Happy to Be a Missionary

 

Still Working, Teaching, and Learning

We just did training at zone conference on "the prayer of faith." We spent a week preparing it and it really taught me a lot. I’m still working on making my prayers better and then making my actions better to follow up with them. We have been so blessed to find a lot of new potential investigators that have been inviting us back and a few new investigators who are really solid. Two weeks ago we had four investigators come to church. Sadly only one came yesterday but it will pick up again this coming week. Man I just love sharing the gospel with those who have a humble heart and are willing to listen. I think that without fail every time we talk to someone, they had a different view about Mormons but now they understand the LDS Church) a lot more and are almost always more interested in what we have to say. Sometimes it only takes five minutes or less before they realize how different we are from what they thought. There is a talk called "Come unto Christ" by Elder Eyring (1989) about member missionary work. He says that the Lord will send his prepared people to his prepared servants. It has been so neat to see the blessings of the Lord come upon our companionship as we try to prepare ourselves each time we leave our apartment. Sometimes it’s so hard to win our inner battles over pride and other sins but the lord sure blesses you when you do. (Ha, that sounded kind of prideful....didn’t mean it like that!)

 

Trust in the Lord

I have almost been in Albany for two weeks now...it’s going by so fast, each day goes by faster and faster and when I think it can’t go by any faster it just speeds up. I have a couple rug burns…Elder Mecham and I decided to have a little tussle last night… ha, ha. He weighs about 50 lbs. more than me so it was pretty tough. I put up a good fight but in the end he was just too much for me! He is a great companion, I really have been blessed to have such good companions that I get along with so well. That was one of my biggest concerns before I started my mission but the Lord decided to bless so I wouldn’t have to worry about it too much. The work is going good here, plenty to stay busy. We have 5 great investigators. We have a few people who are coming to church on a regular basis which has been the greatest struggle my whole mission....getting people to come. It was nice to come into an area where the missionaries before me had put in some hard work. Being a zone leader puts a lot more on your plate and is pretty stressful but I’m beginning to cope with it now. Sat. night one of the members of the bishopric called and asked if I would give a talk the next day and if I would be the concluding speaker. I had a cool experience with it. l was sitting there in my seat as church was starting and was as nervous as a jitter bug. I don’t think I have been that nervous for a talk since my farewell talk. I don’t know why but I just was. Anyway, as I sat there I just kept repeating to myself the scripture Prov. 3:5-6 "trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy path"... but still nothing changed, I was still as nervous as ever. I had not spoken in front of 200+ people for about a year not to mention my limited time of preparation. As the special musical number ended the Bishop announced my talk and then I began my walk up to the pulpit, my nerves on edge with every step. When I looked out over the large congregation I seemed to forget my nervousness, in fact it was as if I had never been nervous at all. I don’t remember the transition between nervous to not nervous, it just happened. My talk was smooth and I was comfortable the whole time, I even forgot my notes at my seat but didn’t need them at all. As I sat down my mind was brought back to the Lord..." and he shall direct they paths"... I knew the Lord had blessed me but it was not until after the trial of my faith and he was just waiting to see if I would trust in him. I had treasured up the word, I had prayed, and I had shown faith...that’s all the Lord needed me to do. What made it all worth it was after sacrament meeting one of our investigators who just showed up to church 3 weeks ago expressed her feelings about the talk. I love being able to share the gospel and the light it brings into people’s lives. Well tonight we are going to have a full apartment, tomorrow is zone conference and so a bunch of missionaries are coming to sleep over so they don’t have to wake up so early to drive.

The Badge of Service

 

Tons of Work!

Being a zone leader is so crazy, especially the first week because of all the meetings. The first week you had a meeting with the Pres. and his assistants to organize what will be taught in a month at zone conference and the theme of the transfer. It was like a 7-8 hour meeting. This week we are going to two districts in our zone. There are 12 missionaries in our zone counting us in five different areas. Elder Mecham and I train the other missionaries at the first district meeting and at the zone conferences. After that the district leaders train at their district meetings(we go to them as well and sometimes give input). On top of all that we have a massive area with tons of people, over 100,000. We work the outer edges of Albany and there is another set of missionaries that don't have a car who work down town. My first few days were so great. We had the opportunity to teach some amazing lessons to some amazing people. I was so tired by Sunday night and my brain was fried but it's so worth it. I love it when there is tons of work to do.

 

Transfer to Albany and Zone Leader

I’m getting transferred to Albany (the biggest city in our mission boundaries.) I’m going to be serving with Elder Meacham. I have known him for a large part of my mission. He came out one transfer after me. I’m going to be a zone leader so that means my last 3 months are going to be busy, busy, busy…a lot more meetings, trainings, and traveling. I think it’s going to be my greatest challenge so far on the mission but I’m looking forward to it and with faith that I’ll be able to grow from the experience. I’ll miss Malone and the people but I’m excited to go.

Please thank everyone for all letters and gifts they sent for my birthday. I don’t have time to write them all back.

I just found out that this older lady I was teaching in Greene just got baptized last week!!!! I was so excited to hear that. She writes me and it’s so fun to hear from someone I have taught. Most of the people I know who have gotten baptized write to me.

Well I love the work. I love the gospel (Heavenly Father and his plan.) And I love you all!!!

Beautiful NY Winters!

 

My Ticket Home

Sister Hansen (the secretary in the mission office) called me last week to ask if I was going to be picked up (at the end of my mission)or fly home cuz she was buying my tickets and stuff... holy cow I can't believe that.

Letter from Greene

We are working with a couple cool families right now and we just got one of them to agree to come to church next week. I recently got a letter from a lady in my last area, Greene, responding to a letter I wrote her. In her letter she thanked me for walking up to her one summer day and talking to her because now her life has changed. I can't write everything that was in the letter but basically it lifted me up and helped me to realize that even though some times I may think I'm not making a difference out here...to some people I really am but just might not know it. She now has a baptismal date for April. I bore my testimony in church about it in an impromptu talk I gave because there was only one speaker. It really touched me more then I realized and as I began to speak, as I stood at the pulpit I began to feel the Savior's love as I spoke to the people of the congregation and my leaky pipes began to flow. By small and simple things are great things brought to pass and I know the Lord loves all of us and is so pleased when we enter his fold. I truly have a testimony of the Savior and his love for us and that this work we are engaged in is true.

Tricky

 

River Mist

 

Elder Louw

 

PLEASE PRAY

Please pray for the missionaries and the investigators!

All Things Cheerfully

We are struggling to find any solid investigators but are definitely not giving up. I have had a renewed enthusiasm for teaching people about the Book of Mormon and giving out more copies after this last zone conference. Pres. Bulloch gave a great/amazing training on the Book of Mormon and its purpose and role in our day. He gave us a challenge at the end of the zone conference (from “Preach My Gospel” in section 5) to go through the Book of Mormon and highlight every time we see the name Jesus Christ or any other of his many names or references to him or the atonement. You should try it. I started today and can already tell I’m going to be doing a lot of high lighting. I gave a talk in church yesterday and based it on the talk by Elder Oaks called "The Challenge to Become." Look it up on lds.org. A great talk that really helps put into perspective what our purpose is and why we have all of the teaching in the scriptures and all of the teachings of the modern prophets and apostles...to help us become like the father!
Man, I’m learning a lot out here. Mainly that it’s important to "endure to the end" amidst all the rejection and let down. Good thing I have so many good teachers and examples out here and all of your prayers because I wouldn’t be able to go on without them. A scripture that has helped me out is D&C 132:17 "...all things....cheerfully..."

Still Cold...Still Tracting

The other day it was zero degrees and windy and it was misserable. I got a sore throat just from breathing in the cold dry air but finally today it feels better. It's been snowing really lightly here for the past like four days but not a lot of accumulation so far, just about a foot. Elder Burbank and I were blessed to find a new investigator. He was at this house way back in the woods with no trespasing signs all over so we were not sure if we should go but we ended up just trying it anyways and it worked out great. Also I ran into something I had never experienced before on the mission or in my life. I ran into people who are a part of a reorganized church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints. They read from the Book of Mormon but have different beliefs. It was interesting and so weird.

Technical Troubles/ Love the Letters

I'm about to put my foot through this stupid computer. I just got done re-writing a long email to you that got erased the first time I tried writing it. So I just spent and hour trying to write you again but both of the emails got erased because of this stupid computer. Well now my time is up and I have to go. Tell everyone I really appreciated all the letters.

New Distrct Leader Duties

Being district leader...well I have to make phone calls on Monday night, Wednesday and Sunday (at least I think so ha ha) to collect the weekly numbers of people talked to, new investigators, and lessons. I’m also supposed to check up and see if they are having any problems or to see if I can help them out in any way. I will be going on what we call exchanges which is where we swap companions for the day and night then swap back. It gives missionaries the opportunity to see how other missionaries work, to learn from other missionaries, and it’s good if two missionaries don’t get along then I can try to give advice to help them or at least tell President Bulloch so he can. I talked to the zone leaders last night and they said that the role of a district leader is changing a little starting this transfer. They said I’m going to be getting more responsibilities so Tuesday I’ll find out what that means. It makes my nights a lot busier. My new Companion is Elder Burbank from Wyoming.

District Leader Call

Elder Johnson and I saw a bald eagle in town here like a week ago.
I bowled a 196 the other day. A little disappointed I didn't get a 200 but hey what can you do. As soon as I have my own shoes and ball again I'll be shooting for a 250 ha ha ha.
Well it's transfer week and this one hit me hard. I'm training a brand new guy and I'm the district leader now, so there will be some big changes going on around here. I'll need your prayers more then ever now. I have only been here 6 weeks to learn the area so not that long. I still feel like I don't know where I'm going half the time. I think part of it is because I drive the car every day cuz Elder Johnson doesn't have his driving papers out here yet so he can't drive. I don't have a lot of time to look at a map. Hopefully my new comp can drive.