Dear familia,
So this last week was slow and fast, but not. I'm not sure. We had a good week.
Last week I mentioned Brian. We were going to teach him on Tuesday but he got in a car accident. So we went and grabbed a member and drove him around doing errands and stuff. We went back Saturday night and tried to teach him. He is a nice guy he just loves to talk. We are never able to get a full lesson in. We think he's not really interested in learning and just interested in the attention of people coming over. He didn't come to church this week because he was sore from the accident. We will see about him.
In my last email I also talked about the oldest daughter of the brother who's daughters were baptized a few weeks ago. We have been able to teach her even more. Friday night we invited her to be baptized on the 16th of April and she accepted the invitation. She came to church yesterday. I think she liked it. We are meeting with her again tomorrow. I am excited for her. Transfers are a week from Wednesday and I hope I don't get transferred because the baptismal date is after that and I don't want to miss it.
That is really cool that you had Alex over for dinner with the missionaries. That is always one of the best ways to give a referral. Though I know what it is like for that elder. Some times when members have friends over for dinner you are unsure how to approach, or some times how the member wants you to approach. There have been times when I've gone ahead and taught the person and I felt the member felt I went too far and then there have been different times when we didn't push it and just shared a simple thought and I felt that the member was disseminated in us for not trying to teach more. I always love it when the friend is the one who starts asking to questions and then it is obvious to both member and missionary where to go. So the best way to do that is for the member to before hand to get the friend thinking and wanting to ask questions. How to do that? I've been trying to figure that out for the last 15 months. What are your thoughts?
-eldervonsowards
Monday, March 28, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
March 20
Dear People of Earth,
This week was good. The Bristol Motor Speedway drew in tons of NASCAR fans with their RVs and campers. We were driving up to Abingdon VA for P-day and we must have past like 13 different RVs/campers and who knows how many out of state licenses evacuating out of town after the final race of the week end last night. It got me thinking about if and how many members of the church were in town for the race and we didn't even know it. They deffinitely didn't come to church.
So apart from that this week was cool. Our most progressing investigator is Bryan. He's a cool guy. He came to church these last 2 weeks. We're also trying to teach the oldest daughter of the brother who's daughters were baptized last week. She is about 20. Apart from that there is at least 7 individuals that we are on like the verge of teaching but not quite yet.
love brownies,
eldervonsowards
This week was good. The Bristol Motor Speedway drew in tons of NASCAR fans with their RVs and campers. We were driving up to Abingdon VA for P-day and we must have past like 13 different RVs/campers and who knows how many out of state licenses evacuating out of town after the final race of the week end last night. It got me thinking about if and how many members of the church were in town for the race and we didn't even know it. They deffinitely didn't come to church.
So apart from that this week was cool. Our most progressing investigator is Bryan. He's a cool guy. He came to church these last 2 weeks. We're also trying to teach the oldest daughter of the brother who's daughters were baptized last week. She is about 20. Apart from that there is at least 7 individuals that we are on like the verge of teaching but not quite yet.
love brownies,
eldervonsowards
Monday, March 14, 2011
Hello March 13
Dear Family,
How is all going in the desert? The begining of this week it snowed and by the end of the week it was just a tad too warm.
We had the baptisms of H(11), M (10), and W(9) S. on Saturday. It was wonderful. I hadn't seen one of my own investigators baptized in like 8 months, back in Rogersville, and on Saturday, I saw three. This was another part-member family, a result of the Rescue. Wow. The gospel really does bless families. It was a wonderful experience.
We went over to their house for dinner that evening and gave a lesson. On the way home we were listening to an arrangement of "Joy to the World" from the "Reflections of Christ" album. It got me thinking about the birth of Jesus Christ. The shepherds and the wise men and even Marry and Joseph really had no idea as to who this baby boy was and what his destiny would be. They had a general idea but in comparison, they really had no clue. As I was thinking about it, the S. family meshed into the thought. Wow. I saw in a glimpse that none of us, not me or Elder Manoa, the S's, or whoever, really know the destiny of God's plans for this wonderful family. We have a general idea, but really in comparison, nothing. This truly is a "dawn of redeeming grace" for this family. Wow.
This week we also had a member referral family come to church. They got to witness the confirmations of the girls. We are excited to meet with them on Thursday.
I love the Gospel so much.
-eldervonsowards
How is all going in the desert? The begining of this week it snowed and by the end of the week it was just a tad too warm.
We had the baptisms of H(11), M (10), and W(9) S. on Saturday. It was wonderful. I hadn't seen one of my own investigators baptized in like 8 months, back in Rogersville, and on Saturday, I saw three. This was another part-member family, a result of the Rescue. Wow. The gospel really does bless families. It was a wonderful experience.
We went over to their house for dinner that evening and gave a lesson. On the way home we were listening to an arrangement of "Joy to the World" from the "Reflections of Christ" album. It got me thinking about the birth of Jesus Christ. The shepherds and the wise men and even Marry and Joseph really had no idea as to who this baby boy was and what his destiny would be. They had a general idea but in comparison, they really had no clue. As I was thinking about it, the S. family meshed into the thought. Wow. I saw in a glimpse that none of us, not me or Elder Manoa, the S's, or whoever, really know the destiny of God's plans for this wonderful family. We have a general idea, but really in comparison, nothing. This truly is a "dawn of redeeming grace" for this family. Wow.
This week we also had a member referral family come to church. They got to witness the confirmations of the girls. We are excited to meet with them on Thursday.
I love the Gospel so much.
-eldervonsowards
Monday, March 7, 2011
March 6th - Week of
Dear All,
This week went fast at times and slow in others.
There are going to be three baptisms this Saturday, three girls from a returning-to-activity family. We are very excited!
So, Saturday night, we went out to invite this rescue family to be taught. The family is actually cousins to the member that we went out with. We plugged the address into his GPS and it took us to this trailer park along the TN/VA boarder. So we drove around the park trying to see the numbers. We came full circle and stopped for a minute to figure out what to do. The member turned off his lights so that he wasn't shining them into the house in front of us. Then we start driving again and a truck started following us, so we pull over to the side so see if the driver could help us. This guy was crazy! He got out and started demanding to know what we were doing. The member told him that we were with a church looking for his cousin.
"Your cousin don't live here! Let me see your license!"
"Are you a cop? I don't have to show you my license."
"This is private property and you'd better show me your lisence! Why did you turn off your lights!?!"
"Because we didn't want to be shining them into that house. Would you like us to leave?"
"You ain't go'in' no wheres! I've got you blocked in! We're going to wait till the law gets here!"
So our member said, "Forget this" and we drove off the property and this crazy guy starts chasing us! Like in hot pursuit. We're probably going 60-70 mph down this dark country road with this guy two feet from our bumper! "Call 911, man! This guy is crazy!" So I called 911. First, I got TN and they said, "You're in VA." So they transferred me to VA, then VA sent me back to TN, then they transfer me to the county instead of the city. Finally, after they get my name, address, phone number, ss#, and former companion's mother's maiden name, the guy finally turned around and heads off. It's a good thing we weren't in an actual emergency, or we would have been dead.
-eldervonsowards
This week went fast at times and slow in others.
There are going to be three baptisms this Saturday, three girls from a returning-to-activity family. We are very excited!
So, Saturday night, we went out to invite this rescue family to be taught. The family is actually cousins to the member that we went out with. We plugged the address into his GPS and it took us to this trailer park along the TN/VA boarder. So we drove around the park trying to see the numbers. We came full circle and stopped for a minute to figure out what to do. The member turned off his lights so that he wasn't shining them into the house in front of us. Then we start driving again and a truck started following us, so we pull over to the side so see if the driver could help us. This guy was crazy! He got out and started demanding to know what we were doing. The member told him that we were with a church looking for his cousin.
"Your cousin don't live here! Let me see your license!"
"Are you a cop? I don't have to show you my license."
"This is private property and you'd better show me your lisence! Why did you turn off your lights!?!"
"Because we didn't want to be shining them into that house. Would you like us to leave?"
"You ain't go'in' no wheres! I've got you blocked in! We're going to wait till the law gets here!"
So our member said, "Forget this" and we drove off the property and this crazy guy starts chasing us! Like in hot pursuit. We're probably going 60-70 mph down this dark country road with this guy two feet from our bumper! "Call 911, man! This guy is crazy!" So I called 911. First, I got TN and they said, "You're in VA." So they transferred me to VA, then VA sent me back to TN, then they transfer me to the county instead of the city. Finally, after they get my name, address, phone number, ss#, and former companion's mother's maiden name, the guy finally turned around and heads off. It's a good thing we weren't in an actual emergency, or we would have been dead.
-eldervonsowards
Monday, February 28, 2011
End of Feb 2011
Dear familia,
Yes. Thank you so much for the valentine's day package. It kept slipping my mind these last two weeks every time I email. Sorry. And thank you!
I'm glad to hear that the play worked out in the end and that it was well attended. I hope that every one enjoyed themselves. And I also hope that this year's videoing part works out better then the last video.
So is Mom still in young woman's on top of cub scouts? That sounds stressful in it's self. That was one thing that was different out here, in all my areas they would hold cub scouts on wednesday nights along with all the other activities. I thought that that was discouraged but I guess it doesn't really matter. It makes sense out here because everyone has to drive into town so just make one trip. Where as in Mesa it would be to big deal to take go to the church several times a week. Different world, same church.
Who of my friends in Mesa could they teach? I'll think about that. Though last night while I was praying a guy I worked with at Geronimo came to mind. John Harold (sadly I am second guessing his last name, I've done that with alot of people lately, It's been a while). I gave him a Book of Mormon when I left. You could find him on my facebook. He lives in Tucson. He's who comes to mind.
So Elder Thonpson left Bristol and now I an serving with Elder Manoa. Elder Manoa is a Tongan from California. He's pretty fun, though he think's I'm out of my mind. We were going to this meal appointment that I had only been to once before. So we get to the street and I'm like "that looks like the house" he's like "looks like? are you sure dog?" I say "no. but I think it's it." So we go up to it and this random girl walks out. So we just teach them as if we were just tracting. As we walked away he was like "man dog! you got the wrong house!" we got a good laugh about it. He doesn't trust my directions now.
-eldervonsowards
Yes. Thank you so much for the valentine's day package. It kept slipping my mind these last two weeks every time I email. Sorry. And thank you!
I'm glad to hear that the play worked out in the end and that it was well attended. I hope that every one enjoyed themselves. And I also hope that this year's videoing part works out better then the last video.
So is Mom still in young woman's on top of cub scouts? That sounds stressful in it's self. That was one thing that was different out here, in all my areas they would hold cub scouts on wednesday nights along with all the other activities. I thought that that was discouraged but I guess it doesn't really matter. It makes sense out here because everyone has to drive into town so just make one trip. Where as in Mesa it would be to big deal to take go to the church several times a week. Different world, same church.
Who of my friends in Mesa could they teach? I'll think about that. Though last night while I was praying a guy I worked with at Geronimo came to mind. John Harold (sadly I am second guessing his last name, I've done that with alot of people lately, It's been a while). I gave him a Book of Mormon when I left. You could find him on my facebook. He lives in Tucson. He's who comes to mind.
So Elder Thonpson left Bristol and now I an serving with Elder Manoa. Elder Manoa is a Tongan from California. He's pretty fun, though he think's I'm out of my mind. We were going to this meal appointment that I had only been to once before. So we get to the street and I'm like "that looks like the house" he's like "looks like? are you sure dog?" I say "no. but I think it's it." So we go up to it and this random girl walks out. So we just teach them as if we were just tracting. As we walked away he was like "man dog! you got the wrong house!" we got a good laugh about it. He doesn't trust my directions now.
-eldervonsowards
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
21 Feb 2011
Dear people,
Well that is some pretty exciting news about Tasanee. Twins? wow! I didn't know our family could do that... I guess you never know. A member yesterday related a story from his mission where they were teaching this couple that had no kids. They loved the message that the missionaries shared and came to church. They went over there after to see how they liked it and they said that they liked it but they felt uncomfortable being in a church that was SO family oriented and not having any kids themselves. The couple shared with them that they were told by doctors that they would not be able to ever have kids. Then this member boldly said that the Lord had children waiting to be born into their family but would not give this family any children until they accepted and unbraced the gospel and were baptized. The family was baptized and then had twins, shortly followed by triplets.
This week we got the chance to start teaching a less active family. only the parents had been baptized but their 9, 10, and 11 year old girls had not. We invited them to be baptized and they said that they wanted to. The family came to church yesterday and loved it. I will let you know what day they will be baptized. We had planned for March 5th but it looks like that will be moved.
I hope and pray that the Come to Lehi will be as awesome as years past if that better!
-eldervonsowards
Well that is some pretty exciting news about Tasanee. Twins? wow! I didn't know our family could do that... I guess you never know. A member yesterday related a story from his mission where they were teaching this couple that had no kids. They loved the message that the missionaries shared and came to church. They went over there after to see how they liked it and they said that they liked it but they felt uncomfortable being in a church that was SO family oriented and not having any kids themselves. The couple shared with them that they were told by doctors that they would not be able to ever have kids. Then this member boldly said that the Lord had children waiting to be born into their family but would not give this family any children until they accepted and unbraced the gospel and were baptized. The family was baptized and then had twins, shortly followed by triplets.
This week we got the chance to start teaching a less active family. only the parents had been baptized but their 9, 10, and 11 year old girls had not. We invited them to be baptized and they said that they wanted to. The family came to church yesterday and loved it. I will let you know what day they will be baptized. We had planned for March 5th but it looks like that will be moved.
I hope and pray that the Come to Lehi will be as awesome as years past if that better!
-eldervonsowards
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Feb 13
D-ear familia,
The last 2 weeks we wasted our time on preparation day and we did not get around to emailing, so we took some very brief time out of proselyting time to shoot our weekly president report email out. We went spelunking with a member 2 weeks ago. I attached some pictures from it. It was pretty fun but shouldn't have been a priority. Last week we had a zone activity and wasted time there too. I am starting to consider p-days my least favorite days of the week. I always just feel so worldly on Mondays.
This last week was pretty good. We met this girl (13) that wants to be baptized so we invited her to be baptized on March 5th. The only thing is we feel that she is looking at it as a baptism in general and not a baptism into Christ's restored Church. I'm sure similar situations happen like this. The way the conversation went was that she said that she had been saved but still needed to get baptized and that the only reason she hadn't yet was because her church hadn't had any baptismal services. Then I felt we would invite her and said "we will you be baptized and follow the example of Jesus Christ?" she said "what?" then I felt the spirit slap his own forehead and I found myself saying "we will be holding a baptismal service on March 5th, will you prepare yourself to be baptized on that date?" she checked her calendar and said "I'm open, I will." we went on and talked about proper authority and apostasy, but I'm still not sure what her understanding of it is. She still went to her church yesterday. If it was the spirit telling me to say those thing then there is an answer it this predicament. I went to church yesterday praying for God to teach me what to do, he told me too fast. I am confident that things will work out as I follow the spirit's guidance. Please pray for Tamia and Elder Thompson and me.
-eldervonsowards
Pictures: guy in red is brother harris, the member
guy in camo is elder thompson (the one being hold up side down)
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