Hi everyone!
Transfer calls were today! The results are in! After 4 1/2 months in Eagan, I will be leaving Eagan to go serve in Brainard, Minnesota which is North of the Twin cities in the Saint Cloud zone (the most northern zone except for Duluth). Not even near as cold as the Duluth zone but a little bit chillier than the cities. Its definitely a "sticks" area but i hear AMAZING THINGS about the area. There is already a baptism set for Nov. 5th in Brainard. Every missionary told me that i can expect MANY miracles there. It is a very successful area. I am very excited!!! My new companion will be Elder Johnson. He is from Arizona. He is one transfer younger than me. Strange enough however, I will be "greenie-breaking him. That means that this next transfer will be his first transfer after his training. I will be his "mom" (in missionary terms). Basically, your trainer is your dad and your greenie-breaker is your mom. I can't wait for a MAGNIFICENT transfer in a great area!
Oh! and my current companion, Elder Black will be training a new missionary! He'll be a dad!
So unfortunately this has been such a slow week but we did teach a few lessons. We taught a "lost sheep" named Kerry. A lost sheep is a less active member who moved and the Church has no idea where they are. Elder Baker (my dad) and i found her. We talked to her about church. She left because she never came to church for the right reasons but she doesnt recognize that. Basically, she came to church just to socialize. She sees church as a formal get-together. We are trying to get her to come back. She said she would! but now its all up to Elder Black and his companion, whoever it may be. Sergio Sanchez (LA) came with us to Stake Conference. He is progressing soooo much. He is probably my favorite person that i have worked with in Eagan. I will miss him and i will always stay in touch with him. I'm really hoping that i can go see him and his family be sealed in the temple for time and all eternity. I pray that i may receive the opportunity to see them receive the amazing blessings of an eternal family.
No more lessons this week but there is a miracle that i would like to share with you about following the promptings of the Spirit ALWAYS. It will also be my spiritual thought. Just last night, Elder Black and I were tracting and we weren't having much success. It was about 8 pm which is a very ineffective time here because people go to sleep not by the time but by the light. When its dark, everybody is asleep. However, Elder Black received a strong prompting to go street contacting around the northern part of Eagan which is pretty much all shops and businesses. We were walking on the one street and this man is pulling out of a parking lot and he sees us. He then yells: "Hey are you guys missionaries?!" We said yes and he then replied: "Walk over to the parking lot. We need to talk." Elder Black and I were thinking: "This will be either an anti-LDS or it will be a miracle." He came and said that he is a member of the church that fell away when he was 18. He expressed that it was time for him to come back. He wants to feel the peace again that comes from the gospel. He said that he is also trying to talk to his fiancee about getting baptized as well. That gives us a reactivation and maybe even a baptism!!! unfortunately i won't teach him other than this Tuesday but i know that he is in good hands. I almost got emotional walking away because it was such a precious experience. The Lord has lead us to this man and his fiancee. Elder Black and I knew that street contacting would be ineffective for 8 pm yet we followed the prompting and look what happened. The Lord helped us find that one lost sheep of the 99. How great is the joy in heaven over the one sinner that repents than the 99 just people who need no repentance!!! We experienced this joy and there is no expression adequate enough to describe it!!! I testify that as we ALWAYS follow spiritual promptings, even if it doesn't make sense, miracles WILL happen. Maybe not right away, but trust in the Lord because he has a purpose behind every prompting. As you do this, I PROMISE that you will be blessed over time to be able to recognize the Spirit easier. I leave you this testimony and promise, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Love Elder Mower
Friday, October 28, 2011
Elder Mower Letter #20
Hola! Just kidding: i wish i was a Spanish speaker sometimes. haha That's ok though. Teaching in English is quite enough for me!
So Eagan has been great this week! Unfortunately, flu season has come and it dragged me in bed for a few days with a cold but I am back to work in one piece!
Before i start talking about the work, i need to announce this: my mission president put a new rule into action. Unfortunately, i can no longer reveal any real names of people that i am working with. Something happened with some other missionary regarding this thing. I don't know what happened but it doesn't matter. It will be a little bit difficult to keep track of who each person is but I am pretty sure i can work something out. So for the time being, i will replace the persons real name with another name other than their actual name. Make sense? Good. Lets get started...haha
So my mission president also came out with a new idea to contact people. Now we can use a survey to ask people different questions and tie it in with the gospel. There are 8 different surveys: Family History, The Bible, Jesus Christ, Prayer, Prophets, and others that i cant quite remember. We started using them later this week and they are VERY effective. One lady for example, we contacted her and she was not excited at all to see us but then we give here the Bible survey and we tied it in with the Book of Mormon and it sparked her interest. She got a Book of Mormon, she said that she would read and pray about it, and she even wants us to come back! All from that survey. That idea is inspired! I can't wait to use it more in the future to find more people to teach.
Remember that really solid referral that i mentioned last week??? (I won't mention any names...haha) We taught him and his 3 daughters yesterday after eating dinner with them. The father was VERY open and willing to try out what we have to say. He just needs to read and pray to find the truth of the Book of Mormon and once he finds out that it is true, he is GOLDEN! He let his daughters choose whether or not they want to hear us. They listened and they said they would be willing to have us teach them again. We gave each of them a Book of Mormon. They all committed to read and pray about it. We have high hopes for this family.
We also taught Bill who lives with a less active member, Samantha. He has some Word of Wisdom issues so now we need to work with him on that. I think he really wants us to teach him but ONLY teach and NOT commit him to change. We aren't giving up on him though. We committed him to read and pray about the BOM. Apparently, he told us that he ALMOST said no but his girlfriend asked him to. So she was a HUGE help for us.
Those were the only 2 lessons we had this week but we are working to teach more lessons for next week.
Now i will share with you THE BEST PART of my mission that happened last friday. Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles came to the mission with his wife. He is a personal friend of my mission president. He agreed to come as it was unexpected. About 160 of the 200 missionaries in the mission came. We all got to shake his hand and meet him. That was an indescribable experience. He gave such an amazing sermon! Randomly, Elder Black and I were the very last ones to shake his hand. After Elder Black and I took our seats, my mission president came up to the stand and said: "I just want you all to know that the companionship of Elder Mower and Elder Black is inspired, Elder Black being the tallest and Elder Mower the shortest." I was thinking: "I just got punked for my height by my mission president in front of an apostle!" Not only that but he asked us to stand up in front of an apostle and 160 missionaries to see our height difference!!! 6 foot 6 inches and 5 foot 7 inches. That's a shocker! Now i know he really didn't mean to do it make fun of me but it was a pretty funny occasion. It was such a unique and wonderful experience.
I would like to share my spiritual thought for this week now: When i got sick, i thought it was no excuse for me not to work. So then as Elder Black and I are going to lunch, I felt 5x worse than i did before, rain was so intense that it was like a huge bucket was being poured on us, and our only appointment that day canceled on us. I took it as the Lord does not want me to work today. Elder Black then shared a scripture with me which reads: "And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength (Mosiah 4:27)...." We are all human. We have weaknesses both in the body and in the spirit. We need to do our best of course but there is a line of what we can do. The Lord won't give us anything that we can't handle. I know that if we put our trust in Him and do our best in all things that we will be happier and the Lord will compensate for the rest. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Love Elder Mower
So Eagan has been great this week! Unfortunately, flu season has come and it dragged me in bed for a few days with a cold but I am back to work in one piece!
Before i start talking about the work, i need to announce this: my mission president put a new rule into action. Unfortunately, i can no longer reveal any real names of people that i am working with. Something happened with some other missionary regarding this thing. I don't know what happened but it doesn't matter. It will be a little bit difficult to keep track of who each person is but I am pretty sure i can work something out. So for the time being, i will replace the persons real name with another name other than their actual name. Make sense? Good. Lets get started...haha
So my mission president also came out with a new idea to contact people. Now we can use a survey to ask people different questions and tie it in with the gospel. There are 8 different surveys: Family History, The Bible, Jesus Christ, Prayer, Prophets, and others that i cant quite remember. We started using them later this week and they are VERY effective. One lady for example, we contacted her and she was not excited at all to see us but then we give here the Bible survey and we tied it in with the Book of Mormon and it sparked her interest. She got a Book of Mormon, she said that she would read and pray about it, and she even wants us to come back! All from that survey. That idea is inspired! I can't wait to use it more in the future to find more people to teach.
Remember that really solid referral that i mentioned last week??? (I won't mention any names...haha) We taught him and his 3 daughters yesterday after eating dinner with them. The father was VERY open and willing to try out what we have to say. He just needs to read and pray to find the truth of the Book of Mormon and once he finds out that it is true, he is GOLDEN! He let his daughters choose whether or not they want to hear us. They listened and they said they would be willing to have us teach them again. We gave each of them a Book of Mormon. They all committed to read and pray about it. We have high hopes for this family.
We also taught Bill who lives with a less active member, Samantha. He has some Word of Wisdom issues so now we need to work with him on that. I think he really wants us to teach him but ONLY teach and NOT commit him to change. We aren't giving up on him though. We committed him to read and pray about the BOM. Apparently, he told us that he ALMOST said no but his girlfriend asked him to. So she was a HUGE help for us.
Those were the only 2 lessons we had this week but we are working to teach more lessons for next week.
Now i will share with you THE BEST PART of my mission that happened last friday. Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles came to the mission with his wife. He is a personal friend of my mission president. He agreed to come as it was unexpected. About 160 of the 200 missionaries in the mission came. We all got to shake his hand and meet him. That was an indescribable experience. He gave such an amazing sermon! Randomly, Elder Black and I were the very last ones to shake his hand. After Elder Black and I took our seats, my mission president came up to the stand and said: "I just want you all to know that the companionship of Elder Mower and Elder Black is inspired, Elder Black being the tallest and Elder Mower the shortest." I was thinking: "I just got punked for my height by my mission president in front of an apostle!" Not only that but he asked us to stand up in front of an apostle and 160 missionaries to see our height difference!!! 6 foot 6 inches and 5 foot 7 inches. That's a shocker! Now i know he really didn't mean to do it make fun of me but it was a pretty funny occasion. It was such a unique and wonderful experience.
I would like to share my spiritual thought for this week now: When i got sick, i thought it was no excuse for me not to work. So then as Elder Black and I are going to lunch, I felt 5x worse than i did before, rain was so intense that it was like a huge bucket was being poured on us, and our only appointment that day canceled on us. I took it as the Lord does not want me to work today. Elder Black then shared a scripture with me which reads: "And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength (Mosiah 4:27)...." We are all human. We have weaknesses both in the body and in the spirit. We need to do our best of course but there is a line of what we can do. The Lord won't give us anything that we can't handle. I know that if we put our trust in Him and do our best in all things that we will be happier and the Lord will compensate for the rest. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Love Elder Mower
Elder Mower Letter #19
Its been such an amazing few weeks overall! We have had quite a bit of referrals this week. I think that i should start off with our BEST referral! His name is Cha Yang. He is a single, Asian father of 3 teenage daughters. He worked with a very close friend who is LDS. His friends name is Gary. Cha told us that Gary called him a "dry Mormon." Basically he meant that its someone who follows pretty much the fundamental teachings of the church but is still unbaptized or "dry." He then asked us: do i have to come into your chapel for church, walk in, and shout "Hello everyone! im DRY!!!." Elder Black and I were laughing our heads off! He is a funny dude! He has also been sincerely looking for a church that fits him. He told us that every church he has been to doesn't seem right. He looks up to Gary as the best example in his life. Gary is actually the one who called Church headquarters and the Church then gave us the referral. We stopped by and he let us in immediately (this was our first initial contact with Cha). He really wants to come to our Church. We told him our purpose and he invited us back this next Sunday for dinner and not just any dinner he said that he would feed us steak, lamb, pork, etc. He's really solid and we are EXTREMELY excited to teach him!
We received other referrals that aren't near as legitimate as Cha is but we will see this week or later.
Before I go on with the work this week I will now be using a key to categorize people that we are working with from now on. Here's the key:
I = Investigator
LA = Less Active Member
RC = Recent Convert
Last Tuesday, we taught Brad Nivala (I) whose girlfriend is Jamie Nolan (LA). We gave him a spiritual thought on how the Atonement not only can redeem him from his sins but it can also heal him from his afflictions and from everything that seems to be unfair in his life, especially his financial situation. We then committed him to take the missionary lessons. We have them for dinner tonight and will be starting with the 1st discussion. Last Friday, Elder Black and I saw a HUGE change in one of our investigators. Her name is Angela. She is a Unitarian (so basically she takes the best doctrines of each Church including our beliefs about eternal families and puts it together in one religion). A member (Brother Winspear) came with us. He helped us out ALOT. He is a VERY blunt man and will tell you how it is. Before this we were thinking about dropping Angela because she thought that we were there to compare religions. So we really established our purpose along with Brother Winspear. It got a little bit heated but Brother Winspear told her to put aside her beliefs and to listen to us missionaries and pay attention to how she feels. From that point on, she listened to us and committed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. HUGE change. It was either a do or die. It was a success! That was the highlight of my week. That's evidence right there as to why we should be bold in our teaching. Yes it may seem that a relationship might be on a thread after that but it may also influence them them to pay attention to the gospel. President Brigham Young once said: "If you go on a mission to preach the gospel with lightness and frivolity, looking for this and that and to learn that which is in the world, you will go and return in vain." That statement is extremely plain. But its true. It has started to push me to be more bold while loving in my teaching. I have noticed a huge difference in doing so.
Here is my spiritual thought of the week. Elder Carl B. Cook said this last general conference: " At the end of a particularly tiring day toward the end of my first week as a General Authority, my briefcase was overloaded and my mind was preoccupied with the question 'How can I possibly do this?' I left the office of the Seventy and entered the elevator of the Church Administration Building. As the elevator descended, my head was down and I stared blankly at the floor. The door opened and someone entered, but I didn’t look up. As the door closed, I heard someone ask, 'What are you looking at down there?' I recognized that voice—it was President Thomas S. Monson. I quickly looked up and responded, 'Oh, nothing.' But he had seen my subdued countenance and my heavy briefcase. He smiled and lovingly suggested, while pointing heavenward, 'It is better to look up!' As we traveled down one more level, he cheerfully explained that he was on his way to the temple. When he bid me farewell, his parting glance spoke again to my heart, 'Now, remember, it is better to look up.' sins are forgiven and burdens are lightened as we look to Christ. Let us remember him, … and not hang down our heads, for, as President Monson said, 'It is better to look up.' " We all go through tough times in life. Just because i am experiencing "the best 2 years" doesn't mean that its the perfect, care-free 2 years. I still go through MANY hard times. There are times like Elder Cook where i feel discouraged and i look down. But i promise through my mission experiences and learning that if we look up to the light, we will be ever happy. Live life to its fullest. I am only beginning to realize how short life really is in an eternal sense. Remember that it is ALWAYS better to look up. I say that in the name of our Good Master, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Love Elder Mower
We received other referrals that aren't near as legitimate as Cha is but we will see this week or later.
Before I go on with the work this week I will now be using a key to categorize people that we are working with from now on. Here's the key:
I = Investigator
LA = Less Active Member
RC = Recent Convert
Last Tuesday, we taught Brad Nivala (I) whose girlfriend is Jamie Nolan (LA). We gave him a spiritual thought on how the Atonement not only can redeem him from his sins but it can also heal him from his afflictions and from everything that seems to be unfair in his life, especially his financial situation. We then committed him to take the missionary lessons. We have them for dinner tonight and will be starting with the 1st discussion. Last Friday, Elder Black and I saw a HUGE change in one of our investigators. Her name is Angela. She is a Unitarian (so basically she takes the best doctrines of each Church including our beliefs about eternal families and puts it together in one religion). A member (Brother Winspear) came with us. He helped us out ALOT. He is a VERY blunt man and will tell you how it is. Before this we were thinking about dropping Angela because she thought that we were there to compare religions. So we really established our purpose along with Brother Winspear. It got a little bit heated but Brother Winspear told her to put aside her beliefs and to listen to us missionaries and pay attention to how she feels. From that point on, she listened to us and committed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. HUGE change. It was either a do or die. It was a success! That was the highlight of my week. That's evidence right there as to why we should be bold in our teaching. Yes it may seem that a relationship might be on a thread after that but it may also influence them them to pay attention to the gospel. President Brigham Young once said: "If you go on a mission to preach the gospel with lightness and frivolity, looking for this and that and to learn that which is in the world, you will go and return in vain." That statement is extremely plain. But its true. It has started to push me to be more bold while loving in my teaching. I have noticed a huge difference in doing so.
Here is my spiritual thought of the week. Elder Carl B. Cook said this last general conference: " At the end of a particularly tiring day toward the end of my first week as a General Authority, my briefcase was overloaded and my mind was preoccupied with the question 'How can I possibly do this?' I left the office of the Seventy and entered the elevator of the Church Administration Building. As the elevator descended, my head was down and I stared blankly at the floor. The door opened and someone entered, but I didn’t look up. As the door closed, I heard someone ask, 'What are you looking at down there?' I recognized that voice—it was President Thomas S. Monson. I quickly looked up and responded, 'Oh, nothing.' But he had seen my subdued countenance and my heavy briefcase. He smiled and lovingly suggested, while pointing heavenward, 'It is better to look up!' As we traveled down one more level, he cheerfully explained that he was on his way to the temple. When he bid me farewell, his parting glance spoke again to my heart, 'Now, remember, it is better to look up.' sins are forgiven and burdens are lightened as we look to Christ. Let us remember him, … and not hang down our heads, for, as President Monson said, 'It is better to look up.' " We all go through tough times in life. Just because i am experiencing "the best 2 years" doesn't mean that its the perfect, care-free 2 years. I still go through MANY hard times. There are times like Elder Cook where i feel discouraged and i look down. But i promise through my mission experiences and learning that if we look up to the light, we will be ever happy. Live life to its fullest. I am only beginning to realize how short life really is in an eternal sense. Remember that it is ALWAYS better to look up. I say that in the name of our Good Master, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Love Elder Mower
Elder Mower Letter #18
How are you all doing?!
Before i start, if any of you have written me a letter within the past 2-3 weeks, I apologize for not writing back yet. I have been VERY busy lately and I'll do my best to get back to all of you if i can!
I'm SO EXHAUSTED because of such a busy week. We taught 6 lessons this week with one of them being with another member! We also received 3 new investigators! But before i get into that Here's a really neat miracle that happened last Wednesday. So Elder Black and I were walking around in downtown Eagan and just as we were walking out of the parking lot, a man drives up next to us and says: "Hey are y'all Mormons or Jehovah's witnesses?" We told him who we were and then he said "Alright. Do you guys happen to have a Book of Mormon? I've read most of it already and i have like 40 pages left but i can't find mine. Could i get one from you guys?" We immediately gave him a Book of Mormon and our contact information. He never called but we know where he works since he was in his work uniform. The church is so true and God is truly a God of miracles. It's undeniable.
So here are the lessons that we taught this week. Just last Monday night, we planned on stopping by a less active member named Jayme Nolan who lives with a non member, Brad Nivala. We stopped by and Jayme wasn't home but Brad was. He doesn't make the best choices in life and he is going through a lot of financial trouble right now but he expressed his deep appreciation for the Church's fasting program that allowed him to be fed when he didn't have the money to buy food and pay for mortgage. He even said that even when him and Jayme get married and their financial situation slows down, he might even become a member of the Church. MIRACLE! Thus, He became an investigator. We are meeting with him again tomorrow! On Tuesday, we taught 2 lessons. First we taught Victor. He is still jobless and has been for the last 3 months. We promised him that if he is baptized, that he will find a job. We extended a baptismal invitation and he declined nicely by saying that he's a Catholic and he'd like to keep it that way. Leaving that lesson i was VERY disappointed in Victor. I was disappointed because our time as missionaries is VERY short and we can't waste it by comparing religions and letting our meetings go on and on and on without making any progress. Elder Black feels prompted to go back and give him one more shot but after that its a do or die for Victor. Later that day we met with a former investigator named Julie Happy (she LOVES being called Sister Happy). Could've guessed why right?! haha. This lesson was definitely one of the most Spirit filled experiences this week. She has been having some health problems, especially with her back and, as a result, was prescribed some Vicadine to help with her pain. Because the pain was intense and continued to worsen, she took more and more and eventually became addicted to it. As she was explaining this to us into tears, she expressed a desire to get off of it. She said that we called her at the perfect time. We offered a Priesthood blessing for her and she accepted. I had the wonderful opportunity to give her the blessing. I remember after the lesson, she said that she literally felt like "crap" physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. But she also said that Every last bit of it went away after we gave the blessing. Even the physical pain vanished. She was extremely grateful for this Priesthood blessing. I think she is GOLDEN and may have the potential of all our investigators to be our next baptism. She is SO ready to receive the gospel after we help her through her struggles and help her come to the light. Last Thursday we taught Paul and Barb. Unfortunately they dropped us but there is a remarkable seed planted. We taught about the Plan of Salvation and they love that heavenly Father is a loving Father in Heaven. We also talked about how they can know all these things are true through reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. Brother Anderson (a member) came with us and bore a powerful testimony in tears that he KNOWS that he will again see his 2 grandchildren who have passed away and he knows that they are in the hands of a tender, loving Heavenly Father. Barb started to get emotional and the Spirit was VERY strong but when they asked our purpose in meeting with them, they said that they have no intentions of being converted. But they promised to read and pray sincerely about the Book of Mormon together as husband and wife. We will miss them. Last Friday we taught another former investigator named Angela. She has EXTREMELY WEIRD ideas. I don't even think i should share these ideas. We are going back one more time to reinforce our purpose as missionaries. That will be either a drop or it will turn out very good! Later that day we taught a referral that we received named Sasha. Her mom is a member. We taught her the restoration. She was willing to listen but EXTREMELY shy. She was committed to read the Book of Mormon and to pray about it. We'll see how things go with her. Those were our lessons this week!
General Conference was amazing! For my spiritual thought, I would like to share a powerful experience that i saw with the Burnsville missionaries and one of their investigators watching general conference with us. This investigators name was Kristi. Remember that one of her main concerns is that she feels that God doesn't even care about her and that she is worthless in the sight of God. We were watching the Saturday Morning Session. She liked it all. She loved President Monson's humor! But then the last talk given that session was President Uchtdorf. He said something that struck her hard (and I as well); he simply but powerfully said (not in exact words): "If you are feeling worthless, insignificant, lonely, or forgotten, know this: YOU MATTER TO GOD!" What a statement! I looked over and Kristi wasn't crying, she was balling. Her concern had been fixed by a general authority. That is a witness to me that the general authorities of the church ARE INSPIRED! God inspired President Uchtdorf to say this because He knew that Kristi truly needed to hear that. I bear witness that these men, who are the leaders of our Church, are inspired of God. They are His true servants called to lead and guide us. I'm grateful for their counsel and boldness to me that has compelled me to become a better missionary and disciple of the Lord. I testify that President Monson is a prophet called of God! He is today's mouth piece of the Lord. I invite all men to heed his counsel, for it is from God. I promise that as you do this, your lives will be improved and you will find joy and know that when you are following his counsel, you are following the Lords counsel. I know these things are true and i bear witness of their truth as an instrument in His hands, and i do so in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Love Elder Mower
Before i start, if any of you have written me a letter within the past 2-3 weeks, I apologize for not writing back yet. I have been VERY busy lately and I'll do my best to get back to all of you if i can!
I'm SO EXHAUSTED because of such a busy week. We taught 6 lessons this week with one of them being with another member! We also received 3 new investigators! But before i get into that Here's a really neat miracle that happened last Wednesday. So Elder Black and I were walking around in downtown Eagan and just as we were walking out of the parking lot, a man drives up next to us and says: "Hey are y'all Mormons or Jehovah's witnesses?" We told him who we were and then he said "Alright. Do you guys happen to have a Book of Mormon? I've read most of it already and i have like 40 pages left but i can't find mine. Could i get one from you guys?" We immediately gave him a Book of Mormon and our contact information. He never called but we know where he works since he was in his work uniform. The church is so true and God is truly a God of miracles. It's undeniable.
So here are the lessons that we taught this week. Just last Monday night, we planned on stopping by a less active member named Jayme Nolan who lives with a non member, Brad Nivala. We stopped by and Jayme wasn't home but Brad was. He doesn't make the best choices in life and he is going through a lot of financial trouble right now but he expressed his deep appreciation for the Church's fasting program that allowed him to be fed when he didn't have the money to buy food and pay for mortgage. He even said that even when him and Jayme get married and their financial situation slows down, he might even become a member of the Church. MIRACLE! Thus, He became an investigator. We are meeting with him again tomorrow! On Tuesday, we taught 2 lessons. First we taught Victor. He is still jobless and has been for the last 3 months. We promised him that if he is baptized, that he will find a job. We extended a baptismal invitation and he declined nicely by saying that he's a Catholic and he'd like to keep it that way. Leaving that lesson i was VERY disappointed in Victor. I was disappointed because our time as missionaries is VERY short and we can't waste it by comparing religions and letting our meetings go on and on and on without making any progress. Elder Black feels prompted to go back and give him one more shot but after that its a do or die for Victor. Later that day we met with a former investigator named Julie Happy (she LOVES being called Sister Happy). Could've guessed why right?! haha. This lesson was definitely one of the most Spirit filled experiences this week. She has been having some health problems, especially with her back and, as a result, was prescribed some Vicadine to help with her pain. Because the pain was intense and continued to worsen, she took more and more and eventually became addicted to it. As she was explaining this to us into tears, she expressed a desire to get off of it. She said that we called her at the perfect time. We offered a Priesthood blessing for her and she accepted. I had the wonderful opportunity to give her the blessing. I remember after the lesson, she said that she literally felt like "crap" physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. But she also said that Every last bit of it went away after we gave the blessing. Even the physical pain vanished. She was extremely grateful for this Priesthood blessing. I think she is GOLDEN and may have the potential of all our investigators to be our next baptism. She is SO ready to receive the gospel after we help her through her struggles and help her come to the light. Last Thursday we taught Paul and Barb. Unfortunately they dropped us but there is a remarkable seed planted. We taught about the Plan of Salvation and they love that heavenly Father is a loving Father in Heaven. We also talked about how they can know all these things are true through reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. Brother Anderson (a member) came with us and bore a powerful testimony in tears that he KNOWS that he will again see his 2 grandchildren who have passed away and he knows that they are in the hands of a tender, loving Heavenly Father. Barb started to get emotional and the Spirit was VERY strong but when they asked our purpose in meeting with them, they said that they have no intentions of being converted. But they promised to read and pray sincerely about the Book of Mormon together as husband and wife. We will miss them. Last Friday we taught another former investigator named Angela. She has EXTREMELY WEIRD ideas. I don't even think i should share these ideas. We are going back one more time to reinforce our purpose as missionaries. That will be either a drop or it will turn out very good! Later that day we taught a referral that we received named Sasha. Her mom is a member. We taught her the restoration. She was willing to listen but EXTREMELY shy. She was committed to read the Book of Mormon and to pray about it. We'll see how things go with her. Those were our lessons this week!
General Conference was amazing! For my spiritual thought, I would like to share a powerful experience that i saw with the Burnsville missionaries and one of their investigators watching general conference with us. This investigators name was Kristi. Remember that one of her main concerns is that she feels that God doesn't even care about her and that she is worthless in the sight of God. We were watching the Saturday Morning Session. She liked it all. She loved President Monson's humor! But then the last talk given that session was President Uchtdorf. He said something that struck her hard (and I as well); he simply but powerfully said (not in exact words): "If you are feeling worthless, insignificant, lonely, or forgotten, know this: YOU MATTER TO GOD!" What a statement! I looked over and Kristi wasn't crying, she was balling. Her concern had been fixed by a general authority. That is a witness to me that the general authorities of the church ARE INSPIRED! God inspired President Uchtdorf to say this because He knew that Kristi truly needed to hear that. I bear witness that these men, who are the leaders of our Church, are inspired of God. They are His true servants called to lead and guide us. I'm grateful for their counsel and boldness to me that has compelled me to become a better missionary and disciple of the Lord. I testify that President Monson is a prophet called of God! He is today's mouth piece of the Lord. I invite all men to heed his counsel, for it is from God. I promise that as you do this, your lives will be improved and you will find joy and know that when you are following his counsel, you are following the Lords counsel. I know these things are true and i bear witness of their truth as an instrument in His hands, and i do so in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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