A Day of Service

April 29, 2013

Hello family,

It has been a pretty typical week but we were able to have some productive teaching experiences.  Transfers are coming up next week and it is very possible that I will be transferred to another area, so I am going to be gearing up for that this week by getting my last visits in with all the investigators and people that I have been working with.  I don't want to get transferred from this area because there is so much work going on here that I have been a part of which makes getting transferred hard. I trust that everything will work out for the best though.

On Monday after our P-day and after having dinner with some members we decided to go by the Gaylord’s because we heard that Cierra had just gotten her wisdom teeth out so we wanted to see how she was doing.  We ran to the grocery store near the Gaylord home and got Cierra some ice cream because I remembered that ice cream was my favorite thing to eat when I got my wisdom teeth out.  We got to their house and they welcomed us right in.  We saw Cierra laying on a chair looking pretty miserable but I think us bringing ice cream made her feel a little better.  We started talking with the family but we quickly found out that their favorite TV show was on and we were disrupting it.  They had it turned off because they know that we can't watch TV but their DVR wasn't working so we told them that they could turn it on and we wouldn’t watch it.  Jennifer didn't care to watch it but the girls did so we kept talking to Jennifer.  Then Cierra said that she was having a lot of pain but she can't take pain medication because it makes her really sick.  Jennifer then suggested that we give her a blessing.  During the commercials we explained blessings and the priesthood and then during the next commercial break we gave her a blessing. It went really well except towards the end someone came to the door and the dogs started barking so loud I couldn't hear myself think.  I ended the blessing and she thanked us.  We left soon after that but they invited us back for dinner the next night. 

Tuesday we had exchanges with Elder Jones the new zone leader. We saw Paul and decided that he doesn't really want the gospel in his life at this point so we decided that we would probably be dropping him the next time we see him.  We want him to accept the gospel and progress but he doesn't want it so there is no point in wasting our time when we know he isn't going to do anything.  We also saw Jesi.  She is living with a family in the ward which is helping her get on her feet.  It is good for her to see how a family should function.  We had her answer our questions as we acted like we didn't know anything about the church.  I think it helped her learn and internalize things.  After our lesson with her we went to the Gaylord’s for dinner.  They had made us bacon wrapped chicken, loaded potatoes and asparagus.  It was delicious and after we ate we taught the plan of salvation.  The whole family was attentive and asked questions.  Temples were even brought up and we were able to talk about the importance of temples and how families can be together forever.  Jennifer said, "I want to be with Rob forever." We ended our lesson and they fed us some delicious angel cake with strawberries but the best part was when Jennifer offered the closing prayer.  She had not prayed in front of us before and was a little hesitant to do so but she ended up offering a really good prayer from her heart.  I pray for the Gaylords nightly and hope they can find out the truth for themselves. 

Wednesday we had district meeting where I taught about the importance of church attendance and how we can get our investigators excited to come to church.  After district meeting we went to this awful Chinese buffet.  It reminded me when we ate that Chinese food in San Francisco and after picking our first entree we couldn't find anything else that looked good.  It was bad!  Nothing much happened after that until the Book of Mormon class.  I thought that Elder Adams and the other missionaries were going to teach it so I didn't prepare anything but no one was taking control of the class and the people were getting restless so I eventually stood up and started teaching about the brother of Jared and his faith and obedience.  It ended up being a really good class but I will never go unprepared again because it was so disorganized.

Thursday we were able to teach the Fishers about the plan of salvation and the member that was with us invited them to church.  By the time we finished, the whole family was in the room listening and all the kids said that they would come to church if their parents went.  I love how the gospel can create a crowd of people because everything is so interesting and their spirits are drawn to the message of truth.  When Sunday came, Loretta, the mother, and her daughter were called into work so they weren't able to come to church.  It was sad but we know that they will come as soon as they can. 

  

On Friday we helped Adam Fuhrman put in a clothes line.  It was really fun and reminded me how much I like to build and make things.  It took a better part of the day to do but Adam was very grateful for our help. 

On Saturday we were part of the state wide service project to help clean up the state parks.  We worked alongside many members from the ward on one of the state parks near our apartment.  There were many different service projects going on in the park.  I was part of the ditch digging crew.  We dug a ditch and put a perforated pipe in the bottom so the amphitheater would not flood anymore.  It was nice to do some manual labor for a change and my back was even sore the next day.  It was fun to work with the ward and I was able to get to know some of the families better.  We left the park around 12:30 to have lunch with the Sherfy family and help them clean out their garage.  After garage cleaning we went to the Shanahans and did some sheet rock taping.  It was cool to learn how to tape sheet rock.  Out of all the things I have done I have never taped sheet rock so it was nice to learn.  Our day ended up being a day of service which was nice and made the day go by really fast.  I know that if we give selfless service we will be happier. 

Sunday was a good day.  We had one of our less active members come to church and bear his testimony. He has not been to church in fifteen years.  He said that he had never born his testimony but wanted people to know that he knows the church is true and that the missionaries have changed his life.  He told more of a story but everyone was awake and paying attention to what he had to say.  He told of three specific experiences that he has had with the missionaries that caused him to start coming back to church.  The first experience was when the missionaries first started teaching his family.  Before they were baptized they were always struggling financially and there wasn't much food in the house.  After they joined the church there was always food on the table.  The next story took place when he was living in Mexico.  One day as he was looking out his window he saw two missionaries running for their lives from a group of mobsters.  He quickly ran down and put his unloaded shot gun to their backs and told them to get in the house.  Once they were in the house he told him that he was a member of the church.  They invited him to church but he declined at that point in his life but the devised a plan to get the missionaries out of that bad area alive.  The plan entailed that he would roll them up in some carpet and put them in the back of his truck making it look like he killed two Mormon missionaries.  He got them out safely and from that point no one in that part of the city gave him trouble because everyone knew him as the guy who killed the Mormon missionaries.  He said it saved his life several times.  The last experience was with us.  He said after 7 years of missionaries trying to get him to go to church, Elders Mouritsen and Adams finally did it and now he wants to get the priesthood and his wife is interested too.  He closed by saying that he is at church today because of missionaries and he knows that the church is true. 

We ended up teaching Jesi and Kaitlyn at the Mebius’ house on Sunday night.  We had planned to teach Kaitlyn about the plan of salvation but we got stuck on Adam and Eve because she had never heard of Adam before.  She was very interested and found everything exciting.  She even took notes.  I have a lot of hope for her that she will accept the gospel and it will help lead her to live a successful and happy life. 

I am so glad to be a missionary and be able to help people come closer to our Heavenly Father.  There is no work like this on the face of the earth.

I love you family!!