Hello Everyone,
This week has been great :) The weather has been kinda wacky, but things are good! On Monday we had our P-Day, which is always fun. It was my last P-Day that isn't super scheduled out, so it was good to be able to enjoy some down time haha! In the coming weeks we have our Zone P-Day, our District P-Day, and our Mall of America trip. I am super stoked for the upcoming P-Days though :) In the evening we had Family Home Evening with a family. I love that family! I shared the "repencil" lesson with them, and it was a really fun evening. Their daughter shared her hedgehog with us, so that was super cool! I did have a dumb blonde moment though. I tried to pet her hedgehog. Ouch! I did it quickly before anyone could warn me of my "special moment" so I got poked. I kind of want a hedgehog now, but it is also kind of a boring pet. You can't do much with it. Dogs are still the best! To finish off the day we visited with another family. We talked to them about the blessings of the gospel in families, and had a really great discussion. All in all it was a good day!
On Tuesday we had District Meeting, which is always exciting! This week District Meeting was on the Doctrine of Christ and our Missionary Purpose. We did a scripture chase, I talked about our purpose for a little bit, one Elder gave a training on the principle of love in missionary work, and the other Elder gave a training on the baptismal invitation. For my handout I had a red ribbon that I cut out at the library on the dye cut machine that I wrote our missionary purpose on, and on the back it says "What is your RIESEN for serving a mission?" and I had the "riesen" candies of course ;) After District Meeting I went on exchange with one of the new Elders in the area. He is originally from San Diego, California but then his family moved to a small town of 600 people in Idaho. For our exchange we did a little bit of everything. We did some finding, stopped by a few potentials and less-actives, and had a few appointments. In the afternoon the weather was nuts! It was a beautiful day, and then all the sudden it started hailing, then snowing, then it melted and was fine again. Crazy Minnesota weather! We visited with a man, which was kind of fun. My temporary companion taught him before he moved here, so we had a fun little reunion haha! We talked about the Book of Mormon and faith. In the evening we had a lesson with a family on the Plan of Salvation. I bought a can of cheap shaving cream, and we turned their kitchen table into a whiteboard. As we taught the Plan of Salvation, we drew what was happening into the shaving cream. It is always fun to be able to get hands on and involved in a lesson, and I think it helped them to learn better. It was super fun!
On Wednesday, Earth Day #SaveTheWorld and Administrative Professionals Day, we had an interview in the morning, and then we exchanged back at the temple. We went to the St. Paul Minnesota Temple with some members. They are great! At the temple I saw a few people that I knew so that was awesome! Two families from previous areas were there! It was great, plus I am starting to get the hang of this whole temple thing haha! I feel like I make a fool of myself half of the time, but this time I didn't need as much help at the veil. After the temple we had lunch and I did a little bit of clean up at our apartment. One of my goals on my mission is to always have a Celestial Apartment. Some of my companions are not always super supportive of this goal, however, so it makes it a little bit difficult. Since I have been in this area I have had two rather messy companions, so I have been on my own on the cleaning. I was cleaning, and my companion did some studying. We did some scheduling and made a bunch of phone calls in the afternoon and then we went out and did some finding. In the evening our appointments fell through, so we were able to help out with the Ward Service Project. We are responsible for a section of the highway, so we were doing some clean up alongside the highway. It was a good time. I was hanging out with my crew. We were freezing, but we made it fun! Kind of a gross job, but it worked out ;)
On Thursday morning we helped move some furniture. One family in the ward got some new furniture and so they gave our investigator family their old furniture. I never know how we always manage to get furniture in and out of people's homes, but it always works. It's a miracle! I swear this couch was NOT going to fit. We squeezed it through the doors, did some rearranging, and somehow we got it in! We visited with our investigator for a little while and reset his baptismal date for May 9th. They have had a rough week! She got Influenza B and Pneumonia, and then he got Bronchitis and Influenza B a day later. Needless to say we did some major hand washing after we met with them! Later we did our weekly service at the library. This week we were working on cow dye cuts. My companion cut out the cows, and I hole punched them and did some minor assembly. #BarnyardBash In the afternoon we had accountability with the Elders, and it sounds like things are starting to pick up. They found a few new investigators, and things are looking good! In the evening we did a little bit of finding, and then we had Family Home Evening with a family. It was the son’s turn to choose the game, and he chose Clue and Life. The daughter dominated at Clue, and then we weren't able to finish Life.
On Friday we had our mormon.org time in the morning, and then we had accountability with the Zone Leaders. Good times! Now that we don't have Sisters in the District I don't have a gossip hour call with the Sister Training Leaders, so that was kind of weird. Later we did our weekly service at the Senior Center. Good ole' Yahtzee! This week only one person got a Yahtzee so it was a little bit slower. Still a good time though :) After the Senior Center we did some Weekly Planning. It kind of rocked my world a little bit. I realized that after this Weekly Planning session I will only have two more on my mission. Super weird! In the evening we stopped by a few people in another city and then we visited with an investigator. We shared the video, "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration" with her and she loved it. She is interested in learning more about the Church and how it was established, so that video was perfect!
On Saturday we attended a baptism (8-year-old in the ward) and then we went to the library and made some music CD's. On Friday night recent convert from the other Elder’s ward was texting us and told us that she was having a tough time. She wasn't loving the new missionaries in their ward, and she felt like she was just in a little bit of a funk. She asked us if we knew of any upbeat and uplifting music that she could listen to to better surround herself with the gospel, and so we told her that we would make her a bunch of CD's to listen to with all kinds of uplifting music. In the afternoon we did some finding and met a couple cool people in the city. One of them has met with the missionaries before, and wants to come check out the Church sometime. The only problem is that he is a baseball coach for his son's team, and all of their games are on Saturdays and Sundays. Hopefully he will be able to come sometime soon though! In the evening we visited with a less-active member. We talked to her about Church, and she mentioned that she has really been meaning to get out and come to Church. They have been through some tough times recently, and she knows that Church can help them out.
On Sunday we attended Ward Council bright and early, and then we had Church. We have Stake Conference next week, so it was a Fast Sunday. Three of our investigators came to Church, so that was awesome! After Church we went and did some finding, and some stop by's. As the day progressed it felt like we were doing some records clean up haha! We stopped by a family, and they asked us how they could get their records removed. We told them, and then we stopped by another family. They also asked us how they could get their records removed. So then we stopped by yet another family. Same deal there. But to finish off our stop-by's, we visited with a family. One is a less-active member, and no one else in his family is a member. His Mom answered the door, and came out and talked with us for a while. She said they were busy and didn't have time to meet with us, but as we talked with her she began to open up more and more. She told us that her brother and his family were living with them and that he was a hardcore alcoholic, and was very controlling and verbally abusive. She said that she hates being in her home, and that she wants him to move out. Later her son came and joined us, and he told us that talking with us was kind of like a breath of fresh air. She told us that missionaries always come and stop by at just the right moments, and that they would like to meet with us again. We exchanged information and went on our way. It was a super cool moment! Later we had our weekly meeting with the Bishop after having dinner with his family, and then we had our weekly correlation meeting with the ward mission leader. We had an interesting finish to our evening, however. We got in the car to drive home, and I sat down on my seat (which was soaking wet) and our car smelled like alcohol. I looked over at my bag and noticed that my portable hand sanitizer had exploded, and so our car smelled like hand sanitizer haha! So we had a little clean up party to finish off the day.
Thank you all so much for all of your love and support! I have the best family and friends in the world :) It is crazy to think that in just 2 short weeks I will be home again. I found out this past week that my homecoming will be on May 17th, just a few days after my arrival home. You are all invited :)
Here are the details from the Facebook Invitation.
(Sunday, May 17 at 2:50pm
It's been a great two years serving in the Minnesota Minneapolis Mission (MMM) for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! My homecoming will be at the Grandview Stake Center. I would love to see you!
Please join us immediately afterward at our home (1675 N 1670 W Provo) for food and great company ;)
For my non-LDS friends: Find out more about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by visiting www.mormon.org)
Have a great week!
Best Wishes,
Elder Kyle William Andrews
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