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11/22/16
Hi everyone!! Sorry I didn't send an email on Monday. Our P-day was swapped to today (Tuesday) because we were asked to help out with a service project downtown yesterday.
Let me start off by saying that Elder Sato is no longer my companion! My new companion is Elder Olson, from Brooklyn, New York. He is straight from the training center and already loving it out here in the field. He has that "new missionary spunk" still, which I love!! It rejuvenates me!!
So Tuesday last week was spent basically with Elder Sato saying goodbye to everyone in the ward and our investigators that he had become close to. Everyone loved Elder Sato and are going to miss him a lot!! Everyone was so sweet to him and made him feel great right before he left. He had a good last day.
On Wednesday, we got him all packed up and then headed off bright and early to get him transferred. He got on the van and headed down to Parker South, with my old companion Elder Brammer. As far as I've heard, he is loving it down there! After dropping him off, I drove myself and three other Elders, who were training as well, to the mission office up in Broomfield (North Denver). That was pretty cool, because I was able to drive through Westminster to get there, which was my last area. When we got there we waited for a bit for our new missionaries to go through some training. Then we finally got to see them and meet them after a bit! Elder Olson looks a little like my cousin, Samuel, so it was kind of interesting meeting him for the first time!! We did a bit of talking and going over guidelines before we headed home for the night. With traffic and getting out of the office a tad late, we didn't make it home until 7:30!! Because I still wanted Elder Olson to do some work on his first night, I took him over to our Ward Mission leaders house and told him it was an investigator. We taught and awesome lesson together, and then we told Elder Olson what was happening. He thought it was so funny!! After they met, I took him to meet another investigator named Daniel. We had a good lesson, and then shot some hoops with him before heading home. It was a crazy day!
On Thursday, it started snowing for the first time!! It fell literally all day. I didn't think anything of it at first, but then we had to go home and put on some warmer clothes. It was cold! We tried to stay inside most of the day, going from house to house trying to meet with investigators and less actives. We had a really good day, and kept warm!
Friday was a long day, but great! We had a breakfast in the morning with all the missionaries in the Stake and then went downtown to do some service. They really needed us because they had a "Turkey Emergency." The church had bought 3,000 Turkeys for Thanksgiving to give away to people, and so they needed any Elder that could come and help unload them from cars to a Catholic charity downtown. That was pretty awesome (and cold) and I'm pretty sure we ended up on the Denver news! Everyone was super appreciative, and it felt awesome to help haul some turkey (even if I was sore for days after). After that, we came home and contacted and met with a few less actives and a few investigators. Elder Olson continued to meet the awesome people we have out here!
Saturday was a solid day of work. We spent it mostly talking to investigators and less actives (the usual). Elder Olson got his first hour and a half of tracting in that day, which was pretty fun! We had been practicing door approaches for a couple days and were happy to get out and do some good work!!
Sunday was as crazy as ever. We went back and forth between the wards and tried to juggle everyone we talked to at the same time. It was good for Elder Olson :) After church, we met with a few people and had some good lessons. We continued to introduce Elder Olson to people and try to get him to know them better, so he can help the best he can. That night, someone called us to help his dad and give him a blessing. The guy who needed the blessing had just heard word that his father had passed away. We rushed over and sat down with him for a bit, talking with him about stuff before the bishop showed up to help with the blessing. After about an hour of talking, we gave a blessing to both he and his mom (whose husband it was that had just passed). The Spirit was so strong while we were with them, and I almost felt like part of the family by the end. It was a special blessing to be with them in that time and try to "comfort those that stand in need of comfort."
On Monday, we had a regular day instead of P-day!! We headed downtown to help hand out boxes for people who needed food for Thanksgiving. We walked around to apartment complexes and handed them out to people. It was so nice to feel the gratitude from these people. We met some amazing people and were very happy to be able to serve. After we were done, we headed home and had a good evening of contacting people. One amazing thing that happened was following a prompting that I felt. It didn't really feel like much, but as we were driving somewhere, a thought popped into my mind that I should take Elder Olson to meet a woman Elder Sato and I had street contacted, who was from New York City. I thought it would be good for both of them to talk and reminisce. We got to see her and they got to meet, and we had a great conversation, ending with us inviting her to the Ward Christmas party. After that conversation, we headed over to her neighbor's house (who were LDS) and told them about the visit we just had. They were super happy and had been working with her. They also gave us a number of another one of their neighbor's who they thought might be interested in getting to know us. It was an awesome experience. It felt good to follow the prompting I had, especially knowing we had done exactly what the Lord wanted us to do, and that it all worked out.
Anyway, so that was the week!! I have one last thought from studying this morning. I've been thinking a lot about the word Thanksgiving, and how the holiday came about. So I looked up the word Thanksgiving in the scriptures and came across one that I really liked. The scripture is Alma 34:38. I love the wording in this scripture, where it tells us that we need to live in Thanksgiving daily. Unfortunately, this does not mean we should have gigantic Turkey dinners every single day (although I am not saying we can't). It's saying that we should live in a way of giving thanks always to those who are blessing us so much and especially to God, who loves us. I think a holiday to celebrate the idea of gratitude is amazing, but I think it is also important to remember that we should try to live in that "attitude of gratitude" as much as we can all the time. I know that as we strive to do this, we will be changed when we acknowledge the blessings that do come to us. I hope all of us remember to be grateful not only this week, but moving forward into the Christmas season too, where we experience a great sense of giving.
I know the gospel is true and I love the Spirit that I feel out here, as we try to help people find their Savior. It's the most important work I've ever done.
I love you all and hope all is well back home. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!
Elder Bird
My new companion, Elder Olsen
It's cold out here!
Our apartment complex with snow
Happy Thanksgiving!
11/14/16
Hello everyone!! I hope everyone is well and the week has been good!
Many things happened this week!! I don't know where to begin!!
Tuesday was pretty standard! We did service for the older folks in the home (we did Tai Chi with them again, it was awesome!). Then we had a day of going out contacting and some lessons here and there. We had one with an investigator who is quite hard to teach named Andrew, but we had a great discussion with him. It was great and we are planning to have another great one this Tuesday, too! Hopefully the Spirit can continue to testify to his heart that the Book of Mormon is true scripture.
Wednesday was a big and rather crazy day. We spent a lot of time with a new woman who has moved into the ward and is trying to become active again. We got to know her and had her come to lunch with us and a member we have lunch with on Wednesdays. She has received some amazing fellowship in the ward, and we are very excited and happy to be helping her out! After running around and talking to tons of people, members and what not all day, we only had about 30 minutes to tract (normally we shoot for at least an hour a day). But! While we did in that 30 minutes, we met 3 people who were interested in the message we were sharing and made plans to see all 3 of them again!! How awesome is that??
After that, we had dinner and something happened...my chipped tooth came apart!! I was left with a giant hole in my mouth again and was panicking! Luckily, I was able to call a dentist in one of my wards and he told me that he'd see me the following morning. That made me feel better, but I still felt kind of like a problem missionary (with my diabetes and now this coming up!). I went the rest of the night and taught 2 more lessons and played a bit of basketball with some investigators with half of my front tooth missing!! So embarrassing.
The next morning I went in to see the dentist. And it tuned out to be no big deal! He left what remained of the tooth in my mouth and just kind of sculpted a new tooth (using some material?) onto it. It only took about an hour, and it looks totally normal again!! I got to keep the part that had originally fallen off, and he told me to put it under my pillow and see what I could find the next day;)
After seeing the dentist, we had a powerful meeting with the rest of the missionaries in our Stake. We could really feel the Spirit. After the meeting, we had some appointments and did some contacting. A normal day of missionary work. At the end of the day though, I received a call from one of the Assistants to the President and he asked me if I would be a trainer for a brand new missionary coming into the mission!! I was excited and nervous at the same time. Excited to share what I knew, but nervous because I have only been out for four months! I accepted and will now be training a new missionary starting this coming Wednesday!
Friday was kind of slow, like last week. So we did tons of tracting!! It payed off when we ran into a guy named Ian, who we met at the door and talked with a little bit. Ian has never been religious and has never known too much about religion. We shared with him part of the Plan of Salvation and I shared with him how I came to know the truth of it. I shared with him about my best friend, Craig, and his family, and how they will see their family again. It really touched Ian's heart, and he was excited to learn more from us! We left him with a prayer (which he loved) and told him we would call him next week to set up another appointment! It was awesome!! I'm very excited for him!
After more tracting and dinner that night, I went to a special meeting for new trainers in the mission, and got to hear some great instruction from the President and his Assistants. I also got to see a ton of my Elder buddies who were training again too, including Elder LaPerle!
Saturday was a busy day. We had a training meeting in the morning and appointments scheduled throughout the day. Most of those appointments turned into hard lessons where people were trying to use the Bible to disprove what we believe. It went on for 3 hours that day. It was tough!! It made my brain hurt! But, we taught the best we could and all of them were very kind by the end, wanting to meet again. Even though it was tough, they were all good lessons and I hope we can help them in any way!!
Sunday was Stake Conference, and it was a good meeting with many good talks, including one from our Mission President and his wife! I also really enjoyed what our Stake President told us. He talked about the play "Hamilton" which is out now. He talked about the difference between the main character, Alexander Hamilton, a brilliant and remembered Founding Father, and his friend Aaron Burr (who ended up killing Hamilton in a duel), who was equally brilliant, but much less remembered. The biggest difference between the two men was that Hamilton was not afraid to take a stance, especially when it came to an important matter, while Aaron Burr would wait things out and try not to disrupt his political position. Because of that, Hamilton is remembered as one who valiantly fought for what he believed in and is deeply respected. The question our Stake President posed to us, was if we in our lives and in the gospel are being more like Alexander Hamilton or Aaron Burr, and how that will be remembered. It was a beautiful talk and we all felt the Spirit.
The rest of Sunday was spent tracting and meeting with people. Then, we were invited to a fireside in one of our wards, where we got to talk to the youth about our missions!! It made me think back to a similar fireside that I talked in, back in July, back at home when I had been released for a while, and how much I have grown as a missionary and person since then. It was a good fireside and I was glad I got to be there.
We got transfer notices this morning! Like I said, I will be training a new missionary here in this area, and Elder Sato will be heading to South Parker (the most southeast place in the mission) with my old companion Elder Brammer! Even though I am sad to see him go, I am very excited for the new transfer!!
I had a great week, and I look forward to the one to come. I know this gospel is true with all my heart and am so glad to be able to help people come to Christ's true church upon the earth.
I hope things are well back home!! I love you all!!
Elder Bird
My fixed teeth!!
11/07/16
Hello all! I hope things are going well for everyone!! I miss you all!
This week was another great week here! We knocked on a lot of doors, met many new people, and tried to share the gospel with anyone we could! I sound like a missionary, right?? My week was pretty standard, so I'll just give the highlights.
On Tuesday, Elder Sato and I gave service at a nursing home. We also got to talk to the people there about their military service, in preparation for Veterans Day! I met a lot of really awesome veterans who had some great stories to tell. I even met some veterans who had served in World War II!! That was a great experience, one that I am really grateful for.
Wednesday was our temple trip!! The missionaries in our mission get to go to the temple once every quarter. So, when that time comes we get really excited. It gives us such an uplift. Our session started at 6am, so we had to get up at 4:30am (kind of tough). We got up and got all ready, and picked up another set of Elders on the way to the temple. Well, we got to the address that our leaders had given us at about 5:35...and found that we had been given the wrong address. So we started panicking! We knew that if we missed our session, there wasn't anything we could do. We drove around for about 20 minutes looking for the temple, with no luck. Finally, we got the address from another Elder that we called, and found the temple (which had been across the street and down a ways, hidden by trees) at 6:05am. We were bummed, because we missed our session. We talked to the assistants to the Mission President and they said we were out of luck. But then, we called our mission president and explained the situation. He was nice and let us go into the 6:30am session! It was such a blessing!! We made it into that session with just enough time to spare. It was a wonderful to be at the temple and feel the Spirit there!
Afterwards, we were able to go to Deseret Book and do a bit of shopping. We were able to see other Elders there and I got to say "hi" to Elder LaPerle and my friends from the Westminster area. That was great and topped off the trip for me.
After our temple trip, we had a really great rest of the day. We took a recent RM (returned Missionary) to a lesson with a Muslim investigator we have. She is super curios about our church and the Book of Mormon. We had a great lesson about what the Book of Mormon is, and how it has brought peace to all of our lives. We gave her a copy and she said she would read it!
On Thursday, we had interviews with our Mission President in the morning. He checks in with us periodically. It was really nice to have a bit of a conversation with our him and just talk. He gave us some hints about what will be happening for the upcoming transfer. (I'm excited!!!) He told me that he was proud of the work I am doing and that made me feel good. Then, the rest of Thursday was spent out tracting and knocking on doors for about 5 hours!! We met some nice people and got a few return appointments. After dinner that night, we met with Julie, who was just baptized last Saturday. She gave us both thank you cards and little gifts for helping her. She is so sweet!
Friday was spent doing a lot of tracting, with lessons here and there. It was a great day of good work! It's funny though, when missionaries show up in a neighborhood -- everyone suddenly disappears -- people go inside, garage doors close . . . we must be scary!
Saturday morning started with a training meeting from the Stake leaders. Our teacher brought Krispy Kreme doughnuts (which is out of the mission), so that was a real treat! Afterward, we had a good day of more tracting and lessons here and there. We got back in contact with an old former investigator who loves missionaries. We had a really nice conversation and he showed us this pool table computer game that he had set up downstairs. He's a really sweet guy named Rob. We are going over again later today (on P-day) to play some pool with him and try to fellowship him a little.
We got a bit of a break on Sunday! We had a regional broadcast instead of our normal church meetings, which came from Salt Lake. It was basically all the Stakes from Colorado to Chicago. It was a really good meeting. General authorities gave good talks, including Ronald A. Rasband who gave great counsel. It was kind of nice to have a break from our normal 6 hours of church.
After church we did a lot of tracting and trying to talk to people. We met an R-LDS woman (similar to our faith, but separate because they believe that Joseph Smith's family could only be prophets) who came out and talked to us for a while. We had a really engaging conversation about our two faiths, and she even accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon "to compare it with hers."
Anyway, we had a pretty great week! I can really feel the work moving along in these two wards. I can feel my testimony growing stronger everyday as I teach and continue to learn. I love it out here so much!
I hope all is well back home. I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Elder Bird
We found a cardboard cut out of one of our Bishops at the church!! How awesome is that??
Elder Sato holding a sword made by one of our less actives.
Oh yeah, one of our investigators put his doo rag on me. Fun stuff!
10/31/16
Hello all! I hope you're all doing wonderful! Happy Halloween!!
We had a really awesome week this week, which concluded with baptizing and confirming one of our investigators into the church! It was such an honor and privilege to be able to do that for her and see the sheer happiness it brought to her.
So Monday we got ready for Halloween week! My mom sent a package that had some Halloween decorations and treats (she is just the greatest). Elder Sato and I decorated the apartment with them and then decided to carve pumpkins! This was Elder Sato's first time carving pumpkins, so we had a lot of fun doing it. It was a really good p-day!
Tuesday started off with us giving service at an old folks home. We began with doing Tai Chi with them, which was kind of hilarious moving around and exercising with these sweet elderly people. Then the person in charge didn't know what to have us do next, so I ended up playing the piano for them for about an hour. They seemed to really enjoy it, even though I was not the best. We met some really sweet people and it was fun to be with them for a few hours. After that, we met with a less active that actually helped us to fix up an old bike we had found in the trash!! That was pretty sweet! We met with another investigator afterwards, who told us he would come to our Halloween party! Then we helped move some stuff for a less active member and met with a less active young man who showed off his awesome car to us. That night, we sat down with our investigator, Daniel, who really had a desire to quit smoking at one point. We had a meeting with him and brought a returned missionary in one of the wards that taught with amazing power. We tried to teach him about the importance of priesthood authority and being baptized with such (he says he's already been baptized and doesn't need to be again). It was a powerful lesson, but Daniel still doesn't want to be baptized. Maybe someday.
On Wednesday, we exchanged companions for a day! I was with the District Leader, Elder Bjerga, in his area for the day. We had a really fun day. We are pretty good friends. We spent the morning tracting and talking to anyone we saw, and had some powerful lessons with two of their investigators and a less active they are teaching in their area. I was blessed to be able to see how powerfully Elder Bjerga could invite the Spirit into a lesson and see how good of a leader he is in our district. I was thankful to have been with him for a day. Elder Sato and Elder Mork also did some awesome work in our area that day! They picked up two new investigators while out knocking on doors and taught a great first lesson to a woman we had met previously. I was so happy to hear they had had a good day too!
Thursday we had a meeting in the morning and then lunch with a member in one of our wards. We normally have lunch with her on Wednesdays, but I had missed her because I was with Elder Bjerga, and so we had lunch with her on Thursday, too. She has been going through a hard time lately, and so we gave her a blessing. After lunch, Elder Sato and I tried to get into contact with some former investigators. The first one we met up with, was Ann, and she is Muslim. We talked a lot about her religion and what it consists of, and in the process were able to teach her about parts of ours in the process. She was very kind and open, and we even set up a return appointment where she wanted to learn more about the Book of Mormon and more about the gospel!! We had a good lesson and she could see that we were interested in her thoughts and not just trying to teach our beliefs. Because we listened and were kind, she is now open to learning much more!! After visiting with her, we knocked on a few doors and then ran over to the church to have the baptism interview for our investigator getting baptized!! Her name is Julie. Elder Bjerga did her interview and was really impressed with her testimony and knowledge. She is really awesome! After the interview, we had dinner with a man in the ward and then met with some less actives we are teaching.
Friday was a bit of a slower day. We did a lot of tracting and trying to see people without too much luck. But we ended the day with a Halloween Party in Piney Creek ward! We had a lot of fun and one of our investigators and 4 people we had saw while tracting that day showed up too!! Hard work does pay off :) The ward had a chili-cook off and then did trunk or treat afterwards. We helped set up before, enjoyed the cook off (one of our investigators even brought chili!!!), and then helped take down while people trunk or treated outside. It was a good party!!
Saturday was a VERY busy day! We started the day by meeting with a less active member. Then we went to the stake center so we could start filling the baptismal font for Julie! When we got there about an hour and a half early (we thought that would be good enough time) we found out that the font usually takes 2-21/2 hours to fill. Oh no! We were worried and started stressing! We ate lunch as it filled up, and then set everything else up. Julie showed up early and we had a super kind woman in the ward help her with her clothing and getting ready. The service started at 1pm, and the font was still filling up! We let it continue filling up while we started the program. A returned missionary from the ward gave a good talk on baptism and then a member sang a song about baptism. Then Elder Sato baptized Julie! The water wasn't very high, but it was okay. Elder Sato performed the ordinance and Julie was all smiles. While they were changing out of their wet clothes, everyone at the baptism wrote down their testimony on a card for her. Then our ward mission leader gave a talk on the Holy Ghost and I bore my testimony. The Spirit was so strong at the meeting and you could just feel Julie's happiness. I know that she did the right thing being baptized, and her example in following God's plan will affect many other people's lives!
After the baptism, we went and saw a young recent convert and had a nice visit. Then we went to the Halloween party for the Cherry Creek ward! We had two investigators show up to this one too! We ate chili and chatted with them and watched all the kids parade around in their costumes. We didn't realize it, but many less actives who we didn't even know, showed up and some of them want us to give the missionary lessons to them! It was a very fun and a special night. After the party, we were supposed to visit with two other investigators from the other ward, but they both fell through. So we saw some less actives and other people and finished for the night. It was an amazing day!!
Sunday was crazy busy as usual. We went back and forth in between the two ward's Sunday meetings. I had the wonderful opportunity to confirm Julie a member of the church during Sacrament Meeting. It was an honor. I was glad to be able to bless her with the gift of the Holy Ghost. After all our Sunday meetings, we headed home and had lunch. Then we went to an appointment with an investigator that Elder Sato had met on Wednesday, when I was away with Elder Bjerga. It turns out that where they first saw her, she was actually at an apartment that she was babysitting at. We set up a return appointment with her, but we aren't sure where. I'm not sure. So we got her phone number from the people living there and walked around and tracted that area a bit. We really focused on talking to everyone we saw, and we were really blessed because of it! It seemed like everyone we happened upon really needed to see us or we really needed to see them. It was a cool couple of hours. Then we finished with dinner and an FHE with a sweet family in the ward.
It was a big week! It seemed to just fly by. We were so blessed to be able to talk to so many people this week and share the truth about what we know with anyone we saw. Even though it can be scary sometimes to talk with every single person you see (even if it seems like they don't want to talk at all.) I know that we were blessed because of it. And I know that this gospel is true and needs to be shared with everyone I come in contact with.
Anyway, I hope everyone's Halloween was awesome!! I love you all!
Elder Bird
10/24/16
Hello all! I hope everything is going well for everyone! You are all always in my prayers!
This week was crazy! There was a ton of stuff that happened and another amazing miracle!!! We're already halfway done with this transfer, but I feel like I just got here. The weeks go by so fast.
So the week started off good. After emailing at the library, we took the district leader and his companion out to lunch with us. We went to Red Robin, which I was excited about because I have been missing it. Two of the Elders with us are not from America (Elder Sato and Elder Bjerga) and had never been there before. They loved it! It was really good.
Afterward we had an appointment on P-day! This was with Ali and we decided to meet with her on P-day [their one day off] because she was leaving for the rest of that week and we wanted to see her before she left. We taught a good lesson and asked her to come to church with us. It was going to be the Primary Program [church service where the children 2-12 sing and give talks] This is always a nice Sunday program. The rest of the P-day went well, ending with an FHE [Family Home Evening - a night with the family] with a sweet family (a single mom with three young boys). We played Book of Mormon hang-man, talked about the Atonement, and tried to keep the boys entertained.
Tuesday was a pretty good day. We had some appointments with less actives and an investigator. This investigator, Andrew, is very smart and fairly hard to teach because he loves to go off onto tangents. BUT, this time, one of his tangents led to a conversation about the Tower of Babel, which we said was referred to in the BOM, He was intrigued, and we started to read Ether. He noticed a few things while we read that I think he noticed Joseph Smith wouldn't have been able to know about on his own (hmm, interesting), and I think it sparked his curiosity. So we committed him to read the rest of Ether!! It was really good to see him start to progress a little.
Also on Tuesday, we were out knocking on doors, when we met a man named Richard Cozzette. He invited us in and started talking with us. He's 53, the same age as my dad. It turns out that at one point in this guy's life, he held the world record for Defender (an arcade game in the 70's). He had played Defender for 28 hours straight!! How insane is that? We talked to him a lot and shared a brief message, and set a time for us to come back. He became a new investigator! That night we had dinner at Rubio's with a really nice Sister in one of our ward's, who always has us over for lunch or dinner. She is so nice. Dinner was good, and the rest of the night was spent trying to contact people.
Wednesday was a fun day! Three big things happened. We had dinner with a man named Dennis K. Brown. While we were having dinner, we learned that this brother had been a mission president in France, been the Denver temple President, and had written a book called "Evidences of the True Church." (a well known book in our church). He had done so much in his life and it was so interesting talking with him. He had had conversations and was friends with Gordon B. Hinckley!
After dinner, we were invited to a Baptist Bible study by one of our investigators. We sat in as they talked about the Bible. They were very nice. After that Bible study, we had our own scripture study on the second article of faith at our church. Our investigator brought three of his friends, and one of them became a new investigator. He asked us for a Bible and everything. So that was awesome! We ended the night playing basketball with everyone who came and sharing one more scripture.
Thursday started off with a training meeting with the other Elders in our district. After that, we visited a less active young man and read scriptures with him (his favorite of which was D&C 43:35 #besober). Then we did a whole lot of tracting and trying to get into contact with past investigators, without too much success. That night, we met with a less active member who likes to mess [tease] with us. He told us if we were going to share a message, then we had to recite a scripture from memory. I recited Jacob 6:12, one of my favorites, and Elder Sato recited D&C 43:35 (the one from earlier in the day.) He thought that was funny, and we all had a good laugh.
Friday was a tough day. We basically tracted all day long, with little success. Elder Sato used one of his new words to describe how he felt (exasperated). But, we met some nice people, one of which was a Jehovah's Witness. who was very kind. We set up a return appointment! We'll see how it goes. We kind of think she will try to convert us. Maybe we'll turn the tables on her ;)
Later we had an appointment with a less active brother. He was really nice to us and showed us some oil vials that he makes and sells to people on Etsy. He was very nice and it was cool to see them.
Then the miracle happened!! As we got back to our apartment, one of our investigators texted us out of the blue. She told us that she knew the gospel was true and that she was ready for baptism!!! Insane, right?? She will be baptized next Saturday by Elder Sato, and I will have the honor of doing the Confirmation and blessing her with the Holy Ghost. That will happen at church the following day, Sunday. Elder Sato and I were jumping up and down in our apartment and going crazy!! We were so happy! She was taking the right step and moving forward!
On Saturday some of our scheduled appointments fell through, so we did more tracting!! At 4pm we met with a young recent convert and read some scriptures with him. I tried to explain the House of Israel to him, which the scriptures we were reading kept referring to. It's interesting trying to explain things in a more simple way.
That night, Julie, our investigator who had decided to get baptized the night before took us out to dinner. Funny story . . . She wanted to have dinner with us, but we already had one planned with a family and we didn't want to cancel. We wanted to visit with both of them...so we had two dinners that night. At the first dinner, with Julie, she told us how excited she was and she shared her testimony. We also went over a little what would happen at the baptism. How it would work. She is all ready!!
After that, we met with a former investigator named Nick. He is from Ghana, received his degree in Germany, and then came to America to work for IBM. It was really interesting getting to know him, and we shared a small message about the Sacrament with him. Even though he has learned a lot from previous missionaries, I think we helped him feel the Spirit. We set up a time to meet again and we'll see what happens.
At our second dinner, we went out with a family to a "Japanese Buffet." Elder Sato was so excited! But when we got there, he realized that all the people working there were Chinese, and it was actually just an "All Asian" buffet. He thought that was hilarious. But he liked having some Japanese food again. While we were there, some Christians who had just gotten out of a non-denominational church service, came in and saw us. They all started laughing and I think were a little spooked of us. I don't think that they realize that we are normal Christians, too. Probably due to non-true rumors that are out there about our church.
Sunday was the craziest day of the week!! We were back to our crazy Sunday schedule with two wards. Basically, we had a ward correlation meeting for Piney Creek Ward at 8am, where we talked about the work we were doing in that ward. Then we had Sacrament Meeting for Cherry Creek Ward at 9am. Julie and a less active member who is been coming back to church both came, so we juggled our attention between the two of them. Some returning missionaries gave talks, so there were a lot of people there. Then we went to the Gospel Principles Sunday School class in the Cherry Creek Ward. After that we sat down and visited with Julie for a little bit and went over the baptism program and what was going to happen on Saturday. After that, we hurried in to catch the Gospel Principles class for Piney Creek Ward. Our investigator, Ali, was there with a friend she brought. We made sure they were okay, and then had to leave to sit in for ward correlation meeting for Cherry Creek Ward to talk about the work we were doing in that ward. We finally ended with Sacrament Meeting in Piney Creek Ward, which was the Primary program! It was packed with a lot of people. We sat with Ali and her friend. The Primary Program was cute and they enjoyed it very much.
BIG DAY RIGHT?? We came home and had lunch and tired to relax a little. Later, we went out again and tracted and tried to get into contact with people. Then we met with a returning less active woman who is going through a really hard time in her life. We got to know her a little better and are hopeful we can continue to help her moving forward!!
Anyway, so that was our week! Lots happened, and lots of miracles, too. Even though Sundays are kind of crazy with juggling two wards with back to back meeting times. It amazes me how peaceful things feel when we feel the Spirit with the people we meet with. I know that this church is true because of that peace, that we can help people have it in their lives and in their families.
I hope everything is well back home! Love you all!!
Elder Bird
Pictures:
The Defender champ showed us some newspapers and photos of him. He went by "Captain Video"
The book that Dennis K. Brown wrote. He's not in the picture, but he's sitting three feet away.
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