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4/2/18
Hello!
Happy Easter everyone! Easter is such a fun time because it is all about the Savior and the most important time in all of history, when he died and then rose again for each one of us! We had a great Easter yesterday and a fun week to match!
General conference was this weekend also. That is always fun as missionaries becuse it is like our Superbowl!! We just kind of camp out at the Stake Center and enjoy each session (I even brought snacks). My favorite part of this conference was the Saturday morning session that was a "Solemn Assembly." On January 2nd, our dearly beloved prophet Thomas S. Monson passed away, and so at this conference we had the opportunity to sustain a new prophet, Russell M. Nelson. In the Solemn Assembly, everyone in the church had the opportunity to stand and raise our hands in support of the new prophet and new First Presidency of the church. As Elder Christensen and I stood in the Stake Center to sustain Russell M. Nelson, the Spirit was so strong and I could feel that this was right and that he is supposed to be our new prophet, God's prophet on the earth today.
This conference was also historic because of other exciting things that happened as well! It just seemed like one thing after another! First the change in having the Priesthood session in April and the Relief Society session in October as the third session. Two new apostles were called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. It was exciting because these two men are the first Latin American and Asian American apostles to be called. Then President Nelson made some significant changes to the organization of the church and how some of the things in the church is currently run. These changes are very important and I think most agree, will be a great thing for the church. He also announced 7 new temples, one of which will be in the country of Russia!! This General Conference is the last one I will have on my mission, and I will definitely remember it forever.
As for the rest of the week, good things happened with our missionary work. Unfortunately, every lesson we had scheduled with Gloria, Monica, and Valerie fell through. That was a pretty big bummer. The Valerie lesson was especially sad, because our Mission President's wife had come to teach with us and Valerie wasn't there and wasn't answering our phone calls or texts. We were pretty distraught and worried. But the next day, as we were walking down the street, a car randomly pulled off and someone came running to talk to us...it was Valerie! She said she had lost her phone and felt so bad for missing our appointment. That was super nice! She is such a sweet lady. She'll be out of town this next week, but we are super excited to see her when she gets back.
Because some people fell through, we had lots of time to look for new people to teach. The good news is that we did! We found 2 new people that are super solid, Dangelo and Jay. We found and talked to Jay last week, and this week when we stopped by, he let us right in. We taught him the first part of the Plan of Salvation and he said it finally made sense and that he loved what we were teaching him! As for Dangelo, he was a former investigator that the sisters used to teach. We got back in contact with him and taught him about the Book of Mormon. He loved it! He is a 17 year old kid with a good head on his shoulders who is really looking for guidance from God. We are excited to be teaching him.
So good things are happening!! Elder Christensen and I are loving the work and loving working together! We are excited to start work on transfers this next week! I know that what we are doing in people's lives matters, and that we are making a difference, which feels so good. Thank you so much for your support and love!!
Elder Bird
1 Easter Peeps!
2 Watching conference on Sunday at the Bigalows
3/26/18
Hello!
This has been a great week because Elder Christensen and I were able to get some great things done in the Skylake ward! Things were a bit hectic the last couple of weeks, but this week was super calm and we were able to focus more on missionary work.
We went on 3 exchanges with 3 great elders, including Elder Call! It was awesome to be with him again, it felt "just like old times." We worked in the Skylark area. To build up our teaching pool, me and my different companions try to talk to 30 new people a day on average, and we are now teaching about 3 or 4 people that have some real potential to join the church, with hopefully more on the way!
We were able to do some awesome teaching this week too! There are a few people we are working with. The first is Gloria, who I have written about earlier. She is doing really, really well! We had two lessons this week with her and focused mostly on all the questions she has for us. When we went to teach her, we brought along a sister from the ward, named Sister Martin. She used to be JW [Jehovah's Witness], but converted to our church a couple years back. Gloria had also studied for JW's for years, and so it was pretty cool to see them interact. Gloria had all kinds of questions for her. The coolest thing was how much Gloria kept on saying that she felt something different when we came, and how she hadn't felt this feeling about any other church she has looked into. It was powerful to think that the Spirit is present when we see her, even when we only have a chance to say a prayer.
The next person we are teaching is a woman named Monica. She has 3 kids, Tien (7), Tristan (4), and Tiana (2). The kids are super cute. We taught them the whole Plan of Salvation yesterday. Monica had tons of questions about our existence here on earth, and so we were able to lay out the whole plan for her and help her understand it. She seems to really understand things and the lesson was super helpful!
The other person we are currently teaching is Valerie. We stopped by Valerie's house every other day, this week to try and catch her, with no luck! So we were quite surprised when we saw her standing outside the church on Sunday morning with her son! She had just decided to come! And they stayed all three hours and loved the whole thing! They said they would be out of town next week, but would love to come again the week after! How awesome is that? It was the biggest miracle we experienced this whole week.
Having to talk to about 30 new people every day has been so cool. It's nice to meet so many people and get to hear 30 new stories about each of their lives. I love how much missionary work is tied into learning and getting to know people. I also love how much we get to feel and experience God's love and understanding of the people we meet and teach. I know that this is God's work and am so so grateful to be a part of something so miraculous.
Sincerely,
Elder Bird
A few pictures at the temple
This is a picture of a map of our ward, with the members and some or our investigators mapped out into it. Lots of work to do!
3/19/18
Hi everybody!
Elder Christensen and I had a great week. The big events of the week were zone conferences and another missionary "Why I Believe" fireside! We also helped with a little "fietsa" for a departing Spanish missionary. It was a little stressful being in charge of everything, but we have really come to love the missionaries that we are serving.
Zone conferences were on Wednesday for the South half of the mission and Thursday for the North half the mission. On Tuesday, Elder Christensen and I took the day to prep for what was going to happen at the conferences. It was actually pretty funny because this week my dad was prepping and presenting at an embedded Linux conference and I was prepping and presenting in the zone conference for the mission. One of the trainings I gave was about "weekly planning vs weakly planning". Sister Savage had a great idea for it! She had us dress up as Hawaiian Tourists to show the missionaries that planning out a week of missionary work was kind of like planning out a vacation. We dressed up in Hawaiian shirts, leis, and big hats and did a little skit about two guys that hadn't planned out a Hawaiian vacation. After that, we also had a chance to talk to the zone leaders and some of the STL's about how to work better with their stake leaders. Both conferences seemed to go really well.
Friday night we had a Fiesta for a departing Spanish missionary, Sister DeLeon. She was leaving a little earlier than expected due to some visa problems, so President and Sister Savage wanted to send her out with a little bit of a hoorah. Elder Christensen and I helped in the kitchen and made all food for all the Spanish missionaries who came. It was a fun night! We started with a pinata and then had dinner. Afterwards, all the missionaries got to go around and say what they had liked about Sister DeLeon and also share a little bit of their testimony. It was a cool night to be a part of, and we got to do all the dishes afterwards! Fun stuff :)
On Sunday, the "Why I Believe" fireside was held in Arvada. It was super cool because I got to see some of the old members that I used to serve with, back in the Arvada 2nd ward. We were also able to hear some pretty touching music from the missionaries around the mission, and then hear the testimonies from some converts of the church in Arvada area.
This week was also interesting because Elder Christensen and I, and a few other "IT" missionaries around the mission were given smartphones! We walked into the office on Tuesday morning for a little meeting to prep us for the smartphones our mission will be getting soon, and walked out unexpectedly with smartphones to use! They want us to kind of "beta test" them for right now before we start handing smartphones out to all the missionaries. Actually right now, I'm writing this email using talk to text with my smartphone. It's been cool to see how they they can help us and our missionary work. It is still super weird to have one. I'm a little worried that missionaries will waste time on them instead of doing missionary work. It kind of feels like I am back home with it. We will be getting a bunch of cool apps soon, including Facebook! Exciting times here in the CDNM.
It really was a great week, but I am super excited and looking forward to this week because we will get to do a little bit more missionary work in Skylake. Good things are happening!
I love you all! Thanks so much!
Elder Bird
3/13/18
Hello!
What a busy week Elder Christensen and I had. We were just going and going and going all week. We had a Mission Leadership Council on Friday which Elder Christensen and I were both in charge of and so had a lot to do to get ready for it. In prepping for this big meeting, Elder Christensen and I met with President on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to talk about and discuss what we could do in the meeting and how to make things most effective. It was an all day event and we were able to counsel with and teach the zone leaders and the STL's. We also heard a bit of the new program to introduce smartphones that will be coming to our mission soon. The day was a success!
On Saturday we had a district leadership meeting from 8-10am. Elder Christensen and I both had a chance to present at this meeting and gave training to all the district leaders on some of the duties that they perform. Then, right after, we drove over to Arvada to go on an exchange with the zone leaders. They had just been swept in to the area for that transfer and needed some help building up their teaching pool. I served in Arvada about a year ago, so I was able to get them some appointments with people that I used to teach.
On Sunday after church, Elder Christensen and I helped run and direct the "Why I Believ" fireside that was being held down in Aurora. The missionaries all sang as a choir and some converts shared their testimonies, including a man named Hans that Elder Hales and I had found, and who had been baptized after I left. It was cool to run the meeting, but stressful to direct 150 missionaries in a musical number all at the same time.
The next morning, Monday, yesterday, an Elder was going home due to a medical issue and so Elder Christensen and I helped shift a few companionship around. This meant driving them to their new areas, moving luggage, closing apartments, and what not, and getting things settled again in the mission. This took up most of the day and when we finished we finally got a chance to breathe a little.
Despite all the admin stuff we had to do, we actually were able to get a couple of things done in the work with a few people we are trying to start things up with. We had a couple first lessons, one with a man named Luis and then another with a woman named Monica. When we met with Luis, we gave him a Book of Mormon with some highlighted passages that we thought he might enjoy. He really liked that, and promised he'd look through and see what he thought about it. That was a pretty cool meeting! Then with Monica, who Elder Bjerga and I had found, but were never able to meet with, we had a great first meeting. We just chatted a little bit about God as a loving Heavenly Father and a little bit about the Restoration. She seems super nice and solid to work with in the future. Also, on Saturday night we met with the Baldasari family and gave them a tour of the church building. This is sometimes a good way to introduce new people to the church building so they can see it when it is quiet and not a lot of people are around. They asked a bunch of questions as we walked through and told them about the whole place. They seemed to enjoy it and will hopefully feel more comfortable when they decide to come to church on Sunday with us.
This upcoming week looks just as busy as last week. We will have two zone conferences, on Wednesday and Thursday to prepare for. Both of us are presenting at them and we are both excited and nervous at the same time.
I would like to end my email today with a little spiritual thought about our offerings to God. At the "Why I Believe" Fireside Sunday night, there was a missionary named Elder Bailey who shared his testimony that really touched my heart. Elder Bailey told a story that one day he was wandering through his dad's closet and found a little gift he had given to his father a long time ago. It was in actuality something very dinky and small, but something which his father had kept, because it was what Elder Bailey could give at the time. He related this to the thought of what he was giving to his Heavenly father on his mission. Sometimes our offerings in actuality are very dinky and small, but they are what we can give, and it means a lot to our Father in Heaven. As I have been reflecting back on the last few busy weeks, I seem more tired than usual. I was kind of wondering if the things I was doing, and the gifts I was giving, would even matter in the lives of people. So this was a gentle reminder to me that what I can give, is what Heavenly Father will keep and cherish. I am so appreciative of His love in my life and the lives of those people who I come into contact with. I love this gospel and am so grateful for the chance to serve.
I love you all!
Elder Bird
Went to the Temple on Wednesday
Mission Leadership Counsel
From President Savage:
[The mission TECHNOLOGY TEAM! These Elders and Sisters are the ONLY Missionaries in our mission RIGHT NOW that have a smart phone. They will assist us in rolling out smart phones to our entire mission. They will set up, train, and trouble shoot smart phones in the CDN mission.]
3/5/18
Hey everyone!
This week was literally so crazy! With everything happening because of transfers, it just proved to be a little stressful and a lot of work. But no complaints here, super fun :)
What a week! It was probably one of the most stressful weeks of my mission! I had a lot to do for the transfers and was basically put in charge of them, and had to train Elder Christensen how to do it all at the same time. The main thing that was difficult was the time crunch. President Savage didn't make the final decisions until Wednesday around 3pm. As then as soon as he did, we made the phone calls, made leadership changes, and then had to make a transfer packet, all before 5pm. Whew! After the office work, we went and saw the new missionaries coming in to the mission from the MTC, and then had dinner and a little meet and greet where we got to share a few of our mission stories with them. That was pretty cool!
On Thursday we ran around and got things all smoothed out with the transfers, getting people to where they needed to be. Everything all worked out completely fine, but I was just stressed and worried the whole time! Now it is over and I feel good about it. We then helped with the departing missionary dinner and had dinner with all of them. It was so weird to see people like Elder Laperle, Elder Melchin, and Elder Bjerga going home. It's hard to think that will be me soon.
Elder Christensen is my new companion! He is a great missionary and just came from Crowfoot YSA, where I served with Elder Brown down in Parker. He is from Ogden Utah, and will go home the same time I do. He is a great missionary and was a good zone leader down there. President and Sister Savage love him to death. He comes from a family of 4 boys, loves photography, and most importantly, loves and is great at missionary work! We have actually had a lot of time to be out and about in Commerce City recently, and have been striving to really build up our teaching pool now that Sean has been baptized. We were able to find 3 contacts! We are a great team and work well together and the work is fun! I think it will be a great transfer! I will probably be handing the torch off to him and training for my last two transfers after that, hopefully in a bike area so I can get fit before I come home!!
On Friday morning, we took the departing missionaries to the airport and said our goodbyes. After Friday, things kind of calmed down a little bit, and we got all things finalized and everybody settled into their new areas, and things finished up.
Elder Christensen and I spent most of the day Saturday and Sunday working in Skylake!! It was fantastic to get some good work done. On Saturday, our last door for the night was interested and wanted us to come back! And on Sunday, our last door before dinner let us in and we will be going back to give him, Louis, a Book of Mormon. It is just a huge testimony that God will grant blessings if we are willing to push through and endure to the end during our days and in life!
Anyway, things are great and I love being out here. I know this work is inspired and from God!
Love, Elder Bird
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