Hello Everyone,
For starters, sorry for the late email. We walked over to the Family History Center in the basement of our Church today, and the computers were all shut down for updates that were supposed to have taken place last night but never started. So we went shopping, and biked over to the library to email :)
Last Monday we had a Zone P-Day activity in Brooklyn Park. We played quidditch.. yeah not really sure how to spell that (the game from Harry Potter) in the park with brooms and mops from our apartments. It was pretty hilarious watching everyone attempt to play quidditch and watching all of the people around the park staring at us like we were insane! Good times :) In the evening we stopped by an investigator and talked to him about the Holy Spirit and shared a Mormon Message with him about being in tune with the Spirit. Afterwards there was a horrendous thunder and lightning storm, and so we had to come inside. I of course thought that it looked really cool though, so I took a picture on our way in :)
On Tuesday we had District Meeting and Accountability. It was a pretty good meeting, and then afterwards we went on exchange. I was with an elder from Three Forks, Montana in our area. We had a great lesson with an investigator on the Plan of Salvation and the Word of Wisdom, and we reset his baptismal date for September 20th because he smokes and drinks coffee. On our way back home we taught a Pentecostal woman. We shared the Restoration with her, but she was not very impressed by the fact that we have an additional book of scripture. A lot of people here bring up the scripture in Revelations that we should not add or take away to the writings in this book. We try to explain that it is referring to the book of Revelations, not the Bible, but often people just tell us that we are making up excuses for the Book of Mormon. I guess it just isn't there time! In the evening we went out tracting near the a member’s home. We talked with several of their neighbors, but talked to two of them in particular that we were able to teach. The members have a wedding reception for their son this week at the Church, and so we are going to see them again at the reception. As we left they all told us that they would see us on Saturday! I love their neighborhood :) Most people in Minnesota do not know their neighbors, and could care less about who lives around them and what is going on in their lives, but for whatever reason their street is different! They all know each other and help each other out. It reminds me of a little Mormon community, except for the fact that the member family are the only people on their street that are Mormon!
On Wednesday I had my interview with the district leader before we exchanged back. It was pretty remarkable! We shared a lot of really personal experiences, and became even better friends. We have been serving together in this district for about 6 months now, holy cow I have been in the area for 7 months! This is both of our first time training, and our companions have a lot of the same struggles that we are not entirely sure as to how we can help them with their struggles. Pride especially is difficult to help anyone out with! He offered a prayer at the end of our interview though that was super powerful, and I knew that everything was going to work out and that all would be well. I had been having a tough week, and so that exchange and interview really turned things around! After we exchanged back we went and did mormon.org time and I watched Elder Bednar's BYU Education Week Speech on social media. SUPER good :) We had dinner with a member and his family afterwards and we were all able to talk about the speech that Elder Bednar had given. The sister’s parents know the producers of "Meet The Mormons", and so they have already seen the movie and said it was fantastic! I just can't wait for us to be able to use social media in our mission. Sometimes I think I will never be able to use it on my mission. I have been waiting for what feels like forever (over a year), and we still do not have it. One day though :) After dinner the member’s neighbor came over with her dog (yellow lab) and we talked for a while! Haha everytime I see a lab I think of my first dog, Buddy. Who knew labs got to be so big?!?!? The member’s youngest daughter and I love dogs and so we played with Morgan and took turns petting her. She is super cute and way fun to play with, so I have to constantly remind myself that I am not allowed to pick her up. Super tempting though! I took a picture of just her, but I wish I would have taken one of her and Morgan :) In the evening we went out joint teaching and had a really great lesson with an investigator on the Plan of Salvation. It was kind of a trial and error type of a lesson, but it all worked out!
On Thursday we went to the PRISM (People Responding In Social Ministry) Food Shelf for the first time in a long time, and that was pretty good. The only problem is that it takes up most of our day, so we only have the evenings to do missionary work. In the evening we went joint teaching. We had an amazing lesson with less-active members! We talked to them about the Plan of Salvation, Family History, and Baptisms For The Dead. We talked to them about organizing a family temple trip to the St. Paul temple! The sister has never been to the temple either, so it will be an amazing opportunity for their family :) After that lesson we went to the less-active members home and I shared with them a conference talk that I remember from my class at BYU "Teachings of the Living Prophets". It's a talk from the November 2012 General Conference titled "Be Anxiously Engaged" by Elder Ballard I believe. We committed them to pray and ask for service opportunities, and invited them to come to Church with us. It was a quick but very good evening :)
On Friday we had a Zone Service Project at a place called Second Harvest. We packaged tortillas and rice to be sent to food shelves all over Minnesota! It was pretty fun, and we packaged just under 6,000 lbs of food! After the Zone Service Project I went on exchange with an Elder from Kayesville, Utah for the afternoon. We went over and had a lesson with an investigator again. This elder is a great missionary, but his boldness with our investigator came off more like an interrogation and so he blew up at us and told us to go away. It was NOT a good lesson. He called us later and apologized, but told us that he felt attacked by the elder and it made him really uncomfortable. Luckily all is well :) While we were still on exchange we met a pretty drunk lady that wanted to talk with us, as well as an African-American Soul Singer named Sister Sparkle and a woman who told us that she was a Witch, and clarified that she is an Earth Mother. Kind of an interesting afternoon! After we exchanged back my companion and I had a lesson with some potential investigators. They were dropping us basically and telling us that they were not willing to put in the time and effort to figure out if the Book of Mormon is true, and they were not willing to come to Church. What can you do? It would be a waste of both of our time if they are not willing to act on anything we teach them. Hopefully one day they will reconsider though! Before we went home we met a guy that was working on his car outside of an apartment complex, and he told us that he has met with missionaries before. We taught him a little bit about the Restoration, and I related our message to fixing a car. I thought it was pretty hilarious, because I know NOTHING about cars, but he caught the vision :) We will hopefully be able to see him again this next Friday!
On Saturday we did our weekly planning and had a lesson with a member on faith and the Word of Wisdom. He is a less-active member struggling with alcoholism, and started drinking again this last week. He was attending AA meetings, but discontinued after starting up again. We made some really good progress with him though! He lives down the block from some members, and so they have a really great fellowshipper in the neighborhood. We went tracting afterwards and met a devil worshiper. That was interesting! I have met a few of those people on my mission, and you never really feel very comfortable around them. My companion was kind of upset with me for not going in to their home and attempting to teach them, but the Spirit was clearly not there and you could tell that nothing good was going to come from it. He mostly just wanted a cool story to write home about, but there could have been some extremely bad consequences from going into their home! President Clements warned us to not go into their homes, and to especially not check out how they worship the devil. Not good! We finished off the day contacting in the park, and we met a guy that we taught the Restoration to. Kind of a slower Saturday, but it was a good day nonetheless!
On Sunday no one came to Church, but we had a really good service! After Church we had correlation and our weekly meeting with Bishop. After Church we had a lesson with an investigator on the Book of Mormon, and we watched a really great video of a Jamaican man that lives in England that is now a Bishop, and he shares his testimony about the Book of Mormon. It was really cool! In the evening we had a lesson another investigator. We talking about the shifting values of society, and the craziness that is all around us, and how faith is the only thing that can truly help us with our surroundings. We invited him to an upcoming ward activity, and he said he would consider it. Non-committal people are always fun ;)
Overall it was a really great week! Thank you all so much for all you do, and for all of your love and support :) Talk to you soon.
Best Wishes,
Elder Kyle William Andrews
Monday, August 25, 2014
Monday, August 18, 2014
Many Mighty Miracles (MMM) :)
Hello Everyone,
It has been a pretty good week :) On Monday we had our District P-Day. We went to the Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis overlooking the Mississippi and then went to a trendy icecream parlor called Izzy's. We took pictures near the Mill City Museum where the old General Mills Factory was, but we did not have time to go in and tour it. It was $11, and we had 30 minutes before we had to head home. Oh well, we will have to hit it up some other time. In the evening we had dinner with the the family from my home ward one last time before they journeyed back to Utah, and we found out that the sister knows Kayla really well. That was pretty exciting! My little sister is more popular than I am. We went out joint teaching and taught an investigator family. We talked to them about faith and endurance. I just don't understand them I guess. We have spiritual lessons with them, we invite them to do things, they commit to do them, and then we follow up with them and they don't do it. AHHHH! Agency is a good thing... I just keep telling myself that. I am sure that I have frustrated a few people in my lifetime, but at least I tried to be honest with people.
On Tuesday we had District Meeting, which was really great! During District Meeting we discussed ideas for our Zone P-Day the following week. Everyone wanted to play kickball and other sports, which is fine. I thought the whole idea of having District and Zone P-Days was to experience our Mission Boundaries, but getting together with everyone is fun regardless :) Maybe with extra planning next transfer will work out better! After District Meeting we biked over to a dentist which took up the entire afternoon. My companion had a crack in one of his teeth, and so they investigated the situation. I guess a filling that he got on a cavity was cracking, but they can't do anything until it breaks completely. In the evening we went out with the Stake President. We had a lesson with a member on the gospel of Jesus Christ. We mostly in our lesson talked about the Atonement and faith. The brother identified that faith is one of his biggest challenges with religion, and that it was going to take some extra effort for him. President committed him to read the Book of Mormon for 5 minutes every day, and to pray daily. He committed to do it, and committed to attend the President's Fireside this Sunday as well!
On Wednesday we had New Missionary Training in Bloomington, Minnesota. We borrowed the Sister's car again, and picked up the Elders in a different area. New Missionary Training went really well! It was a lot less stressful this time, not being the new missionary haha. I learned a couple of really cool things though :) President Forbes also told us that our Zone would be proselyting outside of the Book of Mormon Musical, and that he was talking to the Church Public Affairs team for ideas on application. It opens up in a few days, so we will have to see what happens! In the evening we went out joint teaching. We had a great lesson with a new member on Lehi's dream and doing missionary work. We talked to her about how she can more effectively reach out to her husband, and she committed to be a member missionary. To finish off the evening we visited with the bread lady which was fun. She is such a great lady! Hopefully with all the additional fellowshipping she is receiving from our Church, she will choose to take a chance and investigate. Small steps!
On Thursday we had to go over to the Church with Bishop. He was meeting with a Sister to plan a funeral for her Grandfather. While they were meeting, I decided to try out the organ in the chapel for the first time. Yep, and organ is definitely different than a piano :) It was super weird, but kind of fun. Afterward we went over to the library and had mormon.org time. I watched some really good videos, one of which is called "deep beauty". In the evening we went to a member’s home to help them out with their move. They are moving to St. George, Utah. It was a super sad experience, but a good one at the same time. Yeah, that didn't make any sense. They got a truck that was far too small for all of their belongings. We ended up packing some things away, and they are going to figure things out when they get moved in to their condo in Utah. It took up our entire evening, but the good experience that I was talking about was that the ward really came together and helped them in their time of need. It was really cool to watch the gospel in action :)
On Friday morning we finished helping with the move. We packed it up in a trailer, and they hauled it to a storage unit. They were really stressed out and emotional, but they really appreciated all of the help they received. Afterwards we went home and did our Weekly Planning. We talked about our crazy week and how we hadn't really taught very many people, and so we committed to work super hard for the remainder of the week to make up for the beginning half. We went over for a lesson with an investigator, but we missed him by minutes. On the way back there was a guy who's car was broken down in the middle of a busy street. My companion started pulling over to the side, so we went over to help. I know zero about cars, so he was on his own! His battery wires apparently weren't working and so my companion tied a sock around it so it would work. Honestly, I have no clue how any of that works and how it worked with a sock tied on it, but he was able to drive away :) The sock that they found in his trunk apparently was super oily and nasty so we went to a gas station afterwards so he could clean up a little bit. On our way home I decided that we were going to stop by a guy I met at a bus stop a couple months ago, but he has not been home any of the times we have stopped by. This time was different. Kind of interesting though. We found out that he lives in a group home, so we had to go up to his room for the lesson. His room was pretty messy, he had clothes all over and it smelled like body odor. I remember as I sat down on the floor having a distinct prompting to talk to him about how the gospel will help him to improve his state of living, and that it will bring him an inner joy like he had never before experienced. We taught him the restoration, and he committed to be baptized in September. I have been working with my companion on extending baptismal invitations, and so I just stopped and looked at him when it was time to invite him to be baptized. It was a little awkward at first when he just stared back at me, but then he got the hint ;) We left the lesson on a spiritual high and then saw that my companion bike tire was flat. Not good! I have never had a flat tire on my mission, so I didn't really know how to help him. We don't have any bike places near by, so we called a member and he took us to the bike store. In the evening we went out joint teaching. We had a couple lessons fall through, and then we went over to visit with a less-active member. We talked with him for a while, and then his brother came in from a bike ride. His brother is not a member, and doesn't exactly appreciate our Church very much. We talked with him for a while, and he talked with our joint-teach about homes and things because they both build houses. When he was about to take off I asked him if he had met with missionaries before, and it really caught him off guard. He talked to us a little longer about religion and things, and how the Mormons that he has worked with have all been really hard workers, and that maybe he would visit with us sometime. Our Joint-teach laughed on our way home about the look on his face when I started transitioning into the gospel, but he was surprised to see how well it worked out! Friday was also my 15 Month mark on my mission... crazy! Apparently it was also a holiday of some sort called "assumption"... never heard of it.
Saturday was interesting as well. My companion was putting his bike together when he looked over at my bike and noticed that my back tire was flat. REALLY?!?!? This is what I get for telling him that I have never had a bike problem on my mission! So we went back to the bike store with a member and fixed up my bike as well. It was pretty insane! After our bikes were all fixed up we went out and worked. On our way over to some apartments we met a man from Liberia. We taught him the restoration and he talked with us about how important the gospel is. He is Pentecostal, but is interested in potentially meeting with missionaries. He lives in Brooklyn Park, so he will be referred to other missionaries. After our lesson with our investigator, we went over and attempted to have a lesson with some other investigators, but a woman that I have taught previously came out and wanted to talk with us. She appeared to be pretty drunk, and then she plopped herself down on her chair, and began sipping her wine glass full of vodka. Yep, totally wasted! We briefly talked with her, but clearly she was not going to retain much. We prayed with her and then she got super emotional and came over and started hugging us, and was all up in our business. Drunk people are not fun to be around! This is why we have the Word of Wisdom :) She has talked to me about a particular pink tie that I somehow wear every time I see her, and she started tugging at it and told me that I need to give it to her. I decided to depart with my tie and head out! We of course had to take a picture beforehand though, so I could always remember our odd lesson. Riding home was super weird without a tie though. In a way I kind of felt naked. It was a fun experience though, and the tie was starting to fall apart anyways. In the evening we went out joint teaching. We had a lesson with an investigator family and watched "The John Tanner Story" with them. We talked about faith and consecration, and how if they are going to progress, they need to actually do something about it. They committed to come to Church not this week, but next week. We will have to see what happens.
Sunday was really great! An investigator came, and the the new members had their baby blessing for their son. They were able to have their other son there, who they are having a custody battle over. He is not allowed to be with them on Sundays so they don't indoctrinate him with their religion, but he was allowed to be their for his brothers baby blessing! After Church we had correlation with out Ward Mission Leader and Ward Missionaries, and then had our weekly meeting with Bishop. In the evening we we went to the President's Fireside with an investigator family. This fireside was particularly impressive! One of the concluding speakers was really engaging and talked a lot about his struggles with faith, which is exactly what Brother Vevea had talked to us about. He told us about his religious journey which was quite humourous. He was on a traveling basketball team, and a teammate pointed out to them that in their hotels they have a Gideon Bible and a lot of people hide their money in it and forget about it. Sure enough over the years he has collected quite a bit of money using the Bible! One business trip he was on he opened up the nightstand drawer, and there sat a Book of Mormon. He must have been at a Marriott! He said there was no money hidden inside, but he decided to read a few chapters. He ended up taking it home, but never continued reading it until years later the missionaries knocked on his door. Super cool experience!
It has been a great week full of Many Mighty Miracles (MMM) :) Thank you all for all of your love and support! I couldn't do this without you. I hope you have a great week!
Best Wishes,
Elder Kyle William Andrews
Here is a super good article I read this past week during our mormon.org time! Anthony Cannon, one of the people featured in the article is our Assistant Ward Mission Leader. Pretty cool :) http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/missionary-experiences-shape-future
It has been a pretty good week :) On Monday we had our District P-Day. We went to the Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis overlooking the Mississippi and then went to a trendy icecream parlor called Izzy's. We took pictures near the Mill City Museum where the old General Mills Factory was, but we did not have time to go in and tour it. It was $11, and we had 30 minutes before we had to head home. Oh well, we will have to hit it up some other time. In the evening we had dinner with the the family from my home ward one last time before they journeyed back to Utah, and we found out that the sister knows Kayla really well. That was pretty exciting! My little sister is more popular than I am. We went out joint teaching and taught an investigator family. We talked to them about faith and endurance. I just don't understand them I guess. We have spiritual lessons with them, we invite them to do things, they commit to do them, and then we follow up with them and they don't do it. AHHHH! Agency is a good thing... I just keep telling myself that. I am sure that I have frustrated a few people in my lifetime, but at least I tried to be honest with people.
On Tuesday we had District Meeting, which was really great! During District Meeting we discussed ideas for our Zone P-Day the following week. Everyone wanted to play kickball and other sports, which is fine. I thought the whole idea of having District and Zone P-Days was to experience our Mission Boundaries, but getting together with everyone is fun regardless :) Maybe with extra planning next transfer will work out better! After District Meeting we biked over to a dentist which took up the entire afternoon. My companion had a crack in one of his teeth, and so they investigated the situation. I guess a filling that he got on a cavity was cracking, but they can't do anything until it breaks completely. In the evening we went out with the Stake President. We had a lesson with a member on the gospel of Jesus Christ. We mostly in our lesson talked about the Atonement and faith. The brother identified that faith is one of his biggest challenges with religion, and that it was going to take some extra effort for him. President committed him to read the Book of Mormon for 5 minutes every day, and to pray daily. He committed to do it, and committed to attend the President's Fireside this Sunday as well!
On Wednesday we had New Missionary Training in Bloomington, Minnesota. We borrowed the Sister's car again, and picked up the Elders in a different area. New Missionary Training went really well! It was a lot less stressful this time, not being the new missionary haha. I learned a couple of really cool things though :) President Forbes also told us that our Zone would be proselyting outside of the Book of Mormon Musical, and that he was talking to the Church Public Affairs team for ideas on application. It opens up in a few days, so we will have to see what happens! In the evening we went out joint teaching. We had a great lesson with a new member on Lehi's dream and doing missionary work. We talked to her about how she can more effectively reach out to her husband, and she committed to be a member missionary. To finish off the evening we visited with the bread lady which was fun. She is such a great lady! Hopefully with all the additional fellowshipping she is receiving from our Church, she will choose to take a chance and investigate. Small steps!
On Thursday we had to go over to the Church with Bishop. He was meeting with a Sister to plan a funeral for her Grandfather. While they were meeting, I decided to try out the organ in the chapel for the first time. Yep, and organ is definitely different than a piano :) It was super weird, but kind of fun. Afterward we went over to the library and had mormon.org time. I watched some really good videos, one of which is called "deep beauty". In the evening we went to a member’s home to help them out with their move. They are moving to St. George, Utah. It was a super sad experience, but a good one at the same time. Yeah, that didn't make any sense. They got a truck that was far too small for all of their belongings. We ended up packing some things away, and they are going to figure things out when they get moved in to their condo in Utah. It took up our entire evening, but the good experience that I was talking about was that the ward really came together and helped them in their time of need. It was really cool to watch the gospel in action :)
On Friday morning we finished helping with the move. We packed it up in a trailer, and they hauled it to a storage unit. They were really stressed out and emotional, but they really appreciated all of the help they received. Afterwards we went home and did our Weekly Planning. We talked about our crazy week and how we hadn't really taught very many people, and so we committed to work super hard for the remainder of the week to make up for the beginning half. We went over for a lesson with an investigator, but we missed him by minutes. On the way back there was a guy who's car was broken down in the middle of a busy street. My companion started pulling over to the side, so we went over to help. I know zero about cars, so he was on his own! His battery wires apparently weren't working and so my companion tied a sock around it so it would work. Honestly, I have no clue how any of that works and how it worked with a sock tied on it, but he was able to drive away :) The sock that they found in his trunk apparently was super oily and nasty so we went to a gas station afterwards so he could clean up a little bit. On our way home I decided that we were going to stop by a guy I met at a bus stop a couple months ago, but he has not been home any of the times we have stopped by. This time was different. Kind of interesting though. We found out that he lives in a group home, so we had to go up to his room for the lesson. His room was pretty messy, he had clothes all over and it smelled like body odor. I remember as I sat down on the floor having a distinct prompting to talk to him about how the gospel will help him to improve his state of living, and that it will bring him an inner joy like he had never before experienced. We taught him the restoration, and he committed to be baptized in September. I have been working with my companion on extending baptismal invitations, and so I just stopped and looked at him when it was time to invite him to be baptized. It was a little awkward at first when he just stared back at me, but then he got the hint ;) We left the lesson on a spiritual high and then saw that my companion bike tire was flat. Not good! I have never had a flat tire on my mission, so I didn't really know how to help him. We don't have any bike places near by, so we called a member and he took us to the bike store. In the evening we went out joint teaching. We had a couple lessons fall through, and then we went over to visit with a less-active member. We talked with him for a while, and then his brother came in from a bike ride. His brother is not a member, and doesn't exactly appreciate our Church very much. We talked with him for a while, and he talked with our joint-teach about homes and things because they both build houses. When he was about to take off I asked him if he had met with missionaries before, and it really caught him off guard. He talked to us a little longer about religion and things, and how the Mormons that he has worked with have all been really hard workers, and that maybe he would visit with us sometime. Our Joint-teach laughed on our way home about the look on his face when I started transitioning into the gospel, but he was surprised to see how well it worked out! Friday was also my 15 Month mark on my mission... crazy! Apparently it was also a holiday of some sort called "assumption"... never heard of it.
Saturday was interesting as well. My companion was putting his bike together when he looked over at my bike and noticed that my back tire was flat. REALLY?!?!? This is what I get for telling him that I have never had a bike problem on my mission! So we went back to the bike store with a member and fixed up my bike as well. It was pretty insane! After our bikes were all fixed up we went out and worked. On our way over to some apartments we met a man from Liberia. We taught him the restoration and he talked with us about how important the gospel is. He is Pentecostal, but is interested in potentially meeting with missionaries. He lives in Brooklyn Park, so he will be referred to other missionaries. After our lesson with our investigator, we went over and attempted to have a lesson with some other investigators, but a woman that I have taught previously came out and wanted to talk with us. She appeared to be pretty drunk, and then she plopped herself down on her chair, and began sipping her wine glass full of vodka. Yep, totally wasted! We briefly talked with her, but clearly she was not going to retain much. We prayed with her and then she got super emotional and came over and started hugging us, and was all up in our business. Drunk people are not fun to be around! This is why we have the Word of Wisdom :) She has talked to me about a particular pink tie that I somehow wear every time I see her, and she started tugging at it and told me that I need to give it to her. I decided to depart with my tie and head out! We of course had to take a picture beforehand though, so I could always remember our odd lesson. Riding home was super weird without a tie though. In a way I kind of felt naked. It was a fun experience though, and the tie was starting to fall apart anyways. In the evening we went out joint teaching. We had a lesson with an investigator family and watched "The John Tanner Story" with them. We talked about faith and consecration, and how if they are going to progress, they need to actually do something about it. They committed to come to Church not this week, but next week. We will have to see what happens.
Sunday was really great! An investigator came, and the the new members had their baby blessing for their son. They were able to have their other son there, who they are having a custody battle over. He is not allowed to be with them on Sundays so they don't indoctrinate him with their religion, but he was allowed to be their for his brothers baby blessing! After Church we had correlation with out Ward Mission Leader and Ward Missionaries, and then had our weekly meeting with Bishop. In the evening we we went to the President's Fireside with an investigator family. This fireside was particularly impressive! One of the concluding speakers was really engaging and talked a lot about his struggles with faith, which is exactly what Brother Vevea had talked to us about. He told us about his religious journey which was quite humourous. He was on a traveling basketball team, and a teammate pointed out to them that in their hotels they have a Gideon Bible and a lot of people hide their money in it and forget about it. Sure enough over the years he has collected quite a bit of money using the Bible! One business trip he was on he opened up the nightstand drawer, and there sat a Book of Mormon. He must have been at a Marriott! He said there was no money hidden inside, but he decided to read a few chapters. He ended up taking it home, but never continued reading it until years later the missionaries knocked on his door. Super cool experience!
It has been a great week full of Many Mighty Miracles (MMM) :) Thank you all for all of your love and support! I couldn't do this without you. I hope you have a great week!
Best Wishes,
Elder Kyle William Andrews
Here is a super good article I read this past week during our mormon.org time! Anthony Cannon, one of the people featured in the article is our Assistant Ward Mission Leader. Pretty cool :) http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/missionary-experiences-shape-future
Monday, August 11, 2014
The Best Is Yet To Come
Hello Everyone,
It has been another great week in Minnesota, with a few unexpected surprises! On Monday, Conge Civique (CAN), we had our P-Day. Nothing super out of the ordinary happened, but it was a pretty good P-Day. In the evening we went joint teaching. We had a lesson with an investigator, and to our surprise the Sisters were at their home when we arrived. It was kind of an awkward experience, but we all taught a restoration lesson together. Apparently they have been teaching two of the wife’s God-Daughters, and so we had both scheduled our lessons at the same time. It was a really good lesson though :) Afterwards we went over and met with another investigator. We have been trying to get a hold of her husband for a while now. She informed us that his work schedule had changed and that he was rarely home. Kind of sad that he is never home because he has a cleaning business in the morning, and he works at a factory in the evening with no days off. She said that the only time they really see each other is when the other person is sleeping. She mentioned, however, that they might be moving to St. Paul sometime soon so we will have to see what happens.
On Tuesday we had District Meeting and afterwards we went on exchange. I was with an Elder from Orem, Utah. It was a really great experience, but for some reason my throat was giving me problems. I didn't mention anything though, and just kept on chugging along. We had a great lesson with a new member, and watched Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration with him. He mentioned that he learned a lot about the life of Joseph Smith and the trials he faced as he attempted to restore the Church. Afterwards we were going to go contact a mormon.org referral that we received, but I felt distinctly prompted to stop by a man that lives near the member. We rode over to his home, and found him doing some work in the backyard. We taught him the restoration, and he agreed to be baptized on August 30th! He told us that he has been really struggling with his current situation. He is unemployed, and rents the upstairs from his daughter. He said that his self-confidence was really struggling and that he was looking for something that could help him. We talked to him about how the gospel can help us, and we connected him with our ward employment specialist. He agreed to come to Church on Sunday, and told us that he wants his daughter to start taking the lessons and coming to Church with him as well. In the evening we went out with a member and helped a family move. They are moving to Bloomington, Indiana for business school. The father is going to get his MBA. It was one of the first organized and orderly moves on my mission! It was great :)
On Wednesday my throat was REALLY bothering me, but luckily I had a check-up with a Dr. at the clinic anyways so it all came together perfectly. They checked me for strep throat, and said that they would get back to me. They had to send the swab to a lab, because they are just a clinic. He said my throat looked pretty bad though. Afterwards we exchanged back and had accountability. In the afternoon we had a lesson with a friend of a member that we have been working with in the ward. We had a super great lesson with her, and she committed to be baptized! She is going out of town for the next few weeks though, so it will be a while before we can see her again. In the evening we went out with a joint teach and met with some new members. It is so crazy to me that they are leaving! I am so used to being the one that leaves, so it was weird having to say goodbye but on the flip side. Afterwards we went over to an investigator family, and watched Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration with them as well. It was a really great experience, and then afterwards we pretty boldly told them that if Joseph Smith went through all of that to restore the Church, they should probably try and come to the Church that he worked so hard to restore! The result was good though, they completely agreed and said that they hadn't even really been trying to get to Church. Ahhh... 9:00 Church problems! I feel like 9:00 Church should probably be banned, but that's just me :) We stopped by the pharmacy on the way home to pick up my long overdue prescription, and they told me that they didn't have it. WHAT?!?!? My throat was killing at this point, so I was super thrilled to find out that they didn't have my pills!
On Thursday my thoughts were confirmed. They called and told me that I have strep throat. I told them that I still did not have my prescription, and they told me that they had misplaced the prescription order. How do you lose a prescription! I just wanted relief, but soon enough I was able to get my pills at Walgreen's :) At least I was able to get a prescription and start the road to recovery! We weren't able to go out for the day, so we did a lot of studying. In fact, I finished the Doctrine and Covenants and started the Pearl of Great Price on Wednesday. In the evening I asked a member if he could come give me a blessing, and it seriously was exactly what I needed! He told me that "God is mindful of you" and that he knows my struggles at this time and that he is there helping me along. I only remember that one part in particular, but I just remember that it really hit me and helped me. Kind of an interesting day, but it all worked out :)
On Friday we had Weekly Planning and we did some Area Book Work. We reviewed a lot of the training Preach My Gospel videos that they give us, and learned how to more effectively Weekly Plan, and do Area Book work. It was great! In the evening we had a ward picnic and some investigators came! It was super great, AND I was feeling a lot better which was awesome :) It was kind of a slow two days, but at least I was able to start going back to work again.
On Saturday we had a lesson with a woman and her significant other. We had a lesson with them about the Plan of Salvation. She was really accepting of our teachings, but he was not having it. He acknowledged that a higher power does have a plan for us though, so that was a start! She agreed to come to Church with us on Sunday, and he said that he would come eventually, but not this week. Then the seat on my bike broke. Well, it didn't really break, a bolt came loose so the seat was falling off. We don't really have any shopping centers in our area so we checked a few gas stations and nearby stores, but no one had any tools that would fix it. So... we walked. Later in the afternoon we had a lesson with a less-active member, on Lehi's dream and the tree of life. I shared a quote by Elder Holland titled "The Best Is Yet To Come", and we encouraged him to come to Church with us on Sunday. He said that he would surprise us one of the weeks and show up! He likes to do things his own way, which is always eventful ;) We finished off the evening with a lesson a less active member. We watched a movie called "Between Heaven and Earth" that was all focused on the temple. It was a super great video, and we were able to encourage him to return to the temple often.
Sunday was awesome! The woman and her significant other both came to Church, and we had a really great Sacrament Meeting! After Church we had correlation and our weekly meeting with Bishop. In the evening we went out joint teaching. We went around contacting a bunch of different mormon.org referrals that we had received this week, but none of them were really panning out the way we had hoped. Some were false addresses, some just wanted a free Bible and had no intentions of meeting with us, and some were not home. We did, however, have a great lesson with an investigator! We talked with her about serving others and doing missionary work. She is excited to work with her friends and family members, and to help them to feel God's love.
Overall it was a really great week! In the meantime, my companion cracked his tooth, so we will have to get that fixed up sometime this week. Today we have a District P-Day though! We are going to Stone Arch Bridge and the General Mills, Mill City Museum in Minneapolis! Should be a pretty exciting day :) Thank you all so much for all of your love and support and for everything you do for me! Talk to you soon.
Best Wishes,
Elder Kyle William Andrews
It has been another great week in Minnesota, with a few unexpected surprises! On Monday, Conge Civique (CAN), we had our P-Day. Nothing super out of the ordinary happened, but it was a pretty good P-Day. In the evening we went joint teaching. We had a lesson with an investigator, and to our surprise the Sisters were at their home when we arrived. It was kind of an awkward experience, but we all taught a restoration lesson together. Apparently they have been teaching two of the wife’s God-Daughters, and so we had both scheduled our lessons at the same time. It was a really good lesson though :) Afterwards we went over and met with another investigator. We have been trying to get a hold of her husband for a while now. She informed us that his work schedule had changed and that he was rarely home. Kind of sad that he is never home because he has a cleaning business in the morning, and he works at a factory in the evening with no days off. She said that the only time they really see each other is when the other person is sleeping. She mentioned, however, that they might be moving to St. Paul sometime soon so we will have to see what happens.
On Tuesday we had District Meeting and afterwards we went on exchange. I was with an Elder from Orem, Utah. It was a really great experience, but for some reason my throat was giving me problems. I didn't mention anything though, and just kept on chugging along. We had a great lesson with a new member, and watched Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration with him. He mentioned that he learned a lot about the life of Joseph Smith and the trials he faced as he attempted to restore the Church. Afterwards we were going to go contact a mormon.org referral that we received, but I felt distinctly prompted to stop by a man that lives near the member. We rode over to his home, and found him doing some work in the backyard. We taught him the restoration, and he agreed to be baptized on August 30th! He told us that he has been really struggling with his current situation. He is unemployed, and rents the upstairs from his daughter. He said that his self-confidence was really struggling and that he was looking for something that could help him. We talked to him about how the gospel can help us, and we connected him with our ward employment specialist. He agreed to come to Church on Sunday, and told us that he wants his daughter to start taking the lessons and coming to Church with him as well. In the evening we went out with a member and helped a family move. They are moving to Bloomington, Indiana for business school. The father is going to get his MBA. It was one of the first organized and orderly moves on my mission! It was great :)
On Wednesday my throat was REALLY bothering me, but luckily I had a check-up with a Dr. at the clinic anyways so it all came together perfectly. They checked me for strep throat, and said that they would get back to me. They had to send the swab to a lab, because they are just a clinic. He said my throat looked pretty bad though. Afterwards we exchanged back and had accountability. In the afternoon we had a lesson with a friend of a member that we have been working with in the ward. We had a super great lesson with her, and she committed to be baptized! She is going out of town for the next few weeks though, so it will be a while before we can see her again. In the evening we went out with a joint teach and met with some new members. It is so crazy to me that they are leaving! I am so used to being the one that leaves, so it was weird having to say goodbye but on the flip side. Afterwards we went over to an investigator family, and watched Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration with them as well. It was a really great experience, and then afterwards we pretty boldly told them that if Joseph Smith went through all of that to restore the Church, they should probably try and come to the Church that he worked so hard to restore! The result was good though, they completely agreed and said that they hadn't even really been trying to get to Church. Ahhh... 9:00 Church problems! I feel like 9:00 Church should probably be banned, but that's just me :) We stopped by the pharmacy on the way home to pick up my long overdue prescription, and they told me that they didn't have it. WHAT?!?!? My throat was killing at this point, so I was super thrilled to find out that they didn't have my pills!
On Thursday my thoughts were confirmed. They called and told me that I have strep throat. I told them that I still did not have my prescription, and they told me that they had misplaced the prescription order. How do you lose a prescription! I just wanted relief, but soon enough I was able to get my pills at Walgreen's :) At least I was able to get a prescription and start the road to recovery! We weren't able to go out for the day, so we did a lot of studying. In fact, I finished the Doctrine and Covenants and started the Pearl of Great Price on Wednesday. In the evening I asked a member if he could come give me a blessing, and it seriously was exactly what I needed! He told me that "God is mindful of you" and that he knows my struggles at this time and that he is there helping me along. I only remember that one part in particular, but I just remember that it really hit me and helped me. Kind of an interesting day, but it all worked out :)
On Friday we had Weekly Planning and we did some Area Book Work. We reviewed a lot of the training Preach My Gospel videos that they give us, and learned how to more effectively Weekly Plan, and do Area Book work. It was great! In the evening we had a ward picnic and some investigators came! It was super great, AND I was feeling a lot better which was awesome :) It was kind of a slow two days, but at least I was able to start going back to work again.
On Saturday we had a lesson with a woman and her significant other. We had a lesson with them about the Plan of Salvation. She was really accepting of our teachings, but he was not having it. He acknowledged that a higher power does have a plan for us though, so that was a start! She agreed to come to Church with us on Sunday, and he said that he would come eventually, but not this week. Then the seat on my bike broke. Well, it didn't really break, a bolt came loose so the seat was falling off. We don't really have any shopping centers in our area so we checked a few gas stations and nearby stores, but no one had any tools that would fix it. So... we walked. Later in the afternoon we had a lesson with a less-active member, on Lehi's dream and the tree of life. I shared a quote by Elder Holland titled "The Best Is Yet To Come", and we encouraged him to come to Church with us on Sunday. He said that he would surprise us one of the weeks and show up! He likes to do things his own way, which is always eventful ;) We finished off the evening with a lesson a less active member. We watched a movie called "Between Heaven and Earth" that was all focused on the temple. It was a super great video, and we were able to encourage him to return to the temple often.
Sunday was awesome! The woman and her significant other both came to Church, and we had a really great Sacrament Meeting! After Church we had correlation and our weekly meeting with Bishop. In the evening we went out joint teaching. We went around contacting a bunch of different mormon.org referrals that we had received this week, but none of them were really panning out the way we had hoped. Some were false addresses, some just wanted a free Bible and had no intentions of meeting with us, and some were not home. We did, however, have a great lesson with an investigator! We talked with her about serving others and doing missionary work. She is excited to work with her friends and family members, and to help them to feel God's love.
Overall it was a really great week! In the meantime, my companion cracked his tooth, so we will have to get that fixed up sometime this week. Today we have a District P-Day though! We are going to Stone Arch Bridge and the General Mills, Mill City Museum in Minneapolis! Should be a pretty exciting day :) Thank you all so much for all of your love and support and for everything you do for me! Talk to you soon.
Best Wishes,
Elder Kyle William Andrews
Monday, August 4, 2014
Prayer is such an amazing tool.
Hello Everyone,
First of all, happy Conge Civique (Civic Holiday in Canada)! This week has been great. Last Monday after our P-Day had finished, we went over to the an investigator’s house to do some service. We shoveled some dirt, pulled some weeds, and did some minor landscaping. It is always fun to be able to work with others, and then we were able to have a spiritual thought with them afterwards. Usually we teach the father on his own, so it was a rather peculiar experience. He was a little more closed off than normal, but he was showing a lot of interest in our message. I talked about Alma 32 and related it to the work we just performed on their home. We talked about faith and how it is like a seed, but more importantly you need to watch over the ground and make sure that it is planted in good soil. Once it has been planted, the heavy lifting begins! You need to nourish and continue to work on it, or it will not last. We talked about Lehi's dream and how once he had tasted of the fruit, he wanted to share it with others, and how that influences our faith. It was a really cool teaching opportunity! While we were talking I was reminded of Aimee's testimony plant. How is that doing by the way? Is Mom still keeping it alive, or has Aimee decided to work on it herself? Just thought I'd ask haha ;)
On Tuesday we mowed the a family’s lawn, and went tracting afterwards. We met a woman and taught her the entire Restoration. She seemed interested as we taught her, but then she rejected the baptismal invitation and did not want to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. My companion took it kind of hard, and was confused so we had a conversation about planting seeds and how some people are not completely prepared to receive the gospel. Usually people don't listen to our whole message if they are not interested, but maybe it helped her in some way! In the evening we went joint teaching with Brother a brother from the ward. We went to the to a less active member’s home, but the husband was not home. We were about to teach the wife, but then her friend knocked on the door. We invited her in and asked her if she would be interested in learning more about our Church. We then proceeded to teach the Restoration, and the Sister got really excited and jumped in and helped us teach the lesson. Afterwards her friend’s husband came in who was a little tipsy, and sat down next to her. She began talking about their marital problems and we provided some counsel. Luckily the member was with us, so he had some actually experience with being married so he related really well to them. The friend's husband really liked him and continued to give him props throughout the lesson. It was a really cool experience! The friend agreed to try out our Church, and her husband agreed to come once a month. Small progress I guess ;)
On Wednesday the Sisters had a baptism and asked us to fill up the baptismal font for them. We spent a while at the Church, because the font takes about three hours to fill, but it all worked out! We set up the room, had extended training time, and then I played the piano for a while. I can now play hymns 130 "Be Thou Humble", 142 "Sweet Hour of Prayer", 143 "Let The Holy Spirit Guide", and the primary children's song "I Will be Valiant"... for the most part. I have only learned two songs really on my mission, but I am making some progress I guess. Afterwards we had our weekly accountability call with the District Leader. He is growing into his position as District Leader, but is still having a tough time with it. Every time I see him he tells me that I should have been the District Leader. Kind of interesting. To be perfectly honest, I have always wanted to be a District Leader, but I know that I was not supposed to be a District Leader this transfer. The District Leader is really quiet and reserved, and struggles at times to openly talk with other people. Being a District Leader is forcing him to change and to come out of his shell. He is shifting and changing and it is really cool to see the difference in him already! I know that President Forbes was inspired in making him a District Leader. The only awkward part of it all is that a lot of the people in the ward think that I am the District Leader. Our new Assistant Ward Mission Leader asked if he could look through my planner, and afterwards asked me if I was the District Leader. I guess it was kind of a compliment, but I am not the District Leader and the District Leader is in our ward. Complications haha! Sorry, I just needed a quick vent session :) Afterwards we had some maintenance work done on our apartment. We have taught the maintenance manager before when he was visiting our apartment, but this time was different. He mentioned that his grandfather had passed away, and that it was really weighing on him. His countenance had changed. We talked to him briefly about the Plan of Salvation and then he went on his way. He came back later in the day to finish up some repairs when we were not home, and he left us a note informing us that he would like us to call him if we get home before 5:00 PM. We arrived home at 5:00 PM for dinner, and gave him a call. He came back to our apartment and asked us if we could teach him how to pray. He said that it had been a long time since he last prayed, and that he liked how we openly communicated with God rather than reciting a memorized prayer. We taught him how to pray and you could see a change in him after we prayer. He looked more hopeful, and had a greater confidence that things would work out! Prayer is such an amazing tool. God cares about the individual details of our lives, and He wants to hear from us. In the evening we went out joint teaching with a member and taught an investigator. We talked about the Eboli (not really sure how it is spelled) outbreak in Liberia, and how she is scared for her friends and family that still live there. We followed up with her on her experience at Church a few weeks ago, and she said that she didn't love it. She came on a fast and testimony meeting Sunday, and didn't like how unstructured it was. She also attends a very soulful Methodist Church where they sing and clap and praise Jesus, and she said that she didn't feel that Spirit in our Church. I have to agree that the feeling in our Church is VERY different than what she is accustomed to, but we talked about the different ways that the Spirit can communicate with us. We taught her the Restoration and about the Priesthood and how that sets our Church apart. She agreed to come on a different Sunday and try our a regular Church service.
On Thursday we had Zone Conference in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. It was cool to be able to experience President and Sister Forbes first Zone Conference! They made a few alterations to our rules, and I think it is going to accomplish a lot of great things in our mission. One thing that they talked to us a lot about was having fun on our P-Days, which I was NOT expecting! They told us that they want us to experience the boundaries of our mission, and gave us permission to travel 30 minutes out of our zone if necessary on P-Days. I have a huge list of things that I want to do in Minneapolis, but I have also really wanted to see the St. Paul Cathedral which is just under 30 minutes away from us :) We also got permission in our Zone to attend the Minnesota State Fair near the end of this month. Super cool! In the evening we visited with an investigator and talked to him about missionary work and the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a great ending to a great day :)
On Friday we had Weekly Planning and went to the library to do mormon.org time. I watched a really cool Mormon Message called "Mountains To Climb" and another called "Bullying - Stop It". Both of which were really great, and I recommend watching them in the near future. In the evening we did a teaching evaluation with the a family, and then went out joint teaching with a brother from the ward. The teaching evaluation went great, but the rest of the night kind of fell apart. NO ONE was home, so we did what felt like a million stop by's. We ended up not teaching anyone in the evening. It was a pretty rough evening, but it all works out.
On Saturday we were supposed to be helping our maintenance manager move into our apartment building. We arranged for the missionaries in St. Paul to help load up his moving truck, and then we were going to help unload at noon. Noon came and passed, then 1, then 2, then 3, then 4, and then at 5:00 we had dinner. He still was not ready! We had a couple appointments in the evening, and so we went joint teaching with a brother from the ward. We watched the movie "Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration" with our new convert and his family and talked about the Priesthood. It was a really great lesson! He is excited to get the Priesthood and to be able to baptize his daughter in December. our maintenance manager called us at 9:30 PM and said that they were about to head over, but we can't go out after 9:30. I have learned multiple times over on my mission that organization is essential in a move :) And in life really! Maybe sometime this week we will end up helping him with his move ;)
On Sunday we had Church, and had a great lesson on Time Management in Elders Quorum. I was pretty organized for the most part in high school and college, including a colour organized schedule on iCalendar that synced to my iPhone, but I also wasted a lot of time. I am not a morning person WHATSOEVER, but I probably could have woken up before noon ;) I think I might go back to having 10:00 AM classes when I go back to school, rather than 1:00 PM. During correlation we talked about how the "Book of Mormon Musical" is coming to Minneapolis, and how we can use it as an effective missionary opportunity! I think it would be SUPER cool if we could go see the Book of Mormon Musical, but I doubt that will ever happen. Generally speaking the Church doesn't encourage anti-Mormon propaganda, but especially for missionaries. Maybe I can see it sometime after my mission. We had our weekly meeting with Bishop, and then went on our way. In the evening we went out joint teaching and had a quick lesson with our investigator. He told us that his 40 year old uncle was recently shot by a 16 year old boy, and that it was really tough for him and his family. We talked to him about the Plan of Salvation and prayer, and a had a pretty spiritual experience with him. We will be visiting with him later tonight, and going more in depth on the Plan of Salvation, because he had to go. Afterwards we met with another investigator and talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I used the repentance pencil lesson that my Mom used when I was younger, and Patience LOVED it :)
All in all is was a pretty great week! I hope you are all doing well, and that you have a great week this week :) Thank you all for all of your love and support, you are the best!
Best Wishes,
Elder Kyle William Andrews
First of all, happy Conge Civique (Civic Holiday in Canada)! This week has been great. Last Monday after our P-Day had finished, we went over to the an investigator’s house to do some service. We shoveled some dirt, pulled some weeds, and did some minor landscaping. It is always fun to be able to work with others, and then we were able to have a spiritual thought with them afterwards. Usually we teach the father on his own, so it was a rather peculiar experience. He was a little more closed off than normal, but he was showing a lot of interest in our message. I talked about Alma 32 and related it to the work we just performed on their home. We talked about faith and how it is like a seed, but more importantly you need to watch over the ground and make sure that it is planted in good soil. Once it has been planted, the heavy lifting begins! You need to nourish and continue to work on it, or it will not last. We talked about Lehi's dream and how once he had tasted of the fruit, he wanted to share it with others, and how that influences our faith. It was a really cool teaching opportunity! While we were talking I was reminded of Aimee's testimony plant. How is that doing by the way? Is Mom still keeping it alive, or has Aimee decided to work on it herself? Just thought I'd ask haha ;)
On Tuesday we mowed the a family’s lawn, and went tracting afterwards. We met a woman and taught her the entire Restoration. She seemed interested as we taught her, but then she rejected the baptismal invitation and did not want to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. My companion took it kind of hard, and was confused so we had a conversation about planting seeds and how some people are not completely prepared to receive the gospel. Usually people don't listen to our whole message if they are not interested, but maybe it helped her in some way! In the evening we went joint teaching with Brother a brother from the ward. We went to the to a less active member’s home, but the husband was not home. We were about to teach the wife, but then her friend knocked on the door. We invited her in and asked her if she would be interested in learning more about our Church. We then proceeded to teach the Restoration, and the Sister got really excited and jumped in and helped us teach the lesson. Afterwards her friend’s husband came in who was a little tipsy, and sat down next to her. She began talking about their marital problems and we provided some counsel. Luckily the member was with us, so he had some actually experience with being married so he related really well to them. The friend's husband really liked him and continued to give him props throughout the lesson. It was a really cool experience! The friend agreed to try out our Church, and her husband agreed to come once a month. Small progress I guess ;)
On Wednesday the Sisters had a baptism and asked us to fill up the baptismal font for them. We spent a while at the Church, because the font takes about three hours to fill, but it all worked out! We set up the room, had extended training time, and then I played the piano for a while. I can now play hymns 130 "Be Thou Humble", 142 "Sweet Hour of Prayer", 143 "Let The Holy Spirit Guide", and the primary children's song "I Will be Valiant"... for the most part. I have only learned two songs really on my mission, but I am making some progress I guess. Afterwards we had our weekly accountability call with the District Leader. He is growing into his position as District Leader, but is still having a tough time with it. Every time I see him he tells me that I should have been the District Leader. Kind of interesting. To be perfectly honest, I have always wanted to be a District Leader, but I know that I was not supposed to be a District Leader this transfer. The District Leader is really quiet and reserved, and struggles at times to openly talk with other people. Being a District Leader is forcing him to change and to come out of his shell. He is shifting and changing and it is really cool to see the difference in him already! I know that President Forbes was inspired in making him a District Leader. The only awkward part of it all is that a lot of the people in the ward think that I am the District Leader. Our new Assistant Ward Mission Leader asked if he could look through my planner, and afterwards asked me if I was the District Leader. I guess it was kind of a compliment, but I am not the District Leader and the District Leader is in our ward. Complications haha! Sorry, I just needed a quick vent session :) Afterwards we had some maintenance work done on our apartment. We have taught the maintenance manager before when he was visiting our apartment, but this time was different. He mentioned that his grandfather had passed away, and that it was really weighing on him. His countenance had changed. We talked to him briefly about the Plan of Salvation and then he went on his way. He came back later in the day to finish up some repairs when we were not home, and he left us a note informing us that he would like us to call him if we get home before 5:00 PM. We arrived home at 5:00 PM for dinner, and gave him a call. He came back to our apartment and asked us if we could teach him how to pray. He said that it had been a long time since he last prayed, and that he liked how we openly communicated with God rather than reciting a memorized prayer. We taught him how to pray and you could see a change in him after we prayer. He looked more hopeful, and had a greater confidence that things would work out! Prayer is such an amazing tool. God cares about the individual details of our lives, and He wants to hear from us. In the evening we went out joint teaching with a member and taught an investigator. We talked about the Eboli (not really sure how it is spelled) outbreak in Liberia, and how she is scared for her friends and family that still live there. We followed up with her on her experience at Church a few weeks ago, and she said that she didn't love it. She came on a fast and testimony meeting Sunday, and didn't like how unstructured it was. She also attends a very soulful Methodist Church where they sing and clap and praise Jesus, and she said that she didn't feel that Spirit in our Church. I have to agree that the feeling in our Church is VERY different than what she is accustomed to, but we talked about the different ways that the Spirit can communicate with us. We taught her the Restoration and about the Priesthood and how that sets our Church apart. She agreed to come on a different Sunday and try our a regular Church service.
On Thursday we had Zone Conference in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. It was cool to be able to experience President and Sister Forbes first Zone Conference! They made a few alterations to our rules, and I think it is going to accomplish a lot of great things in our mission. One thing that they talked to us a lot about was having fun on our P-Days, which I was NOT expecting! They told us that they want us to experience the boundaries of our mission, and gave us permission to travel 30 minutes out of our zone if necessary on P-Days. I have a huge list of things that I want to do in Minneapolis, but I have also really wanted to see the St. Paul Cathedral which is just under 30 minutes away from us :) We also got permission in our Zone to attend the Minnesota State Fair near the end of this month. Super cool! In the evening we visited with an investigator and talked to him about missionary work and the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a great ending to a great day :)
On Friday we had Weekly Planning and went to the library to do mormon.org time. I watched a really cool Mormon Message called "Mountains To Climb" and another called "Bullying - Stop It". Both of which were really great, and I recommend watching them in the near future. In the evening we did a teaching evaluation with the a family, and then went out joint teaching with a brother from the ward. The teaching evaluation went great, but the rest of the night kind of fell apart. NO ONE was home, so we did what felt like a million stop by's. We ended up not teaching anyone in the evening. It was a pretty rough evening, but it all works out.
On Saturday we were supposed to be helping our maintenance manager move into our apartment building. We arranged for the missionaries in St. Paul to help load up his moving truck, and then we were going to help unload at noon. Noon came and passed, then 1, then 2, then 3, then 4, and then at 5:00 we had dinner. He still was not ready! We had a couple appointments in the evening, and so we went joint teaching with a brother from the ward. We watched the movie "Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration" with our new convert and his family and talked about the Priesthood. It was a really great lesson! He is excited to get the Priesthood and to be able to baptize his daughter in December. our maintenance manager called us at 9:30 PM and said that they were about to head over, but we can't go out after 9:30. I have learned multiple times over on my mission that organization is essential in a move :) And in life really! Maybe sometime this week we will end up helping him with his move ;)
On Sunday we had Church, and had a great lesson on Time Management in Elders Quorum. I was pretty organized for the most part in high school and college, including a colour organized schedule on iCalendar that synced to my iPhone, but I also wasted a lot of time. I am not a morning person WHATSOEVER, but I probably could have woken up before noon ;) I think I might go back to having 10:00 AM classes when I go back to school, rather than 1:00 PM. During correlation we talked about how the "Book of Mormon Musical" is coming to Minneapolis, and how we can use it as an effective missionary opportunity! I think it would be SUPER cool if we could go see the Book of Mormon Musical, but I doubt that will ever happen. Generally speaking the Church doesn't encourage anti-Mormon propaganda, but especially for missionaries. Maybe I can see it sometime after my mission. We had our weekly meeting with Bishop, and then went on our way. In the evening we went out joint teaching and had a quick lesson with our investigator. He told us that his 40 year old uncle was recently shot by a 16 year old boy, and that it was really tough for him and his family. We talked to him about the Plan of Salvation and prayer, and a had a pretty spiritual experience with him. We will be visiting with him later tonight, and going more in depth on the Plan of Salvation, because he had to go. Afterwards we met with another investigator and talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I used the repentance pencil lesson that my Mom used when I was younger, and Patience LOVED it :)
All in all is was a pretty great week! I hope you are all doing well, and that you have a great week this week :) Thank you all for all of your love and support, you are the best!
Best Wishes,
Elder Kyle William Andrews
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