11/12/12 - Week 2 in the Mission Field

Wow!  Yet another hard week - especially on those bikes!  Our area is so long and we are at one end and bike to the other several times a day - which is a 14 mile round trip, with hills!  By the end of the week our longest day was 38 miles.  Talk about sore legs!  But it is crazy how the lord blesses us through these trials.  We were able to meet 4 new investigators by contacting them on the street; and a lot more potential ones.  

One thing that I am learning is to open your mouth - no matter who it is.  Sometimes we judge people by their appearance and that is what Satan wants.  We talked to a guy who was about to go and smoke some pot and actually he said he feels really bad about it.  We taught him the restoration and gave him a BoM.  He said when he saw us he knew what he was doing was wrong. I feel I am defiantly going to be able to help him; and I am so excited for another lesson with him later this week.  He just had his appendix out and I feel like I am going to be able to relate very well with him!  He quit going to college so he could work and help his mother pay their mortgage.  Sometimes we judge others for their sins, but in reality we all sin - just in different ways. The gospel can help everyone and we all need to invite them to hear it. We may not know their struggles but god does -and he is the great physician who can help us all.

We just set our first investigator for a baptism date and I am so excited for him. What a turnaround! He kind of reminds me of Luke, just not as extreme. Sharing Luke’s story was one of the deciding factors to get him to commit.

Church was so great!  The gospel doctrine teacher told us that we broke the record for the most people in her class we had a lot of less actives come back to church and that makes me so happy.  We have some investigators and families who are really progressing well especially the Jensen's.  Their family is where I hope Christian Beal’s family gets to down the road.  It is a very similar story.  They are so cool and solid!  Nothing can take that family apart - because they are coming so close through Christ.  Elder Ostberg are working our tails off and it is sure paying off!  This ward is making a huge flip because of the recent missionary work.  They haven't had any baptisms in years! And if we keep working I can tell the lord will help our investigators to progress.

Now that my companion and I have figured each other out, the lessons are flowing really smoothly and the Holy Ghost’s presence is ridiculously strong.  It’s weird to think I have been on my mission for a month already.  Its flying by way too fast because we are busy all day!  Even if our lessons fall through and their backups and their backup’s backups fall through, we have been very effective with our time and have been doing really well. I am really bummed and excited I have exchanges with the zone leaders this Friday.  I am going to have to miss out on rebuilding an engine with him.  He is a bus mechanic.  The lord always provides, though.  I am learning that obedience, even to what seems like stupid rules, is blessing me and my companion and our investigators so much!

I want everyone to know that I love them; and to encourage you all to continue to read their scriptures and to read your patriarchal blessings!  Have a good week!  Thank you so much for the support!  It really means the world to me! I love my family and friends so much - and I am just beginning to realize how important you all are to me!

11/4/2014 - 1ST WEEK IN THE MISSION FIELD

This week has been so long.  The first day in the mission field we left the MTC at 3 in the morning and were busy doing training and street contacting all day with the president miller and some older missionaries in the area. I was up for 21 hours. Contacting people is a lot more fun than I thought. We gave an elderly man a Book of Mormon (BOM) and he just said he had been looking for a church to go to and we talked about the plan of salvation - everything went amazing.

The next day I was transferred and was in the car all day. I am in El Paso Texas for my first area and it is so brown! I mean I might as well have gone to Mexico, lol. The people are great and the food is really, really, good also. Missionary work is a lot.  We are on the go all day every day.  even today, on P day, we are busy. Everyone is so nice here.  I am not sure if I like it or not; because when we knock doors, or go contacting, it’s really hard to know if they are actually interested or not - because they are too polite to say no.

We have some amazing investigators. Most of the first week was just introducing me. By the end of the week we were getting into some amazing discussions.  the spirit has been so strong and a couple of our new investigators are seriously considering baptism. I relate so well to the people here in El Paso.  I know there is a definite reason why I have been sent here. There are a lot more hills here than I thought and it’s hard because we are doing 20-40 miles a day on bikes. The nice thing is we switch each week, between a car and the bikes, with another set of elders who split the ward with us. There is so much work to be done in this area.  I know why the Lord definitely needs missionaries.

My trainer is an awesome guy.  He's pretty shy but has a strong spirit. He is from Chester, Idaho and is training me after he has only been out for 3 months - so we both are still learning a lot from each other.  He says I am practically already trained, which makes me happy :). He kind of reminds me of Spencer Hill, we go and fix people’s cars for service and it has helped us get into some other people’s homes - because we helped them. We already replaced a lady’s disk brakes; and there are some other people whose cars we will be fixing in other weeks.

We are so busy all day every day, but I love the work, and talking to people, and going to lessons.  We have 2-5 lessons every day and we visit a lot of inactive around here. A lot of people are in, or retired from, the military. We are pretty close to Fort Bliss which is the largest army base in the country. There is a family that reminds me so much of Christian Beal and gives me hope. The dad went inactive for 15 years, and now he came back, and we are giving the rest of his family the lessons. It gives me hope that he and his family well be an active family eventually. 

I am so blessed to be here with these people and teaching them lessons and feeling the Holy Ghost so much. I love my family and friends and know they are being blessed for my service - as am I.    

P.S. - My P day is on Tuesday and I will be on the computer between 10-3 pm on those days - Mountain Time.