Elder Child is a Trainer!

July 15, 2013

So this week has been full of some ups and some downs. It was a little bit slow this week, but all things in the Lord's time. Anyway we are really trying to continue to help the L.A and find new Inv. we were able to find a new one last night and the Willard's are still doing good we weren't able to teach them this week but we have an appt. and a dinner set up for next week with them. Hopefully we will continue to see success and find those people that the Lord has prepared. As far as the guy in his 20's it wasn't going to go anywhere so we dropped him. We have a ton of potentials right now and hopefully this week we can change those into investigators. It will take the Lord guiding us what to say and his spirit touching them but i know that it can be done. We have also started to see some success with Member this one family in particular has really been helping us out and they know a bunch of people that we can teach so hopefully we can work with them to begin teaching them. The other low part other than it being slow has been the  humidity. The other day we went and tried to meet some people at a big community yard we didn't have any luck but it was early in the morning and probably around 60 degrees and the humidity was so high I was sweating from just standing there it was pretty miserable. But just another joy of being a missionary.

Last night was a pretty exciting one. Call outs came in and almost everyone in the zone is being transferred. I will be staying and I will also become a trainer. I will be training a new missionary. I am excited but nervous for this task. Hopefully I can share what little knowledge I have with him and I will just have to rely on the Lord to do the rest. I know if I turn to him he will help me prepare this new missionary and finish preparing myself.
 I will really learn to rely on the spirit for this one. It just kind of made me think through of some of the stuff that is in my patriarchal blessing and some of the things I heard in the MTC about being a leader that I told you about. I guess I can see those things starting to take shape. Keep your fingers crossed that they don't call me as DL though we just lost ours and I don't think I am ready to take that one on yet. Well any ways the work will continue to progress, I have been working extremely hard at trying to be obedient and have seen the blessings that come from it. Continue to read from the BOM and to pray every day and night. I challenged Sarah and I want to challenge Ben, Mom and Dad and everyone else to read through the BOM from cover to cover by the end of the year. I know the blessings that come from studying the scriptures and the joy and the happiness that can be felt as we do. The Lord will bless us for studying them and we will see the evidence of it in our lives.

Anyways got to go. I love you all. Hope all continues to go well you are all in my prayers and i appreciate the love and support.

July 8, 2013

Well everything is going pretty well down here. The weather has been crazy and hot but we have made it through it alright. I am glad that you didn't open the package and I hope you like it. I thought that it looked like you but I wasn't sure. Sounds like y'all had a awesome turn out at the breakfast. I was doing the same thing that you were doing. Our ward had a big pancake breakfast and I probably made around 400 pancakes. It was pretty fun. Then later that night I got to go over to the lady's house that I told you about and we watched some fireworks there it was pretty cool. Her neighbor did them. Out here in West Virginia they can do the huge ones like the cities do all they need is like a $25 dollar permit. So that was fun. The rest of the week went pretty good. We have to solid investigators Donald and Brenda Willard they are so cool they are in their 50's and have awesome faith in Jesus and in God. They are pretty much already members. Sounds like Ben sure knows how to ball.... NOT haha you know I am just teasing. I missed not seeing an email from him today. Have him send me a letter or something this week. I have lost like 13 pounds I guess from walking and riding my bike so much. And all my clothes still fit me well so i am fine there. Today I got to go fishing on the Potomac. I caught about 25 blue gills no cats or bass though. That was way fun, me and another elder ate a worm so the sisters would buy us ice cream. It was disgusting but it was worth it. Sounds like that you guys are having a pretty fun summer now to answer questions:

 

I haven't heard anything about transfers, I will let you know if I do.

 

Overall though everything is going pretty good. We are still trying to find more people and help them feel the love that Heavenly Father has for them. Hopefully the work will  continue forward. Thanks for the last package. I love you so much. I hope that everything is going well. Sounds like you guys are having a fun summer. I love you all. And i love you a ton Mom.

 

Love

      Elder Child.

July 1, 2013

Well this week has been an array of weather. We started out this week very hot around 85 or 90 but with the humidity I'm sure it was much higher. I still am not used to it and don't think that I ever will be. I would much rather have the dry heat.

   We had a good week. We didn't meet with as many people because we were on foot. We were out of miles in the car and the part for my bike just came today. So we were doing a lot of sweating and a couple days it rained in the afternoon so we got a little bit wet as well. But the work must go forward. We saw a couple of less actives. We are becoming close friends with them but we haven't been able to find out what is holding them back from church. Hopefully the spirit will touch them and remind them of how they felt when they went. Speaking of church. I spoke yesterday. All four of us in the Hedgesville ward spoke. It was cool to have all of us speaking. We were really trying to focus on member missionary work but most of the members seemed uninterested or asleep so not sure how well the message got through. We now have 3 investigators. 2 of them are married they are awesome they are in there 50's and have amazing faith in God and Jesus Christ they just haven't found a church they felt welcome at so hopefully we can get them to experience ours and hopefully they will feel welcome. The other one is in his late 20's he likes sports and hunting so we have a pretty good connection with him. Family is huge in his life and he grew up catholic so we will see how that goes. We are going over tomorrow to teach him and then we are going to play basketball with him with some members from the ward. It was cool to see this success. Hopefully it will continue but I know the Lord's hand is guiding us and we just have to be patient and work hard and be obedient and he will take care of the rest.

 

I urge you to remember that we are all children of God and that an invitation to hear that gospel that comes from a love of the people and of Jesus Christ will never come across as pushing or judgmental. So do all you can to help them feel those same blessings that we all have felt from the gospel. I know you guys will I just want to encourage you because I know how much have friends and family in the gospel and having them share their testimony can really impact someone.

 Sounds like you guys are having a great summer. Continue to spend time together as a family and keep up the work on the scripture study. I hope you guys got the pictures I sent. Today I went to some outlets in Hagerstown Maryland. I went to a Nike store and you would be impressed, I walked out empty handed can't say the same for the UA store. I got a nice pair of shorts and they were only 15 bucks. Then I got to watches. My watch broke the night before i left the MTC. They were 20 each but the one was originally 65 and the other was 130 so it was a steal. So I did spend some money but they were smart purchases.

 

 I hope all is going well back home. Hopefully I covered everything. Sound like you had an awesome time a camp Helaman. I love you all and I pray for you always. I hope all my email are coming through alright. The pictures that mom and Sarah sent didn't come trough not sure why. Sounds like they had an awesome experience at the temple. It was crazy to hear that Emily was there. Time really does fly. Doesn't seem like she is 12 yet. I hope everything continues to go well. I love you all so much. Thanks for the love and support and the prayers as well. I will continue to reply to everyone's email. I hope they all come through from my end let me know if they don't and I will condense them into one so that they will. I love you all you guys are always in my prayers. I love you all.

 

June 25,2013

Ya sounds like you guys are just trucking right along without me. I guess that shows how much i am missed. Just teasing sounds like you guys are doing a ton of fun things. Keep it up. It is so important to just enjoy life. I see so many people around that just seem miserable and it isn't worth it. This week has been a pretty good one. On Thursday night i went on an exchange with another set of elders i was in martinsburg it was a cool area. You probably won't like hearing this but it is super hood and filled with all kinds of drugs. They named one of the streets there high street because that is were a lot of drugs are sold and most of the people that live there are usually doing some serious drugs it was pretty cool though to see a different area. It is so different from the area that i am in and it is only 15 min. away. The rest of the week me and Elder B. just continued to try to work and build relationships with the members and the L.A. We did a lot of walking around in some neighborhoods and now have a lot of potential investigators that we are going to try and go see this week. It is pretty hot out here the rain has stopped but the humidity and the heat are still climbing. I am so glad that i have the short sleeves. The ward out here is awesome as well we are starting to know more and more people so it is fun. We got to go into teachers quorm and talk to the about the importance of going on a mission. It was really fun to talk about. I think D&C 4:4 really sums it up. The field is white already to harvest and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not but bringeth salvation to is soul. It is a great promise. The work is definitley progressing i hope a lot of our members were able to attend the fireside last night. They are truly the most essential tool that we as missionaries have besides the spirit. Try to work with the missionaries if you have the chance. If not just be a good example and don't be afraid to open you mouth and to testify. I loved when it said, "When we talk to others out of love about the gospel, it will not come across as offensive or jugdemental." If we reconize that each of us is a son and daughter of Heavenly Father it will be easy to love and want to share with the things that we know to be true and the things that have bless our lives. 

I loved the cave experience, i debated telling you because i knew that you would say that. But it was way fun. I got to see fireflies for the first time last week. I was like a kid on christmas and still am they are so cool to see. I am gald that i am out here serving there is no place i would rather be. Hopefully we can start to see more and more people finding the gospel. But by small and simple means first.

I am doing great. And i don't think that i need anything in particular at the moment. If you could send the Conference ensign we get them but we will get the one for june and we didn't get may's so if you could include that it would be awesome. I love all you guys thank you so much for the love and the support. Send me some pics if you get a chance about what is going on in your lives. And read John 14:27 together. Also keep studying the scriptures and having prayer it will bless you're lives. Love you all have a great week.

June 17, 2013

This week has still been kind of slow. We are trying to work with the members and get to know them. The focus for the mission is use members to find their friends and those they know so we can teach them with their help. So we have been trying to work with the members which has been kind of hard. The ward was told they were getting sisters. Which I forgot to tell you about last week but when we arrived at our apartment the first night we had been heart-attacked because they thought that we were going to be sisters. So all the members were way excited about that. But now that we are here they always ask every time we meet someone new, what happened to the sisters. So they obviously wanted the sister missionaries so it has been kind of hard to work with them. We were able to serve for one L.A we helped him move into his apartment which is right down the street from us. And we also helped a member do some work around his yard. Those two opportunities have given us a relationship with those members but there are still a lot more that we need to build that trust with. 

    We have been trying to focus a lot on get L.A. back to church as well there are a ton of them out here. So we are just trying to befriend them and give them a reason to come back. A lot of them were at one time very strong and active members that have just fallen away for one reason or another. Funny thing happened this week. We went to a guys house, who we had stopped by last week and set up an appointment with, when we went there this week though we talked to him and shared a brief message. We thought that his name was Bro Allen and that he was a member of the ward that was just L.A. Well when we were trying to update our teaching records on him we found that he wasn't on the ward roster and we have no idea were we got his address from or what his name even is. We called him what we thought his name was and he didn't correct us but he might have also been drunk at the time so we aren't sure where he came from or who he is. So it is pretty crazy. Hopefully we will figure it out. We don't have any investigator right now. There were a couple that were already found but one can't meet for 2-3 more weeks and the other will be gone from this area til August. There are a few people that we have met that might have some potential. We walked by some apartments and there was a guy that yelled at us to come and talk to him. He told us the first time we walked by he felt like the spirit told him he needed to talk to us (he is a pretty spiritual guy) but he ignored it well then we walked by and he stopped us. He has some strong beliefs in God and Jesus Christ so hopefully we can go back and teach him. Other than that not a whole lot has happened just slowly trying to get to know the members better so they can do the finding for us so we don't have to spend all of our time tracting. So we have just been trying to visit them and the L.A. families and help strengthen their testimony and their desire to come back to church. That is the goal in working with members is finding those who are ready to teach and having them get them in contact with us. I do love the work though it is awesome to get to know these people. Hopefully we can get to that point were they trust us and know that we are here for them. It will make things go more smoothly. I love getting to study the gospel more as well. There are such wonderful things written in the scripture and I encourage you guys to keep reading them. 

 

I love you all a ton. Thanks for all your love and prayers know that you are always in mine. Have a great week.

Falling Waters, West Virginia

June 10, 2013

Hey everyone time is kind of short today. So I will try to do my best. The falling waters area is small and very rural. We are mostly focusing on working with Less actives right now. We had to start brand new because, they had just split the area so we haven't had a lot going on just visiting some members and a few less actives. Today we went caving which is why I don't have a lot of time to email. I will make sure to write more next week. But the ward was very small. They had their seminary graduation in sacrament it was kind of weird. A small miracle did kind of occur. We had a less active come to church that we had been stopping by his house to see but he was never home. He has to daughters that are of age to be baptized but haven't been yet so he invited us over for dinner hopefully that will open the door for the opportunity to get his children baptized. My comp. is great it is Elder Benedict. He knows a ton of stuff about the gospel which is way cool. The humidity is a little rough but I am getting used to it. It has been raining for the past 4 days which is really nuts. I wish there was more spiritual stuff to write about. Not much has happened though as we did just open the area so the work is slow. I don't need a gps right now but I will probably in a month or so. Just wanted to give you a heads up. I am loving the work though and the people are so nice. Yesterday we had two dinners which was crazy and this week we have a dinner every night but tonight and sat. we also have a lunch as well. The people are really friendly once they get to know you. Thank you for all of the love and support from everyone. . I love the gospel. My testimony has already grown so much. This really is the true church. Hopefully I will have more to write next week. But just to mention I did get my bikes it works well but we have a pretty nice car so most of our time is spent in that. I hope everyone is doing well. I am going to try and write some letters tonight. There just isn't a ton of stuff happening yet worth mentioning. The caving was a blast though I have a ton of pictures I'll send home when I get a new memory card. I love you all. Thanks for all of your prayer. Thank you also for continuing to study the gospel. I love everyone of you.


So I ended up having some extra time. Yes I still want that scripture it is Alma 17:2-3. And E. Benedict is from long beach cali. The area is pretty cool the weather right now is perfect for a tornado and there is a tornado warning for tonight til 10. Don't worry though everything will be just fine. The area out here kind of reminds me of the south. We went into some way rural areas. Where people just live in  mobile homes up on the hill and they are hard to find. It is a great area I sent a letter though today with a bunch a details about the area. I wish I had some more to share about my work as a missionary but our focus has just mostly been on the L.A (less active) and member. They are big on working with the members to get referrals. So if this week we do get some investigators ill be sure to let you know. Tonight we are going to do a service project we are helping a less active member move so that will be fun and hopefully get him back to church. We haven't had the opportunity to teach any lessons yet. There is one lady that was taking the discussions from Elder Park but he got transferred we went and visited her but she has a bunch of stuff going on and she is leaving town so we won't be able to see her for a while. That is all that has really happened thus far. I have seen quite a few rednecks and hillbillies. Hopefully I can get some squirrel. Love you all a lot. Tell everyone thanks for the emails and letters I will try to respond if I have time next week.