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10/18/16
Hello everyone!!
This week has gone by so fast! I feel like I was just here at the library yesterday! Lots of amazing things happened this week, with one being the source of the title!
We emailed on Tuesday because of the holiday. Afterward, we were able to go and visit some investigators that day and night. One, named Andrew, is a very, very intelligent man (worked in both law and computers) who likes to hold intelligent discussions about the state of the world. It was a great discussion, but we had to constantly lead the conversation back to our message. He is very nice, but I am wondering how I can help him!!
In the afternoon we did more tracting. And after dinner, we met with a young couple, the Smith's, who were kind of hard to teach. They were incredibly kind, but have lots of concerns and questions about our faith. They were actually scheduled to be baptized, but still had questions, so we had to push their date back. We talked a lot about the Plan of Salvation with them and they had a lot of questions. At the end of our time with them we were able to teach them a little about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. At the end, Elder Sato and I simply bore our testimonies to them. We told them that we could talk for hours about the questions they had (and we would), but if they wanted true answers to their questions and evidence that it was true, they needed to read the Book of Mormon and ask God if it was true. I bore them my testimony that I had already done so and had received my answer, and so that was why I was out there trying to share that with them. Elder Sato did the same. I think they really felt the Spirit, and I am hopeful for them moving forward!
On Wednesday, the big miracle happened! We contacted and met with a referral we had received online. This woman, named Ali, had gone online and requested us to come visit with her. After texting her and figuring out the details, we set up a time for Wednesday afternoon to meet with her. It turns out that she has already gained a divine witness from the Spirit that our church is true!!! That made our job a whole lot easier! She actually has a ton of LDS friends in Utah, and even went to General Conference in the Conference center. She was telling us that her friend, a recent RM [returned missionary], was explaining the gospel to her when she felt that she needed to be baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost!! She even scheduled a day when she wanted to be baptized, November 19th. So we are teaching her in order to prepare her for baptism! She will be baptized in Utah, where she is moving, but it is such a blessing to be able to teach her! So we taught her on Wednesday, and then on Thursday and then Friday again! How awesome is that?? Some elders get all the luck ;)
On Thursday, we had a training meeting in the Stake Center with all the Elders. It was very good. I really felt the Spirit there, and it was good to get to know people in the Stake better. It was a little long though, so we didn't get too much time to work. We did see Ali again and answered some questions she had and went over more stuff. She continues to be awesome (or as we say, golden).
Friday morning started off with Ali again! We were able to take a young mom in the ward over with us to fellowship her, and we had a great discussion about the Word of Wisdom (the Lord's law of health). We invited her to come to church the following Sunday, which is the primary program! We are very excited for her to come, especially because she has two young kids. After seeing her, we had a slower day of knocking doors and trying to get into contact with people. We had some lessons planned, but they all cancelled. We did help out someone in the ward with some service, though, and afterwards he took us around all his neighborhood to meet all of his friends!! We invited them all to the Halloween party. The member, Brother Kumar, is an older gentleman from India who is just hilarious!
Saturday was awesome! We had some more training meetings in the morning, and then a lot of tracting in the early afternoon. Two things happened: we picked up a new investigator who is very open to talking with us! It was totally worth the two hours of knocking on doors we did to find him! We also met some other people. We started talking to them about our religion, and then they proceeded to tell us what we believed. I think it is interesting when people not in our church tell us what we believe. After telling them what we really believed, they replied back with "No you don't" and proceeded to tell us that we were wrong. That was my favorite :) We tried to be kind and instructive, but we couldn't really do anything.
After the tracting, we were able to sit down with a lady, Nancy, who we met last week! We had tried to contact her before, but she never answered. So, we thought she wasn't interested. We tried again, and she let us in and we had a great discussion!! She has just lost her husband, so we just let her talk and tried to listen and be there for her. After an hour of just her talking, we told her we had to get going. We hadn't been able to share any sort of message, and so were worried about that, but she told us that she really enjoyed talking with us "because we listened and really cared" and that she would really want to come to a church service sometime!! After meeting with her, we read scriptures with a young recent convert and tried to continue to keep his interest in them.
Sunday was a blast! It was the temple dedication for the Fort Collins temple!! So we were able to take part in that dedication from our Stake Center. Elder Uchtdorf dedicated the temple and gave a wonderful talk. It was a wonderful experience to have out here, and I really felt the Spirit as we sang the Spirit of God afterwards.
After the dedication we helped Andrew, the investigator, with some service. He was very kind, and maybe our helping him might get him more interested. Through our service we showed him kindness that we and the ward have love for him. Later afer dinner, we were on our way to visit a couple that lives in our apartment complex when a man called out to us and asked us who we were. We explained and we had a great conversation with this man named Josh. He didn't accept the Book of Mormon that we tried to share with him or set a time when we could come back, but respected a lot what we do as missionaries. We thanked him and told him we'd pray for him as we moved forward. Then, we saw the couple. They were funny and had a friend over, so we shared a scripture from the Bible and invited all of them to the Halloween party. It was good, and I think they'll all come and enjoy it!
It was a really awesome week! Elder Sato continues to be hilarious and bold with everyone we meet. We continue to learn and grow together as we try to balance these two wards!!
Anyway, I hope things are well back home. I love you all!
Elder Bird
Pictures:
Elder Sato and I at the Library
Me "holding" Elder Sato's flash cards for him
10/10/16
Hello Everyone!! I hope your week is going fantastic! So much has happened
since last Monday, I will try to tell you the best parts!!!
I am now serving in both the Piney Creek and Cherry Creek wards, in the Denver
area. These two wards are in a nice part of the Denver suburbs to the south.
So on Monday I started to pack and get ready! We went to Golden Corral for
lunch with another companionship of Elders one more time to say goodbye. It
was sad! Then Monday evening we had dinner and an appointment saying goodbye
to one of our less active members who we teach on Monday nights.
Tuesday was filled with meetings and teaching people who I had become close to
as we taught. Along the way, we picked up a new investigator named Mikey, while
we were near the library. And, then met with some recent converts who we had
been teaching. Afterwards, we went and talked with a lady in the ward who does
our dinner calendar. It turns out she made me a tie with my initials on it!! It
was so sweet of her! We had dinner, and then saw another less active guy named Glen
who we've been teaching. He is a really sweet guy. He bought us cheesecake to say
goodbye!! How awesome is that?? We finished the day with one final less active we
had been teaching, and we said goodbye to her and her two sweet kids. It was a hard
day, saying goodbye and leaving all these people, who I had somehow become very
close with in only 3 months! I will miss them a lot.
Wednesday was transfer day!! I finished packing and then Elder LaPerle and I drove to the
stake center, and I got on the transfer van. I was heading to Denver with Elder Bjerga
(an elder from Norway who was in my last area) where we would again be in the same district.
I was glad to have one familiar face go with me. We arrived at the new stake center, and
got all unloaded. Then I met my new companion, Elder Sato!! Elder Sato is from Chiba, Japan.
His English is very good for having only been out here for 3 months. He is hilarious and one
of the most humble and kind Elders I have met out here!
After we met, we got all my stuff loaded in our car (which, as Elder Sato pointed out to me,
is a Toyota Corrola) and then I drove us to the new area! It feels awesome to drive again,
especially in a Toyota.
We arrived in the new area to a beautiful apartment. I unpacked quickly and then we got to work!
We did a lot of tracting that first day, and we were blessed because of it. We picked up a new
investigator, a sweet woman named Nancy, who was very open to talking with us and was very kind.
We have a return appointment to see her tomorrow! At the end of the night, our ward mission leader
helped us put on a Bible study class, where we went over the 1st article of faith. We had two
investigators show up and we had a great discussion!! Afterwards, we played a small game of
basketball with the bible study class and even some other non-members, and then headed home.
Thursday was a good day! I met lots of new people, in both ward areas. A lot happened, but I'll
just share one miracle that happened as we were out trying to contact someone. We were looking
in our box of commissary (literature that we pass out, including Book of Mormon's, pamphlets,
DVD's, etc.) and we found a Russian Plan Of Salvation pamphlet. We thought it was weird, but
Elder Sato grabbed it and put it in his bag. As we were walking down the street not 5 minutes
later, we met a man who only spoke Russian!! We handed him the pamphlet, and he was very
impressed and said he'd read it (at least I think that's what he said). It was truly a miracle,
and I know God had a large hand in that experience.
On Friday we started off the day with breakfast with our new Stake President and all the Elders
in our new zone, to see and meet each other. It was such a nice way to start off being here! Then,
we met with a recent convert named Frank (who was just about to call us for help to move stuff
when we showed up on his door step #miracles). After helping Frank, we tracted and met some more
less actives and recent converts. Good day!!
Saturday was more of the same! It has been hard trying to remember who is in which ward, (now that
we are working with two) but I'm sure I will get it soon. We had a couple of set appointments, our
first was with a young recent convert named Trevor. With him we read 1 Nephi 3 with and then talked
about it. It was amazing to see his excitement grow over the Book of Mormon stories, as his
understanding of them increased. Chapter 3 ends in a bit of a cliffhanger, so we asked him to read
chapter 4 on his own. :) The second was with a less active in his 20's who was very nice and kind
to us. He talked our ears off about how amazing Apple is, (I would guess much to my father's shagrin),
and then we shared a lesson on the Sacrament and how it relates to the Gospel of Jesus Christ with
him. We all knew that the Spirit was there during our visit, especially during the lesson portion.
Sunday was an absolutely crazy day. That's where this week's blog title came from...it was truly a
balancing act! We started with a ward missionary correlation meeting with one of our wards, and then
went to Sacrament Meeting with the other ward. We stayed with that ward for Sunday school and went
to the Gospel Principles class. Which was followed by the other ward's Gospel Principles class. Then
we went to the other ward's missionary correlation meeting, and finally the other ward's Sacrament
Meeting! How crazy is that?? We went to two of each type of meeting and were at the church for 6 hours!!
These two wards, Cherry Creek and Piney Creek, have kind of different timing because they combine their
youth program during the middle hours so that means that one ward's Sacrament Meeting is at the
beginning of the block and the other is at the end of the block. It kept us very busy! Everyone in
both wards were very nice, and it was good to meet so many new faces.
After all that craziness, we went home and had lunch. After that, the day was spent mostly tracting
and seeing less actives. We met some very nice people and had a good rest of the Sabbath.
Finally, yesterday, Monday we had P-day! It was filled with normal P-day activities like shopping
and cleaning and laundry. Elder Sato and I both picked up great winter coats at a Goodwill nearby!
We had lunch with Elder Bjerga and his new companion at a Golden Corral over here, because he said
that he wanted to keep the tradition going! P-day ended at 4pm, so we met an investigator that
evening. He is a heavy smoker. The lesson was haphazard because he was having a hard time listening.
Finally, we just stopped the lesson and I focused in on his smoking. I asked him about it and why he
did it. He voiced some desires to stop, and I told him that the Lord could help him stop, if he had a
real desire to. I told him we would help him too. He got excited then, and we set a plan for how he
could stop. I didn't know really where to start, but I suggested for him to cut back 25% of the
cigarettes he was smoking a day. He said he usually smokes 20 a day, so asked him to cut it down
to 15. We told him we would be there to help him as he moved forward. We then gave him a priesthood
blessing to help him. It was very powerful, and he said he felt the Spirit! Amazingly, this morning
in our apartment, as I was looking through things, I found a packet called the Stop Smoking Program.
This is a program to help smokers curb their addictions. It gave me lots of hints about how I can help
this investigator, and I knew that it was in our apartment for this reason. I'm very excited for this
guy moving forward!
We ended P-day with dinner and a Family Home Evening with a family in one of the wards. We played
Book of Mormon hangman, which was really good for the young boys to get excited about learning more.
Afterwards, we talked to an investigator that is living with this family and had a great discussion
about the struggles in her life right now.
And today I got to email!! It has been an awesome week, and I'm very excited moving forward!! I hope
everything back home is going well!
Lots of love,
Elder Bird
Pictures:
Elder Sato on Mission Parkway!!
Elder Sato has a yoda costume for pajamas, which he found in the apartment.
Isn't that hilarious???
In our apartment
Eating pie at a ward member's house
10/03/16
Hello everyone!! I hope the week has been awesome for you and you all enjoyed General Conference as much as I did. If you didn't get to see it, I highly recommend you view it on LDS.org.
Anyway, this upcoming week is transfers!! It is so exciting! I am ready for a change and a new area. We were told where we will be going this morning! I will be transferring to the Denver area (the big city!) covering two wards. My new companion will be Elder Sato, is also at his three month mark, like me. He is from Japan (how sweet is that?) We will both continue to learn together. I am sad to leave Elder LaPerle, who is staying here in Westminster and training a new Elder. He has been a fantastic companion, and we'll stay in touch as we move forward.
Anyway, I'm so excited!!!
As for the week, we had a fantastic one, even though we had tons of cancellations (investigators, dinners, and even service opportunities!), but Conference totally made up for all of that. Because we had a bit of a slower week (mostly tracting, yay!!!), I'll just give you the highlights and the really awesome stuff.
On Thursday, we sat down with one of our progressing investigators. We were in his area, and he invited us in. We got to talking about our pre-earth life and the different plans Jesus and Satan had up in Heaven. He told us that he felt bad for Satan and all of his followers. It was something I had never heard before. I don't think he understood Satan's open rebellion and how awful Satan's plan was, a plan with zero agency. As he was talking about it, I could actually feel the Spirit leave the room, and it felt dark and weird. I had no idea what to do. I had heard of stories where when the Spirit leaves, Elders sing a hymn to invite it back, and then to testify of the goodness of the gospel. So I asked our investigator if I could sing a hymn for him. I sang "The Spirit of God". The heavy dark feeling in the room seemed to leave, and I felt so much better. After the hymn, my companion and I bore simple testimonies of the Savior and how great His plan is for us. I think we could all feel the Spirit again. It was an amazing experience! Afterward, we told him about Conference and he expressed a great desire to see it! Unfortunately, we couldn't find a ride for him for either day. We told him that we would see him next week and next Sunday.
Saturday was Conference!! We went to the Stake Center to watch it. There was almost no one there though, everyone must have been at home in their PJ's. So we watched it with another pair of missionaries and two or three members. I really enjoyed Elder Uchtdorf's beautiful talk on the Plan of Salvation. It is truly an amazing plan. After the morning session, we decided to stay at the stake center in order to save on miles. The afternoon session was again fantastic. Elder Stevenson gave an amazing talk on the Book of Mormon, and I greatly enjoyed Elder Yamashita's talk directed towards the missionaries. After his remarks, the MTC choir (in which I knew an Elder and a Sister) sang "I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go Lord." That hymn has a very special meaning to me as of late, and I felt the Spirit strongly as I watched my fellow missionaries sing it.
After the afternoon session, we tracted a few doors and then our Zone Leaders took us out for Chinese food before the Priesthood Session. Apparently it was a tradition for one of those Elder's families, so that was a ton of fun. Then, we went back to the Stake Center for Priesthood session. Another amazing session! I really enjoyed Elder LeGrand Richard's talk on the Book of Mormon and President Uchtdorf's talk on "Alma and Amulek". After that session, we were standing around talking with our mission president and a few other Elders (the president lives in our stake boundries, so he was there). The mission president invited us all out to Dairy Queen!! So, we went with the Assistants to the President, our zone leaders, and the Mission President to Dairy Queen. We had a good discussions about the conferences talks today. It was a really fun time!
It was a great Saturday! Later, we realized we had spent 8 hours at the Stake Center!!!
Sunday was another amazing day. We went back to the Stake Center for the morning session. I very much enjoyed President Nelson's talk on joy in this life and the life to come. After the morning session, we again resolved to do what we had done the day before, and stay to save on miles until the afternoon session. While we were there waiting, a member called us and asked if we could help their neighbors move. We were happy to help and quickly went over there to help. After that, the members invited us in to watch the afternoon session. It was a much needed break from the Stake Center, and a good way to watch the last session or "the home stretch."
The afternoon session was, again, fantastic. I really liked Elder Rasband's talk on remembering the Spiritual experiences that we've had in life and returning to them in hard times. It inspired me to keep a record of amazing experiences I've had on my mission not only in my journal, but on a separate paper that I can return to when times get rough. After the session ended, we got back to our regular work (with rejuvenation)! We finished out Sunday by tracting, trying to get into contact with investigators and less actives, and meeting with one of our less actives (who totally bore his awesome testimony to us while his Jewish friend sat there listening!!). It was a good way to end the week!
Anyway, lots of great stuff continues to happen here. I know that the words we've heard from the brethren this week are DIRECTLY from God ("Whether it is by mine own voice, or by the voice of my servants, it is the same"). I know that, if we continually study and feast upon these talks that have been given, we can and will receive answers to questions we have. I testify that this church is indeed Christ's church again upon the face of the Earth, as it was in Jesus' day.
I hope you all the best as you move forward! Love you!!
Elder Bird
Picture 1: Us missionaries with El Presidente at Dairy Queen
Picture 2: A new whiteboard we got for the apartment!!
9/26/16
Hey everyone! I hope everything is going well back home!
This week was just a fantastic week. It was a stark contrast to last week, which was a bit tough sometimes. We met some really awesome people this week and helped others continue to progress in the gospel. The work we do is just so awesome!!
So Monday started off normally. We usually don't have lessons on P-day, but someone told us to come back at 4 on P-day, so we did. We weren't expecting much, but this man totally let us in and we started talking a lot about faith and how to find it. We taught a little about how we came to find faith, and I left him with a Spanish Book of Mormon and told him to read Alma 32, which is a beautiful discourse on faith. He said he would read and that we could come back on Friday. And just like that, we had a new investigator!!
Tuesday was a pretty full day. We ended up starting out with volunteering at a Food bank up north in the morning with some other Elders. It was such a good way to spend our time. We helped people who really needed some food get what they needed. The people in charge were very kind as we helped them out and adopted us right into their service family. It was an awesome experience, and we're excited to keep helping people there every week. We spent a lot of the rest of the day trying to get into contact with people and tracting. Dinner was Cafe Rio (shout out to my brother-in-law who works there) with a cute young family in the ward. The dad is actually a surgeon at the Kaiser I go to downtown, and he was on the news that night. They had it recorded and we watched his "five minutes of fame" with them. It was really fun! Then, that night tracting, the very first person we met stopped and talked to us for a half hour! She had met with sister missionaries before, and told us she would have to come out our ward. It was way awesome! Then, I went and stayed the night with my district leader in the adjacent ward for exchanges.
Wednesday was spent on exchanges. My district leader is a really kind, genuine guy named Elder Sant. He's a bit of a goober from the South. We had a lot of fun on Wednesday, walking and tracting and trying to get into contact with people. Elder Sant's companion, Elder Bjerga (he's from Norway) was with Elder LaPerle in my area, and they said they had a good day, too. Our companionships are really good friends, so it was a fun day for everyone.
Thursday was back to normal. But something amazing happened Thursday morning!! As we were tracting up north (the north of our area is a bit ritzier/richer than the south), we happened upon a new investigator! We had been knocking these really really nice houses and were actually walking away from one when a guy ran out from it and told us to come back! He looked about his 20's, so I thought maybe he was living with his parents. We told him what we were doing there, and he invited us in. It turns out that he, a 19 year old kid, owned the house. He is a multi-millionaire already (and he's my age)!!! Apparently, he owns 4 really nice houses, and is moving to California soon. He told us that he had graduated high school a year early and was going to college, but had gotten his money by writing apps and investing in stocks (the biggest yield of which being Uber). We were quite impressed, especially when he told us that he had recently bought his parents their own house (sorry mom and dad, I can't do that for you just yet). He was super nice and listened intently for what we had to say. When we gave him a Book of Mormon, he even had us mark our favorite chapters so he could read them!! After, we thanked him and left, and then did happy dances the rest of the day.
Friday was a great day! The big thing of note was that we met with Monday's investigator again. And he is totally progressing in the gospel. He had read the chapter we gave him, and said that even though it was hard to understand, that it was beautiful and he had felt really peaceful and good while doing so!!! We taught him about the Gospel of Christ and especially the Holy Ghost. We gave him another chapter to read, and set up another appointment to meet!! How awesome is that??
Saturday was busy. The day started with a move of someone out of the ward. We were sad to see him go. While we were helping, he totally gave us a bunch of his old stuff! We are now the proud owners of that guy's bean bag. After the move, we met with some less actives and tried to meet with another investigator, Jimmy, who had been to church a while back but was not coming anymore (even though he had felt so good when he had come). He cancelled on us today, which was a bummer because he had been so hopeful before. So we finished of the night with tracting and met some very nice people.
Sunday was crazy busy!! Meetings in the morning, appointments right before church. At about quarter till church, we went to go get Jimmy for church. We were really unsure if he would, because of the last couple weeks. But he came!! So Sacrament was a little crazy, because we had a less active we're teaching there, and investigator, our recent convert, and then two women who just walked in (oh, and they only spoke Spanish). It was the primary program, which was a really sweet experience for everyone that came. All the kids were adorable, and I think everyone enjoyed it. I sat through it and thought about what would happen right after the meeting, and how I could juggle talking with and getting everyone situated. When the meeting ended, I tried to get help for the Spanish women as quick as possible. With that done, I juggled conversations with the less active and my investigator for 15 minutes. The less active went to class, and then we had the investigator meet with the bishop and the ward employment specialist. It had been a busy 20 minutes, but we got it all done. As we took Jimmy (the investigator) home, because he couldn't stay the whole time, he told us how much he liked the ward family and how nice everyone had been. He told us he would want to meet again and to come to church again next week! It was so awesome!! The rest of the day went well, tracting and meeting with more less actives. It was a good Sunday.
It was a great week!! The work is really picking up again out here, The week ahead looks even more busy, which really keeps us missionaries happy!
Anyway, I hope things are well back home. I keep you all in my prayers. May God continue to bless you all with happiness.
Until next week,
Elder Bird
Elder LaPerle and I chillin' at Subway
Me in the bean bag chair we scored
9/19/16
Hey everyone!!!
It seems like the weeks fly by faster and faster each time! We are already starting week 5 of the transfers! Two more weeks, and we'll switch again. Isn't that crazy??
This week was great!! A lot happened, so I'll talk about the highlights.
On Tuesday morning, we had a housing inspection. They like to check in on us and make sure we are keeping the apartment nice and clean. Luckily, we already keep our place pretty clean, so we just had to make sure it was spotless. We also put on those finishing details (like we found some flowers outside and put them in a can, as a centerpiece on the table. Classy, right?). Our inspector was really impressed! We passed with flying colors.
The rest of Tuesday was designated as a "Car Fast" day. Our leaders wanted everyone to not use their cars until 5:00pm that day. So we were out walking the whole day! It was good. We tracted and met with some lesser active people that we walked to. I think that getting the missionaries out of the cars really helps, especially to have people see us out in the community more. People give us friendly (and not so friendly) honks, which is really fun. The other day, some random number even texted us, saying he wanted to meet with us because he had seen us walking. I think he had gotten our number from someone in the community. It was amazing!! The blessings of walking :)
Wednesday was filled with meetings until 2pm. Then we did some service at a member's house. As I squatted down to lift something up, my pants totally ripped...it was so embarrassing!! When we finished the service, we headed home so I could change my pants. Luckily, a nice lady in the ward is going to patch them up for me. That is really nice, because they would probably look awful if I patched them up myself. We finished off Wednesday night by trying to meet up with an investigator from before, but that fell through, so we tracted some more. We actually ran out of Book of Mormon's to pass out that night, because so many people have been accepting them! We had to order more from the office, which we picked up on Friday.
Thursday was a pretty average day. We did yard work in the morning and then we tracted and tried to get in contact with certain people. We ran out of Book of Mormon's to hand out, so we just handed out the pamphlets we had, which talk about Heavenly Father's Plan of Salvation. We handed those out all day, and then something crazy happened right before dinner! As we were going around, someone actually let us in to hear our message!!! It was one of the few times where we've been let in to sit down and talk. She was a sweet older woman, I think around 89 or so. We had a nice visit and all shared experiences about this life and God's plan for us. She was so kind and willing to listen. We were so happy!!! We are going to go back this week and share a copy of the Book of Mormon with her (now that we have one). We are going to introduce her to a nice older couple from the ward. She already has a lot of faith, but is kind of alone. We hope we can fill her life with happiness as we share our message and introduce her to the great community within our church.
Friday was a crazy day! We had a training meeting down in Aurora, but had to first pick up Elders who were on bike up in Boulder (opposite sides of the mission). So, we ended up using 75 miles that day (we normally get 33 a day). So we might be doing more walking at the end of the month!! But the meeting was awesome and we were able to pick up some more Book of Mormon's to pass out. The took up most of the day. That night we just tried to contact people and tract. We had plans to meet with an investigator, but that fell through. So more tracting!!
Saturday was also busy! We did some more service, met with the less active who's mom is in the hospital, met with the less active who wants to have his deceased daughter baptized in the temple, and met with our investigator who came to church a few Sundays back. They were all good meetings and it still amazes me at how much I love these people. On of our investigators told us that he had definitely felt a difference in his life the week he had come to church. He has a hard life, but he could see the help that church had brought to him!! It was so cool to see his recognition of that.
Finally, Sunday came around. We were super excited to see everyone who had told us they would come to church, especially our investigator. When Sacrament came though, not a single person we had met with on Saturday, and said they would come, showed up. It was devastating!! All I can do though, is invite them to come and receive the gospel and the happiness that comes from it. Hopefully they will make the effort they need to to come and receive that joy. Until then, the Savior (and me) will be waiting patiently for them.
Anyway, it was a good week! I won't lie, the work is hard and rejection stinks. BUT, what makes it all worth it is knowing that what we share can and will help people find peace in this life and joy in the life to come. I am grateful that I do get to share that, and I hope I can continue diligently in the work to help people receive such.
I hope everything is well back home!! I am praying for you all (especially for my new nephew, baby Eli)!!
Keep being awesome!!
Elder Bird
Pictures:
Our classy centerpiece!
The view of Denver we have
Me, doing some service this week
The moon one night - it was big and red.
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