Familia!
This has been another great week as a missionary. We got to see some great
miracles with some of our members and we have high goals for this upcoming week.
We were visiting a member a few weeks ago and they told us about a young family
who had just moved in across the street. We went over and talked to this guy
named Zack that ended up listening to the entire Restoration lesson. We welcomed
them into the neighborhood (even though we don't live very close to there) and
told them all about the amazing church we go to. The next time we went over his
wife Felicia was there and we were able to invite them to volleyball night. We
have been able to get them to come to a coule of activities but they weren't
ready to come to church. Then yesterday they decided to show up to church and
they had a great time. Our ward did a wonderful job at fellowshipping and we got
to sit back and watch the magic happen. It was really cool to watch the spirit
lead them to church because we have tried to leave that commitment in the past,
but they weren't ready to come. The Lord always provides.
Elder Van Halder is doing amazing here. He may have seemed like a new missionary for the first few days, but his confidence and enthusiasm continues to grow and it seems like he is a major part in all the parts of the work. It is crazy to see how much he grew in just a few days and he definitely has the qualities to become a great leader in this mission. We have a lot in common and we are having so much fun together. This is going to be such a fun transfer.
Elder Van Halder is doing amazing here. He may have seemed like a new missionary for the first few days, but his confidence and enthusiasm continues to grow and it seems like he is a major part in all the parts of the work. It is crazy to see how much he grew in just a few days and he definitely has the qualities to become a great leader in this mission. We have a lot in common and we are having so much fun together. This is going to be such a fun transfer.
We got to eat with some really fun families this week that have tons of
kids and things are always crazy. It is so much fun to see the importance of
families and how cool it is to see all the things they get out of having
brothers and sisters. It seems like every dinner appointment these days Elder
Beus and I bust out a rhyme battle and things get heated. I don't even know how
they get started, but the kids sure love them and we have a good time. The good
news is that I win everytime like 60% of the time. It's great.
This week I learned a lot about timing during lessons. We had a great spiritual lesson with an investigator family and left them with an invitation which they declined. On the way home the member that was with us called us out on our timing and taught us a powerful lesson. We have been working so hard to have spiritual lessons, but we were leaving commitments at points where the spirit was not at it's crowning point. He told us about planning to make the big invitations right after big spiritual experiences like the first visions or someone's powerful testimony. We tried that on the next investigator we saw and they said yes even though they had not been extrememly excited in previous lessons. It was just another reminder of how important the spirit is in our teaching.
This week I learned a lot about timing during lessons. We had a great spiritual lesson with an investigator family and left them with an invitation which they declined. On the way home the member that was with us called us out on our timing and taught us a powerful lesson. We have been working so hard to have spiritual lessons, but we were leaving commitments at points where the spirit was not at it's crowning point. He told us about planning to make the big invitations right after big spiritual experiences like the first visions or someone's powerful testimony. We tried that on the next investigator we saw and they said yes even though they had not been extrememly excited in previous lessons. It was just another reminder of how important the spirit is in our teaching.
We are already beginning to see the fruits of the youth fireside that we
did. It seems like there's always another one coming up and telling us how he
invited his friend to mutual or gave out a Book of Mormon. It is so cool to see
the youth lead the charge because they add so much energy to the work. Some of
those kids are so stinking funny too. They always have good stories to tell us
and some of them are just so interesting.
Wow this email is kind of scattered but another cool story is with the
Pyeatt couple. We knocked on their house a couple weeks ago and he told us that
he wanted to tour our church building, so we set an appointment to show them
around. We couldn't find a member to come with us, but when we got there a
member from another ward was there and was able to tell about his experience
meeting with the missionaries and bear testimony of Christ's restored church. We
were able to tell about how our meetings are run, the sacrament, and some other
cool things. Then we sat down and went through the Restoration lesson. The
spirit was so strong in the building, and they accepted baptism if they find
it's true. They are a miracle.
Oh man there were so many amazing stories this week but I'll leave it at
that. This church is so true and the Lord provides for his missionaries. I can't
believe how many miracles we are seeing and it would not be possible without
him. Thank you for all the support and the prayers for this work. I love you so
much.
-Elder Hoddy
No comments:
Post a Comment