|
2/1/17
Hello everyone!! It was a wonderful week this week! Our P-day was switched to today (Wednesday) because we were able to go to the temple this morning!! It was a wonderful session and I feel rejuvenated after feeling the special peace that is always found there.
We had a full week! And some pretty big changes! I'll start from the beginning.
Last Monday was another great P-day! Pretty standard. We were able to have dinner with a wonderful family. The wife, Sister Boughton, is a member, but the rest of the family are nonmembers, except for one son. One of her sons, Craig James, is mentally handicapped. Having dinner with them was super awesome! We were able to have a pretty good discussion on what a missionary does with her family, and it was fun to sit with Craig James and talk with him (he is hilarious and he loves visiting with us). After sharing a small message with them, we headed home. I ended the night by going to our zone leaders area, because they wanted me to go on exchanges with then so they could see how I am doing as a district leader.
Tuesday in the zone leader's area was pretty fun. They live in a very nice home with a member. We did some service in their area, some tracting around for a bit, and then taught a lesson with a recent convert named Andy. He's an older gentleman from Elder Olson's neck of the woods. He talked to us a lot about cameras, and then we talked about the Holy Ghost and his baptism, a few weeks back. He has so much wisdom from all of his years of experience, it was so awesome to listen and talk with him.
Afterwards we went and saw an investigator, named Melissa. She is the sweetest woman. She has an autistic son and they are preparing for baptism. We had a great talk with her about the Atonement. She told us as she was going to read all of the "Teachings of the Presidents: Gordon B. Hinkley" By the end of the night. We were amazed!! After seeing her, we tracted a bit. Then we had dinner with some great members, and tracted again that night. Not much success, but we were able to reconnect with a guy named Chris that they had met a while back and talk with him more about the Book of Mormon and how much peace reading it brings. Afterwards, we headed back to my area and exchanged back to our companions. Elder Olson had had a good day with Elder Burt. We talked about our days for a bit, then the zone leaders headed out and we went to bed.
Wednesday was a big day for all missionaries across the globe. There was a broadcast for all missionaries around the world! They gave lots of good training about our job and how to best help people. Also, they announced some new changes for us missionaries, changes that I think will really help us. Our schedules will change a bit, so we will have a bit more flexibility. Also, they announced some changes with how we will report to our leaders. This new system will really help us focus more on helping people progress, to actually change their lives and become happier. I love the new system. After the announcement, we came home and had a great day of teaching. We taught two member families who we are working with to come to church, and had great lessons. We also saw our friend Paul, who is our atheist friend. Unfortunately, he is just not too interested in coming closer to God or going to church or even asking questions, so we probably won't be seeing him too much anymore.
On Thursday, I held a district meeting for my Elders in the morning. We went over the changes that were announced and what it would mean for us now. I talked a lot about accountability. This new system will provide a lot of missionaries with more freedom, but it is going to be harder for mission leaders to see from their numbers if they are doing the work that they need to be doing. We had lunch and did a bit of studying, and then headed out to work. We tracted a lot. Not too much came from that during the day, but after dinner we met a guy named Brandon! He and his girlfriend have been looking around at different churches to go to lately, and so we offered to teach him about ours! He seemed interested, so we have a return appointment with him next Friday! We are super excited! That night, we also taught a young girl from one of our wards, Breyonna. We are taught her about the Gospel of Christ, and invited her to attend a baptism with us to see what it was like. She said she'd like that! We left excited, and then ended the night.
Friday was a good day, but a slow day. I had a district leader meeting in the morning. The meeting was a training on how to be a good district leader and how best to do our jobs. It was a great meeting and I learned a lot. We also talked about the new changes and what that will mean moving forward. At the meeting, I got to see all of my old companions, which was awesome! (E. LaPerle is a DL, and E Brammer's and E. Sato's companions are both DL's). After the meeting, Elder Olson and I headed out. We picked up lunch and then planned for the upcoming week. We decided how we will find others to teach (mostly by tracting, but we are trying hard to diversify). Then we went out and tried to see some potential investigators, who told us we could stop back. We also tracted around for a bit. Nothing much happened, but Elder Olson and I had fun being out. We had dinner, and then tracted around again that night before having a District leader Counsel with the zone leaders (so many meetings, I know). We again talked about the changes and what we can do moving forward. Then we headed home for the night.
Saturday was a pretty full day! The morning started off with meeting a former investigator named Ryan. We have been trying to meet with him for a long time, but we finally caught him! He was super nice. He isn't too interested in learning more or coming to church with us, but he was very kind and prayed with us. It was a good conversation. Then we tracted some more before heading over to Willow Creek Elder's baptism. They were baptizing a sweet older woman named Tara, who actually all four of us had taught (Elder Olson and I on exchanges). We had invited some investigators to come and see it, but no one ended up coming. It was a great baptism though, and we were very happy to see Tara's excitement and happiness. After the baptism, we tracted a bit before dinner. Then we had dinner with a nice family in the ward and shared a message with them. We ended the night by going to see the Monson family, who are a part-member family in the Cherry Creek ward. After talking with them for a bit, we headed home.
Finally, Sunday! Our day was booked with meetings, as usual. Sacrament in Piney Creek ward started us off at 9am, which was awesome because two of our less active families and one of our investigators came to church! It felt so good to see them there, and I am so happy that they were able to come and feel the Spirit! Then we had a fun Gospel Principles class in both wards (it is interesting because they are both in different places in the book). After the classes, one of our meetings got cancelled that is usually in the middle of the day...so we got to take a lunch break!! It was so nice. We hurried and ate, and then headed back to the meetings. Next was Sacrament meeting in Cherry Creek, which was a great meeting (we always get to pass the Sacrament in Cherry Creek with the young men, so that is always fun and a blessing). Then we finished with our missionary coordination meeting in Cherry Creek, where we explained to the Ward leadership the new changes and then talked about the people we were able to see and visit that week. After all of those meetings, we ran home and got ourselves changed and ready to work after the block of meetings, and headed out again. We tracted around a bit before dinner, then had dinner with the Bishop of the Piney Creek ward and his family. The Bishop is hilarious! He actually did stand up comedy in college, so he is really fun to eat with. We had a great dinner with them, and then headed out to see some more people that night.
We were able to stop by some of our investigators in Piney Creek who had just gotten back from a trip. We talked for a bit about their trip and set up a time to meet the next week. Then we were able to stop by another investigator's house, who we haven't seen in a while, Robert. Robert is super awesome, but very busy. We stopped by, and they told us they were just having dinner and couldn't see us. As we were walking away though, Robert ran out and invited us to come and eat with them! Never being one to turn down food or the opportunity to break bread, we accepted and had a great conversation with not only Robert, but his whole family over a "second dinner." We learned so much more about Robert and his family, and it was a great visit. After seeing them, we saw a woman in the ward, Sister Hartt. Apparently she has Bronchitis again, which is tough for her with her three boys. We went over and saw her, but mostly just to see and teach the boys for a bit. Finally, after seeing them, we stopped by to see Breyonna and to follow up with her because she didn't come to the baptism or to church. It turns out they were all sick, so we offered to help. After that we came home and finished the week!
Anyway, it was a great week. I absolutely love the new changes the missionaries have and just feel so good to be a missionary. I really hope we can continue to help all of these people in this area and with whatever God needs from us. I am so glad we get to be doing this work and working hard at it!
I hope you all have great weeks! I love you all!
Elder Bird
1/23/17
Hey everyone!! I hope you are all doing well back home! We are doing great out here. Except, as you could have guessed from the title of this blog entry...Elder Olson and I are both sick right now. We kind of feel terrible...but we are good! We started feeling it yesterday, but really felt it this morning. Hopefully we can beat it and be better by tomorrow!
Aside from that, we had a good week! We had tons of meetings and lots going on!
So after emailing on Tuesday, we were able to see 6 people, mostly less active friends we teach in the ward. They were all good meetings, and we are working hard at getting them all to church! One of my favorite conversations that day was with a young man in the ward who is struggling with his testimony. He's a nice kid, but having a tough time. We took him out to get milkshakes at Chick-Fil-A and talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ. He really enjoyed it and we had a fun time. He's really grown since we first started seeing him and comes a lot more to church. It has been cool to see how much just being friends with this young man has helped him. The other cool thing that happened that day was we were taken to dinner at a place with unlimited ice cream. It was awesome! Elder Olson didn't have any, but I think I had enough for the both of us.
Wednesday was dominated by a zone conference for all of the missionaries in the south half of the mission. It was held at a huge stake center down in Parker, CO. I was extremely lucky, because all of my old companions are serving in the south half of the mission right now! I got to see Elder Brammer, LaPerle, and Elder Sato! They are all doing great! It is so cool to see how much I love all of the people that I have served with. The meeting was on zone changes that are coming to missionaries worldwide! There will be a meeting this Wednesday that talks more about it, so ask your missionaries what it is. I am excited!! After the meeting, we came home and met with a few people, and then had 2 dinners (one with someone in the ward that had signed up and then another with one of our investigators.) We were able to teach this investigator about the Plan of Salvation and its purpose. This was some big ground for this investigator, who is an atheist professor of theology!
On Thursday, I held a District Meeting for the elders in my district. It was a good meeting. The focus of the week for us is on getting more investigators to Sacrament meeting, so we all practiced how to invite people more. We had a pretty solid day afterwards of mostly tracting and trying by former investigators. We had a pretty cool experience! While we were driving around trying to figure out what to do, we felt directed to a certain street. Someone's garage door was open on the street, and I always go for open garage doors because it means that people are probably home. So we knocked on that door, and an old Chinese man walked out. He smiled at us and I tried to go into my usual door approach. Well, this guy knew no English, only Mandarin! He pointed at us and said "Hallelujah?". So we said "hallelujah" back to confirm. He smiled and let us in! He sat us down at his table and we looked at each other. I tried to speak and communicate with him, but we couldn't figure anything out. Then, I remembered that we had some Chinese pamphlets in the car! Elder Olson and I ran out to the car and grabbed them, and were headed back to the old man's house to see that he had slipped on some ice and fallen!! We ran over and helped him up, and helped him walk back inside. Then we gave him the pamphlets and he thanked us, and we left. It was such a strange experience, and I have no clue if anything will ever come from it, but it was certainly important that we pick that man up. I just thought it was interesting.
Friday was a bit of a slower day for us. We planned for the next week, and then grabbed some lunch with some members in the ward at Chick-fil-A before heading to a meeting in north Aurora. The meeting was for all of the missionaries who were training a companion. I had almost forgotten that Elder Olson was still being trained by me! It was a good meeting, and Elder Olson was able to see all of his friends. I let the assistants (to the President) know that I thought Elder Olson was capable of training next transfer if they needed him to. I really think he is, he is kind of a rock star and we work well together. He must have had a good trainer ;) After the meeting, we tracted around Piney Creek for a bit and met some interesting people. Then we had dinner and continued to try and contact people before we had to head to another meeting, this time with just the zone leaders and me to follow up on the progress of my district. It was a great meeting. I really like our zone leaders. After the meeting, we headed home for the day.
Saturday was a pretty full day too. We had yet another meeting to get some training from a member in the Stake. After that meeting, we had lunch and headed out to work for the day. We were able to see our atheist investigator, who is now stuck on some very small things that he found in the gospel principles book. We tried to work him through it, but I am worried that he won't want to move forward. After seeing him, we saw our friend Jerry, who is a recent convert that just moved into our ward. We had a good meeting with him and tried to settle some of his concerns about coming to the ward. Then we saw our friend Trevor, a young recent convert, and talked with him about the priesthood and blessings, because he was sick. Then we had a great dinner at Chipotle with some awesome members, did some service that night, and headed in for the night.
Sunday was good! We had our usual 6 hours of church. We were disappointed in Piney Creek ward, because none of our people who said they would come came. But, we had an investigator we didn't expect to come, come to Cherry Creek ward! We also had three of our less actives, we are working with in Cherry Creek, come! We were super excited about that! Afterwards, we came home and napped during our lunch hour because we were so tired and we were starting to get sick. Then we went out to see some of the people who didn't come in Piney Creek and find out what happened. We also tracted for a bit, and then that night made some real progress with an investigator in Cherry Creek, teaching them about the Gospel of Christ. Then we came home, and I made some calls to check on my elders because the week was ending. After all that, we crashed for the night, dead tired.
It was a pretty good week! We were happy to see some work pay off with inviting all of our people to Sacrament meeting. We were also able to get a lot of work done, even though we had tons of meetings to go to. Anyway, it is so cool to have experiences out here and to continue to learn and grow every week! I hope all is well back home, I love you all!
Elder Bird
Our "posterity stick". It has the names of people who have trained, down to us.
Maps of our areas on our walls!
1/17/17
We had another great week here in Denver!! It was pretty snowy, but Denver is strange because it snows and then it is gone 2 days later.
So this week was a little tough because it felt like all of our investigators decided to cancel on us...and so we had a hard time meeting with anyone! But we didn't let that stop us. We had a pretty good week and things are going really well, and we are loving the work that we are able to do!
Last Monday was a pretty standard P-day! One interesting thing, was we got a "posterity Taiaha stick" from some Elders in the zone. A Taiaha stick is a weapon that the Moari of New Zealand used, and is sometimes passed down the generations. So the "posterity" part refers to who your trainer was as a missionary. So, someone made a stick with the names of Elder Olson, me, Elder LaPerle, Elder Stradling (E Laperle's trainer), Elder Stradling's trainer, all the way back for 7 "generations" and had carved all those names into this stick. We have that stick now!! I forgot to take a picture but I'll send that next week! It was really cool!
Tuesday was supposed to be a full day of appointments, but everyone fell through! That was okay. We tracted around and tried to find some new people to teach, as well as tried to get back into contact with former investigators. We met a guy who is really interested in bikes, so we are going to bring our bikes over to him and try to build a friendship so that we can teach him about the Gospel. He's a really nice guy!
On Wednesday, I held a mini-District meeting to try and inspire my Elders to reach for their goals for the week. One of which was to ask more ward members for names of friends that they could have us teach. The meeting went well! Afterwards, we tracted around and then had lunch with a member in the ward. After lunch, we were supposed to see Ian, who is scheduled to be baptized on February 4th...but Ian was a no show. It was a big bummer, because we really needed to see him. After waiting around for a while, we went back out tracting. Then we saw one of our investigators, Nancy, around 4pm. She was super busy getting ready for a 2 week trip and was leaving the next day. So we helped her and then prayed with her. She said she hopes to start coming to church with us when she gets back. After Nancy, we met with a man named Jeff, and talked with him about what he is learning as he reads the Book of Mormon sections we gave him. It was all positive! After his lesson, we had dinner and then saw a less-active guy in the ward. We read some scriptures with him and his wife to bring the Spirit back into their house and then asked him to come to church. Then we headed in for the night!
Thursday was a pretty booked up day, with a zone meeting taking up most of the time. It was a great meeting, I learned that my BYU roommate, Jacob Stratford's sister, Sister Stratford, is now a Sister Training Leader (basically a district leader for the sisters) in our zone!! It was cool to see her. We also had some really good training given and I was able to address the zone about setting good expectations for investigators and earning trust. The fun part was we got to eat cheese balls. The day earlier, Nancy had given Elder Olson and I a huge number of cheese balls and we had no clue how we were going to eat them all. So we brought them to the zone meeting for lunch. They were a big hit and all the Elders and Sisters loved "Cheese Ballin'."
After the meeting, Elder Olson and I went over to a less active woman's house in the ward who is going through a hard time. We tried to comfort her and help her to see how much the Lord can help you when you have faith in the Savior. After seeing her, we went and saw another less active woman in the other ward. It was actually a miracle that we found this woman, Donna. We had found her son, Dusty, on two occasions as we were walking around. We helped Dusty with his addictions and to get him into rehab. Well, it turns out his mom was baptized a few years back and now just needed a reason to come back to church. We are lucky enough to be that reason. We went over and learned her story and shared some scriptures with them. After that, we had dinner and then read some scriptures with some other less active friends in the ward. It was a good day!!
Friday was a full day. Elder Olson and I planned out what we were doing for the week and then saw a few people. The first, was a less active guy in one of our wards. We talked with him about getting the priesthood which he really wants to do. Our goal is for him to be able to pass the Sacrament. We are so excited for him! Then, we had a lesson with a Christian professor of Theology. He was very kind, but basically sat there for an hour telling us that we were wrong. Since I have had meetings like this before, I was able to ask a few questions to get to the heart of the differences between our theology and his. He respected that and was very kind, but we weren't invited over again. It was tough, because he would have really benefited from more discussion (and so would we, it was a good talk!).
Later we went and tracted around for a bit before contacting some referrals we had received from some members in the ward (part of our goal!!) Then we had dinner and saw our friend William. We sat down and really focused on the reason for our visits. William is aiming for the person that he wants to become and wants to know how he can become that person. I decided that a good way we could help him was to go through the Preach My Gospel booklet and have him develop Christlike attributes. We picked one for him to work on during the work and committed him to it. It was a good lesson!!
Saturday was really cool, because we were invited to attend a Tongan wedding! We teach a guy named Ricky, and his brother-in-law was getting married. We went to show our support and to be there for Ricky. It was an awesome wedding (Tongan families are huge). The food was really good too! After staying and enjoying that time with them, we headed out and got back to work. We were able to see one of our investigators, Paul, who is another professor of Theology, but an atheist. We made some real ground with him and got him to think about what God's characteristics would be if He did exist. We are having dinner with him this Wednesday to figure out what he thought! We had dinner after and then were able to see a less active guy named Tony, who is basically a Buddhist now and talk with him about the church. We had a good talk with him and then he invited us to his daughter's birthday party the next day. We were excited to get that kind of trust from him!
Sunday was business as usual. Unfortunately, all the people we had seen throughout the week that told us that they were coming to church...didn't. It was kind of a bummer because we had really felt sincerity from these people when they told us they would come. But, that is kind of the usual life for a missionary. We had good meetings otherwise and then went to work after. We were able to go to the Birthday party for Tony's 4 year old (she is adorable) and meet his Mormon parents. We were even able to have a conversation with Tony's wife, Kay, about the church. She is really tentative about it all, just like Tony, but we talked about the community of the ward and the support it can bring. She was actually really interested and she wants to meet friends in the ward. We plan to start bringing people from the ward over to their house so that they can have friends in the ward. We are super excited! After that, we had dinner and then saw a potential investigator we were trying to meet up with. Because it was snowing by then, the family let us inside (something they apparently never do). We had a good conversation with them. The wife was born a member of the church, but left and the husband was never interested. Because we had a good talk, hopefully we'll see them again in a week or two! Then we headed home for the night and I made District Leader calls to see how everyone's week went.
Yesterday [Monday] was P-day and a holiday so we couldn't email because the Library was closed. We were also snowed in and couldn't use our cars until 12pm, so we invited the Elders who are assigned to the Willow Creek ward, who live in our complex, over for a game and hamburgers. It was fun and a much needed break. After 12pm, we were able to use our cars, so Elder Olson and I went grocery shopping and got haircuts. We didn't have an appointment for dinner, so we went to a Japanese restaurant and had a great meal that finished off a great P-day. After dinner, we saw a less active friend and read scriptures with him and then saw a new investigator, Breyonna, who is a young woman in a less-active family, that we are working with towards baptism. Both were good lessons, and a good start to this week!
Anyway, it was honestly kind of a tough week for us, people cancelled, people didn't come, people flaked out. Sometimes the hardest part of your mission is being disappointed by the people you are trying to help. But, the best part of your mission is helping these people. Really, your mission is about the people, and helping them in whatever way they need. It has been interesting interacting with so many different people and learning so much from those interactions. It has also been interesting to see the happiness and comfort that God can give these people, if they only come and see. I know that they can find happiness here in Christ's church, I have seen it. Because of that, no matter what people do, I am still determined to help as many people as I can out here.
Anyway, we are looking forward to an awesome week this week! I hope all of you has one as well! I love you all and pray for you all the time!
Elder Bird
Something cool I got from one of my friends who was part of my Indonesian group at the MTC
1/9/17
Hey everyone!!
It feels like ages since I have had a P-day! My last P-day was last year (10 days ago)!! I hope all is well for everyone and that you all have had a great first week of 2017.
First off, I want to give a shout out to my amazing little brother. Nathan got two awards this last week for his performance in the marching band!! How awesome is that?? He is a little champ, I am so proud of him :)
As for my week, we had a long but successful week! We now have three investigators who are scheduled to be baptized in the next few weeks!!
Saturday [12/31 - New Year's Eve] was a good P-day! We did normal P-day things, and then had dinner at a party with all of the empty-nesters in the Piney Creek Ward. It was awesome!! I loved hanging out with all of them! The missionaries had to be at their apartments at 7pm that night, so we had to leave at 6:50pm. Elder Olson and I put the polishing touches on our talks that we were giving the next morning, and then we went to bed at 10pm. We set an alarm on our phone for 12am (The New Year) and when it went off, we got up, popped some poppers we had bought at Walmart, and had some Martinelli's. After our 5 minutes of party, we headed back to bed!
Sunday was fantastic. Elder Olson and I gave talks in the Piney Creek ward about the Plan of Salvation. Because we were speaking, two of our investigators showed up!! After we spoke, Elder Olson and I went to the church of one of the investigators who had come to see our talks (a church swap, if you will). We had a fun time with him and his wife and kids at their church! Their kids held our hands as we walked them to their nursery and then out again once the sermon was finished. Afterwards we went back to our church for the Cherry Creek ward Sacrament meeting. The rest of that day was good too! We felt particularly directed, through some thoughts and feelings we had, of who to see that day. In one particular instance, as we sat in our car, close to the end of the nigh, we prayed to know what to do and where to go. The thought came to us that we should go see our Ward Mission leader (weird, right). So we drove over there, and as we pull up, another car pulls up at the same time, and a former investigator gets out of the car! We started talking to her, and we learned a lot about her and her background!! She said she loved talking to us and we could stop back anytime. How crazy is that?? The Holy Ghost is real and really does direct us out here.
Monday was a normal working day. We had two really awesome lessons. One was with a man from Ghana named Robert. He is a former investigator that is still searching for things in his life. He was super sincere, and we talked about how he could be guided by the Holy Ghost. He said he'd be interested in talking more with us. Then later that night, we met with a less active woman who hasn't been to church in a couple of years. We read 3 Nephi 18 with her and her daughter. That chapter talks about the importance of the Sacrament, and we asked them if they would come this Sunday to take part in the Sacrament with us. They said they would!!
Tuesday was solid! It was a biking day! We started with service at the old folks home, which is always fun. Then we went out on our bikes and tried to see some people. Most all of our appointments fell through, so we ended up tracting most of the afternoon. We had dinner with an active and less active member, and taught a lesson. The less active man (who had been sipping on his beer during dinner) asked some questions and we had a good discussion. After dinner, we had two more lessons. One with a solid investigator, who we helped through some concerns that he had and we had a good talk with him. The next was with a family and we shared a good kids lesson about the Holy Ghost. We used mints as our object lesson. It was a good day! After we had all finished, we came home and we exchanged companions, for the next day. The new Elder, Elder Cooper, became my companion and Elder Olson and Elder Mork became companions for the Willow Creek ward.
Wednesday turned out to be pretty cold. Elder Copper and I did a lot of tracting around and knocking on doors because all of our appointments had fallen through. We did some good work, and it was fun to be out doing the hard stuff with a brand new Elder! We did have a lesson with a Muslim man from Bangladesh, and Elder Cooper got his first taste of teaching the Plan of Salvation with a language barrier. It was a good lesson though! We had dinner after that, and by that point it had started snowing and was coming down pretty hard. Our area was expecting at least half a foot. Because Elder Cooper didn't have snow boots already, and I didn't want him to suffer until P-day, after dinner we went to Target and picked him up a nice new pair. With those in hand, we got a text saying that the cars needed to be parked for the rest of the night. So we headed back to the apartment. Elder Olson and Elder Mork showed up there, too, and we finished the day by exchanging stories and saying what we had learned that day, and then exchanged companions back.
Thursday was super snowy!! We did get about half a foot of snow overnight. The cars still had to be parked until we were told we could drive them. This stressed me out a bit because I was supposed to be holding my weekly training meeting for the Elders in my district that morning. I was given permission to hold the training meeting in our apartment, so the Willow Creek Elders who live there also, and we could be there, while the Zone leaders in my district could phone in. It was kind of fun to hold the meeting in the apartment. Elder Olson and I both gave training talks. Afterwards, Elder Olson and I needed to get to a lunch with a member, so, we walked there because we still couldn't drive the car. Luckily it was only a 15 minute walk and we were out of the cold quickly. We had lunch and then the message came that we could now use our cars. The big thing that day was we had a first lesson with a young man named Ian. He is 21 and super interested in learning about religion. We taught him the Plan of Salvation, and he was super interested the whole time. We gave him a Book of Mormon to read before our next visit, and when we asked when we could meet again, he told us that the next day would be good!! How exciting is that? It would be so great if we could have more lessons like his.
Friday was great! We We had some good lesson with people. I'll talk about the main three. The first one, was with a guy named James, and we went over to help him with genealogy. He had been born into the church, but was never active and was pretty distant for most of his life. We ended up finding his baptism and confirmation certificates online, while we were there, and re-taught him about the Plan of Salvation. He is super cool! The next big lesson was with Ian again. We taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He had done all of the reading we asked him to do and his prayers were fantastic! He accepted the invitation to be baptized and decided on February 4th. Now we need to prepare him for it the best we can! We are so excited for him! The other big thing was a blessing we gave that night to an investigator. He finally told us why he hasn't been coming to church or reading. We gave him a blessing and are going to work a lot more closely with him as we move forward. The night ended with a meeting with myself, the other district leaders in the zone, and the zone leaders. There will be some interesting things happening in the mission soon, and I learned the name of my new mission President, who will be coming in June.
Saturday was a good day again. I led a meeting for the Elders in the zone in the morning, and then we did some service and had a few lessons in the afternoon. We had dinner the family who we went to church with last Sunday. They are super sweet, and we were able to talk with them about Joseph Smith after the kids went to bed.
Finally, Sunday!! We had fast and testimony meeting in both of our wards. The big news is that Ian came to 2 hours of church and liked it!! It was so awesome to have him there. Elder Olson and I both bore our testimonies in both Sacrament meetings. After church, we saw a lot of people, just checking up on them and making sure they were still reading scriptures, praying, and going to church. We headed in for the night and I made some phone calls as a district leader, checking in on my other Elders.
It was a long and fantastic week!! Every week, miracles happen. We are so blessed to be able to experience so many and be able to recognize them as they come!!
I hope everyone has a good week!
Elder Bird
Braving the cold and snow
I got a new chair and desk. I feel like a real leader now
12/31/16
Happy New Year's Eve everyone! Our P-day was switched to today, because of the holiday, but our next P-day will be January 9th and we will be back on our regular schedule :)
So...Christmas happened!! Wow! What a wonderful time of year!! It was such an awesome experience out here in Denver. Although everything was great and seeing people was nice, my favorite part by far, was talking to my family on Christmas Eve.
So, Christmas Eve started out with me finding out about transfers (which were last Wednesday). We found out that Elder Olson and I are both staying here in the Piney/Cherry Creek Wards in the Denver Stake. We also found out that our District leader, Elder Bjerga, is becoming a zone leader in Arapaho and that I have been asked to fill his place as the new District Leader. Wow! I was so surprised!
For this Christmas we missionaries in the Denver area were allowed to watch two approved Christmas movies. We tried to watch them at a members house, but the TV ended up not working. So we just worked on a puzzle and hung out until dinner time. We had a great dinner, but I was a little anxious the whole time because I knew that after dinner I would be able to skype my family. Finally, dinner was finished and I signed on to Skype at the pre-arranged time with my family!!! It was so wonderful to see them all again and to be able to talk with them for a little bit! It felt like I barely had time to talk when it was time to say goodbye to them. I ended by leaving them with my testimony and lots of love, and then Elder Olsen and I had to head out. It felt so much more like Christmas after seeing them though, which was really nice :)
Right after talking with my family, Elder Olsen and I headed to the combined Ward Christmas program put on by both of our wards. There was some great music that brought the Spirit. While I listened, I thought about my family and what makes the Christmas season so special. After the program, we went home and read the Christmas story "Mormon style" (3 Nephi 1:1-14 and then Luke 2). It was a great way to end the night and keep that spirit with us for the next day as well.
Sunday was Christmas!!! Elder Olson and I woke up at 6:30 (like good, dutiful missionaries) and opened the Christmas presents that had been sent to us. Thank you all so much for anything you sent, be it a present, a letter, or just prayers my way. I felt so loved and I was so grateful to be supported by so many people. I think Elder Olson and I both ended up with like 4 scarves and 5 gift cards to Chick-fil-a. haha We got lots of other clothes too. It was a great morning! Then, we had to get ready quick and head off to church and both of our Sacrament meetings. We had wonderful meetings in both wards, and kept getting handed Christmas presents from the members (they were so sweet.) Afterwards, we headed over to a member's house so that Elder Olson could Skype home and his family. He was so excited and glad to see them again. He had a good time with them, and then we headed out and pretty much just visited with members and shared small Christmas messages wherever we went. It was a nice day!
Monday wasn't P-day, so it was back to work for us. We saw a few of our less active members, but tried to be very courteous to people. We had a great day of talking with as many as we could, and had a small miracle that night. We were driving home through a park when I got a feeling to stop and walk around the park (at 8pm at night...luckily we were in a nice neighborhood), So we did, but nothing too exciting happened. So we headed home. But, while pulling into our complex, Elder Olson got the feeling that he wanted to visit one more person who lives in our same complex. So we did, and we arrived at exactly the right time. We had a good lesson with this guy. It was kind of weird, but I think we were supposed to walk around the park in order to stall time, and meet this guy exactly the moment when we did. It was a cool experience.
On Tuesday, we started off our day with service at the old folks home, doing Tai Chi, and making crafts for the residents. Then we came home and had lunch, and then had a lesson with a guy we have been working with, whose son was just baptized. Well, we had a very good lesson and even set a date for him to be baptized at the end of January!!! He has been working with missionaries for years, and now he is finally ready!
That night we had another amazing lesson on the Restoration with a solid investigator named Mike, who we have recently started teaching. He is progressing really well and doing everything he needs to! He said that he would consider baptism, and told us he would come to church with us this week!! It was amazing! Then, we called it a day and headed home.
I talked with Elder Bjerga and he gave me some good training on how to be a good district leader. We said our goodbyes on the phone, before he left the next morning for transfers.
On Wednesday, everybody else transferred or worked getting their things moved around while Elder Olsen and I stayed home and did some good work. It was a bit of a tough day with a lot of appointments falling through. We did have a great lesson near the end of the day with a man named Jeff who has been coming to church, but is tentative about baptism. We had an awesome lesson with him about what concerns he has. We are excited to work with him!! After the day was all done, we went to meet the new Elder that had come into the district. He is a brand new missionary and his name is Elder Cooper.
Then Thursday morning, my first real responsibility as a district leader came. During our regular district meeting, I was going to give some training to the district. Luckily, everything went well. At the end, I had everyone circle up and we got to know each other a little bit (where we were from, what we do, why we are out here -- that kind of stuff). I am so excited for the new district and to be serving them all here!! After the meeting ended, we went home for lunch and then ran off to a lesson we had at 1pm. We had a good lesson and taught about the Holy Ghost. Then, we were supposed to see a potential investigator at 2pm, but that fell through and so we did some tracting! And then our 3pm appointment fell through also, so more tracting! And our 4pm fell through also, so we tried visiting some former investigators. Normal missionary stuff. We had a good dinner, and then had two lessons. We taught and read scriptures with a nice less-active family in the ward and then had a good discussion with some really intense investigators in Piney Creek Ward. We talked a lot about some pretty awesome stuff, they are still having a hard time with things they "heard", but luckily are still meeting with us! After them, we headed home and I made some calls to my Elders. [A District Leader supervises 2-3 other missionary companionships and makes sure they are doing okay.]
Finally, yesterday, [Friday] we had a good day! We planned for the week and then went out and taught. We saw a man who we are working with who is a professor of theology and an atheist. We have made some really good ground with him, and are even hoping to get him to church soon! After seeing him, we went and saw Trevor, a young recent convert. He had gotten a tablet for Christmas, so we downloaded the Gospel Library app (which is rocking now!!) and watched some Mormon messages with him. After seeing him, we did some service for some people in the ward and then had a good dinner. Then we had a good lesson with a returning member. He'll be coming to church this Sunday!! After him, I headed to my first District Leader Council, where all the district leaders and Zone leaders get together and talk about what will happen this next transfer. Then we headed home, planned for today, and I made some calls.
It was a really good week!! And I am very excited to work hard next week too. We are speaking in church this Sunday, [New Year's Day] so hopefully a lot of our people might come to see us! It was amazing to feel the love of the season and then to be able to get back out there and have a good week. I hope everyone's New Year's is fun and, most importantly, safe! I will be praying for you all as I sleep right through it :)
Happy New Year, and Much love!
Elder Bird
Driving in the car.
Our Christmas tree!
My Christmas pajamas that match my family
Lots of scarves for the Denver cold
My homemade Settlers of Catan gameboard
Showing: [73,74,75,76,77 of 107 entries]
|
