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11/27/17
Hey Everyone!!
What a fantastic week we had this week! Thanksgiving, like my subject line states, has indeed come and gone. It was a wonderful holiday and a great day to be thankful for all that we are being blessed with.
On Tuesday we had exchanges with the zone leaders and I was with Elder Melchin. I love Elder Melchin and his happy, "can do" attitude. We've served together a few times before and we are good friends. We had a pretty rocking day and he was with me when we were finally able to teach Sarah and Ian. It was an interesting lesson. First, they took us out to lunch at Village Inn, which was super good and super nice of them. We visited and got to know each other a little bit. They are both 20 years old and graduated with the class of 2016, and are now both going to college. Sarah is religious and goes to the Church of God and Ian is agnostic. We got through a little bit about what the Book of Mormon is and why we have it. They said they would read up and be ready for our next chat. It was great! The rest of that day we spent out contacting. Then that night we went with our ward mission leader and delivered some Thanksgiving cards to people in the ward that might be struggling. Fun day all around!
On Wednesday, we had lessons with Brandon and Jason! With Brandon, we talked a lot about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and also about baptism and what it means. The Spirit was there and it was definitely a good talk, but we got interrupted right near the end and then had to leave. It was a bummer! But still a great lesson and he is doing really well. In our lesson with Jason, he really opened up to us about things he has been struggling with. He is having a super hard time stopping his smoking. He feels like he doesn't have tons of support and feels a little bit alone. We shared some thoughts, and asked him to write 100 things he is grateful for and to focus on that. He accepted our challenge and we are excited to see what this does for him.
Thanksgiving, the big day!! We had a super busy day. It started with a zone Turkey Bowl in the morning up in the North part of the zone, so we woke up pretty early to get over there with all the missionaries carpooling with us. It was a fun, noncompetitive game. Afterwards, we drove over to a church and changed before having a meeting with all the zone about the "Light the World" initiative!! It is going to be a super awesome program this year, just like last year! It was introduced to us and then we received some cards that we can hand out to others and an advent calendar for ourselves. After the meeting, we took everybody home and then headed over for our dinner, at the Walker's house. They were super sweet! They made us feel like part of the family. The food was super good, and Sister Walker had even reached out to our parents for a recipe from home! After a great meal there and a quick ping pong tournament, we headed home to change and shower! Then, we headed over to the Spiers' for some pie and a short spiritual thought and then to the Nelson's for the same thing! After all that pie and ice cream, we headed home and went to bed! We couldn't have asked for a better Thanksgiving!! It was so good to be with the members and know that they cared about us and what we were up to on this special day that was away from home.
The rest of the week went just as great! We had a fun day out on Friday, teaching some new people on the radar and that we are excited to teach! And on Saturday, we had another exchange with the Elders in the Smoky Hill/Parkview wards. I went with Elder Gonzalez and worked in the Smoky Hill ward area and it was cool to be back there! Sunday was also good, we had some really good church services and got to meet with a potential investigator named John. We shared the "Light the World" program with him. He is super Christian and we can say he is "open but not open" in that he will have us back and chat, but is pretty cemented in his way of thinking. I think the initiative really opened his eyes to actually what we are trying to do here, and he really liked it.
Anyway, this week was super awesome. It was especially cool to see everyone come together in a spirit of gratitude. I am so grateful for my mission so far, and for all the wonderful lessons I am learning, and people that I am meeting. I am also grateful for all of the people back home sending their love and cheering me on. I am grateful for my Savior and the understanding He has of me and everyone. I am grateful for the Book of Mormon and the testimony it has given me as I have sought knowledge and understanding from it. Also, I am grateful for my mom and my dad, and all of their love.
Elder Bird
11/20/17
Hello everyone!!
I hope everyone had a great week! We have had, as always, a "hip hooping" week.
Lots of stuff happened this week. Especially a lot of street contacting and knocking on doors. Elder Hales and I have been working super hard to find some more people to teach! It has been "a grind" and pretty tough sometimes, but I think things are starting to move a little bit. It is cool to see!
I think probably the coolest experiences from the week were definitely the lessons we were able to have. And all the days we went over and saw Sarah, who I mentioned last week. It was actually really fun going over and seeing her every day! We are working with 3 other people besides her: Jason, Brandon, and Dave.
Sarah! Like I said, we stopped by every single day this week and and were able to see her a bunch. It was cool to see how she opened up as we stopped by every day. It feels like we're pretty good friends with her now. There were even some days that we stopped by and she wasn't there! We always left a note or signed something, so that it "counted." We are finally going to be able to teach her and her boyfriend a lesson tomorrow! I am super excited!
Jason! Jason is doing well. He is working towards being baptized on the 30th of December. He has really been struggling to stop smoking recently. He's been at it for about a week now, and thing aren't going too well. We were wondering what we should talk to him about when we saw him this week, and we felt really impressed to read the Book of Mormon with him and talk about how much power he can have from it, if he reads every single day. We promised it would help in his effort to stop smoking. Then we read Ether 12 with him, which is a great chapter on faith, miracles, and turning our weaknesses into strengths. It was a pretty powerful lesson! We saw him again at church on Sunday.
Dave! Dave is an interesting one to teach sometimes. He is an older guy in his 60's that loves meeting with us and the JW's. He likes researching all religions. We don't know really where his commitment level is with actually joining, but he loves researching. He has been taught for a while now, and we were trying to think of a different angle to approach him with. Our bishop gave us an idea of having him look for points of Christ's church in the new testament and then comparing those points with the churches he's researching today (similar to what a few guys did and came up with 17 points, and then joined our church). We had a good talk with Dave, and then we invited him to do that activity. He seemed overwhelmed by it, but very excited! It should be really good for him.
Brandon! This was probably the coolest lesson of the week! Brandon is a really cool kid an is into spirituality. To make a long story short, we explained the Atonement of Jesus Christ to him, in a way he could understand, and it seemed to really click with him. He understood a little bit of what Christ suffered for us, and for him. He was really impressed and touched by it. It was so cool to see something click within this guy. He is reading through the Book of Mormon right now, too. Super cool.
Things here are going super great! I love it so much and I'm working with some really awesome people and feeling the Spirit so strong!!
I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
I love you all! Bye!
Elder Bird
11/13/17
Hello!!!
What a wonderful week it has been here in Denver! We had lots of cool stuff happen, but here are some of the coolest highlights!
This week we went on two exchanges, one with the Elders in the Southlands ward, Elder Curtis and Elder Blackham, and one with the Elders in the Smoky Hill ward, Elder Gonzalez and Elder Cooper! The first exchange was on Tuesday, and I went to the Southlands ward area with Elder Blackham. We had a fantastic day together. Elder Blackham is actually kind of a new Elder, he came out with the same group of Elders that Elder Hales came out with. Elder Blackham is a total stud. I was super impressed with his desire to work and his skills that he has already developed out here. We had an awesome day, out walking in the cold. It was fun being out when it was below freezing (it made a lot of people stop and talk cause they felt a little bad for us). We went to an apartment complex that is in their area and found 5 super solid potential investigators for them to work with. Seriously, these people let us teach them about the Book of Mormon and God and were all just super nice! We even met a woman from Indonesia, and I got to speak a little Indonesian of what I remember from the MTC! That was like the coolest part of the day! Anyway, Elder Blackham is a great missionary and we had an awesome day out together.
For the other exchange, I went with Elder Cooper, and he and I worked in the Fox Hollow and YSA wards for the day. Elder Cooper impressed me as well!! Elder Cooper was actually in my district when I was a district leader the first time around. He has grown a lot since that time, and he was super skilled in basically everything to do with the work. It was great! We had a great day out. One guy even let us in for an hour and fed us as we chatted about his beliefs (he is Norse, and believes in Norse mythology, believing in Gods like Odin and Thor and Loki) it was super interesting. After about an hour he had really softened up and was thanking us for coming and talking with him. We were amazed because he was the one with all the kindness, feeding us and what not! It was a pretty cool experience. The rest of the day went great with Elder Cooper, another stud missionary here in the CDNM.
Another highlight of the week was that we had a mission tour by Elder Anderson of the Seventy! Elder Anderson is a really powerful man, and has had some great talks in general conference and at BYU devotionals (he was the guy who gave the talk about hearing the music of the gospel and dancing to it.) Anyway, he had tons of wisdom and knowledge for us because he had served as a Mission President in Mexico. We talked a lot about what we are doing out here, and it was just so great to meet and hear a general authority speak to us!
Teaching and finding wise, the week went great! Our friend Jason is on track for a baptismal date of Dec 30th still. He is trying to stop smoking this week. He is working so hard to change! We are super proud of him and are trying to give him some good support as he tries to live the gospel more fully in his life. Also, we taught some cool lessons to a few of our other friends in the YSA ward, a lot about the Book of Mormon and gaining a witness. I am so glad that we have the Book of Mormon as the tool to help people learn and be converted.
Probably the coolest experiences this past week was last night. Last Sunday, the 5th, we were tracting in the Fox Hollow ward area around 6pm, and many people were telling us it was too late to be out and to go home, that it was too late because it was so dark. We were getting a little discouraged, but we pushed through till 6:30pm. Well, around 6:20, we met a woman named Sarah who basically told us the same thing everybody else had been saying, and asked us try her at another time. She told us to come back the following week at 3pm on Sunday the 12th and she would listen. I kind of laughed and told her we would do it, don't tempt us. She told us that she would bet we wouldn't, and I took that as a challenge.
Yesterday I remembered that we had told her we would come back. I almost didn't want to, thinking she was just bluffing and wasn't really interested. Then I heard a story in Elders Quorum about the "Tattooed Mormon," who was converted because she said she would only listen to the Elders if they bought her a steak dinner, they did and it progressed from there. Their sacrifice had made the difference for Al Fox, and I kept thinking about Sarah. So we decided to go see Sarah at 3pm with our WML [ward mission leader]. Well, she didn't answer when we knocked. I knew she wouldn't!! I left a note of triumph, telling her we had kept our part of the bargain, but she wasn't there to keep hers. I also wrote our number in case she wanted to call and tell us why. Then we left and I didn't think about it for the rest of the day. Around 5pm, I got a call from an unknown number and it turned out to be Sarah!!! She called and told us that a year and a half ago, missionaries had knocked and she had been super interested, but they never came back. She was testing us to see how committed we were to her, and if we would actually stick with her! She told us that if we kept on trying by every day, she would hear us out. She told us that she was "pleasantly surprised" that we had kept our end. How awesome is that?? It totally revitalized me and made me want to keep going.
Okay, all the Elders here at the library want me to get off now. I love you all!! Have a great week!
Elder Bird
11/6/17
Hello Everyone!!
What a fantastic week! Between Halloween on Tuesday, the temple on Wednesday, and the miracles on the other days, it was a busy week to be a missionary!
Halloween day was super funny! Elder Hales and I had a normal day out and about, knocking on doors. Around 4pm, we started joking with the people and asking them if it was too early to get some candy. To our surprise, people actually gave it to us! We even got a full size Snickers bar from one lady we ran in to! People are so nice here!! At 5pm we had dinner with a family in the ward and then we were asked to head in for the night. Elder Hales and I decided to have a movie night together and watched the Testaments. We popped popcorn and it was pretty awesome! We also went to bed a little early because we would be going to the temple early the next morning.
Our temple session was at 6:30am on Wednesday. Elder Hales and I had to get up extra early because we had to go and get some other Elders to give them a ride in our sweet minivan. We all made it on time, and as we entered the temple around 6am, I was greeted by Sister Simmons. She is the sweet sister who I lived with while in Parker! I would like to give a shout out to her. She is the sweetest lady and I just light up every time I see her! She writes to me every week and is always so kind! It was truly a blessing living with her for a bit, and I was grateful to see her as I entered the temple.
We had a great session, and then we headed for home! But we went out to eat at Chick-Fil-A before dropping everyone off. The rest of Wednesday was pretty standard, but that night we were able to go and see Jason, a YSA investigator that is probably our top progressing investigator. Jason is great. In our lesson, we talked about the doctrine of Christ, covering mostly repentance and baptism. By the end of the lesson, Jason had committed to set a goal to be baptized by the end of the year, on December 30th!! There is a lot to cover before then, but Jason made a comment in church that Sunday that I liked. "I might have to sacrifice some things for God to show Him that I love Him."
I don't have too much time to write about all of the cool things that happened this week, but one thing I will talk about was our trip into the city on Saturday. Our YSA [Young Single Adult] ward covers the whole Eastern part of Denver, which is a big area. We decided that since Saturday was pretty open, we would make the trip up there and see if we could find any YSA. It was an awesome trip! There are so many people to talk to up in the city!! We really had no clue where we were or where any of our boundaries were, so we just kind of drove around. We ended up calling the missionaries serving in the home ward for that area and asked for help on where to go for YSA. They directed us to a cool place called Stapleton, where we met some awesome people. We picked up like 3 or 4 pretty cool potentials up in the city, one of which was a YSA kid that said he'd be pretty interested in checking out church and learning more! It was just a super fun trip, meeting so many people, and a cool change of scenery.
We saw Hans again on Sunday night! He let us in and we talked a lot about his life and things, and followed up with him about his reading of the Book of Mormon. He had actually read!! He really liked how it is an account of Christ on this side of the world, not just in the Middle East. We had a good talk (still no formal lesson) and set up a time next week to see him again. He is so awesome!! His son, Faison (I think) even remembered our names from last week!
I have another fun story for you before I leave! This one is not a crisis thing, but just an interesting insight. With the time change on Sunday it was pretty hard to proselyte last night. We went out knocking on doors from 5:30pm to 6:30pm, but it was so dark out it basically looked like it was 8pm or 9pm. Some people told us it was too late and to stop, and how ridiculous we were for being out that late (and I would just like to point out that it was only 6:15pm). I could understand because it was really dark and I don't know how happy I would be if someone knocked on our door when it was pitch black. Anyway, while I was thinking this was not very effective for us to be out, Heavenly Father was just looking down patiently at me, and waiting to plop someone into our path. A name popped into my head of a less active member who we ended up having a really good visit with, and then another guy who walked past us, as we visited with him. This guy ended up talking to us for like an hour and told us we could come back! God is always right!
There is so much happening here in Denver! I am just thrilled to be able to be a part of it all! I hope we can continue to do what God needs us to do for the people here!
I love you all!!
Elder Bird
Movie Night!
Temple trip!
A family took our picture after feeding us.
When your uber driver pulls up in a golf cart
10/30/17
Hey everyone!!
What a week! There has literally been so many miracles, I don't even know where to begin or how to express all that happened in the little time that I have!
Basically, people let us in this week. A LOT of people. We had four people who we knocked on their door and they just simply asked if we wanted to come on in and sit down. FOUR! That is the most on my mission so far! How awesome is that? Three of them we had to pass off to the missionaries covering the family congregation ward that covers their area (we were knocking everywhere because we are YSA missionaries and our ward covers all the young single adults in the area). Let me explain each one!
1. Stanley! Stanley is a super cool guy who we knocked on his door and he just up and let us in on Tuesday. We sat down and talked about his religious beliefs and how things have been going for him recently in life. We talked a lot about how tough the world is nowadays. We had a really great conversation and then asked if we could share the Book of Mormon with him and continued to have good talks. He said anytime, and we set up something for the zone leaders (he lives in their ward) to come and teach him that weekend. As we were leaving, he asked if he could give us both hugs and thanked us so much for the work we were doing. It was so awesome!
2. Omer! Omer is a Muslim who lives in the same ward as Stanley, the zone leaders ward(a good ward to knock haha). He talked with us for a bit on the doorstep before I asked if we could use his bathroom. He let us in and I used the restroom while Elder Hales struck up a convo about Islam and this guy's faith. When I came out of the bathroom and found Omer sitting on his couch, I just sat on the floor and Elder Hales followed my lead. We ended up having an hour conversation in Omer's home about the world and different religions. He took a Book of Mormon to study and asked if we could bring one in Arabic! We set up for the zone leaders to come to teach him and headed out!
3. Connor! Connor was actually in our Fox Hollow ward boundries! We were out knocking on door Saturday morning and Connor, a 17 year old kid opened up and asked if we wanted to come in. We asked if his parents were going to come out, but apparently they were hiding in the back from us. Conner said he kind of wanted to hear the message! It turns out that Connor had previously met Elder Gonzalez and Elder Vail outside of Walmart one day and had a great convo with them. He was just waiting for us to knock on his door to learn more! Well, we had a great conversation about religion in general and also about the Book of Mormon and the Restoration! He accepted a Book of Mormon and told us that we could come back this Thursday. He is super solid and says he is okay to learn more (his parents are okay with it too). We are super excited and we really think he has been prepared. He kept on saying things like "it makes sense that there would be a living prophet"!
4. Hans. Hans was the last door we knocked on last week, on Sunday evening. He let us in and we had a great 1 1/2 hour conversation about life and religion in general. He is from Camaryn, next to Ethiopia, and speaks great English. He has a lot of the same thoughts and beliefs that we teach. He took a Book of Mormon and said we could come and talk with him any time!
We of course knocked on a lot of doors where the people weren't interested in what we had to say this week too, but as we kept our faith high, we were able to see miracles! Four of them!!
Crazy story about some poor missionary communication! So on Thursday, I had an endocrinology appointment scheduled. Elder Hales and I were driving to downtown Denver for it, when I got a call from some unknown number. It turned out to be Elder Brown, from his new phone where he was transferred to. He starts talking and telling me he was on his way down to our area [Arapaho]. I was a tad confused, and had no clue what he was talking about. Apparently, Sister Savage had set up for us to sing at a funeral service that morning (Elder Brown, me, and two sisters in our district), but no one had informed me about it. It was a double whammy because I had my doctor's appointment scheduled, and had also scheduled a district meeting for later that day that I wasn't sure I would get to. If someone had just called me and let me know, the conflict could have been avoided, but now we were in a huge mess! We got to the appointment and ended up cancelling and rescheduling it, and then headed straight to the funeral. Elder Hales and I didn't have suits with us, so I borrowed a sweater so I could look a little better. On our drive down, I made some calls and asked Elder Gonzalez to be in charge of things at the district meeting while I was absent. So luckily, everything ended up working out. I was a little upset with the Sisters though for not telling me ahead of time, but we sang fine and no one cared that I didn't have a suit on. We walked into district meeting only 15 minutes late and I was able to take over, so the day ran fine anyways. In situations like this I think of my mom, because she stays pretty calm and cool in hard situations, and is able to figure out a solution quickly. I think I handled the situation well, even though it seemed pretty terrible at first. That is something I think I am learning out here and have been able to develop.
I am loving it out here and loving being a servant of God!
Elder Bird
Me with a guy in the ward who matched with me on Sunday
Pumpkin spice Cheerios
The Mystery Machine!!
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