#63 - Watch for the Book of Mormon

Monday night we were at a members home for dinner and the husband mentioned how him and his companion on his mission were the bible and book of mormon! We had a flash of inspiration and did all we could to make it happen. We both got a massive piece of cardboard and made huge box out of it. Then spray painted them and fixed them up to look like books :) And of course this was all done in 4 lunch breaks haha. On Friday night we had a ward party. And it was a hit! My face was sore from smiling at all the cameras that night.

Saturday we took Bryant to the temple to do baptisms! He was so funny! The whole drive up and back he was reading to us the Book of Moses :)).  He did the work for his grandfather. After we took a walk around the temple. He will be a kingdom builder. I hear Jimmy (my investigator in Plymouth) blessed the sacrament for the first time yesterday, makes me happy!!! 

We gave a family a church tour on Tuesday! It went really well. They couldn't attend church this Sunday, but are planning on coming for next week. They are trying to decide over us or a Baptist church here in town... If they are searching for the right reason they will have no problem trying to make that decision :)

It is interesting to learn about others beliefs. While talking with a couple people on Thursday about what they believe, I was reminded of Joseph Smiths first vision. He was told that all their creeds were an abomination to His sight; that they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof. Many don't think God works miracles today. I testify that he does perform miracles. He know and cares for each of us. They believe IN Jesus, but don't believe Him. And if you don't believe, it is because you don't understand the scriptures for they truly testify of a living Christ. 

I have set a goal to be bold. Alma 38:12. Boldness shows your faith. I love reading about Abinadi and how even when all the people are tearing him down and fighting against him, he stood strong to what he knew was true. We can do all things through faith in Christ. But if we are to have faith like prophets of old, we must believe what they believed, know what they knew, and live as they lived. We must be obedient and show our light to all the world. 

I went on an exchange with Elder Bigelow this week. He is a great kid! We found 2 new investigators in his area. Both named Patricia! I am excited to see where that goes. It seems we always see miracles on exchanges.

Fun Facts

1. We gave Mormon 9 to a Muslim guy to read. If you know anything about Muslims that might make you laugh.

2. For halloween tonight we will be going to a members home to have a bonfire! I am stoked.

3. Our mission president is cracking down on rules in the mission. No going to gyms- even an apartment gym! It seems my traveling weights are becoming more and more valuable hahaha.

4. My ponderizing scripture this w​eek was D&C 24:12 btw

we will be at our ward mission leaders house having a bonfire tonight! great job katie!

what missionaries have come home early? it is tough to see a missionary leave the mission as well. in our ward we have president hilton, the counselor to our mission president. this week president Carlson went to a mission president seminar so hilton was running the mission. he told us of how he received a call late Wednesday from an elder wanting to go home. he said he has worked with him the last few days and is hoping the elder will stay out.

adjusting to mission life is a great booklet! i don't seem to get homesick. if i do get discouraged i usually take time to workout and burn energy or study my scriptures. i am enjoying the work!

#62 - Be confident in Christ

This week was we week of exchanges!! We have gone on 3 exchanges in a little over a week! haha by the end of his week we were so exhausted but it was rewarding!  Went on exchanges with the Spanish elders in columbus and the Indy 1 elders. In Spanish land I felt a bit out of the loop, especially since I kept saying bueno not bien.... (apparently bueno means sexy...) I tried super hard to understand what they are saying.... haha #wheresthegiftoftongues?? 

Went out with a missionary who just came out a few weeks ago. He is really trying to focus on knowing what to say to people. He can be pretty shy, so to help him i had a few ideas to add to his "tool belt" to what to say. 

1. If you don't know what to say, testify to what your companion said.

2. Be familiar with some inspired questions.

3. Learn to say short phrases. "We are here to be spiritual guides." "The Book of Mormon is the evidence of what we have said. As you read, ponder, and pray I know you will learn that it is the word of God." How to begin teaching point are a great place to start.

Those are a few pointers he will hopefully be working on in the future! But he is really stretching and growing, I am proud of him. 

“Finding by the Spirit is as important as teaching by the Spirit. As in teaching, your efforts in finding will be effective if you are guided by the Spirit. Have faith that you will know what to teach and what to do to find those who will receive you.” (PMG p. 156) Our area is busy! We have been consistently finding so many new investigators the past few weeks. It is a challenge to sift through to find who is truly ready to be baptized, but with the Lords help we are doing it! We had a goal of baptism invites this past week, we invited 8 to baptism! Each lesson should be directed to help them progress to BAPTISM! If not, what are they progressing to? This next week I pray to put someone on date.

I have set a goal to be better at studying my ponderizing scripture each week. The last few week I have really seen a difference as I apply each of these scriptures.

2 Nephi 4: 35

2 Nephi 33: 10-11

Mosiah 23: 10-11

Alma 57: 21

Here are a few talks that I have enjoyed studying this week!

1. The Book of Mormon- a Book from God by Tad R Callister

2. The Profile of a Prophet by Hugh G Brown

3. The Prophet Joseph Smith: Teacher by Example by President Monson

​Quality missionary work is not easy, but it is extremely rewarding.

it was a great week! sooo busy and tiring but great! 

truman has changed so much from that first week! i remember he sat next to me in sunday school and had a bunch of scruff. i thought he was 30 haha. great job truman!

oh that is a good lesson! what is that shocker called!? do you think i could order one somewhere? or maybe get one sent out so i can use it in trainings?

i enjoy going on exchanges! it really opens your eyes to what other areas are like! and it forms really good friendships. i see so many good things that they do, and some things to correct. sometimes it is hard to give loving criticism haha :P

i also enjoy going to different district meetings! i take notes on what each district leader does well and after we talk about it. i like when they have role plays that involve the district. for example: they volunteered me to get up in front of the district and role play how to introduce, read, and expound on a scripture passage. it was pressure but great growth! i also liked when a district leader took time to have a "district study" where he picked a chapter to read in the book of mormon and popcorned reading it and discussing the chapter. one dl, for opening exercises has one person come up with their white handbook and read from a section something that they notice the district can do better at. if the district is humble they take the advice well! hahaha.

we cook burritos with beans, rice, (i add chicken), and other good stuff. i also like to eat stir fries. you cook a bunch of vegetables up and then add a sauce of: peanut butter, soy sauce, oil, chili flakes... 

have any other ideas of food to cook?

wow! go Quinnelly! tell her hello for me! i'm sure alice is hot stuff! go Courtney! 

i'm glad you got the message from that lady haha! i'm doing pretty good with the journal. probably write 3 or 4 times a week. it is a challenge because usually from 9:30 to 10:30 we are running around the apartment trying to do everything to get ready. d

d

our schedule goes like this: 9- come in and review the day and plan for the next day. 920 eat. 930 workout. 950 shower. 10 get ready for bed 1015 prayers 1030 be in bed. before i go to bed i will read the book of mormon. the rules say be in bed by 1030 so sometimes in order to stick to the rule we have to write in our journal in our bed.

area is doing well. we are working super hard! we have buckets of potentials but no one really clicking. we invited 8 people to baptism last week! our goal is to talk about baptism everyyyy lesson. that is why we are here!

no zone meeting this week but we have a ZL conference call tonight so that will be fun.

#61 - "Don't smash little boy!"

I recieved an email this week saying that Jimmy was baptized! He is now a full blown member of the Plymouth branch! There is one more priesthood holder in Plymouth! I was blessed to find and teach Jimmy. The difference between him and many others we have taught who fade away is that he was humble enough to receive answers from the Lord and act on the answers, and he was searching to be closer to God. He will be a beacon to all who are around him! He mentioned to us even before he was baptized that he wanted to be worthy of the Priesthood and that he wanted to go to the temple. What a powerhouse!!! Last night Jimmy's family met with the missionaries and have all committed to read Book of Mormon and they are willing to be baptized if it is true. I am grateful for the example Jimmy has set for his family.

We help out at a food bank and they gave us two huge boxes of TOFU!! Not sure how to cook it but Elder Morgan says he does... it doesnt have much taste to it! 

Somehow while we were reading with a new member this week about Joseph Smith the topic moved to the different types of angels. He started on about the angel Michael and a bunch of other things. Needless to say we cleared up some of the misconceptions he had by telling him about the names of Adam and Noah hahaha. It blew his mind and he loved it! And he has set a goal to read the whole Book of Mormon :)

I went on an exchange with Elder Hensley this week! We helped a member move some furniture up and down stairs. The member was from Brazil! She is hilarious!! The quote of the day was, "OH! Don' t mash little boy!" (talking about me).

Scripture of the week is Philippians 3:8, all things are but "dung" unless I have a testimony of Christ.

My ponderizing scripture is Mosiah 23:10-11!

​

#60 - Exchanges, Ambulances, and Transfers

What a week! We were headed to visit an investigator when a recently returning to activity less active who lived a few doors down came out a said hi! He's an enthusiastic 19 year old who loves the Gospel, and God. We decided to take him with us to the lesson.... and it will be the last time we do that! Hahah well... probably not but it was a riot! At the doorstep of the investigators apartment, we asked him if he'd ever been to a lesson with the missionaries before. Nope. He hadn't. That's fine, we said, we might call on you to testify a few times and to be friends with the lady. The second she opened the door, before we could get a word out, he told the overwhelmed investigator that he was a member of the mormon church, lived a few doors down, that it was his first time at a lesson, that he was so excited to teach her all about the church, but if she didn't want him to be there he could leave and go home. He then he began to walk away. Hahaha the lady was almost in as much shock as we were as he was walking away! 

She invited him back and you can guess how the lesson went after that! He began to teach her a wonderful mix of mormon doctrine, non-denominational principals, and a mix of his own philosophy! It was one of those lessons. He ended the lesson with a prayer in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (that was a first to me)!

As we were leaving the lesson the investigator stood up a bit dizzy. This didnt seem right to the less active member (I'll use Steve for his name)  and she sat back down quickly because "her blood sugar must be low because she felt like she would pass out." Steve went into full doctor mode, checking her pulse, her sugar, her eyes, the shakiness of her fingers, and anything else he could think to check. Then determining that she was truly sick, he called an ambulance. When the paramedics got there we were all sitting sheepishly on the couch while he told her that her blood sugar levels were perfectly normal, and that nothing seemed to be wrong. She went to the ER anyway. It was one of those lessons. We still love Steve, but we'll be more careful on who we take him too. Totally our fault.

We went on exchanges with the assistants this week! I was with Elder Wimmer. He has lived all over the world, his father works for the government. When he left he was living in Sweden. We had a good time working together. We talked with a very nice lady named Crystal who said we could come back the next day! When we returned the next day she had made us soup! Oh it was so good! After eating with them her husband turned to us and began to innocently ask us questions about the church. Within a few minutes we knew it was too good to be true.... he was a scholar in the study of "cults" as he calls it. We know how to defend our church and our Savior but sometimes the situation does not call for it. This was one of those times. We left as soon as we could. 

Lessons I have learned from my experience with bashes:

1. God is the ultimate source of truth, not the bible!

2. When the Spirit leaves, we should too!

3. The trinity is confusing and not found in the bible :)

We are finding many people with a lot of potential, and working to sift the wheat from the tares now! Hopefully we will find someone who will stick :)

Transfers are this week! I will be staying here in Franklin another 6 weeks! Probably a while after that too haha. Good thing I like it here!

We are really beginning to feel a connection with the ward! More involvement in the work= more miracles!

"Joy is one of the inherent results of repentance." Dale G Renlund

#59 - Conference is here...

General Conference is always an uplifting week! For the Sunday afternoon session we watched it at a part members home! Skylar is a returning less active and Allie is investigating the church (about to get baptized:). The conference was so powerful. Every few minutes we would pause it and have a discussion about what was being taught! I've never watched conference that way, but it was sweet! They have a cute 3 year old son named Soren who is a dead eye with the rubber band sling shot :)

I loved President Monson's simple talk on the word of wisdom! 'Take care of your body.' It is so true! We feel better as we eat healthy and stay active! God has given us the gift of agency, and when we take care of our body and avoid addictive substances we can use our agency to do that which is good.

We had a great zone meeting on Friday and ate at a gross Chinese buffet after ha:)  This transfer was a bit off, and we are having another zone meeting next week haha. It should be fun! 

We are teaching 2 exchange students, one from Germany and one from Japan! It is super challenging to teach simple enough for both of them to understand but we are having fun teaching them! Lea is 16 years old and Mizuho is 14. 

We have a return missionary in our ward that we have been working a lot with. This past week we visited a inactive member who was a friend of Micks. His name is Bryant, and he is 20 years old! Bryant is so solid! We are going to begin to have some lessons with him. When we were talking with him he mentioned that he wanted to have the spirit back in his life. He wants to get back to blessing and passing the sacrament and serving others! When Elder Uchtdorf was speaking during the priesthood session I looked over at Bryant and he was grinning ear to ear. He was loving every minute of conference. I am very pleased with how much Bryant has been growing. The gospel truly will bring joy and happiness into our life. 

Doctrine & Covenants 1:38:

“What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.”

Fun fact:

1. 15 years ago yesterday, I broke my arm