Week 11--Seeing the Spirit work on people

Monday:

We had an early supper. At 3 o'clock we went to a member's home and it was really cool to talk to them, because not only are they awesome people, but one of them served in the Calgary mission. He had a lot of things to relate to with me, and it was really fun. He was there right when the Korean War was starting and he was actually the last missionary left in the mission and he had to close up all the areas on his own. His last name is Price, so he was known as Elder Price at the time. After the wonderful visit and dinner, we headed to the church to finish our preparation day activities. I practiced 'If You Could Hie To Kolob,' and I've got the treble clef down now, and Elder Czirr shot some hoops. After that we went to an investigator's home for a lesson. He is one of my favorite people. He was a little scattered and he didn't know it was 6 yet. When we got to talking, he eventually broke down and cried. There were things that happened just that morning and he couldn't take it. Throughout the course of our lesson he became happier and the things we talked about brought the spirit in so strong, especially as we testified of the atonement's power and how it can help him. That was the last lesson we had in the day, but I loved that we could have it at least. Every time he has us over, he says, he feels better and he feels like it's exactly what he needs. The thing that helps him recognize that is that the contrast between his daily life and us coming over is very noticeable.

Elder Czirr, Elder Rodgers

Tuesday:

In the morning we went to L-Life to help with the food stuff. We didn't have as many people there as last time, but we managed. One of the members brought a bunch of food from the bishop's store house and so the manager of the place was really excited and took a picture of us and him for the Facebook page. Afterwards we met with an investigator of ours who has a baptismal date for the 21st (Carlee's Birthday) and it's going to be sweet. She's doing so well and progressing like crazy it makes us so happy. Our lesson was on Tithing and Fast offerings, and because she grew up knowing about tithing the whole thing made a lot of cents to her. When we had finished with that meeting, we went to a recent convert's home for a great dinner and lesson on the Tithes and Fast Offerings with her too, because she had been studying that lesson apparently before-hand so we thought, why not teach it. She's a great new member and though not everything makes sense and though she doesn't understand all the terms we use, she is strong as ever. When we were done, we went to the home of a couple brothers who aren't AS active but still come to church every now and again. They need a lot of spiritual guidance and we're trying to help, but their support system isn't huge and they play more video games than they do other things (I know, that used to be me).

Countryside on the way to Lebanon

Wednesday:

District meeting and interviews with President Loveland were held on Wednesday. It was the cause for much anticipation for me, because of a couple silly things I did in relation to e-mailing the President (Like accidentally calling him President Clayton). Anyways, the day was great and I met people who I had never before seen who are in my zone. It's good to get to know everybody, because when you know everybody you can get things done and people are willing to help out. Also it gets you good street cred. :P Elder Czirr and I instructed on the Doctrine Of Christ in District Meeting today and I'd say we did fairly well. It got a lot of people talking and involved and I believe it was very helpful. Some of the things I said in the instruction when President was near enough to hear it ( I could see him in the hall) seemed to be repeated by President Loveland. I don't know if he already was going to talk about it or he thought it was a good thing to talk about, but I thought it was pretty cool. 

Thursday:

Thursday was an interesting day to say the least. We met the lady whose home we had blessed last week. She mentioned a lot of ways her house has felt better and her family has gotten along so much better. It's good to see how prayer works with people. They've been trying to read and pray as a family with the hope of becoming more united. We talked a lot about forgiveness with her and she's having a hard time with that, in fact a lot of people we've met with this week have had trouble with that. It's been somewhat of a theme. Anyways, she's been struggling and we're hoping that will get better. After we met with her we visited a less-active member (less-active due to health) and when we began to talk he told us about an experience with his health. He had been out of it for a few days and the doctors were trying to get him conscious or something. He then began to relay information about Heaven, and what it's like and he talked about so many things. When I say that I mean He was talking for almost an hour trying to describe the way things looked and how he felt and all that. Whether it happened I don't know, but it's very important to rely on the basics because they are what will bring us back. Deep doctrines aren't going to help us like the knowledge of faith and repentance. So, while it was nice to listen to and to think about, it didn't change much for me. After we were done we had a lovely dinner with the Bishop and his wife, and I mean lovely. Chicken never tasted so great. At the end of the night we dropped by the investigator we met Monday night and he asked if he could get a ride to church so we arranged for it. We set-up a time and all that, so we're happy.

Friday:

This was one of the best day of the transfer. We hit so many goals today which was really satisfying. Funny thing is we had our first companionship inventory (which is when missionaries and their companions discuss the strength of the companionship, what they can improve, etc.) even though we've been here for a while, which means we must get along well. After we did most of our weekly planning we went to the jail, but we're just visiting. We went and saw a less-active and investigator there, but we didn't have time for the other guy who we visit with. The first guy we requested to visit wasn't there, so while we waited for him to show up we took funny pictures on the phone and did some drum beats, but we decided to go downstairs to see what's taking so long and it turns out the guards forget sometimes to send someone in. Anyways, we ended up meeting with all of them. There we talked a lot about how they will continue their good habits when they leave and don't have as much time to read and pray. At 5 we went to a Chinese food buffet which was a good and a bad idea. I had more than I should have and I also ate a frog leg. That didn't taste like chicken. Also, Elder Czirr got a fortune cookie without a paper inside, which was unfortunate. After we had dinner, we went to drop by the Indian family who seems solid. We got in to meet with them and had a short lesson. After we met with them we visited a less-active recent convert who hasn't met with missionaries in months. That was great, and I didn't really think we'd make it in to meet with him. 

Saturday:

We met with the man in the nursing home on Saturday as we do every week and he is really excited about the marching band that's coming to play for them. He's had some family related issues that is kind of sad. We basically just talked with him and he showed us the paintings on the wall that have been recently put up. After a while of visiting him, we went to the home of a recent convert. She made a BLT for each of us! We had a discussion about the Plan Of Salvation and temples/family history. We were able to answer some questions she had and when we left she gave us bacon to put in our freezer. Later today we met with another inmate and he talks really quietly so it's almost impossible to hear him. From what I could tell most of the time, he's improving and he really appreciates our visits to him especially because we're young and busy. Later we had a wonderful dinner with Bro. Smith. He prepared for us some taco salad and that was scrumptious. After we ate we talked about patriarchal blessings for a bit.  Later in the night we also saw an investigator who works at Walmart as we were getting fast-offering money.  We finished the night with a discussion about the Book of Mormon over the phone with our trucker investigator.

Sunday:

So, we had planned to see a lot of investigators at church on Sunday, but I was disappointed when we didn't see them. I had to help out with the sacrament and when I was coming back to the front, I saw our solid investigator with her four kids!!! The kids said they loved church. We can really see her faith growing and it's really exciting to watch. We could tell the Bishop was glad we had a non-member family there. he also asked me to give a talk on Mother's Day. After a good choir practice we went to visit the investigator who pretended to threaten to stab me. :D The weird thing though was right as I opened my car door, a huge part of his tree came crashing to the ground and so he left the house and went outside and he was mad and told us we had to go. That was again very disappointing. I hope he was able to calm down. We had some additional studies afterwards then we met with one of the former investigators. he really wants to come to church with us and it sounds like his work is getting better for him and he's doing very well! After him we visited a less-active member who is kind of a hippy. He was doing a project and we talked with him as he organized some wood then we went to a member home for a lovely dinner where the investigator at church, her boyfriend and her children came as well. It was great and afterwards we had a short lesson with them. When all was done there, we brought the father of the home with us and had a lesson with one of the recent converts who has fallen back into some bad habits. We're trying to strengthen her and help her desire to improve. We went to bed tired and feeling fulfilled with all we did that day.