haven't seen one until this week! I was ecstatic to see one. Probably more ecstatic than I should be, but that's okay.

Service and Keeping Busy!

We do a lot of service in this area. Three days a week in between our study time and lunch, we do service at a Senior Center and at the Salvation Army. 

We also teach a mission preparation class to three youths on Sunday for an hour or two.

We're trying to keep as busy as possible. We go tracting almost every day. It is fun.