Mission Memories, Exchanges, and a Note!

I have been reminiscing a bit lately. One awesome mission memory happened about a year ago. My companion and I had an unsuccessful day tracting and as we were heading back home. We came across kids who weren't even 10 yet. My companion said to them, "Hey, kids! Want a good book?" One of them was like "Sure!" The other was a bit hesitant, but eventually accepted one. Later, their parents became investigators. Interesting how that happens.

This past week, we have been doing a lot of finding in our city. We actually received two referrals from some ward members.

Our investigators didn't come to church on Sunday. We had tried so hard to help them come. We'll try harder, though. We had a super spiritual lesson a few days ago.

In other news, we went on exchanges with the Assistants. It was great. The Sister Training Leaders, who we drove up with, took our minivan with the other Sister Training Leaders for an exchange. They stopped by one of my favorite familes' home during their exchange. The family hid a note that said, "Hi!" in the van. My companion found it when we were coming home. It made my week a whole lot better!. I put it in my journal.

We Need a Prophet! We Have a Prophet!

We had a week of excitement, awesomeness, cool sights, Bentonville, Muskogee (pronounced muh-SKOH-gee), etc. etc.

 

We got a call from our mission president. He asked me if I could prepare scriptures that show the apostasy happening in between Adam and Noah, Noah and Abraham, Abraham and Christ, and after Christ. So, I prepared a lot of scriptures. Here is a condensed version of what I found that evening.

• After Adam: Moses 5:12-13; 7:24-26; 8
• After Noah: Genesis 11:1-9; Abraham 1; Facsimile 1
• After Abraham: Flip to a random page of the Old Testament and you'll probably find a reference to this apostasy. My favorites are: Jeremiah 44 (I almost want to cry when I read this); 1 Nephi 7:14; Hosea; Amos; and Habakkuk 1. Jeremiah and Ezekiel are pretty cool books to read about the apostasy that happened here as well.
• After Christ: 2-3 John; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3; TG, "Apostasy of the Early Christian Church"

As I prepared a ton of scriptures, EVERYTHING I read I thought of again and again. I know we need a prophet. It's crazy how much we need a prophet, and how sad it is when people reject the prophets. I instructed on that in our meetings. I bore my testimony on that on Sunday...after convincing a youth to bear his testimony (my favorite thing to do on Fast Sunday is to sit by a youth and tell them, "I'll go if you go." Works every time. Well, I have about 90% success). It really worked this fast Sunday to bear my testimony on such, because everyone was excited about Conference and so I just testified of what our needs for prophets. I also quoted D&C 21:6 which talks about the blessing of a living prophet.

 

Anyway, that's what I prepared for MLC and Zone Training. It was cool.

 

One last experience that happened: We had a lesson with a family that was uber spiritual. We read Alma 32, and we asked how they felt as they were reading the Book of Mormon. One of the family members said that he felt that swelling inside of him. We helped him identify the Holy Ghost. It was awesome

 

A couple of my former companions and me.  It was so good to see them on Transfer Day!  I miss them!

General Conference, Bentonville, and Planning!

Bentonville! I'm excited to go there for at least three more times during my mission....well, four, if you count the last time before I come home..

My new companion is very tall, and has really long legs.

Saying goodbye to my "old" companion was bittersweet. He has been one of my favorite companions, He was super cool. I get to go on an exchange with him soon, so it's okay. I couldn't help but be a little sad when he left, though. His parents are coming to my homecoming.

We are all planned for the coming week, and major events during the next several weeks (MLC, Zone training meetings, which District meeting we're going to go to for what week, etc.)

We had a lesson with a cool family.

I watched all of the General Conference sessions. I loved Elder Neil L. Andersen's talk and Elder D. Todd Christofferson's talk the best. They're both really good. The second session really focused on missionary work. I was excited about that. I love General Conference! It is awesome!.

Another Transfer...But, I'm Staying!

We got transfer calls. My companion is leaving and is going to serve as an AP (Assistant to the President). I'm super excited for him. I knew he was becoming AP by the first two weeks I was with him. He is a super amazing guy. I'm going to miss him a lot. I learned so much from him.

I'm staying zone leader for my last transfer with a new companion. I'm super excited to remain a zone leader. You learn so much.

I'm super excited for this last transfer. Don't worry, I'm not getting trunky. I miss home a lot, but I'm not close to being trunky. I've changed so much this last transfer. It is amazing.

This week has been awesome. We were able to find a new investigator, help investigators progress, and set a baptismal date. We're planning on having 3-5 baptisms this transfer, which I'm excited for.

Biking vs. Driving

We started to bike around our area. We talked to as many people as we could while biking. I liked biking. It's a lot better than driving a car because you could talk to more people. We talked to quite a bit of people. We're doing this because we have not enough solid people to teach.

We've been teaching a lot of members also to push them to do missionary work. We also passed a referral box around during sacrament meeting. We received two referrals on Sunday, so we're going to contact them. I also found cool videos on lds.org under Media Library.

The members are cool here.

We have been doing a lot of finding. We met a random guy that we OTMed. He was nice and wanted to learn more. He goes to another church that looks like a gym where they have concerts.

Anyway, we have been talking to a lot of people. We discovered how much we sit in the car a week or two ago, and we want to be active and start finding people.

I read this recently. It's super cool. Ezek. 37:1-14

Finding, Teaching, Opposition, Success!

Everything is going great. However, I have been a little sad since I found out one of my friends died in one of my previous areas..



We've spent a lot of time finding. It's difficult to find out here We've been working on having the members do missionary work because it is easier for 50 missionaries to have a baptism than it is for two. Along with that, Elder Holland has said that there is no more time for there to be two more churches: a missionary church and a member church. So we're working on that, as well.

We're teaching a couple of cool people also. We have one family who is taking taking the discussions. They are keeping most of their commitments. They're a super cool family.

We've been having a lot of opposition later. However, because of that, we have been having a lot of success as well. It's interesting how those two work.

A Meeting and a Conference...

This week was a great week

We had our Stake Mission Coordination Meeting. The Stake President told us to have the Ward Mission Leaders assign exchanges because this church is a church of assignment not volunteer. When he talked about it, it made sense. He is one of the most missionary-minded stake presidents that I know.

We also had Zone Conference. That was great. We learned a lot about repentance, and how to "Teach Repentance and Baptize Converts", which has been a major theme in the missions around the world since we had a Worldwide Training about six months ago.

I gave my departing testimony, even though I have several weeks left, since it was my last Zone Conference. I was able to spend it with an elder who came out with me, a couple of my former companions, and all of my best friends in the mission. It was great!

We've been doing a lot of active member lessons and seeking for referrals. We're doing a lot of finding, and talking to people on the streets.

The bishop took us to see a less active member. On the way, we talked about priesthood keys, the priesthood birthright, etc. Bishop is super cool.