Monday, August 5, 2013

Week 4- July 22, 2013

I don't even know where to start....
 
So I guess we can start by saying Friday marks my 1 month mark! Crazy huh?
 
Next order of business is to say congratz to Adam and Stefani (Yup I remember her name now!)! She's going to be a wonderful addition to the family and I'm glad to have her! I can't believe its already happened! I was actually out with a temple sealer on Friday and I asked if he had any advice I could tell them to sound smart. He said, "Tell them once they get back from their honeymoon to go back to the temple ASAP! If they do sealings 4 or 5 times right after the wedding then they'll really understand what they're getting into. They don't pay attention the first time because they're so focused on having a new spouse! When they understand what they're getting into they'll have a great marriage." So there ya go! That's what I got for them. Haha 
 
Ok well this next part might kill you (it almost killed me!) and I might have Elder Owen send you an email to attest to this, but I ATE AN OMELET!!! That's what one of the members was having for dinner last night, so that's what I ate! It was actually a testimony builder for me! I prayed like 10 times that our loving Heavenly Father would help me finish it, and that the taste wouldn't be too bad. I put salsa, bbq sauce, salt and pepper on it and I had her put everything in it so that the egg wouldn't taste. Didn't work. But yeah there ya go. I ate an omelet. It was probably a 2 egg one too.
 
There have been a couple of other cool things that happened. I dunno if I told you about last week but we were eating breakfast at Tiffany's (I dunno if its the same place thats in St. George, but it was really good!) and it was after district meeting so there were 8 of us there. Well some guy paid for our meal! And we asked if it was a member from our church and they said it wasn't.  They think he goes to the Baptist church right there. That saved us some money! There are a lot of really good people here that really respect what we do, and are even supportive. There's also some who aren't though.... Haha I had a hilarious experience. So I went on the exchange with our District Leader and it was about 8:40 and we were standing outside their place. He asked me what I wanted to do and I said we might as well knock some doors. He told me there was a house that had a mormon.org card taped to the window with a circle around it and a slash through it. He said he's wanted to try that house so we did! Haha We knock and the peep hole goes dark, then light again. Like right after it went light and we didn't hear the door being opened Elder Evans knocked again. This really old guy opens the door and we ask "How are you today?" He said "Fine. Get out of here!"  He went to slam the door but because of his old age the door didn't make it all the way shut. We were both laughing at that point because that's what we expected. Anyway he started hitting and banging on the door so that it would shut and after it was shut he hit the door like 3 more times.
 
But I should probably tell you about our good experiences and what's going on. So on that exchange I wanted to work on OYMing (Opening your mouth, or talking to everyone you see). We saw an older guy sitting out in his lawn and we walked up and started talking to him. He told us he had a preacher come over and save him a while ago, but he said we could pray with him. We prayed with him and just started talking to him, and asked if missionaries could come visit him (he lived out of the area, he was just visiting). He said he was already saved and so it was ok. We kept talking to him though and he was telling us about the tv show called The Bible and how he and his wife loved that show. We talked about the Bible and then he just randomly said, "I've always wondered if there was a waiting period between death and heaven." We looked at each other and said "We can answer that!" We read out of Alma to him and showed him the map of the plan of salvation. It was a really cool talk! He asked us if we believed we had to be baptized and we told him a little about that. Anyway by the end of the conversation he took a Book of Mormon, gave us his address and phone number, and told us to send some missionaries his way! It was a really cool experience!
 
Another little finding thing was we were out Saturday night at about 8:30. It was another situation where we could have just went in for the night but instead we went looking for an 8:59 miracle. We were out walking and we saw a kid shooting around. I told him I was a college basketball player and he says he thinks he remembers watching us playing OSU. We played one on one and we invited him to come play with us on P-day today! We told him about what we do and who we are and he was very interested. He's only 14, but he and his 18 year old brother might be interested! We're going to talk to them more today if they show up, but we're hoping something will come of it! 
 
We have a really cool opportunity tonight as well. Elder Owen and his last companion found a family out tracting, and they asked if they could say a kneeling prayer with her family. Long story short they wanted to, but they cancelled their appointment and haven't really set up an appointment since. Well on the exchange Elder Owen and Elder Garner knocked on their door. Their whole family was there (they're a younger couple. They have a 5 year old and a 3 year old is our guess) and they let them in to say a kneeling prayer. Elder Owen said that hasn't happened yet to him and it was an awesome experience. I've been with him to their place once to see if we could pray with them and this lady looks like she's already Mormon. She just has that look about her ya know? Anyway I guess their home is very family centered and very Mormon looking is how Elder Owen puts it. Well they prayed and had an amazing experience, and they wanted to set an appointment so we're going back tonight! We're honestly so excited to go over there!
 
We have a couple of other people who are real close to letting us teach them. We've had a lot of appointments this week but almost every single one fell through. We're finding that the branch is starting to be very missionary minded, and within the next while we should have a lot of people to teach! We're really  excited for that! Things here are progressing pretty slowly, but it's going to be big when it happens!
 
So we did have a baptism on Saturday of an 8 year old boy named Ryan. His parents are less active and so they had the missionaries teach him. It was really cool because I got to be one of the witnesses and one of the people who got to take part in giving him the Holy Ghost! That was such an awesome experience as well! There's another youth baptism this week and so we're going to see if we can get a couple investigators out to see it.
 
Well, it's been a great week, and a way busy week. This week will be a handful as well, but we're lovin it and we can't wait! Hope all is well back home, and that ya'll have a good week! I love hearing how the ward is really been missionary minded lately, and is working with the youth- that's awesome! Teaching can be awkward and hard sometimes, but my companion and I always say "Embrace the awkward!" It's actually helped a ton and we've met a ton of great people because we were willing to be a little awkward. Oh and be sure to tell the Hanks and their Primary class thanks for the letters! They were great and I really enjoyed them!
 

Well have a good one! Love all ya'll and hope you guys have a great week!

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