First and Last Place at Pinewood Derby

(I forgot to post last week's letter so I have posted today's letter and last week's letter today:)

Alright this week has been so much fun. Elder Van Halder and I are killing it here. Our focus has really been on part-member families lately and we have been praying to find some that we could bring to the gospel. We didn't think we really had anyone to work with, but now we have a good list of names and 2 solid investigators. It has been a dream because it seems like everyone we have found by  knocking doors eventually stopped investigating. We still have a couple of good options though.

     We got to go to the temple on Tuesday which was a dream come true because it has been too long. We all took questions in there and had a little training beforehand on receiving revelation. We got there a little bit early, so we were able to study a little bit and read through our patriarchal blessings. I was able to gain so many insights about who I am and who I should be. It was humbling and rebuking, but I feel so motivated. While in the temple I imagined some of the people we're working with making it there as well as some of the people that have already converted. There were powerful feelings of how important this work is, as I imagined those people making it all the way to be endowed and sealed. We have taught a lot of temple lessons lately because our goal for these people is nothing less that eternal life.
     I got to go on exchanges with our district leader, Elder Ott, this week and was able to learn a lot. We saw a lot miracles too. We decided to knock on a random door and began talking with the lady that came out. Turns out their family was a member but hadn't been to church in almost 10 years. She said that they were thinking about coming back and we happened to knock on the right door. We also went to visit someone on the ward roster that we hadn't met. Turns out it's a part-member family and they're planning on coming to church soon. They said we could come by this week and share a message. The Lord is providing and Elder Van Halder is teaching me a lot on how to really rely on Him.
     Haha alright so the good ol' pinewood derby. Brother Lumley decided he wasn't going to come, which was super lame, but we've learned a lot about him the last couple times we went over and had some good conversations with his wife as well. He shared some big reasons why he doesn't come to church, so we're going to tackle those and get him active. Hopefully he can help his wife after that. He built a semi truck for us, so we were sure our super arrow dynamic car was going to win. Well our first race against the cubscouts went pretty well and we ended up getting 8th (there were only 8 racers, but we can't win everything). Then we had the beautiful insight that we could strap a hammer to the bad boy since we didn't have any weight rules. Haha those cub scouts didn't know what hit em. Our little Thor monster cruised down for a 1st place finish. We didn't stay long, but it only took us a few minutes to earn bragging rights with the 8-11 years old kids. Life is treating us well.
     We've had a lot of good experiences and we're pretty motivated to make this week amazing. Love you all.
-Elder Hoddy