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10/03/16
Hello everyone!! I hope the week has been awesome for you and you all enjoyed General Conference as much as I did. If you didn't get to see it, I highly recommend you view it on LDS.org.
Anyway, this upcoming week is transfers!! It is so exciting! I am ready for a change and a new area. We were told where we will be going this morning! I will be transferring to the Denver area (the big city!) covering two wards. My new companion will be Elder Sato, is also at his three month mark, like me. He is from Japan (how sweet is that?) We will both continue to learn together. I am sad to leave Elder LaPerle, who is staying here in Westminster and training a new Elder. He has been a fantastic companion, and we'll stay in touch as we move forward.
Anyway, I'm so excited!!!
As for the week, we had a fantastic one, even though we had tons of cancellations (investigators, dinners, and even service opportunities!), but Conference totally made up for all of that. Because we had a bit of a slower week (mostly tracting, yay!!!), I'll just give you the highlights and the really awesome stuff.
On Thursday, we sat down with one of our progressing investigators. We were in his area, and he invited us in. We got to talking about our pre-earth life and the different plans Jesus and Satan had up in Heaven. He told us that he felt bad for Satan and all of his followers. It was something I had never heard before. I don't think he understood Satan's open rebellion and how awful Satan's plan was, a plan with zero agency. As he was talking about it, I could actually feel the Spirit leave the room, and it felt dark and weird. I had no idea what to do. I had heard of stories where when the Spirit leaves, Elders sing a hymn to invite it back, and then to testify of the goodness of the gospel. So I asked our investigator if I could sing a hymn for him. I sang "The Spirit of God". The heavy dark feeling in the room seemed to leave, and I felt so much better. After the hymn, my companion and I bore simple testimonies of the Savior and how great His plan is for us. I think we could all feel the Spirit again. It was an amazing experience! Afterward, we told him about Conference and he expressed a great desire to see it! Unfortunately, we couldn't find a ride for him for either day. We told him that we would see him next week and next Sunday.
Saturday was Conference!! We went to the Stake Center to watch it. There was almost no one there though, everyone must have been at home in their PJ's. So we watched it with another pair of missionaries and two or three members. I really enjoyed Elder Uchtdorf's beautiful talk on the Plan of Salvation. It is truly an amazing plan. After the morning session, we decided to stay at the stake center in order to save on miles. The afternoon session was again fantastic. Elder Stevenson gave an amazing talk on the Book of Mormon, and I greatly enjoyed Elder Yamashita's talk directed towards the missionaries. After his remarks, the MTC choir (in which I knew an Elder and a Sister) sang "I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go Lord." That hymn has a very special meaning to me as of late, and I felt the Spirit strongly as I watched my fellow missionaries sing it.
After the afternoon session, we tracted a few doors and then our Zone Leaders took us out for Chinese food before the Priesthood Session. Apparently it was a tradition for one of those Elder's families, so that was a ton of fun. Then, we went back to the Stake Center for Priesthood session. Another amazing session! I really enjoyed Elder LeGrand Richard's talk on the Book of Mormon and President Uchtdorf's talk on "Alma and Amulek". After that session, we were standing around talking with our mission president and a few other Elders (the president lives in our stake boundries, so he was there). The mission president invited us all out to Dairy Queen!! So, we went with the Assistants to the President, our zone leaders, and the Mission President to Dairy Queen. We had a good discussions about the conferences talks today. It was a really fun time!
It was a great Saturday! Later, we realized we had spent 8 hours at the Stake Center!!!
Sunday was another amazing day. We went back to the Stake Center for the morning session. I very much enjoyed President Nelson's talk on joy in this life and the life to come. After the morning session, we again resolved to do what we had done the day before, and stay to save on miles until the afternoon session. While we were there waiting, a member called us and asked if we could help their neighbors move. We were happy to help and quickly went over there to help. After that, the members invited us in to watch the afternoon session. It was a much needed break from the Stake Center, and a good way to watch the last session or "the home stretch."
The afternoon session was, again, fantastic. I really liked Elder Rasband's talk on remembering the Spiritual experiences that we've had in life and returning to them in hard times. It inspired me to keep a record of amazing experiences I've had on my mission not only in my journal, but on a separate paper that I can return to when times get rough. After the session ended, we got back to our regular work (with rejuvenation)! We finished out Sunday by tracting, trying to get into contact with investigators and less actives, and meeting with one of our less actives (who totally bore his awesome testimony to us while his Jewish friend sat there listening!!). It was a good way to end the week!
Anyway, lots of great stuff continues to happen here. I know that the words we've heard from the brethren this week are DIRECTLY from God ("Whether it is by mine own voice, or by the voice of my servants, it is the same"). I know that, if we continually study and feast upon these talks that have been given, we can and will receive answers to questions we have. I testify that this church is indeed Christ's church again upon the face of the Earth, as it was in Jesus' day.
I hope you all the best as you move forward! Love you!!
Elder Bird
Picture 1: Us missionaries with El Presidente at Dairy Queen
Picture 2: A new whiteboard we got for the apartment!!
9/26/16
Hey everyone! I hope everything is going well back home!
This week was just a fantastic week. It was a stark contrast to last week, which was a bit tough sometimes. We met some really awesome people this week and helped others continue to progress in the gospel. The work we do is just so awesome!!
So Monday started off normally. We usually don't have lessons on P-day, but someone told us to come back at 4 on P-day, so we did. We weren't expecting much, but this man totally let us in and we started talking a lot about faith and how to find it. We taught a little about how we came to find faith, and I left him with a Spanish Book of Mormon and told him to read Alma 32, which is a beautiful discourse on faith. He said he would read and that we could come back on Friday. And just like that, we had a new investigator!!
Tuesday was a pretty full day. We ended up starting out with volunteering at a Food bank up north in the morning with some other Elders. It was such a good way to spend our time. We helped people who really needed some food get what they needed. The people in charge were very kind as we helped them out and adopted us right into their service family. It was an awesome experience, and we're excited to keep helping people there every week. We spent a lot of the rest of the day trying to get into contact with people and tracting. Dinner was Cafe Rio (shout out to my brother-in-law who works there) with a cute young family in the ward. The dad is actually a surgeon at the Kaiser I go to downtown, and he was on the news that night. They had it recorded and we watched his "five minutes of fame" with them. It was really fun! Then, that night tracting, the very first person we met stopped and talked to us for a half hour! She had met with sister missionaries before, and told us she would have to come out our ward. It was way awesome! Then, I went and stayed the night with my district leader in the adjacent ward for exchanges.
Wednesday was spent on exchanges. My district leader is a really kind, genuine guy named Elder Sant. He's a bit of a goober from the South. We had a lot of fun on Wednesday, walking and tracting and trying to get into contact with people. Elder Sant's companion, Elder Bjerga (he's from Norway) was with Elder LaPerle in my area, and they said they had a good day, too. Our companionships are really good friends, so it was a fun day for everyone.
Thursday was back to normal. But something amazing happened Thursday morning!! As we were tracting up north (the north of our area is a bit ritzier/richer than the south), we happened upon a new investigator! We had been knocking these really really nice houses and were actually walking away from one when a guy ran out from it and told us to come back! He looked about his 20's, so I thought maybe he was living with his parents. We told him what we were doing there, and he invited us in. It turns out that he, a 19 year old kid, owned the house. He is a multi-millionaire already (and he's my age)!!! Apparently, he owns 4 really nice houses, and is moving to California soon. He told us that he had graduated high school a year early and was going to college, but had gotten his money by writing apps and investing in stocks (the biggest yield of which being Uber). We were quite impressed, especially when he told us that he had recently bought his parents their own house (sorry mom and dad, I can't do that for you just yet). He was super nice and listened intently for what we had to say. When we gave him a Book of Mormon, he even had us mark our favorite chapters so he could read them!! After, we thanked him and left, and then did happy dances the rest of the day.
Friday was a great day! The big thing of note was that we met with Monday's investigator again. And he is totally progressing in the gospel. He had read the chapter we gave him, and said that even though it was hard to understand, that it was beautiful and he had felt really peaceful and good while doing so!!! We taught him about the Gospel of Christ and especially the Holy Ghost. We gave him another chapter to read, and set up another appointment to meet!! How awesome is that??
Saturday was busy. The day started with a move of someone out of the ward. We were sad to see him go. While we were helping, he totally gave us a bunch of his old stuff! We are now the proud owners of that guy's bean bag. After the move, we met with some less actives and tried to meet with another investigator, Jimmy, who had been to church a while back but was not coming anymore (even though he had felt so good when he had come). He cancelled on us today, which was a bummer because he had been so hopeful before. So we finished of the night with tracting and met some very nice people.
Sunday was crazy busy!! Meetings in the morning, appointments right before church. At about quarter till church, we went to go get Jimmy for church. We were really unsure if he would, because of the last couple weeks. But he came!! So Sacrament was a little crazy, because we had a less active we're teaching there, and investigator, our recent convert, and then two women who just walked in (oh, and they only spoke Spanish). It was the primary program, which was a really sweet experience for everyone that came. All the kids were adorable, and I think everyone enjoyed it. I sat through it and thought about what would happen right after the meeting, and how I could juggle talking with and getting everyone situated. When the meeting ended, I tried to get help for the Spanish women as quick as possible. With that done, I juggled conversations with the less active and my investigator for 15 minutes. The less active went to class, and then we had the investigator meet with the bishop and the ward employment specialist. It had been a busy 20 minutes, but we got it all done. As we took Jimmy (the investigator) home, because he couldn't stay the whole time, he told us how much he liked the ward family and how nice everyone had been. He told us he would want to meet again and to come to church again next week! It was so awesome!! The rest of the day went well, tracting and meeting with more less actives. It was a good Sunday.
It was a great week!! The work is really picking up again out here, The week ahead looks even more busy, which really keeps us missionaries happy!
Anyway, I hope things are well back home. I keep you all in my prayers. May God continue to bless you all with happiness.
Until next week,
Elder Bird
Elder LaPerle and I chillin' at Subway
Me in the bean bag chair we scored
9/19/16
Hey everyone!!!
It seems like the weeks fly by faster and faster each time! We are already starting week 5 of the transfers! Two more weeks, and we'll switch again. Isn't that crazy??
This week was great!! A lot happened, so I'll talk about the highlights.
On Tuesday morning, we had a housing inspection. They like to check in on us and make sure we are keeping the apartment nice and clean. Luckily, we already keep our place pretty clean, so we just had to make sure it was spotless. We also put on those finishing details (like we found some flowers outside and put them in a can, as a centerpiece on the table. Classy, right?). Our inspector was really impressed! We passed with flying colors.
The rest of Tuesday was designated as a "Car Fast" day. Our leaders wanted everyone to not use their cars until 5:00pm that day. So we were out walking the whole day! It was good. We tracted and met with some lesser active people that we walked to. I think that getting the missionaries out of the cars really helps, especially to have people see us out in the community more. People give us friendly (and not so friendly) honks, which is really fun. The other day, some random number even texted us, saying he wanted to meet with us because he had seen us walking. I think he had gotten our number from someone in the community. It was amazing!! The blessings of walking :)
Wednesday was filled with meetings until 2pm. Then we did some service at a member's house. As I squatted down to lift something up, my pants totally ripped...it was so embarrassing!! When we finished the service, we headed home so I could change my pants. Luckily, a nice lady in the ward is going to patch them up for me. That is really nice, because they would probably look awful if I patched them up myself. We finished off Wednesday night by trying to meet up with an investigator from before, but that fell through, so we tracted some more. We actually ran out of Book of Mormon's to pass out that night, because so many people have been accepting them! We had to order more from the office, which we picked up on Friday.
Thursday was a pretty average day. We did yard work in the morning and then we tracted and tried to get in contact with certain people. We ran out of Book of Mormon's to hand out, so we just handed out the pamphlets we had, which talk about Heavenly Father's Plan of Salvation. We handed those out all day, and then something crazy happened right before dinner! As we were going around, someone actually let us in to hear our message!!! It was one of the few times where we've been let in to sit down and talk. She was a sweet older woman, I think around 89 or so. We had a nice visit and all shared experiences about this life and God's plan for us. She was so kind and willing to listen. We were so happy!!! We are going to go back this week and share a copy of the Book of Mormon with her (now that we have one). We are going to introduce her to a nice older couple from the ward. She already has a lot of faith, but is kind of alone. We hope we can fill her life with happiness as we share our message and introduce her to the great community within our church.
Friday was a crazy day! We had a training meeting down in Aurora, but had to first pick up Elders who were on bike up in Boulder (opposite sides of the mission). So, we ended up using 75 miles that day (we normally get 33 a day). So we might be doing more walking at the end of the month!! But the meeting was awesome and we were able to pick up some more Book of Mormon's to pass out. The took up most of the day. That night we just tried to contact people and tract. We had plans to meet with an investigator, but that fell through. So more tracting!!
Saturday was also busy! We did some more service, met with the less active who's mom is in the hospital, met with the less active who wants to have his deceased daughter baptized in the temple, and met with our investigator who came to church a few Sundays back. They were all good meetings and it still amazes me at how much I love these people. On of our investigators told us that he had definitely felt a difference in his life the week he had come to church. He has a hard life, but he could see the help that church had brought to him!! It was so cool to see his recognition of that.
Finally, Sunday came around. We were super excited to see everyone who had told us they would come to church, especially our investigator. When Sacrament came though, not a single person we had met with on Saturday, and said they would come, showed up. It was devastating!! All I can do though, is invite them to come and receive the gospel and the happiness that comes from it. Hopefully they will make the effort they need to to come and receive that joy. Until then, the Savior (and me) will be waiting patiently for them.
Anyway, it was a good week! I won't lie, the work is hard and rejection stinks. BUT, what makes it all worth it is knowing that what we share can and will help people find peace in this life and joy in the life to come. I am grateful that I do get to share that, and I hope I can continue diligently in the work to help people receive such.
I hope everything is well back home!! I am praying for you all (especially for my new nephew, baby Eli)!!
Keep being awesome!!
Elder Bird
Pictures:
Our classy centerpiece!
The view of Denver we have
Me, doing some service this week
The moon one night - it was big and red.
9/12/16
Hey Everyone!!!
Things here in Colorado are amazing as always! We are heading into football season, or should I say Broncos season, so things here are getting really fun. One of the biggest themes of this week, though, was delicious and crazy amounts of food!!
So as a missionary with limited monthly funds, you learn quickly where to go out to eat that is really cheap and really good. So this week, we went and ate at a lot of those places because some of our dinners had to cancel. We found an Asian place that only charges $5 for a plate of fried rice, two entrees, a spring roll, and a soda! It's like Panda Express, but cheaper!! We also found a pizza place where we could buy 12" pizzas for $6 each (which I might or might not have eaten all in one sitting...oops). This week also, with the Broncos playing, we have a key tag which allows us to buy $1 Big Mac's all day, the day after every Broncos game. So we had a few cheap Big Mac's this week too. We had a member who emailed my mom and got my favorite recipe and cooked it for me (it was amazing!!!) And finally, we just got back from Golden Corral for lunch, which is all you can eat delicious food. It feels like we had a crazy food filled week, and I have it on the brain!!
I hope I'm not scaring anyone, as a diabetic only talking about crazy bad fast food. To go along with that, I had my first diabetic check up today! Last Tuesday, I went in to get blood work done to see how I've been doing! That was all fine and dandy, but I almost passed out after they took my blood! I could feel myself slipping and my vision blurring, so I told my blood worker. He went pale and laid me down real quick to get some blood back to my head. After a few minutes, I felt fine, but he still said to be careful So I rode home laying down in the car with my feet up. It was one of those awesome #diabetic perks. Then early this morning, I had my actual check up. Apparently no records had been sent over from California, so I explained to my doctor what was happening and everything. She was really nice, and she told me I have been doing really well with everything here (God's been helping me a WHOLE lot). My Hemoglobin A1C (a blood sugar average) is back down to 5.5, so I am in a very healthy range. Yay!!! So no one has to worry about me eating all this crazy food and that I am a diabetic, I am doing great!
I had my first zone conference out here! That is a meeting where about half the Elders get all together and are led by President in some training and some inspirational talks to kind of rekindle our spirits. It was an amazing conference!! We learned so much, and I was definitely rejuvenated. We talked a lot about Peter and his ministry. What really touched my heart was the story of when the Savior asked Peter three times if Peter loved him. The final time, Peter told Jesus emphatically that he loved him, and that Jesus knew that he loved him. Jesus quietly replied to him to feed His sheep. That inspired me so much. I feel similar to Peter; I feel as if I can look at the Savior if He asks me if I love Him and tell Him that He knows I do. With that, the Savior needs me to feed His sheep. That is why I am out here.
As for lessons this week, a lot fell through. We had three of our five investigators (that's right, 5!!!) cancel on us. We also had a few less actives cancel on us, and a few dinners. With that, we had a lot of times to tract! And while we did so, we picked up a new investigator!! (that doesn't happen often, so it was a real blessing). She is an older black woman who is so sweet to us. She is really interested in scripture study, and we have two more return appointments with her already!! She said she is concerned on if we are eating enough (we told her we definitely are) but she told us she'd still feed us lunches as we go over there. She is so so sweet and it is amazing to feel the love of Christ that she already has for us.
I met a young family at church yesterday who knows my Aunt and Uncle Bird in Stockton!! My dad grew up in Stockton, and we have a lot of family there. The wife grew up in Stockton and went to high school at Lincoln High (where my dad went). It turns out she grew up knowing my Uncle and Aunt who still live in Stockton. Her name is Sister Gamboa (I think her name starts wit an A, like Aivlyn maybe? I'm not so great with first names out here). It was so cool to meet yet another person who has ties to home!!
One more cool experience. We have been talking to this man who was married to a Mormon before. He wasn't really interested, and we were puzzled on how we could help him become so. We decided not to stop by him this week, and maybe try back in a few weeks. The next day though, we felt as if we should see him. When we did, he greeted us and told us he'd missed us and that, if we came next week, he'd have burgers and hot dogs for us!! It was so amazing. I am really hopeful that we can continue to see and help this man. I know God is helping us help others in so many ways. I am so blessed to be able to act as His hand as we go out and share with people what we have seen has helped us so much!
So the work is great here!!! I continue to love every hour. I hope things are well for all of you back home!
I love you all,
Elder Bird
Pictures:
A Denver Sunset. Its amazing.
I've learned that the Denver Broncos are the one and only true football team established on the Earth (Everyone is a fan. Everyone.)
My hospital in Denver!
9/06/16
Hello everyone!!!
Oh my goodness, what a week it has been! So much has happened, I don't even know where to begin!
Well I think I said this last time, but the start of the week began with a lot of walking. We had to carefully budget out where we would go in the car because we only had about 12 miles a day. That is really hard in our area. But, we did it!! And guess what?? As we were walking to the grocery store on Monday, our district leader saw us and gave us a ride home. I saw a bike on their bike rack and asked who's it was. "Yours if you want it," they told me. So I scored a free bike!!! How awesome is that?? There are some biking areas in my mission, so now I'm way set if I ever get sent there. It is such a blessing!!!
Monday night ended with us walking around to see people on our list and getting poured on. It was raining so hard, it was crazy! I was totally soaked, and my companion was loving it because he's from Washington. After 45 minutes of that, we were able to get into an appointment and dry off. It was a crazy night!
On Tuesday while we were out visiting names of less actives and potential investigators, we stopped and met with an older couple in the ward. When we asked if we could help them with anything, they told us we could help them can the jelly they were currently making. So we did! After we got it all canned, they gave us two jars of homemade jelly, and told us they would need more help the next day. They had fresh grapes in their backyard, and asked if we would help them turn that into jelly. So the next day we went back and helped them turn their fresh grapes into jelly!! It was such an awesome form of service. They're so sweet and were really appreciative. We now have 5 jars of homemade jelly in our fridge. Our peanut butter and jelly sandwich consumption has skyrocketed!
Wednesday night we had a lesson with an investigator. We brought with us a ward missionary. At first we were worried if he would be the right fit for this single woman investigator, but as we taught about the Book of Mormon and Restoration, this ward missionary was able to relate with her, bring the Spirit, and testify to her in a personal way that made what we talked about that much more important. It was a fantastic lesson, and she became my first ever progressing investigator!! How awesome is that?? We couldn't thank that ward missionary enough for all his help and how strongly he was able to help this woman. We have a return appointment on Wednesday again. I'm so excited!!
On Friday, we had a lesson with a less active, recent convert couple who are interested in going to the temple to have their daughter, who has passed away, receive the ordinance of baptism by proxy. We brought a member of the bishopric with us, and the visit was amazing. At the close, the man asked what he needed to do to start the temple process. When we told him that he needed to come to church on Sunday, he replied, "I'll see you Sunday then." What amazing faith he had. His desire to do something good for his daughter is leading him to have faith. It is such a blessing to witness.
On Friday night, something unexpected happened. We had dinner with a lady in our ward, Sister Hamman, who turned out to be from San Jose and my home stake!! She turned out to be Heather Judd's (a family friend and prominent member in the stake) sister who had moved out here! It turns out that I had gone to seminary with her son Ryan. It was so crazy to connect with her about home and her son and everything like that. She texted her sister, Heather, who texted my mom, a picture of me eating dinner with her. She also asked me what my favorite dinner was and when I told her, she had her sister ask my mom for the recipe. My mom then emailed it to Sister Hamman so that she can cook it for me. It was so awesome!!!
Saturday, we had some amazing lessons with investigators and then a member who had recently had a very hard week. This brother had so much faith. He told us that, "when the devil looked me in the face and tried to bring a storm on me this week, I looked back and told him that I was the storm!" haha I thought that was funny and really thought he had a lot of faith.
One of the investigators we taught on Saturday ended up coming to church!! When we invited him to church we asked him not to bring any cigarettes and that he couldn't smoke at the church, but he came nonetheless. It was fast and testimony meeting, so I got up and shared my testimony on the Plan of Salvation, because this investigator was looking for his purpose in life. He went all through Sacrament without a cigarette and it was hard for him, but he told us he wanted to come back next week. We are excited for him. I think we're going to teach him the Word of Wisdom soon.
Something unfortunate happened on Sunday night. An elderly less active woman we have been meeting with, fell down while we were at dinner. Her daughter texted us that she needed us now and we went as quick as we could. We got her up and went with the mom and her daughter to the ER. It turns out that the mom had fractured a vertebrae in her lower back. It was so tragic. The biggest thing that I kept thinking while we sat there, nervous and worried with them in the ER, is how easily the people here have come to feel like family to me. I felt real sorrow for them, as if these people were my aunt or my grandma. It was really crazy. It made me realize how much I really do love these people out here.
The next day, Monday, was P-day!!! President decided to have us email today instead (because of Labor day), so P-day ended at 4 instead of 6. We did normal P-day stuff, like shop, clean the house and car (especially the car because we have inspections soon), and then played sports with our zone. We ended P-day and then went to give the injured less active woman a blessing in the hospital. She was in much better spirits, and so sweet to us. That went well, and the night ended with dinner and a meeting with some members who are adopting an 11 year old boy and will want him to have the lessons soon.
Like I said, it was a crazy busy week!!!! What is even more crazy, is it feels like it went by in seconds. Through all of this, my testimony continues to grow. I know that Jesus walked this Earth, atoned for yours and my sins, and continues to watch over us and comfort us as we go through our busy weeks. I can feel His love so strongly as I work with some of his amazing children.
Anyway, have a great week everyone!!! I love you all!!
Elder Bird
Pictures:
My beautiful, new, FREE bike
My current area. Have I sent a picture yet? It looks gerrymandered.
A prayer rock for someone we are teaching! Homemade, and quite a work of art.
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