Takin on the Cold

 
 
 

On the Right Side of the Street

We met a lady on the street the other day and she was so happy that we stopped and talked to her. She even gave me and Elder Taylor a hug. It was a little awkward but I didn’t want to tell her I was not supposed to especially cuz she asked if she could have one. I thought it would ruin the moment if I said no. ha ha. But ya, we taught her about the plan of salvation and the Book of Mormon. She said she would be happy to read out of it. It was just such a great street contact. She also told us that before she saw us she was going to cross the street to the other side but decided not to for some reason. Then when she started talking to us she was like, "I know it’s a sign." I really hope we can see her again and teach her.

Keep following the commandments and I know that charity will pour into your lives and you will be happy.
Love, Elder Izak Louw
PS: Read scrips every day!

What's an OYM? Our Yummy Meal? NOT

 
 

What's an OYM?

I really enjoyed general conference. President Eckersley gave everyone in the mission these little books so we could print and minimize conference talks from Ensigns. So now I carry around a bunch of conference talks with my scriptures so I can share modern scripture as well. Elder Taylor and I have about 6-7 cool lessons we use to teach people which makes the work a lot more fun. Basically we just try to be a little more creative with our lessons so we don't get board teaching the same ones over and over. The work is going good. Still no baptismal dates but hopefully this weekend this lady and her daughter will have one. Say a little prayer for her. I have decided that the new most fun thing to do is to OYM (open your mouth) people. The other day when I was on an exchange in Gloversville, we were walking around and stopped to talk to this guy who was picking up sticks from his yard. We offered to help but he declined. After that we did an OYM...just started up a conversation. It wandered from topic to topic while we answered some of his random questions (polygamy,etc.) but finally ended on the Book of Mormon. It was just so fun to see things start to click in his head and have him agree to read the Book of Mormon. I guess it's just fun to mix up your day by talking to a bunch of random people.

Still Smiling In NY

 

Elder Louw-Lookin Fine

 
 

Passing Out the Book of Mormon

Well this week flew by and I can tell the next five are going to as well because Elder Taylor and I have such a good time!

First Story: So a couple weeks ago I went on splits with a zone leader and we ended up finding this girl, talking to her for a bit, and then giving her a Book of Mormon. We stopped by and didn’t see her the following week but just last week we stopped by again and she had read the entire Book of Mormon and prayed about it. She said the she knew it was true!!! That was the first time on my mission that anyone has ever done that. She said she just likes to read. But of course to every investigator there is a snag... she has this lame boy friend who is a real jerk and doesn’t like us very much. Hopefully she will end up going to church and he won’t be so mad at her. But ya she is awesome.

Next Story: So Schenectady is a pretty hairy place in some parts of the city. Anyways we decided to go there and just walk around and talk to people and hand out cards and stuff like that. Well we ended up talkin to a bunch of people, some crazy, some weird, some really nice, and of course some real gangstas. Oddly enough the gangsters were the nicest and the most interested of them all. It was really cool talking to them. We ended up giving one guy a Book of Mormon. He said he would definitely check it out.

Louw in the Snow

 
 
 
 

New Comp...Same Hard Work

Elder Taylor is my new comp and he is great. He has a good sense of humor, works well, has been out for nine months(he came out in my mission group from the MTC), cleans good, and is happy to be out here. He is from Draper, Utah. Neither of us are senior comps. For two reasons: 1. we have both been out the same amount of time. 2. in this mission our president decided not to have senior comps at all because then the junior comps would just blame everything on the senior comps and he thinks that after three months everyone is equal. I had to teach the Gospel Principles Class lesson with only two minutes notice. The zone leaders are always bugging me about numbers and telling me that my numbers are not high enough....tell you what, I'm gettin tired of all these numbers. I wish I could just go out and work. As of right now we don't have any investigators with a baptismal date but we are working on a few. I don't know I guess I just feel a little overwhelmed and a little stressed but I'll work it out and things will get better.