tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55694406604291802412024-02-20T06:37:57.332-08:00Kyle Andrews' Mission BlogAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16190926021699692563noreply@blogger.comBlogger98125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5569440660429180241.post-32588342209409207752015-05-11T12:35:00.000-07:002015-05-13T12:53:56.334-07:00Final Mission LetterHello Everyone, <br />
<br />
Wow, I cannot believe this day is here already. This is my final email home. AHHH! So crazy. This past week was super good though, as always. Being a missionary great! Last Monday, Cinco de Cuatro, we had our District P-Day. We hung out with a recent-convert in the Ward, and went to Minneapolis. We hit up the sculpture gardens, the Basilica of St. Mary, and the Foshay Tower. It was awesome! I absolutely love Downtown Minneapolis, so it was a super satisfying District P-Day :) In the evening, our investigator was supposed to have his baptism interview with President Forbes, but he got stuck in Rochester, MN. We talked with him about our investigator, and President decided that he didn't actually need a second interview, so that was good news! We had a family home evening lesson with the a family'. I love that family, but lets be real... I kind of love everyone here in Minnesota. But they are super great! When he was in college, the dad wrote the Book of Lemuel, which I actually had a copy of, so I had him sign it. AWESOME! Then to finish off the day, we visited with the another family and said goodbye. Saying goodbye is weird. It reminds me of leaving for my mission. You say goodbye to people, and it doesn't even feel real. Your mind doesn't even comprehend what is going on. It makes saying goodbye a lot easier though! Plus, serving in America where it is easy to stay in contact and visit with people helps as well. <br />
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On Tuesday, Cinco de Mayo and Battle of Puebla Day (MX), we had a Missionary Leadership Council (MLC) so that was really cool! I have been wanting to go to an MLC my whole mission, so it was good to be able to finally go before I head home. We discussed Christ-like leadership, changes in policies for the mission, and a few other things. At the end of MLC, President Forbes asked me and the three other departing missionaries that attended MLC to bear our testimonies. It kind of threw me off at first, but I was super grateful that I got to bear my testimony before I peace out! I talked about the power of missionary work, and the principle of change. I am so grateful for my mission. I shared some advice with everyone that my Grandpa gave me before I left on my mission. He shared with me the three most important rules for your mission. "Obedience, obedience, obedience!" To be totally honest, I am totally a rule breaker by nature. Nothing severe, but I just have a little rebellious streak that keeps things fun and exciting at times. On your mission, however, it just causes problems. At the beginning, I wasn't exactly obedient, and when I was obedient I did it begrudgingly. As a result, the start of my mission was REALLY hard for me. Missions are hard enough, there is no reason to make them more difficult! As I turned to the Lord, and strove to be more obedient, however, it got better. Life is good now :) After MLC, I went on exchange with an elder from Kayesville, Utah. We had a rocking exchange! He goes home next transfer, so we were able to talk things through a little bit. I don't ever want to talk with my companion about going home because I don't want to distract him, so it was really helpful to be able to talk things out haha! For the remainder of the day, we visited with the a family and talked to them about the power of the Book of Mormon. We watched a YouTube video with them called "All About That Book". They loved it! Then to finish off the evening we visited with the another family. We taught the Law of Tithing with candy. We all got a bunch of Star-bursts currency, and had to go through life paying our bills and what not. When we payed our tithing, it was apparent that we received blessings, most of which were unseen. When we didn't we got in a car accident and had to go to the hospital, expenses and stresses that were unforeseen when we payed our tithing. We talked about the diversity of the blessings that God gives us. Often we overlook most of the things that God has blessed us with! All in all, it was a super good lesson. <br />
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On Wednesday, we exchanged back and had District Meeting. We talked about receiving revelation through prayer, and the importance of encouraging our investigators to pray as well as praying sincerely ourselves. For a handout, I gave out Hershey's nuggets and said "Here is an important nugget" and shared a scripture (Moroni 7:48) about prayer. It worked out really nicely. It felt really weird though that it was my last District Meeting, and for whatever reason I was possessed to assign myself the closing prayer. It was not fun. I didn't cry, but I was definitely holding back tears. After District Meeting, I went on exchange with an elder form Taiwan. We did some finding for a while and stopped by a few potentials. We met some interesting people to say the least haha! There was one woman that was trying to convert us to her Church, so that is always exciting. She wants us to come to Church with her sometime, but our Churches are at the same time. Kind of an unwritten rule, but when you are a Mormon Missionary, you should probably go to your own Church ;) In the evening we visited with a family and said goodbye, and then had a lesson with the our investigators and planned out his baptism. <br />
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On Thursday, National Day of Prayer, we exchanged back and did our weekly service at the library. In the afternoon I packed up a few boxes to ship home, and then I had my last appointment with the Chiropractor. Later we had accountability with the Elders, and then we shared a Mother's Day message with a family. Afterward we visited with another, and I shared the "Repencil" lesson with them. To finish off the day, we had Family Home Evening with a family. We played a vamped up verson of Uno that was super exciting, and then took a bunch of pictures of course! <br />
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On Friday we cleaned our apartment, had accountability with the Zone Leaders, and then did our weekly service at the senior center. Gotta love all the people there! For the remainder of the afternoon we had weekly planning. That was super weird for me! My companions that I have sent home in the past had a hard time with weekly planning. In fact, all of them just left it up to me. I told my companion that he would be leading out in the weekly planning, but I tried to participate as best as I could. It shook me up a little bit though to realized that I wouldn't be here for any of the plans that we were making. Kind of depressing. Needless to say, I drank A LOT of Diet Coke in those three hours! In the evening we visited with a part-member family. She recently went through the temple, and her husband is a very active Lutheran. They are a super great family! We shared with them the new Mother's Day video that the Church produced, #TimeForMom, and we talked about Mother's Day. We then visited with another family and said farewell. They are hilarious! To finish off the day, we visited with a woman. She wasn't feeling super good, but we shared a video called the "Emmet Smith Story". It is a true story about a guy who loved to run but had a brain tumor and had to re-learn how to walk and then to run. The doctors told him that he would never be able to walk on his own again, but he set goals and worked really hard to achieve them, and he did! We talked about the power that we have to reach our potential if we are willing to work at it. It was a really good last lesson! <br />
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On Saturday I had to wash all of my clothes and start packing in the morning. Yep... that was weird! It kind of feels like another transfer, but this transfer will be WAY different than all of the others. In the afternoon we did some mormon.org time and then we helped out at the senior center for a while. Every second Saturday the Ward has a Bingo day at the senior center. Good stuff! We had to head out a little bit early to start filling the baptismal font and start setting up for our investigator’s baptism. He got baptized, and it was awesome :) When we were planning his baptism service, his wife was pretty adamant about not speaking at his baptism. She does not like speaking in front of large groups of people. After he was baptized, she asked if she could say a few words and she bore her testimony and talked about the changes that he has undergone to become a member of the Church and the influence that the Church has had in their lives. It was awesome! You could feel the Spirit so strongly! In the evening we had a bunch of goodbye visits. We saw the three different families. There are so many great people in this ward! I don't know how missionaries do it when they don't have a week to say goodbye like I do. Crazy stuff! <br />
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On Sunday, Mother's Day, we of course had Church in the morning. So many good talks about Mothers :) Our investigator was confirmed a member of the Church, and then they announced that it was my last Sunday. That was tough. After Church we went over to the the ward mission leader’s house and Skyped home. This Skype call was very different, however. We made a few plans for my return home, discussed a few other things, and then we were off to other things haha ;) It was fun to see everyone, but if it weren't Mother's Day it would have been kind of pointless to Skype just a few days before you return home haha! My companion had a harder time with his Skype call. It was a VERY emotional time for him and his family. I don't think my Skype calls have ever been particularly distracting to me, but I think it was really tough for him. In the evening we visited with the a family, and then I had to start packing. Kind of bad planning on my part! I didn't think about the fact that it would present extra time for my companion to dwell on his Skype call with his family and think about things back home. I had him watch a movie and sign my testimony journal though, so I think he was good. <br />
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Today we drove to Sonic of course, and I had my exit interview with President Forbes. It was SUPER casual. We were chilling on the couch in the Mission Home discussing my plans for when I return home. He advised me to continue reading my scriptures, praying, and serving others. Inactivity is a big concern for Mission Presidents when they send their missionaries home. He told me to take my education seriously, and to take dating seriously as well. He told me not to get married in three months, which I appreciated haha! He told me to review the For The Strength of Youth pamphlet when I return home, and to attend the temple often. He advised me not to live in Utah for the rest of my life, and I very much so agreed. After my exit interview, we went to the Mall of America with the ward mission leader and our Zone Leaders. Oh my gosh! It was breathtaking! Definitely a spiritual experience :) I absolutely loved it. I took SO many pictures, but the pictures don't even do it justice. I will definitely be returning there one day soon :) AND, (my Mom will be proud of me for this part) I didn't actually buy anything while we were there! #I'mAwesome #I'mBroke #NextTime. The Forbes are flying out to Utah tomorrow morning at 6:00 AM, so we will be spending tomorrow with a senior missionary couple. It has been fun!<br />
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Thank you all for all of your love and support while I have been here in the MMM. I can't believe that my time here has come to a close, but it's been real. I truly have the best friends and family members in the world :) I will SEE you all soon! <br />
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Best Wishes, <br />
<br />
Elder Kyle William AndrewsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16190926021699692563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5569440660429180241.post-25154247720675247862015-05-04T11:25:00.001-07:002015-05-04T11:25:49.357-07:00Living Gospel PrinciplesHello Everyone, <br />
<br />
This week has been kind of crazy, but as always, it all came together in the end haha! On Monday we had our Zone P-Day. We went bowling and then we played some games in a park afterwards. It was super fun! The Minneapolis Zone is the best :) I wasn't half bad at bowling either, which is surprising, because bowling is NOT my thing! I was talking with the Assistants about scheduling my exit interview so not to conflict with our Mall of America trip, and they filled me in on some mission news. President Forbes will be in Salt Lake City when our group goes home for a Mission Presidents training. We will instead be spending our last day with Elder Rulon F. Stacey (former CEO of Fairfield hospitals) from our Mission Presidency who was just called as an Area Seventy. Because of all of this insanity, they are trying to schedule our exit interviews before President Forbes leaves for Salt Lake. Kind of insane! In the evening we had a Family Home Evening with the two families in the ward. One family just recently moved in to the ward, so it was good to be able to get to know them better. We had a lot of really great gospel discussions with them, but I think one thing that I learned the most about was living up to our marriage covenants. Just because you are sealed does not mean you can stop living gospel principles! <br />
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On Tuesday we had District Meeting, and the Zone Leaders were able to come. We had a really great discussion about member missionary work, and how we can assist the members in our wards to do this work. I was able to reference a book that my grandparents sent me, "The Highly Effective Missionary" which talks a LOT about member missionary work! It worked out really nicely. After District Meeting we did some finding and visited with our investigators. We discussed the baptismal interview questions with the husband, and reviewed a couple of commandments with him. We then contacted President Forbes and scheduled his baptismal interview. With President Forbes leaving here shortly, his schedule is SUPER busy, but luckily we were able to figure out a time that works for both of their schedules. In the evening we went out joint teaching with the bishop and had a lesson with an investigator family. We talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ (faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end). For repentance we used a fun visual by filling a jar with water, and putting drops of food coloring in it to represent sin. Then as we repent, we poured bleach into the dark nasty water which cleansed it so that it was clean and pure again! They asked us a lot of questions about baptism, so we had a really great discussion about that as well. <br />
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On Wednesday we had lunch with the other Elders at a pizza place which is probably one of my favorite restaurants in Minnesota, and then we volunteered at the charity. There were only 7 of us there in the session, so we didn't get us much done as we normally do when we go. We did, however, meet a really nice Indian couple that we were working with. They are Hindu, so I talked to them about my experience at the Holi Festival of Colors at the Holi Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork, Utah. They have been to the legit Holi Festival of Colors in India, and said that it is a definite must see! Next stop... India :) Funny how life experiences like getting covered in and in-hailing a bunch of colored chalk dust can help you to connect to other people! In the afternoon we stopped by a few new records that we received in the ward, and confirmed a few addresses for those people. In the evening we went out joint teaching with the ward mission leader, and he demonstrated a new initiative that the Minneapolis Stake is doing for record removals. Basically what we do with people that are not interested in the Church anymore is we talk about how when they are baptized, a record is created for them. That record will follow them for the rest of their life and will transfer with them whenever they move. With that record, members will always stop by from time to time to see how they are doing and to see if the Church can help them in any way. If they do not want contact with the Church anymore and they do not want to be a member anymore, then they must request to have their records removed. We visited with three people in the evening, and that was definitely the case with all three of them! So hopefully we will get some work done and clean up the records here. It is crazy how many people are inactive and super anti towards the Church that are on the Church records out in the mission field!<br />
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On Thursday we did our weekly service at the library. We put a bunch of books, movies, magazines, and audio books away. Always a party! Later we had accountability with the other Elders, and then I had a chiropractor appointment. I love all the people in the chiropractic office! Definitely will need to take a picture with all of them before I leave. My last appointment is next Thursday, so I will need to remember to do that! In the afternoon we did some finding and we met this super cool kid. He is 16 years old, and his family is Catholic, but they never go to Church. He is very curious about everything, and has a lot of questions that his Church has never been able to answer for him. He said that he wasn't interested in meeting with us, but then he kept talking with us and asking questions. We gave him a card and a pamphlet with all of our information on it, and then we said that we would stop by again in the future to see what he thought of it. We shall see where things go! We also met a guy who lives on a farm. He was vacuuming these purple things that look like rocks out of this big farm machine, and I started to talk with him. I asked if there was anything we could do to help, and inquired about the purple rocks. He laughed and said "You're not from around here are you!" Apparently those purple rocks are corn seeds, and the big farm machine is a seed planter. We talked a little bit, and shared a card with him. Unfortunately he wasn't super interested though. In the evening we did some finding, and set up a few appointments with a few people for before I go home. <br />
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On Friday, May Day and Labor Day in Mexico, we did some mormon.org time in the morning. Later we had an accountability call with our Zone Leaders. Good times! In the afternoon we visited with a member and shared the video with her "Only A Stonecutter". This video is awesome, and talks about the importance of consecration, service, and the power of one. For the remainder of the afternoon we did our Weekly Planning. In the evening we stopped by a few potential investigators and then had a lesson with a member. We shared the video "The Mountain Of The Lord" with her and talked to her about the temple. She had been having an AWFUL day, so it was good to be able to brighten it up a little bit. She had some questions in previous lessons about the temple, so it was good to be able to answer those for her. <br />
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On Saturday we did some Area Book work and then visited with an investigator family in the afternoon. We reviewed the commandments and talked to him about some baptism plans. Later in the afternoon we did some service for one of the member's friends. He bought these SUPER heavy rocks and so we helped him move them. It was a party, and I thought one of us were going to lose a finger or an arm for a while. In the evening we had the Adult Session of Stake Conference. We went with a member family, so that was super fun! Elder G. Lawrence Spackman from Calgary, Canada was presiding! Gotta love those Canadian's :) He was hilarious! He talked a lot about missionary work, as well as the work of the ministering of angels. He talked about the work that angels are doing on the other side, and I remember the whole time he spoke I was reminded about the aid that I have received from the other side while I have been on my mission. I remembered that in the first letter I received from my Mom on my mission she told me about the aid that I would be receiving from my Uncle Wayne, and he certainly has been there for me numerous times on my mission. <br />
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On Sunday we had Stake Conference in a ward building I served in, so that was super fun! It brought back a lot of memories from when I served in that ward. That Stake had Stake Conference that day as well so I wasn't able to see the members of that Ward, but I did see the bishop at the Church later in the day, so that was super fun! I learned a lot about the importance of reading the scriptures every day, and the importance of families joining together in the gospel. In the afternoon we did some finding and stopped by a few potentials. We had a visit with a family in the ward, and talked a lot about the missionary work going on here in the ward. The dad is in the Stake Presidency, so we don't see him a whole lot. We received a call from the bishop asking us to make some time to visit with the a specific family before I go home, and so when we had an appointment fall through in the evening we went and visited with them. That family lost their mom to cancer about three years ago. They have had a tough time with it, as expected, but his 14 year old son, is having an especially hard time with it. We talked with the dad for a while, and he shared with us his conversion story and many stories from his mission. We shared a Mormon message with him called "Mountains To Climb" and asked him to share it with his son. It was a really great visit! <br />
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Thank you all for all of your love and support! SEE you soon! <br />
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Best Wishes, <br />
<br />
Elder Kyle William AndrewsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16190926021699692563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5569440660429180241.post-23606600885651432922015-04-27T12:01:00.000-07:002015-05-04T11:29:02.303-07:00Missionaries Always Stop by at Just the Right MomentsHello Everyone, <br />
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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! <br />
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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! <br />
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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 ;) <br />
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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. <br />
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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! <br />
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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. <br />
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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. <br />
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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 :) <br />
Here are the details from the Facebook Invitation. <br />
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(Sunday, May 17 at 2:50pm<br />
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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!<br />
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Please join us immediately afterward at our home (1675 N 1670 W Provo) for food and great company ;)<br />
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For my non-LDS friends: Find out more about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by visiting www.mormon.org)<br />
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Have a great week! <br />
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Best Wishes, <br />
<br />
Elder Kyle William AndrewsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16190926021699692563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5569440660429180241.post-25899806938813656212015-04-20T11:49:00.000-07:002015-05-01T11:56:02.348-07:00National Volunteer WeekHello Everyone, <br />
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Sorry it took me so long today to send out my email haha! There was some drama this morning. <b>If blood makes you queasy, skip this paragraph!</b> So I was minding my own business, getting ready for the day, and I reached over to grab my toothbrush and brushed my razor with my finger. No big deal. I brushed my teeth, and continued getting ready for the day and then I realized my finger was gushing blood! I rinsed off my finger, and put a band-aid on, and went on my way. Later I realized my band-aid was overflowing and blood was getting all over my desk. So then I rewashed my hand, soaked up all the blood and put on a fresh new band-aid. A few minutes later, the same thing happened. So I got a paper towel, wrapped my finger in it, and waiting for the blood to die down. When my finger appeared to be done bleeding I got another band-aid and life was good again. Wait.... life wasn't good again! That band-aid started overflowing with blood as well! Good grief. So I wrapped my finger again, rinsed everything out, and waited for a while. Then I wrapped a new paper towel around my finger, put a band-aid over the paper towel, and that is how my finger will remain for the day haha! It still looks super nasty because blood has been seeping through the paper towel, but I needed to get on with my day haha. "Ain't nobody got time for that!"<br />
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It has been another great week! The sun has been out, the weather has been awesome, and spring has officially sprung :) On Monday we had our Zone Interviews with President Forbes. He drove out to our area to interview us and the Sister Missionaries, so that was fun. We were running late to our interviews however, and so I had the opportunity to meet this really nice man. We talked for a little while, and then he lowered my speeding ticket to the minimum fine. Officer... what a guy :p On the plus side, President Forbes did not take away my driving privileges! For the rest of the day we had our P-Day, so that is always fun. It was super rushed because of Zone Interviews, but we got it done. The evening was kind of a disaster, but it worked out haha! We had a dinner appointment, but the GPS took us the wrong way. So then we were SUPER late, and that was our day. Kind of a rough start to the week. Also on Monday the Sisters found out that one of them was going to work in the mission office while her leg heals, and the other Sister is going to a new area to be a Sister Training Leader. That area is going to be getting Elders again. <br />
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On Tuesday we did some finding in the morning and then I had a follow-up appointment with the chiropractor. I love going to the chiropractor! That Dr. is the best :) In the afternoon we had a lesson with a less-active member. He is definitely a talker, but it was good for him to get everything out. He has been through a lot lately! His Mom has an inoperable tumor, and his father-in-law just passed away. We talked a lot about that and talked about his recent vacation to Cancun. We shared Moroni 10:32 with him and talked about the importance of coming unto Christ. He is the only member in his family, but would like his family to join the Church. We talked about the importance of being a good example to his family. If he doesn't go to Church, then why would his family want to join the Church? In the evening we had the opportunity to visit with a couple. They are awesome! They used to work in the Mission Office. She was an office lady, and he was the car coordinator. They were in the office for my first transfer on my mission, and then they were released. We talked with them about missionary work, and they updated me on the previous mission president. Two daughters are both engaged, and they just had a mission reunion at their home this week. President Clements was called as a Bishop in a YSA Ward, and they are doing well. I can't wait to see them when I go home! <br />
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On Wednesday the transfer for the Sister occurred and we got an elder from Idaho and an elder from Taiwan. We were able to meet them as we did service in the morning. I am excited to get to know both of them better, and to be able to serve around them this transfer. In the afternoon we visited with an investigator. We discussed the Plan of Salvation with her and had a really good lesson. She has a fear of crowds and has her doubts about the Book of Mormon, but she still enjoys meeting with missionaries. Oddly enough one of her goals is to make it out to Salt Lake City, Utah and attend General Conference. I don't know how that would work out if she can't go to Church because of her fear of crowds, but hopefully she can make it happen. To finish off the day we visited with a couple. They are snow birds. They live here in Minnesota in the spring, summer, and fall and then peace out when it gets cold and snowy. They hang out in Arizona and places that are warm. I think it is a great idea! They are back now from their trip, so we were able to meet them and get to know them better. She has been a member for about six years. She is having a tough time with her health right now. She is in her 70's, and suffers from dementia. He is not a member. He is a Lutheran, but comes to Church with his wife each week. We shared the Easter "Because He Lives" video with them and talked to them about the Atonement referencing the Book of Mormon. They are a really cool couple! <br />
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On Thursday, Holocaust Remembrance Day, we did our weekly service at the library. I cut out tennis shoe name tags, and my companion was trained on how to organize and put books away. Later we had accountability calls with the other Elders and our Zone Leaders. The new Elders had only been there for a day, so it was mostly a get to know you call. Good times! Later I had another check up with the Chiropractor said that things are improving! Later in the afternoon we did some finding and stopped by a few less-active members. We visited with a less-active member for a little bit. We caught him right before the Minnesota Wild play-off game, so we didn't have much time, but he said that we can visit with him again soon. We also stopped by a potential investigator. He was super busy, but he told us to try back later. To finish off the evening we had Family Home Evening with an investigator family. One of them was going through a really tough time, because the night before one of her friends overdosed on drugs and passed away. We made sure to make it a fun and exciting evening, and our lesson next week will be on the Plan of Salvation. We played Scrabble and Sorry for a little bit, and had a pretty good time :) <br />
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On Friday we had a Zone Service Project in Minneapolis. We were doing some gardening in the park. We did some weeding, and mulch spreading, and a bunch of other things in the community butterfly gardens. It was super fun! I always really like getting together with all the missionaries in our Zone. Later we had our weekly service at the Senior Center. We played Sweep Six this week. Sweep Six is a super simple, and kind of boring game. The residents much prefer Yahtzee, but they put out Sweep Six for us this week. You roll a dice, and try to be the first person to roll all the numbers. We had been out in the sun all morning, so I was exhausted haha! It all worked out though, and I didn't fall asleep :) for the rest of the afternoon we did our Weekly Planning and then drove up to another town. We visited with a member and shared the video, "Treasure In Heaven: The John Tanner Story" and talked about consecration. She really struggles with paying tithing and fast offerings. When we first came over she told us that she just got a bunch of bills from when her husband was in hospice, and that she was super overwhelmed. She told us that she wouldn't be able to come back to Church because she wouldn't be able to pay anything. She grew up Catholic, and she told us that when you enter in the Church you would be given an envelope and you were expected to fill it with money. We assured her that that was not the case, and that she could still come to Church. We encouraged her to pray about it and to visit with the Bishop, but I still think she is having a really hard time with it. <br />
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On Saturday we started off the day with a Senior Center volunteer breakfast. Apparently it is National Volunteer Week, so that was super fun! Later we went to the library and did some mormon.org time. Twas a party! In the afternoon we went and got our windshield wipers replaced, so that is always exciting. We did some finding in a new home development and found some cool new people that live near some members in our ward. The new Elders asked us to fill the baptismal font for them for an 8 year old's baptism, so we did. The font was filled perfectly, and people were supposed to arrive at 6:00. 6:00 came, and no one was there! We waited and waited and finally at 6:05 (yeah, I tried to make myself sound patient there... 5 whole minutes of waiting haha!) we called the new Elders, and they checked their phone to make sure the baptism was that night. Sure enough the baptism is next week. Usually when someone is baptized the person that baptizes empties the font while they are still wet... but because no one was baptized, draining the font was an issue. We ran home and I grabbed some clothes that I could get wet in, and I drained the font. #SwimmingParty Kind of exciting! We took pictures of course. No judging my white legs! They don't see much sunshine. To finish off the day, our investigator had his baptismal interview. Everything went well, but he will need to be interviewed by someone in the Mission Presidency for some past transgressions, so his baptism will be postponed a little bit to either the first or second week of May depending on how soon he can be interviewed. Kind of a crazy day!<br />
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On Sunday we had Church. Our investigators came which was awesome! In the afternoon we did some finding. We stopped by a less-active member and talked with him for a while. They had some people over, so it wasn't a good time, so we will have to try them again before I go home. We found a few cool people a woman and a Lutheran Pastor. Teaching Pastors is always interesting... usually it doesn't work out all that well though, but we will see. We stopped by someone on a list that the Bishop gave us, but they DO NOT want contact with the Church. They made that very clear to us :p We did some finding in their neighborhood for a bit, but the people there were all super grumpy. To finish off the day we had a lesson with a member. We talked about the Prodigal Son and repentance. It was a really good lesson. I feel like I learned a lot from him, so that was cool! All in all it was a really good day. <br />
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I got my "death packet" this week, so that was kind of strange. I have to start working on some post-mission goals, and write a report on my mission. It has been a while since I have written an essay, so this should be interesting! No flight plans yet to report on though. <br />
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I also have EXTREMELY IMPORTANT news to report. So I am going home super soon, if you didn't already know. I decided to push my luck a little bit, and I called up President Forbes and asked for permission to go somewhere that I have always wanted to go on my very last P-Day on my mission. He thought about it, and then gave me consent to got! So we are going to the Mall of America with the some members! OH MY GOSH I am SO excited :) We just can't go to Hooters like stupid missionaries in the past haha. He made that very clear to me over the phone! The Mall of America rule was instituted by the First Presidency because missionaries had lunch at Hooters forever ago and took a pictures with the servers which ended up on the wall in the restaurant. Apparently the Church had to pay big bucks to get it taken down, and then Mall of America privileges were revoked. <br />
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Thank you all for all of your love and support! You are the best :) Hope you have a great week!<br />
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Best Wishes, <br />
<br />
Elder Kyle William Andrews<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16190926021699692563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5569440660429180241.post-75554483475974912762015-04-13T11:44:00.000-07:002015-05-01T11:49:01.860-07:00Embarking in the Service of GodHello Everyone, <br />
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This week has been great! On Monday we had our P-Day which is always a blast, and then we went out and did some finding for a little while. We were able to meet this really cool guy and talk to him a little bit about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the new video that the Church created, #BecauseHeLives. Later we visited with the ward mission leader’s family who is all tanned and happy from their cruise to Costa Rica! Hopefully they will bring some warm weather our way ;) We had a lesson with them on the topic of repentance. I used the pencil Family Home Evening lesson, and they loved it! Their daughter renamed it a "repencil!" Good times :) <br />
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On Tuesday we had District Meeting in the Sisters community room. We talked about teaching while you find, and finding while you teach. We discussed the importance of talking to everyone, and asking everyone for referrals. We talked about embarking in the service of God and the new 2015 youth theme, #Embark! I had a pirate ship that I cut out with the dye cut at the library for everyone that said "Ahoy Mateys!" and then quoted D&C 4:2 and then of course had the hashtag Embark ;) I also had Chips Ahoy cookies to go along with the whole "Ahoy Mateys!" theme. It was a party :) Our District is very different this transfer. It was a good time though. After District Meeting we blitzed the Sisters area for a little while and found some cool new people for them to teach. They have kind of a tricky situation with the Sister's bone spur, so they can't do much finding. Hopefully this helped them out a little bit! For some reason my back started hurting really bad, so we went back to our area, grabbed some meds, and then we went finding in our area for a little while. We found a couple people that might have some potential in the future. We met three potential investigators. Later we stopped by an investigator family and I introduced my new companion to them and caught up with them. To finish off the evening we had a lesson with another investigator family. We watched "The Mountain of the Lord" and talked about the Plan of Salvation and the temple. It was a really fun lesson :) <br />
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On Wednesday we did some Area Book Work in the morning, and then went out finding for a little while. We met three potential investigators. They were all really nice, but one probably has the most potential. We will have to see where things go! Later we had the Minneapolis Zone Leadership Conference (MZLC) in Minneapolis. My companion went with another Elder and worked for a little while while the Zone Leaders, District Leaders, and Sister Training Leaders met together for a little while. We talked about upcoming changes in the mission, focus items for this transfer, etc... It was a really good meeting! It is always fun to be able to meet together with other missionaries :) <br />
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On Thursday we did our weekly service at the library. We mostly were working on dye cuts for all of the summer reading programs. It was a party ;) Afterward I had an accountability call with the Sisters. The Sisters found out that the Sister with bone spurs will be moved to the mission office soon for the next two transfers so that she can not put as much stress on her leg, and hopefully recover. We are not 100% sure when she is leaving, or what is going to happen, so who knows what is going to happen. Hopefully they don't close the Sisters area! After accounting, I had to go to the chiropractor. I have no clue what I did to my back, but it was NOT happy with me! The mission recommended that I go see a chiropractor, so I scheduled an appointment with a member's brother-in-law. It was good to be able to catch up with him again, and to find some relief :) I had never been to a chiropractor before, and it was awesome! Now I want to go all the time! That is probably why my parents have never permitted me to go see a chiropractor haha ;) Later we visited with an investigator family and started planning things out for the dad's baptism and preparing for his baptismal interview. They are doing well, and he is super excited for his baptism! The mom talked with her work about getting Sundays off, and so she only has to work the next two Sundays and then she will be off permanently! To finish off the evening we had Family Home Evening with a different investigator family. We talked about the 10 commandments, and then we played a few card games (Kings Corner and B.S.). It was super fun :) Their family is doing really well. <br />
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On Friday it snowed. Not cool! It warmed up later so that was good, but seriously Minnesota... In the morning we did some mormon.org time at the library, and I downloaded a few conference talks and music from General Conference. Later we had accountability with our Zone Leaders and I had gossip hour with the Sister Training Leaders. Afterward we went over to the Senior Center and played Yahtzee with the residents. Always a good time haha ;) For the remainder of the afternoon we did our Weekly Planning which is always a good time! In the evening we did some finding, and then we visited with a sister. We watched a movie with her about the Prodigal Son and shared a talk from General Conference with her called "Waiting On The Prodigal" I believe. It was a really great meeting :) <br />
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On Saturday we visited with a family in the morning with a joint teacher. We talked with them about the Plan of Salvation and discussed family history with them as well. They are planning on going to the temple next week with some of her family's names that they found on Family Search. Later in the afternoon it was the Ward Day of Service at the Senior Center. We played Bingo with the residents there, and helped them out. I sat next to a woman who was a total hoot! She cussed like a sailor! Every time they called a number that she didn't have, she would yell something haha. Later when we were taking them back to their rooms I found out that she has Alzheimer's. She was very concerned, because she had no clue where her room was or where she was. I felt super bad for her and then luckily a super nice lady that worked at the home came over and helped her out :) On the way home we were walking down the street and we saw someone driving with a Utah license plate. Then they started pulling over. I said to my companion, "surely they are Mormon!" Turns out, it was Elder and Sister Graff, Medical Missionaries from the Mission Office. The office is closed on Saturdays, so they were out and about sight seeing in Minnesota! We went out to lunch with them and had a super fun time. They are great! In the evening a member called us and told us that she was feeling really lousy, and that she wanted a blessing. We rearranged things, called their home teacher and went over to their home with him and gave her a blessing. We talked with them about our investigator's baptismal date, and rescheduled it for the 25th of April. She had to work on Sunday this week and then next week, and so on the 26th she will have work off and will be able to attend his confirmation. <br />
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On Sunday, Eastern Orthodox Easter, we had Ward Council early in the morning. Later we had Church and our investigator came all by himself after he dropped off his wife at work. After Church we had a meeting with the Bishop, and then went on our way. We went finding for a while in the afternoon, and the weather was awesome! 82 degrees and sunny :) We stopped by a few potentials and knocked a few doors. In the evening we had correlation with the ward mission leader and it started pouring rain and there was thunder and lightning all through the sky. It was crazy! Running to our car and getting soaked was certainly an adventurous way to end the week haha ;) <br />
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All in all it was a super good week :) Thank you all for all of your love and support. You are the best! Here are some fun pictures that I took while we were out finding this week. Enjoy!<br />
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Best Wishes, <br />
<br />
Elder Kyle William Andrews<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16190926021699692563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5569440660429180241.post-30513809700813372222015-04-06T11:39:00.000-07:002015-05-01T11:44:37.921-07:00TransfersHello Everyone, <br />
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This week has been absolutely incredible! On Monday we got our transfer email, and my companion got transferred. Most of our P-Day consisted of him packing up and getting ready to go. In the evening we had dinner with a family, and then husband took us to the Viking's Training Facilities for a tour. It was super cool! It reminded me of when Brother Holmoe took us on a tour of the BYU football training facilities! We were allowed to take pictures, but I can't really send them home or put them on Facebook... but I will have to show you all some sweet pictures when I get home :) I got a shot of the outside to send home though haha!<br />
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On Tuesday we mostly went around saying goodbye to people. We had a lesson with a family where we shared the new video, "Because He Lives". Then we visited with an investigator and shared a Bible Video called "John The Beloved's Witness." In the evening we visited with a family and participated in their Holy Week Family Home Evening. They went through all of the things that Christ did this week concluding in his death and resurrection. It was a super fun lesson :) Then we shared with them the new "Because He Lives" video, and they loved it! <br />
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On Wednesday, April Fools Day, we had our transfer meeting. It it always fun to be able to get together as a big group of missionaries and see all of your friends all over the mission! I found my new companion and we headed back to our area. My new companion is from San Diego, California. He has been on his mission for about 7 1/2 months now, and has served in two areas. He is a good kid! I really like serving with him. He just killed his last companion, so apparently he is going on a killing spree haha ;) For those of you that are not familiar with this terminology, killing your companion means that you are their last companion before they go home. My companion unpacked his belongings and got settled in the apartment, and then we went to work! Miracles followed. We stopped by a few people and then went finding around the area. We call it 10x10ing. Basically it just means that you go knocking the street of the person you stopped by. As we did that, a sweet elderly woman answered the door and invited us in. Apparently they have visited with missionaries in the past, and love learning about the gospel of Jesus Christ. They have no intentions of joining our Church, but they love to learn. We talked to them a little bit about Easter and shared the video "Because He Lives." They are definitely talkers, but they loved discussing Easter and the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. They asked a lot of really great questions as well! We also invited them to General Conference this weekend, so we shall see what happens. Later we did a little more finding. We found three new investigators! We have return appointments with them all. It was an AMAZING day, let me tell ya! I am so glad that I have a companion who wants to work hard with me and get things done. In the evening we had a lesson with a family to finish off the day. Their home teacher had just visited with them and discussed the topic of apostasy with them. They had a few questions for us, and so we were able to teach them about the restoration. At the end of our lesson we invited our investigator to be baptized on April 18th, and he accepted! Good things are in the works :) <br />
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On Thursday we did our weekly service at the library. My companion cut out some things, and I was at the dye cut machine cutting out Easter eggs and red barns. It was awesome! As we were working, I was able to talk with and get to know one of the employees at the library. Later, she started asking a few questions about our Church. "Do you celebrate Easter? Do you believe in Jesus Christ?" etc... Classic questions! We were able to talk about Easter, Jesus Christ, Prophets, the works! I shared a "Because He Lives" mormon.org card with her, and she said that she would look up the video. She said that she has seen our Church's commercials on TV before, and that she absolutely loved them! Later I had an accountability call with the Sisters that went really well. One Sister stayed in the area, and got a new companion. The new companion had a bone splint in her knee and so she has to walk on crutches for the time being. They are waiting to find out if she needs surgery. We talked a little bit about creative finding ideas for cripples haha ;) It was a really good call though! Afterward we did our Weekly Planning and got things done. It was awesome! Later we stopped by two people that the Bishop has identified that we should reach out to. One is in Mexico with his wife, but we were able to talk with his non-member daughter at the door for a while and share a "Because He Lives" mormon.org card with her. The other answered the door, but they were in the middle of dinner, and he did not appear to be very interested. We have been trying to get in contact with him for a while now, so it was good to at least be able to see him and assess his situation. Now we can return and report :) To finish off the day, we had a lesson with a family. We shared the "Because He Lives" video with them and talked about Easter and General Conference. The Sister is not a big fan of "TV Church" but as we talked about it more with them, they opened up and agreed to give it a try! One of their missionaries from when they were in New York is visiting with them right now. Hopefully she will continue to be a good influence on them! Good things are happening here in the Ward!<br />
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On Friday, Good Friday (Passover Begins at Sundown), we went to the library and researched some new videos on mormon.org. Then we had accountability with the Zone Leaders, and then gossip hour with the Sister Training Leaders. All good things, all good things :) Later in the afternoon we went over to the the Senior Center, and played Yahtzee with the residents there. Not my day for Yahtzee haha, but it was really fun. We definitely work with quite a few characters! Afterward we went to go get our oil changed, which took FOREVER! Plus, the Church uses national accounts for most things, and the Goodyear that we went to was not really sure how to process a national account so that added some extra time as well. In the evening we visited with a sister and shared the video "Legacy" with her and talked a little bit about some Church history and helped to prepare her for General Conference. <br />
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On Holy Saturday, we basically just had General Conference all day haha! Here are a few of the highlights :) In the Saturday morning session I really enjoyed Sister Linda K. Burton's talk on marriage, which is kind of ironic. I have always had a goal that I am not even going to think about marriage and children and families until I am graduated, employed, experienced, etc... This topic was addressed many times during General Conference. Oddly enough, one of my questions going into General Conference was concerning what my goals should be when I return home from my mission. Apparently I need to add dating and marriage to my list of goals. Weird. I am nowhere near old enough to get married haha! I also liked Elder Dallin H. Oaks talk on the Parable of the Sower. In the afternoon I really enjoyed Elder WIlford W. Anderson's talk on the gospel dance where we not only need to learn the dance steps (gospel), but hear the music (the Spirit) as well. It reminded me of when I was on a ballroom team in high school. We would often rehearse without the music. It was rather difficult at times, and kind of awkward. I much preferred dancing to the music! I also really liked Elder David A. Bednar's talk on Godly fear. I have always somewhat questioned the topic of Godly fear. I didn't know why a loving Heavenly Father would want you to fear Him. His talk provided great insight for me! In the evening we attended the Priesthood Session of General Conference. I really enjoyed Elder M. Russell Ballard's talk. He gave a "one-on-one" Priesthood interview and asked a series of questions. He also talked about RM's. He reminded us that RM does not stand for Retired Mormon ;) He also told us to date and get married. Good grief! I also enjoyed Elder Larry M. Gibson's talk about materialism. I think my favorite talk though was by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf about Potemkin's Village. I think I have always been one to put on a show for other people. I have always been a perfectionist. He reminded us that while it is not completely a bad thing, we must not mask reality. <br />
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On Easter Sunday, we watched more General Conference haha ;) In the morning session I really enjoyed Elder Brent H. Nielsen's talk on the Prodigal Son. I feel in many different ways that I can relate to several different characters in that parable. I also liked Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's talk on the Atonement and the Plan of Salvation. He always gives great talks! And then I liked Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk on grace. It reminded me of Brad Wilcox's talk, "His Grace Is Sufficient." In the afternoon session I really liked Elder Kevin W. Pearson's talk on Lehi's dream. He had a lot of really great points in his talk. I also enjoyed Elder Russell M. Nelson's talk on keeping the Sabbath day holy. In the evening we had a lesson with a family. We discussed General Conference with them and some of their favorite talks, and shared a few mission stories with them. It was great! <br />
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All in all, it was a super great week :) Things are going really well. Thank you all for all of your love and support. I hope you had a great Easter weekend! Talk to you soon :) <br />
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Best Wishes, <br />
<br />
Elder Kyle William Andrews<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16190926021699692563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5569440660429180241.post-73996606576116105342015-03-30T11:34:00.000-07:002015-05-01T11:39:39.163-07:00Easter ServiceHello Everyone, <br />
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This week has been great! On Monday a recent-convert took us to the Minnesota Zoo for our District P-Day. It was super fun :) I of course took a million pictures, and we had a super good time! I am not going to lie... I had my doubts about this District P-Day, but it all worked out. It snowed a ton on Sunday evening, so we weren't sure if we were going to be able to go, but they were open and the animals were alive and well! In the evening we had a lesson with a former investigator that the missionaries have visited with in the past. He is part of the Christian Alliance for Crown College. He knows A LOT about our Church. He made a diagram and compared our Church to the Roman Catholic Church that he was raised in, and pointed out a lot of similarities. We explained why so many Christian religions are so similar, and then talked about what sets us apart. He is definitely a talker, but we were able to set up a return appointment to talk with him in more detail. <br />
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On Tuesday we went over to the library and did our mormon.org time. The Church gave us early access to the new video, "Because He Lives" so we were able to preview it and start planning for the big Easter initiative. Later we did a little bit of Area Book Work. In the evening we went over to a family’s home and talked to them about Prophets. We watched the movie, "On The Lord's Errand" that talks about the life of President Thomas S. Monson. We had a really great lesson, and they told us that they wanted to come to the Minnesota Mormon Chorale performance of the Lamb of God on Sunday! <br />
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On Wednesday we had Zone Training. We talked a lot about the Easter Initiative, and how we can reach out to as many people as possible in the week that we have for the Easter Initiative. Kind of a crazy week, because it is also our transfer week! It will all work out though :) After Zone Training I had an interview with President Forbes where I discovered that he signed all the missionaries ecclesiastical endorsements a while ago. I renewed my temple recommend and then petitioned him for an extension. He told me that the Church only grants extensions for special circumstances now, and because I am an English missionary it wasn't going to happen. Oh well. It kind of rocked my world though to realize that I for sure am going home on May 13th. He also told me that the Church has probably already bought my plane ticket home. Crazy! We helped Sister Forbes drop a few things off at the Mission Home, and she gave us a little tour of the Mission Home. I have never been in the Mission Home before, so it was kind of fun :) Occasionally you go in the Mission Home on your first day as a missionary if you are a smaller group, but because I came out with 35 other people, they just did everything at the Church. On our way home, we hit up restaurant and had a Juicy Lucy (a hamburger with cheese on the inside). It is a Minnesota specialty, so I had to get one before I went home haha! We drove through Downtown Minneapolis, which is my favorite, and then headed for our area. Usually I don't write about dinner appointments... but we had an interesting experience at our dinner appointment with a member family. Let me preface this by saying that I usually tell people that I am allergic to seafood, but I haven't done that in this ward. Sure enough, we show up for dinner, and we are having salmon. These were HUGE fillets of fish. I remember one time that I was in the cities and a sweet African woman fed us a whole fish with the eyes and scales on and everything, and it just brought back some... unique memories haha ;) NASTY! I have discovered that if you do not chew food, you cannot taste it as much, so I broke up my fish and swallowed it whole. Definitely an experience haha! To finish off the evening we had a lesson with a family. They had just finished watching Evan Almighty, an updated version of Noah's Ark. The dad had a lot of questions about Noah and Prophets, so we had a lesson on Noah's Ark and on Prophets haha :) It was a really good lesson, and you could tell that he was SUPER interested in what we had to say. Hopefully we were able to answer all of his questions! <br />
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On Thursday we did our weekly service at the library. We were making these passports for reading time. My companion was using the dye cut to cut up barns and eggs, and I stapled them together and bundled them up. It was a process, but it was kind of fun. Projects are always an adventure :) In the afternoon I had accountability with the Sisters. Things are starting to pick up in their area, so that is super exciting! To finish off the evening we had Family Home Evening with a family. We talked a little bit more about the Lamb of God and we played Phase 10. I totally dominated, but who is counting haha ;) <br />
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On Friday we had accountability with the Zone Leaders and then gossip hour with the Sister Training Leaders. Afterward we went over to the the Senior Center and played Yahtzee with the residents. Haha old people crack me up ;) In the evening we had a lesson with an investigator. We watched the movie "Finding Faith In Christ" and talked to her a little bit more about tithing and fast offerings. We brought a tithing slip and showed her how to fill it out. On Sunday she came and paid fast offerings, but she just put some cash in an envelope and gave it to the Bishop. So we got everything straightened up :) I heard that One Direction split up... my heart broke a little bit, but I think I can be strong. #OneDirectionForever<br />
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On Saturday we went finding for a good chunk of time. Later in the afternoon we visited with a family in the ward. To finish off the day, we had a lesson with another family. The mom was diagnosed with Huntington's Disease a while ago, and she visited with a doctor and he told her that she had about 10 years left to live. She was NOT doing well when we stopped by. We talked with the husband for a while, and then he invited us into their home. She was on the phone and was yelling and crying, and was very upset. We talked with him for a while, and then she came out to visit with us. Luckily we were able to get her to laugh and to improve her mood. We talked about how coming to Church would help, and that she would be able to visit with the Bishop and talk things through. All in all it was a really good lesson. <br />
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On Sunday, Palm Sunday, we had our Easter Service at Church. It was super good! We had a few musical numbers, and some really great talks. AND... our investigators came to church! It was awesome. The ward mission leader and his family are on vacation right now, so I was put in charge of teaching Gospel Essentials. I taught a lesson on the Priesthood and different quorums and auxiliaries. It went pretty well, and then at the end of the lesson I shared the new #BecauseOfHim video that the Church produced. On Sunday evening we attended the Minnesota Mormon Chorale & Orchestra's performance of the Lamb of God with a family. It was really good. Last years performance was a little bit better, but it was still super good :) While we were there I was able to talk with quite a few missionaries that I know, and I heard some good news, and some not so good news. The ward is doing great! On the other hand, my replacement in my last area made that ward hate missionaries. So that was super sad to hear. Not good! It looks like he was transferred though, so hopefully they will be able to rebuild that trust. <br />
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Today we got our transfer emails, and I am staying here and my companion is getting transferred to North Branch. I am excited to see what exciting things are to come this transfer! It is super weird to think that this will be my last transfer. <br />
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Thank you all for all of your love and support. I hope you have a great week and that all is well back home. Talk to you soon!<br />
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Best Wishes, <br />
<br />
Elder Kyle William Andrews<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16190926021699692563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5569440660429180241.post-43739673178771840192015-03-23T11:31:00.000-07:002015-05-01T11:34:37.427-07:00Because He LivesHello Everyone,<br />
<br />
This week has been good. Super slow though! On Monday, Benito Juarez's Birthday (MX) (yeah... who knows who that is. It was printed on my calendar though! Must have been a good guy!), we had our P-Day. A member cut our hair so that was exciting... In case you were wondering, my fear of people (not professionals) cutting my hair has not improved. I have gotten a little bit better at not cringing when people go to chop my hair though ;) He did a pretty good job. After getting my hair cut, we had to take a picture with the new Minnesota / St. Patrick's Day shirt that I bought at Target that morning. It was super cheap, and represents Minnesota perfectly haha! We borrowed some "beverages" from the members to complete the look. For work parties and other events he has acquired quite a few "beverages" that they use for cooking. Or at least that is what they told us ;) In the evening we visited with a new family that moved into the ward. We had some good laughs, and they shared a bunch of great stories with us!<br />
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On Tuesday, St. Patrick's Day, we had District Meeting at the a member’s home. It was kind of fun having District Meeting in someone's home :) We talked about working with members, and had a lot of really great discussions. For the training, I borrowed a hand out from one of my former trainings. I gave everyone a Skor bar that said "SKOR Some Referrals - Work With Members." All in all, it worked out really great! It was our last District Meeting for the transfer, so that was kind of crazy. Our investigators were sick, so they had to cancel their appointment with us, so we did a lot of finding in the evening.<br />
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On Wednesday we did some mormon.org time in the morning, and then for the remainder of the day we basically went finding. We had some appointments in the afternoon and evening, but they again cancelled. Kind of the theme of this week! It was a rough day. Luckily, it all worked out. "I am yet alive" (Mosiah 7:12).<br />
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On Thursday we did our weekly service at the library. This week I decided to take on some bigger projects. I took the carts of DVD's and audio books, and went and put them all away. The adult DVD's and audio books were no problem, but the children's DVD's and audio books were a disaster! So I took them all off the shelf and alphabetized them all and reorganized them. It took a little while, but it was totally worth it :) I love organization. A warning to all you children, you best not touch my organized shelves! In the afternoon we went and visited with an investigator. We watched a video with her called "Easter Dream". It shares a great message about the importance of Easter and celebrating the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ! We talked with her about how General Conference would be on Easter this year, and she asked us a few questions about General Conference. We also talked a little bit about fasting. Because of the way our schedule works out, Fast Sunday was this week, next week will be our Easter Sunday service, and then we have General Conference. We had a really great discussion with her! Afterward we stopped by a few potentials, and made our way back to the city. In the evening we visited with a family. He invited his mother and brother-in-law over for dinner who are not members. After dinner we had a great discussion about Easter, and watched the Churches video from last Easter called "Because of Him." His brother-in-law really liked the video and mentioned that the wording really reminded him of a video that he had seen recently. He then shared a really cool YouTube video with us. It is a song by Kari Jobe called "Forever". It is super good and you should definitely look it up :) All in all, it was a really good day!<br />
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On Friday, the first day of Spring, we had a Zone Service Project. #HairnetSwag #MannaPack #FMSC It is always fun to get together as a zone :) After our Zone Service Project we had accountability with the Zone Leaders and gossip hour with the Sister Training Leaders. All in all things are going pretty well in our District, we are all just trying to find new people to teach! Later we went over and did our weekly service at the senior living center. We played a game called sweep six this week. You have the numbers 1-6 written on a board and the goal is to be the first person to roll all the numbers. You go around in a circle and roll the dice, and when you roll a number you cover it with a poker chip. To quote one of the residents, "It's a mindless game." Old people are hilarious! "ROLL THE DICE!" "SHAKE IT!" "IT'S YOUR TURN!" There is quite a bit of yelling. Gotta love hearing loss haha ;) In the evening we did our Weekly Planning, because our morning was all booked out. This week a lot of plans were able to be transferred over, because most of our appointments fell through. I am not entirely sure what we are doing wrong, but something certainly needs to change!<br />
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On Saturday we did a lot of Area Book Work in the morning. Our Area Book was horrendous. I almost completely redid the Area Book, but then I was reminded that soon they would be going digital and will have the Area Book App, so it wouldn't matter anyway. When I was in a different area, I completely redid our Area Book and it was awesome! I called everyone on the Ward Directory, cleared out old numbers, got rid of people that didn't live there anymore, etc... I also called all of our potentials, rewrote them all, and reorganized them in alphabetical order and in order by city. It was super nice :) I love organization! But at least I made a little bit of headway on the Area Book. It will now be easier for them to transfer everything to the Area Book App whenever that happens. In the afternoon we visited with a member and talked with him about the importance of faith and continuing to learn and grow in the Church. He is kind of in a tough spot right now. He is 34 years old, single, and in a family ward. He was kicked out of his singles ward because he is too old, and Minnesota doesn't have mid-singles wards. He isn't particularly enthused about getting married either... bad experiences in the past. But it makes being in a family ward kind of awkward. As we were leaving the Elders Quorum President stopped by, so it was definitely inspired timing! To finish off the evening we had Family Home Evening with a family. My companion’s Mom sent some fudge and some gifts for a few people that my companion has grown close to in this area, and so he gave the family a few games like a marbles game that they bought at Swiss Days, and a dice game called Tenzi. We played Tenzi, a game called Anomia, and a game called Pirates Dice. Later we shared a Mormon Message called "Look Not Behind Thee" and talked about Lot's Wife. It was a very fun evening :) <br />
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On Sunday our beautiful spring weather came to an end. It snowed again. The roads were pretty sketchy, plus it was just plain depressing to have a bunch of snow again haha! We had open mic Sunday for Church (Fast Sunday haha). Sacrament meeting was really awesome! I definitely had to hold myself together when a member was bearing her testimony about an experience she had a few weeks ago. She was flying home to Utah to visit with some family, and while she was at the airport in Utah she noticed a missionary sitting alone. She talked with him and found out that he was returning home from his mission in England. They talked for a while and discovered that they grew up in the same area, Beaver, Utah. They discussed a few people that they both knew, and then boarded the plane. Ironically, they were sitting across the isle from each other. They talked for a bit, and then the drink cart got in the way. At this point, he started talking to the woman he was sitting next to about the Church, and bearing strong testimony of the truths of the gospel. She later learned that he had been inactive for 18 years, and that it was a HUGE change for him to be going on his mission. As they arrived at the Salt Lake airport, she noticed that he looked a little bit lost. She helped him find the baggage claim, and his family. Then she watched him descend down the escalator and greet his family after two years of service as a missionary. She shared the scripture from Matthew 25, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant" and talked about how eager she was for her children to serve missions and to return home and descend down the escalator. The part of this story that is seldom told is how difficult it is to pack up and leave, and prepare for your descent down the escalator. But all in all, it was a super good sacrament meeting! I did have a cool thought after Church though :) By no means is this doctrine, but maybe one day it will be! Wouldn't it be great if for the sacrament we had Diet Coke instead of water and maybe some tortilla chips instead of bread? Chips and salsa would probably be a bit much, but it sure would be fun! Haha that is all :) After Church we had our weekly meeting with the Bishop, and then we started off on our day. We visited with some investigators... who didn't come to Church... again. We talked about the importance of Church, and invited them to attend Easter Sunday next week and then General Conference the week after. At dinner, the a family gave us a challenge for our meeting with the ward mission leader’s family to use the word "LOL" as much as possible. My companion was not up to the challenge, but I totally was! My companion was in charge of counting how many times I slipped lol into the conversation, and we were to report to the family later. We were not allowed to tell the the ward mission leader’s family about the challenge until we were leaving their home. While we were at their house, I said lol 20 times! I probably could have done a little better, but it was definitely a good time :) Their oldest made a face every time I said it, so she was relieved when we told them about the lol challenge! With the ward mission leader’s family after our weekly correlation meeting, we shared a message about the importance of the Book of Mormon and missionary work. We had a really great discussion with them. Definitely a great ending to the week :) <br />
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The Church is producing a new video for the Easter season called "Because He Lives." Starting on March 28th, they will be introducing a special series of messages centered on the power of the living Christ. Should be good :) #BecauseHeLives<br />
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Thank you all for your love and support! Thing are going well :) I hope you are all enjoying the spring! Have a great week. <br />
<br />
Best Wishes, <br />
<br />
Elder Kyle William Andrews<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16190926021699692563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5569440660429180241.post-70484886052460156312015-03-16T11:26:00.000-07:002015-05-01T11:31:15.612-07:00Ice FishingHello Everyone,<br />
<br />
This week has been great! On Monday we had our Zone P-Day up in Minneapolis. We watched the Saratov Approach, which was AMAZING, and then we went on a selfie scavenger hunt. It was a super fun day :) After our Zone P-Day, I went on exchange with an elder from Utah (of course haha). On exchange we were able to visit with a family briefly, and then we had a lesson with a couple. We talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He wasn't feeling very well because he got all wet when he was ice fishing and was starting to come down with a cold, but he held it together and we had a pretty great lesson! To finish off the evening we went over and visited with another family and submitted our numbers online.<br />
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On Tuesday I had an interview with an elder which was really great, and then we had District Meeting afterwards. Because the Zone Leaders came, we were able to have District Meeting at the Church. Gotta love the rule of 3 ;) We talked about "Revelation Through Church Attendance". For District Meeting we went on a Church tour, and talked about the 3 main obstacles that prevent our investigators from coming to Church. 1) They don't know where the physical building is. (Solved by a Church tour.) 2) They don't know the procedures of a Church service. (Solved by a Church tour.) 3) They don't know anyone there. (Have a member accompany you on a Church tour.) Bam! Problems solved :) It was a really fun District Meeting! In the evenign we had a lesson with a family. We watched half of Johnny Lingo, and set up a time later in the week to finish it. The best part, is my companion and I both left our bags over at their house. #MissionaryProblems<br />
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On Wednesday morning we went back over to their house to pick up our bags. The Sister asked us to come in, and told us that she wanted to speak with us. She was explaining to us how her kids have been meeting with missionaries for more than 7 years now, and it wasn't until just recently that things started to click. She said that they look forward to meeting with us now, and are excited to learn more about the gospel. She joked that they haven't yet realized that they have been covering the same lesson material for 7 years! Good things are happening though. Afterward we went over to a charity and did some service. We were able to have a really great conversation with the people we were working with. They were very curious as to who we were and why we were so far away from home. They worked for a patent law firm, which sounds like a really cool career. Overall, we had a really great discussion while we were helping to feed starving children :) After our service, we blitzed the Sisters area. They have been struggling a little bit since they white washed the area, so I thought it would be good to give them a little bit of extra assistance. Since we can't go on exchange, this is the next best thing! After our blitz, we met with a recent-convert. She was taping up her living room to paint it, and we offered to help her out. She is awesome! It was good to be able to get to know her better, and to be able to help out a little bit.<br />
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On Thursday we did our Weekly Service at the library. I put away and organized the childrens books, so that was pretty fun. We also got to use a dye cut to cut out 350 school busses. Yep, our arms were SUPER sore! After our service, I had an accountability call with the Sisters. They had just gotten back from an exchange with the Sister Training Leaders, and they had a super great experience! Their spirits were high, and they sounded refreshed and more excited about the work. Exchanges are the best. In the evening we went back over to the family’s home and finished watching Johnny Lingo. We talked about our individual worth, and the importance of sharing our love and serving others. AND we didn't forget our bags this time, so that was a definite plus!<br />
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On Friday we had accountability with the Zone Leaders and what I call gossip hour... coordination with the Sister Training Leaders. Kind of a weird concept. It is a new thing that the Church is doing, but when you have Sisters in your District, you have a call with the Sister Training Leaders to discuss how things are going for the Sisters. Kind of different, but I think it is a good thing. Sometimes Elders just don't realize all the things Sisters are going through, so this is a great way to point those things out and to find out ways how to best help them. Afterward we went over to the Senior Center and played games with some elderly people. It is so cute! These old people look forward to playing games with us all week. We played Yahtzee again this week, and I am definitely getting a lot better at it. I even got a Yahtzee this week! (All the dice were the same number.) Yep, I was pretty impressed with myself! In the afternoon we did our Weekly Planning for the week, which is always great. Gotta love planning! In the evening we went up to the High School to attend the youth of the Stake perform "Journey With Joseph." It is a musical composed by member in the Plymouth Ward that walks you through the life of Joseph Smith. It was super good! For mutual for the past few months they have been practicing and preparing for this event, and it turned out awesome. Our investigators came and had a great time! All in all, it was a super good day!<br />
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On Saturday we did our mormon.org time at the library in the morning. I finished looking at classes and registration stuff for BYU, and I am pretty sure I am done now! I talked with President Forbes, and scheduled an interview with him for my ecclesiastical endorsement and to renew my temple recommend. We have Zone Training on March 25th, so I will get everything done then. I guess it is a good thing that I have a later registration date, because I wouldn't be able to get everything done before then... still though... my registration date totally sucks haha! Ironically I got an email from BYU this week informing me that registration is approaching and that I should speak with my Mission President about renewing my ecclesiastical endorsement. One step ahead ;) In the afternoon we had a lesson with a family. Their home teacher, came joint teaching with us. We talked about the restoration of the Church, and watched a quick video about the restoration. We talked about the importance of asking questions, reading the scriptures, and praying as well. All in all it was a super great lesson! In the evening we had a lesson with another family. We stopped by their home, and the wife told us that her husband was out on the lake ice fishing. So we went out on the lake and found him! We had a brief lesson with him, and he showed us a thing or two about ice fishing. The ice is starting to get fairly thin, so it was a little bit sketchy, but it all worked out! Just don't step in a hole ;)<br />
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On Sunday, the Ides of March and my 22 month mark, we had Church in the morning. We were kind of low on numbers on Sunday, but overall it was a good service. After Church we had correlation with the ward mission leader and then we went out finding for a little while. Sunday our plans kind of came crashing down, so we had to do some reevaluating. We were going to go to the Presidents Fireside with our investigators, but they had to cancel last minute. So we finished up some Weekly Planning, and walked out to the island in the middle of the lake. The lake was mostly frozen in some spots, but we were definitely risking it in a few other areas :p When we jumped off the ice on to the island, the section of ice that we were walking on broke off, so that was pretty eventful! The island is super cool. Forever ago it was a booming island with hotels and homes and restaurants, but then there was a big fire and everyone left it desolate. It is rumored that Al Capone was hiding on the island for a while. There are old cars and abandoned homes all over the island. It was super cool! You have to be super careful to not step into an abandoned well and you cannot walk into the homes because you have no clue how sturdy the cement is, but it was still cool to be able to see it all! We cannot get in boats, so our only opportunity to see it is when the lake is frozen over. It was definitely an experience!<br />
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All in all it was a pretty good week. Kind of slow in parts, but it all worked out. Thank you so much for all of your love and support. You are the best! Have a great week :)<br />
<br />
Best Wishes, <br />
<br />
Elder Kyle William Andrews<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16190926021699692563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5569440660429180241.post-35638354995155863792015-03-09T11:51:00.000-07:002015-03-12T12:11:47.640-07:00Finding is the key!Hello Everyone,<br />
<br />
This week has been crazy as always, but things are going great! On Monday we met with a recent-convert in the ward. She offered to take our District to the Minnesota State Zoo for our District P-Day at the end of the month, so that should be super fun :) In the evening we visited with a less active family. We talked about prophets and gave them the movie "On The Lords Errand" to watch as a homework assignment. Amy wasn't feeling very well, so it was a pretty quick lesson.<br />
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On Tuesday we had District Meeting at the Sisters' apartment community room. We talked about developing the faith to find and creative finding ideas. Both of our areas are kind of dead right now, so finding will be key! Afterward we went over to a charity and did some service. There were not very many people there, so it was great to be able to help them out! #HairNetSwag #MannaPack In the evening we got a call from the some Elders asking if we could go over to the hospital and give a blessing to a member of their ward. We met a super sweet lady in their Ward! Her heart was racing and she had a really bad bladder infection so they admitted her to the hospital. She was so grateful that we responded so quickly to her request for a blessing! To finish off the evening we went over to the a family’s home and talked about the restoration. We watched the movie "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoation" and had a really great discussion. The Brother told me that I look like Tim Tebow, so... you guessed it! You should send me a picture of Tim Tebow so I can compare and contrast haha ;) All in all it was a super great day though!<br />
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On Wednesday our District went to the St. Paul, Minnesota Temple with a sister in the ward. I love going to the temple :) While we were there I saw several members from wards I’ve served in so that was kind of cool! When we were at the temple I prayed very specifically about something that I have been contemplating for a while... I haven't actually told anyone about it yet because it was in the very early stages, but I was thinking about possibly extending my mission. Because of the age change extensions are very unlikely, but on occassion you can get approval. I just don't know. My friends Tyson and Makayla are getting married three days after I get home, plus I have travel plans and ideas and things, but still I was thinking about it. While we were at the temple, however, I did not receive my answer. In the afternoon we went to the Library and filled out some government forms to do weekly service there. Then it happened... we got a call from our Zone Leaders. They were announcing that our Mission was going to be getting iPads on May 26th. To be honest, I am glad that we are not getting them right now, and that we will be getting them after I go home from my mission. I would have loved iPads at the beginning of my mission, but not when I have a month left. I will just go home and get a regular iPad, not an iPad mini :) And then it hit me! This was an answer to my prayer that an extension is not in the cards for me. If I extend, I will need to get an iPad mini. "Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise." (Alma 37:6) Kind of cool how it all came together! To finish off the evening we had a lesson with a less-active family that kind of fell apart. He had some problems with his taxes and was on the phone with H&R Block and the IRS the whole morning about some money that he was missing from his taxes. Both organizations were blaming the other organization, and he was super unhappy and so he went for a walk. He wasn't home when we stopped by, but we were able to talk with her for a little while. Kind of a crazy day! Oh... and Purim began at sundown... whatever that is ;)<br />
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On Thursday we went and did service at the Library. A staff member gave us a super in depth tour, and I am pretty sure that my brain was ready to explode! SO MUCH INFORMATION! #MindBlown I did have a super cool experience, however, while we were on the tour. As part of the tour we met the head librarian of the county. He asked us where we were from and we told him that we were both from Provo, Utah. Paul told us that he was familiar with Provo because he worked for a company in Provo for a while. I started asking him a few questions about Utah and his experiences with the Church, and we had a pretty good conversation. At the end I asked him for curiousity sake which company he worked for, and he told me that he worked for a company called Dynex! I laughed a little bit and asked him if he knew Grandpa or Paul Sybrowsky and he did :) Small world! In the afternoon we went and did some finding. We met a few interesting people, but all in all we didn't have a ton of success. We will just have to keep trying! To finish off the evening we had a Family Home Evening lesson with a family. We played a few card games, drew a few pictures, and talked about Church and seminary. The mom told us that she was really pleased with our interactions with her children, and that she was grateful that we were not being too pushy with them like previous missionaries. Hopefully we will be able to help them to progress. They have a lot of very interesting rules that make things a little bit difficult for us, but we can still make it work... (i.e. don't attend church for Fast Sundays, General Conference, Stake Conference, Baby Blessings, etc... and if they can't come for all three hours they do not come.) They do not really do 9:00 Church, so lately they have been going to the Catholic Church nearby. Hopefully we can get them to come to our Church sometime soon!<br />
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On Friday we had accountability with the Zone Leaders and then I had a coordination call with the Sister Training Leaders about the area Sisters. Afterward we did our Weekly Planning and then our ward mission leader called and invited us to come to "Shrek: The Musical" with their family and another family. So we rearranged our schedule, and had a great evening! Two of the ward mission leader’s daughters were in "Shrek: The Musical" and they did a phenominal job! That family is the best :)<br />
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On Saturday we didn't have too many plans, so we went around tracting and finding new people to teach for quite a while. This area is definitely in need of some good finding time! We had a few cancelled appointments, and then in the evening we went over to visit with a member. We were going to watch Johnny Lingo with him, but turns out he doesn't like movies.... so we had a discussion with him about individual worth. He likes deep doctrine, but right now he is at a place where the basics are definitely something that he should be focusing on. He always takes our discussions to a deeper level, so we just have to keep bringing it back haha! I don't mind deep doctrine, but there is definitely a time and a place.<br />
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On Sunday... daylight savings... shutter, we had Church at 9:00 AM. Yuck! I love daylight savings come fall, but spring forward I am not such a big fan of ;) Church was good though. The wife of the less active family we’re working with had a super bad migraine so they were unable to attend. After Church we went over to their house and gave her some migraine medication and had a quick lesson with them. We watched the Mormon Message, "Come What May and Love It". We talked about making the best of our situations, and choosing to be happy! Definitely something we can all work on :) To finish off the evening we had correlation with the ward mission leader. We saw them a ton this week haha! It was great :)<br />
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Thank you all for all of your love and support! You are the best :) Hope you have a great week.<br />
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Best Wishes,<br />
<br />
Elder Kyle William Andrews<br />
<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16190926021699692563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5569440660429180241.post-40925343570339501482015-03-02T11:26:00.000-08:002015-03-12T11:51:33.859-07:00New Area!Hello Everyone,<br />
<br />
This week has been kind of slow, but it has been a good week :) It was pretty cold this week, so we had to layer up quite a bit. I of course had to take a picture. I'm fairly certain that the people here think that I am crazy. Minnesotans do not layer up nearly as much as I have to... I have Canadian blood in me, and yet I am ALWAYS cold! I was always cold in Utah, so I guess I should have assumed that would remain the same here in Minnesota haha. Things are good though :) At least I have a TON of winter gear to layer up with!<br />
<br />
On Monday we had our P-Day. I love P-Days, but the time always flies by SUPER quickly! SO much to do, and so little time haha. I secretly love being busy all the time though. I remember in High School when I had a million things to do, I was generally super happy. Probably not a good thing that I enjoy stress, but it works for me ;) Holy cow, I spent a TON of money on P-Day. We only have a Target here in this area, and I had a million things that I needed. #NewAreaProblems I will have to be careful with my spending these next few months! In the evening we contacted a few potential investigators, and went over to a member’s home to submit our key indicators. The library here for some reason does not allow us to submit our numbers the normal way, so we just go over to their house to submit our numbers online.<br />
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On Tuesday we had District Meeting. I gave a training on goal setting, planning, and execution. This District is very different. We had a very quiet District Meeting. This transfer I will be focusing on having super fun over the top but also meaningful District Meetings. Usually District Meetings are super social and fun, but it was just kind of awkward. Partially I think it is because we have a small District, but we also have some.... "unique" individuals in the District. It was a Senior Couple’s last day in the mission, so we had a little testimony meeting with them. It was super cool! The Sister got really emotional, and I almost started crying with her. AHHH! Emotions. The next couple District Meetings will be really interesting. As missionaries we have a rule called the rule of 3. In order to be with someone of the opposite gender we must be have 3 people of either gender. This presents a problem when you have 2 Elders and 2 Sisters in a District. I talked with President Forbes about it, and he gave us special leaniancy on the rule. We can have District Meeting in the Church if someone else is at the Church, but they don't need to be in the same room. We can have District Meeting at an empty nesters home, or a familes home. Or we can have District Meeting in an open area. This next week we are going to have District Meeting in the community room at the Sisters apartment. Should be interesting! After District Meeting we drove up to the cities for a Minneapolis Zone Leadership Conference (MZLC). We talked about the key indicators for the past few transfers, District and Zone focuses, and potential trainings and district unity ideas for the transfer. It was super fun! Our companions all went out and worked for the day while we were at the meeting, so my companion got to experience working in the ghetto for a little while. In the evening we went joint teaching with Bishop, and had a great lesson with a part member family. The mom is a member, and her husband and children are not. We had a lesson with her kids. We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ (faith, repentance, baptism, Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end). We used a lot of object lessons to demonstrate the principles. For repentance I used a pencil FHE lesson that my Mom sent to me. For baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end we used a hard boiled egg and a calypso (super good drink) bottle. The egg as you sin is cracked, and then you repent and peel off the shell. Then you are baptized so you pour alcohol in the calypso bottle. Then you have a baptism by fire (receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost), so you light a match and put it in the bottle. You put the egg on top and as it squeezes into the bottle it endures to the end. It was a pretty fun lesson!<br />
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On Wednesday we went and did service at a charity in the morning. I bought these sweet bracelets made by African children, and all the money goes towards feeding starving children so that was kind of cool! In the afternoon we had a lesson with a less-active member on the Plan of Salvation and Family History. Before the senior couple left they did a bunch of family history for the less-active member, so we gave her a packet that they put together for her. In the evening we went out joint teaching. We had a lesson with a less-active and part member family on faith. He told us that he had been having a really tough week. His Mom was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer that was unoperable, and his wifes father was going in for a double valve replacement on his heart. It was a tough week for them! He asked us to keep them in our prayers. To finish off the evening we had a lesson with another family. We talked about faith and Church attendance. The wife got work off on Sunday, so she was excited to be able to go to Church with her husband.<br />
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On Thursday we did some mormon.org time in the morning and then I had an accountability call with the Sisters. I made a few phone calls, one of them being to the St. Paul Minnesota Temple. We scheduled a temple trip and got registered and everything. Later we got a call from the Mission Office informing us that the temple had called them and wanted them to relay to us that the temple would actually be closed on the day we scheduled. Sad day! So I did some rearranging of our schedule. In the afternoon we went out finding for a few hours. We were able to teach a few people, but we didn't get any new investigators. I realized this week that I am really going to need to take charge of this area. Right now it is kind of dying. My companion has been here for a LONG time, and nothing has really happened. Hopefully I can turn things around! In the evening we visited with a family from the ward and helped them move a few things. They are refinishing their house and then moving to Idaho. We shared a message with them from Mormon Channel called "Expressions of Love" and then we also watched a new video on family history. It was a really great ending to the day.<br />
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On Friday we had an accountability call with the Zone Leaders and then I had a call with the Sister Training Leaders. Afterward we went over to the Senior Center and played Yahtzee with some of the residents. I have never played Yahtzee before, but it was pretty fun :) Later we visited with a sister in the ward and shared a Bible Video with her called "John The Beloved's Witness". We also watched the old Mormon Message, "Because of Him." We talked about the infinite sacrifice of the Atonement and the blessing that it is in our lives. In the evening we did some Weekly Planning and got everything scheduled out!<br />
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On Saturday we had a lesson with a man on the Prodigal Son. He is an interesting character. As we teach him, he talks to us A LOT about the Bible and asks relate the personal expereinces that he is sharing with us to the lesson. Sometimes it is a stretch, but it makes our lessons kind of fun! He always says, "relate it!" In the evening we stopped by a less-active member in our ward. I was super excited to see his name on the rolls. I served in the another ward for 9 months and heard quite a bit about him from his father! He was active up until he got married. He married a nice Jewish woman, and has not been active since. They have a few kids, and when they have come over to Grandma and Grandpas house they love to pray with them. Super cute family! I talked with him for a little while, but he asked us to come over another time a little bit earlier. Plus later I realized that it was Saturday... the Sabbath Day for Jews. Whoops!<br />
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On Sunday we had a pretty good service at Church. Our less-active family did not come however. No bueno! After Church we went finding for a little while and visited with the family in the ward. The Brother is going to take us to the temple on Wednesday, so that should be super fun! In the evening we had a Stake Mission Call with a Brother in the Bloomington Ward. He is awesome! When I was on exchange with the Assistants when I first came on my mission we had dinner with him. He is a Harvard graduate and is just a super effective business man. He is now the Minneapolis Stake High Councilman for Missionary Work! After the call we had correlation with the ward mission leader and shared a message with their family. To finish off the day we visited with the Player Development Coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings who is in the ward. He is a super awesome guy! We arranged to tour the Vikings Training facilities for one of our P-Days, so that should be way fun :)<br />
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All in all it was a pretty good week! Things are going well, and I am slowly starting to get a handle on things here in this area. I love this new area, and the challenges that it presents. Certainly keeps me busy :) Thank you all for all of your love and support. You are the best! Have a great week :)<br />
<br />
Best Wishes,<br />
<br />
Elder Kyle William AndrewsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16190926021699692563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5569440660429180241.post-11343907760292885682015-02-23T10:41:00.000-08:002015-02-24T11:06:51.156-08:00New Area!Hello Everyone,<br />
<br />
This week has been kind of crazy, as always I guess ;) On Monday, Presidents Day and Family Day in Canada, we had our P-Day and I found out that I was being transferred. Yep... totally crazy! I was kind of expecting it I guess, but it still always comes as kind of a shock. In the evening we had Family Home Evening with the families in the ward. Saying goodbye is not fun! I have some really great memories in the Princeton Ward.<br />
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On Tuesday I packed up all my belonging, which fit in my suitcases, so that was a plus! It was really strange thinking about the fact that this next area will more than likely be my last area. Everyone that I said goodbye to talked about how I was going home soon, and that I needed to find a good wife, etc... WEIRD! In the afternoon we visited with the four more families. I hate goodbye's, but it makes it easier that I know that I can come back after my mission. In that respect I am super grateful that I live relatively close to my mission. I don't know how people that serve in foreign countries do it! When you say goodbye, it is a pretty big deal. In the evening we first visited with our new member family. That was really difficult for me. We have become really close these past few months, they are like family to me! While we were over, I burned my suit with them. Usually you burn a suit at the end of your mission, but I decided to do it a little bit early with them :) Plus it freed up a little bit of space in my suitcase! (It was a thrift store suit that was getting pretty destroyed, so no worries!) They gave me a really nice picture of their family, and they all signed my testimony journal, so that was awesome. To finish off the evening we went over to our part member family to say goodbye. All in all, it was a crazy day, but I got everything done!<br />
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On Wednesday we had our transfer meeting in Bloomington. Apparently this transfer affected 75% of the mission, so it was a HUGE transfer meeting! My whole MTC district that came to the MMM was there, so that was super fun :) I loaded all of my stuff up in the car, and then we took off for the new area. My new companion is from Provo, Utah as well. He is definitely an interesting character. Kind of an awkward duck, but he is a good kid. He came out with my greenie. My new area is his second city. Before his mission he had his own animation business, so that is kind of cool. We know a few of the same people, but not a ton. #MormonProblems. After unpacking my things and getting settled in, we had a lesson with one of our investigators. They got married on Valentines day, and he is progressing towards baptism. She has been a member for a few years, but it just now returning to activity. She works on Sundays, so it makes it tough. They have been through a lot together, and do not have very much money at all. He has quit smoking for about two weeks now, and is preparing to get baptized in March! We had a lesson with them on charity and love. He doesn't know how to read, and has a harder time learning, so our lessons with them are very basic. We watched a Mormon Message with them, and explained it afterward. It was a pretty good lesson. Later we visited with a returning less-active member. He is a very interesting guy. He is super rock and roll, and he is part of a screamo band. He is the lead singer of course... I will have to find out the name of his band so you can look them up on iTunes. He played a song for us about bacon.... very different. We talked to him about the atonement, and shared the talk by Brad Wilcox, "His Grace Is Sufficient." The investigator is really bright, and has a very good understanding of the gospel! In the evening we met together as a Ward Council and went over the Ward Directory. It was good to start getting to know people and the area. My companion has been here forever, so we aren't really sure if he will be my companion for another transfer. Only time will tell!<br />
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On Thursday we had an accountability call with the Sisters. Their was just white washed (took the Elders out and replaced them with Sisters) so the Sisters are completely new to the area. They were a little overwhelmed, but we talked things through. The elders in that area were kind of apostate, so this is a fresh new start for the area! The only problem is that nothing is really going on in their area right now. Later in the afternoon we went finding for a little while. We met a cool guy and then I did something tragic. I have not tripped, fallen, or slipped the entire time that I have been here in the MMM! I almost made it my whole mission... and then it happened. His driveway was SUPER icy, and I totally slipped and fell on my butt. Not cool! I guess I somehow knew it would happen sometime! Rude. In the evening we went up to Watertown, and visited with a less active member. She has not been to Church in over 12 years, and the Senior Couple have been visiting with her for the past year. She was committed to come to Church this week, so that was super exciting! The only problem is that the senior couple are going home this week with no replacement. The Church definitely needs more Senior Missionaries! We had a nice lesson with her on the miracles of Christ's ministry. We watched a few Bible Videos and got to know her better. It was a really nice visit! To finish off the evening we met with a family in the ward. They are awesome! We watched a Bible Video with them of Jesus getting water from a well from a Samaratin. I really like the ward here, but lets be real... I have never disliked any of the wards I have served in. Some areas are better than others, but ward members in general are awesome!<br />
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On Friday we had a Zone Service Project. AHHH, I love serving in the cities! Because I am serving in the Minneapolis Zone now, the Assistants even come to our Zone events and things. Kind of cool! When you serve in the cities you get a lot closer to the people in your Zone, which is a definite plus. We volunteered at a nonprofit that sends food to over 70 countries. Super awesome organization! My greenie is in this Zone as well. Kind of fun :) Later, we went and did service at a senior center in our area. We play a game with them called sweep six. Kind of a brainless game, but it mixes things up for them so that is good! You have pieces of paper with the numbers 1-6 written on it, and you roll a dice. When you get a number, you cover it up with a poker chip. First person to cover up all their numbers wins! It was a little bit traumatizing in some ways, but it worked out. There was an old lady in one of the rooms behind us that kept yelling "Help! Somebody help me! I need help!" Apparently she does that all day. The nurses check on her occasionally, but the moment they leave she goes back to yelling. Kind of nuts. I feel bad for elderly people that no longer have control over their bodies! I certainly do not want to hang on for that long. The moment I start to have issues, PULL THE PLUG! To finish off the evening we met with the a part member family. The dad has been a member his whole life, but went less-active many many years ago. He married a non-member a few years ago, and together they have had a few encounters with missionaries. The missionaries were really pushy with her, and she was really turned off to the Church. It was the example of her husband’s family that continued to give her a desire to learn more about the Church. 4 weeks ago they started going to Church with his family in his family’s ward. 2 weeks ago they came to Sacrament meeting in the ward here and met with Bishop and told him that she would like to be baptized. Before this lesson, my companion and his last companion have met with them once. She has been interviewed and is set to get baptized. For our lesson we finalized baptism plans, filled out the baptism record, and watched a Bible Video called "John the Beloved's Witness." We talked a little bit about faith, and conversion. It was an awesome lesson!<br />
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On Saturday we Weekly Planned for a little bit, and then went over to the Church. We began filling the baptismal font, and then the Ward Mission Leader and his wife arrived. While the font was filling we printed off programs and got everything ready. While we had some down time, the Ward Mission Leader made a few business phone calls. He is some kind of an executive for AT&T and he was making calls for the Summit winners for this year. The Summit is an all expense paid trip to Naples, Florida for the top sellers in each region. He put the phone on speaker, so we got to hear everyones reactions. Super cool experience! At 3:30, the investigator was baptized by her husband, which was really cool. She is pregnant, so now they are both members and active, and they will be a happy Mormon family :) I think in a way that may have helped to spark this decision! To finish off the day we had a lesson with a family. We watched a Mormon Message about the hope of God's light, and talked about how God can help us through any of our trials! The wife had a super bad headache, and they didn't have any money for ibuprophen, so it was kind of tough, but last minute they found some money and ran over to the drug store. Kind of a scattered lesson, but it all worked out.<br />
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On Sunday, 1st Sunday of Lent and George Washington's Birthday, we had Ward Council in the morning, and then Church at 9:00. Yuck! Back to 9:00 AM Church... the less-active member who hadn’t been to church in 12 years came to Church which was AWESOME, and our new member was confirmed. Turns out a lot of people in this Ward are from Provo, but most of them went to Timpview. I'm pretty sure when I tell them I went to Provo High School they all think that I'm one of those poor Provo kids, but whatever. The more they get to know me the more they will love me :) After Church we had a meeting with Bishop, and then we went to an open house for the a couple at Bishops house. They are going to Vermont to serve another mission in a few weeks. They will be caretakers for Joseph Smiths home I believe, so that will be really fun for them! In the evening we had correlation over at the a member’s home. I love that family! Pretty sure we are going to be buddies :) I also found out that one of the coaches for the Minnesota Vikings are in our ward, so that will be super cool! He was at an NFL event this past week, but soon I will get to meet him and his family! All in all, it was a really good week and I really like this new area. Life is good :)<br />
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Thank you all for all of your love and support. You are the best! Have a great week :)<br />
<br />
Best Wishes,<br />
<br />
Elder Kyle William AndrewsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16190926021699692563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5569440660429180241.post-76182285744122072072015-02-16T10:26:00.000-08:002015-02-24T10:40:45.372-08:00Don't be a TROLL, LOVE the people!Hello Everyone, <br />
<br />
Things are going well here in Minnesnowta! It snowed today of course, but life is good :) It is Presidents Day, so we are emailing from the Junckers home. We got our transfer emails this morning, and I am being transferred to another area and will be serving with a different elder. Holy cow, I am not a fan of packing! If any of you would like, I would be totally okay with your flying out to Minnesota and helping me pack up all my stuff haha. It will all work out though. <br />
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Last Monday we had our P-Day, and then we had Family Home Evening with a family in the ward. Later we visited with Bishop and his family and shared a Valentines message with them about love and service. We shared the video "Because Of Him" and talked about the love that Jesus Christ has for each one of us. We finished off the evening by stopping by a less-active member that Bishop asked us to visit with. We talked to him briefly and shared a quick message with him. It was a really great evening!<br />
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On Tuesday we had accountability calls in the morning, and then we went on exchange with the Zone Leaders. I was with an elder from Idaho. We visited with a less-active member and shared a message with him about the importance of serving others. We talked about the service that is provided in Church, and invited him to come worship with us. He loves Church, but admitted that he was just lazy and didn't want to wake up early. Hopefully he will experience a mighty change of heart! Later we visited with an investigator family and set up a return appointment with them for next Wednesday. In the evening we went over to our new member family’s home and talked to them about the Plan of Salvation, which sparked some more interest in doing their family history. To finish off the evening we had a lesson with a part member family. We talked about Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy. We shared one of the new Bible Videos with them, and committed them all to come to Church with us on Sunday. A few concerns were brought up, but we resolved their concerns and recommitted them to come to Church! Here is a funny story from our visit with them :) Their washing machine broke, and the son and a friend fixed it up earlier that day. They were SUPER behind on laundry, so in the middle of the lesson the mom had to move over a load of laundry, and put a new load in the washer. She was washing a load of jeans, and decided to check all the pockets before she put them in the wash. She started up the washer, and came upstairs with something in her hand. She then looked at her son and said, "What is this?" with a smirk on her face as she stretched out a red condom that she had found in his jeans pocket. Embarrased, he responded, "What?!?! I was playing with it. My friend gave it to me, and we inflate them like a balloon! It's fun!" It was pretty hilarious! Apparently we will need to recover the Law of Chastity ;) <br />
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On Wednesday we all got together for the last District Meeting of the transfer. I gave a training on Key Indicators for Conversion, using a lot of references from a book that I received from my Grandparents, "The Highly Effective Missionary." We talked about how numbers represent people, and so when we work towards numerical goals, they represent the lives of those whom we are inviting to come unto Christ. For our role play, we went through the past week in our planners and discussed with another missionary what went well, what needs improvement, and how we can make the necessary changes to become more effective missionaries. For Valentines Day I gave everyone some Trolli Gummy Worm candies, but I coloured in the "i" on Trolli and said "Don't be a TROLL, LOVE the people!" It was a pretty fun District Meeting :) Afterward we took District Pictures and went on our way. In the afternoon we stopped by one of our investigators, and he was not home. His roommates, however, invited us in and we had a lesson with them. A woman was there and told us that she is a Mormon and that she would like to come back to Church again! We got all of her information so that we can transfer her records into the ward, and she is super excited to come back to Church! It is super cool to see how God works things out sometimes! We had some extra time one day, and so were tracting in the investigator’s trailer park. We set up a return appointment, and although he wasn't there, we met someone that is a lost sheep! #Miracle In the evening we had a lesson with a part-member family on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We talked mainly about faith and repentance, and committed the dad to start reading the Book of Mormon again! Later we visited with the another part-member family and shared a Valentines Day message with them about love and made Valentines cards for them to give to their siblings and friends. The mom has 10 foster kids, so their house is a little bit crazy at times. To finish off the evening we stopped by a member family and shared a quick message with them about service. The mom is the Relief Society President, and so we discussed a few names of less-active sisters in the ward with her as well. All in all it was a great evening! <br />
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On Thursday, Abraham Lincoln's Birthday, we had accountability with our Zone Leaders and then we went over to the Family History Center and began filling out our "My Family" booklets that the Church gave us to talk to people about Family History. I am not very familiar with familysearch.org and family history in general, so it was an experience that's for sure! I got my booklet mostly filled out though :) Later we helped a member with some bulletin boards in the Church. She is recovering from pneumonia, yet she was working on the Relief Society bulletin board. Crazy lady! In the evening we had a lesson with one of the Sister's old investigators. We talked to him about the importance of faith. He told us basically that he was meeting with the missionaries because he is lonely because his wife passed away about a year ago. He isn't super interested in the gospel, but enjoys the company. It is too bad that he isn't willing to act on the things he has been taught, but as for right now it isn't super effective to meet with him on a regular basis. To finish off the evening we had a lesson with a family. We were going to have a lesson on the Plan of Salvation, but there was a big argument at dinner, lots of contention, and some hurt feelings in the home, so we had another Valentines message about loving one another. It worked out rather well, and things were good again when we left. <br />
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On Friday the 13th #FreakyFriday, we did service at a thrift store. We moved some things around and helped organize a few projects. Later we did our Weekly Planning and prepared for the upcoming week. It is always super weird planning for the week of transfers. It was super stressful actually, because that is when I started to realize that I could very possibly be leaving. I hate surprises! In the evening we had a lesson with the our new member family on Family History. We opened up Family Search, started filling out My Family booklets, and got to work on their family history. Holy cow, that website gave me a killer headache! By the time we left I was about to hire out professional help! A genealogist would be super useful. It worked out though, and we at least got a start on some of their family history. They are just working on collecting some names and dates and things. <br />
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On Saturday, Valentines Day, we finished up some Weekly Planning in the morning and got to work on making a bunch of cookies. We made cookies for the Junckers, the Andersons, the Mowers, the Zunigas, the Larsons, the Johnsons, the Akemans, the Pinkes, etc... we just went to town baking cookies. After lunch we went and distributed our Valentines cookies. It was super fun! Later we did some service for a family in the ward. They have a corn furnace, and so we helped them fill up bags of corn for their furnace. It was freezing cold outside, someone said it was one of the colder Valentines Days that they can remember. In the evening we had Family Home Evening with a part member family. We watched Johnny Lingo and talked about how we are all children of God and have a divine potential. We played some card games and had a great time! #HappyValentinesDay #LoveWeek #AllYouNeedIsLove<br />
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On Sunday we had Church. The part member family came to Church which was awesome! After Church we had correlation and then we went and visited an investigator. We talked to him about Christlike love, and we had a super cool experience with him. He has been waiting for months and months for his sister to call him back. He has been calling her several times a week, and has had no response. Finally, while we were over at his home, his sister called! He was astonished, and told us later that he realized that God was trying to tell him something. It was great! In the evening we went up to another town and had a lesson with an investigator family on the Plan of Salvation. We whipped out some shaving cream and drew the whole Plan of Salvation on their dining room table. It was awesome! <br />
It was a great week, and I know that good things are in the works for this week. It will be hard (as always) to say goodbye to all my friends in this area, but I know that the Lord needs me elsewhere at this time. Wish me luck in my new area!<br />
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Best Wishes,<br />
Elder Kyle William AndrewsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16190926021699692563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5569440660429180241.post-81439629520091389832015-02-09T12:10:00.000-08:002015-02-12T12:29:22.965-08:00Double BaptismHello Everyone, <br />
<br />
This week has been great! On Monday, Groundhog Day, we had our P-Day. We heard that the we will be having 6 more weeks of winter... no surprise for Minnesnowta ;) I am loving this winter so far though! Sure it isn't as good as the winter back home in Utah, but it is surprisingly warm for Minnesota standards. Currently there is no snow, and the temperatures are quite mild. Hopefully it stays that way! You never know in Minnesota though, it could snow in June. Lets just pray that the bad weather holds off until May ;) On Monday evening we went over to an investigator’s home. We had a super cool experience with them when we first got there. The mom was going hardcore in the kitchen, like Iron Chef status. She was a little overwhelmed though. We offered to help her out with what she was doing, and she accepted. She was making crock pot chicken pot pies for a trade off at work. She made like six of them and was trying to get it all done quickly. We took over at the stove and helped her with the roux, and finished everything up :) Later we began teaching the daughter all the lessons. Yeah... it was a lot, but she was a champ! We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Law of Tithing, The Law of Chastity, Follow the Prophet, and discussed the baptismal interview questions. Meanwhile her mom was able to catch up on her Scentsy orders. Later that evening after we returned home, her mom texted us. She told us that she had prayed earlier that day that she would be able to finish up the frozen crock pot meals and all of her Scentsy orders before 10:00 PM, and she did it! It is always cool to see when you are able to help to be an answer to someones prayers. <br />
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On Tuesday we had a bunch of accountability calls in the morning, and then we went over to the a member’s home to clean our car. We had Zone Conference later in the week, so we had to make sure our car was spic and span! They were not home, but their two brothers were home. We were able to talk to one of her brothers after we finished cleaning our car. We talked to him about the Book of Mormon and invited him to come to Church with the family. He kindly refused, but said that he is always open to listening to missionaries. We will have to clean our car more often ;) In the evening we went to our investigator’s last swim meet of the season, and then got our hair cut by a less-active member. Yeah, my hair is always a touchy subject. I have only met her once before, and I have heard stories... She did a pretty good job, but it was a little uneven. Before we went to bed I touched it up a little bit, and things are good again :) I know what you are thinking... but sometimes you just need to be a little vain! We were able to meet their family though, and they are open to having us come over and share a message with them on occasion. We will have to see where it goes!<br />
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On Wednesday we went to a thrift store for service, and then we went on exchange. I went to the other area with an elder from Oakland, California. We were in my old area for the afternoon, and we were able to stop by a family I had taught. It was fun to see one of the families that I was teaching while I was in that ward! They were very different though. One of them is not active anymore, and you can see that there is something missing. She used to want to be a missionary, and their family was actively taking the discussions. Kind of sad. We invited them to attend the ward party on Saturday, but they had a birthday party planned for their son. After visiting with them we went and visited with a member couple. They both have A LOT of health challenges now, and they are basically waiting to die, but other than that, they are doing great! Yep... that sounded kind of odd. We talked to them about faith, and how faith can help us to overcome. In the evening we went over to the a member’s home, and had a lesson with their progressing investigator. We taught the restoration, and then I interviewed him for his baptism date of February 14th. What a "love"ly day ;) It was probably one of the most thorough and lengthy baptismal interviews that I have ever heard of on my mission! Usually it lasts about 30 minutes, and it took an hour and a half! He is definitely a talker, and has a lot to say about the gospel, so that is a good thing I guess ;) Just very long... Then we went back to the apartment and went to bed. <br />
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Thursday morning at around 2:00 AM my exchange companion woke me up and told me that he had a SUPER bad headache and that he hadn't been able to get to sleep yet. He said that he felt like his head was shaking, and that he needed to go to the emergency room. So I got up out of bed, changed quickly, had him call President Forbes (because the Emergency Room is SUPER expensive, so we need permission to go unless it is a real emergency), and then we were off! Turns out there isn't a hospital in that area, so we had to drive to to a different city. They admitted him, checked things out, did a CT scan, and gave him 800 mg of Ibuprofen. It took quite a while, so we got home around 4:00 AM. I wish I would have been more awake at the time to help diagnose him so that I could have just told him to take some pain medication and go back to sleep, but it all worked out. At least they were able to determine that there was no real underlying problem. Apparently he had had a headache most of the day, but he was just waiting for it to go away which is why it got so bad! On Thursday after getting some sleep, we exchanged back and went on our way. Holy cow, I was SUPER tired. Luckily that area has a Sonic :) Day made! We went and did service at a thrift store, and set up some cool shelves. My companion mostly helped out in the back breaking down boxes and things while a member and I set up displays. In the evening we went and visited with a member and talked to her about goal setting and execution. We shared the Emmett Smith Story with her, which was super good! It is a video that I have that shows a runner who had surgery and was told that he couldn't walk again, and he ended up getting back to running in a year. Super good example of goal setting and execution :) To finish off the evening we stopped by a member family and dropped off some food and a card. The mom has had pneumonia for a few weeks, and so they haven't been able to meet with them. We actually haven't been able to meet with them since the Sister Missionaries left. Lame! One day... <br />
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On Friday we had Zone Conference in St. Cloud. Sister Forbes gave a really good training on how to study the scriptures effectively, and President Forbes gave a training on planning and execution of the NAC initiative. That is a big thing in our mission right now. We are all focusing on part-member families, children of record, and prospective elders. They kind of has been the focus of my mission on my own, so it has been nice having it transition to a whole mission focus! Sister Forbes even took pictures of us all at lunch and texted it to our Moms haha. She loves hearing from our moms. In fact, the whole day she was reading off responses from our moms. Kind of funny! In the evening we went out joint teaching. We had a lesson with a new member family on Priesthood and Auxiliaries and talked about how they all have their own responsibilities and things in the Church. We watched a few really good videos on the Priesthood, Personal Progress, and Relief Society. To finish off the evening, we had a lesson with an investigator family on tithing. I have a TON of candy, so we used candy to demonstrate the principle of tithing. We all had 20 or so jelly beans that I got from a member for Christmas, and we payed our tithing with jelly bean currency. Everyone seemed to understand it pretty clearly! Candy is a pretty good motivator haha ;) <br />
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On Saturday we had a baptism in the morning, and then another was baptized at 1:00. It was a crazy morning! Everything came together perfectly though :) We shared a message at both baptisms, which was kind of fun. We watched the Mormon Message, "Reclaimed", and talked about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how we can repent and be cleansed of sin. We have the examples of the people who were just baptized to follow, because they are nice and clean! But luckily we can renew those covenants each Sunday in Sacrament Meeting :) Afterward we went over to a family’s and did some service for them. We put up some wallpaper in their home, which was pretty eventful. I have never put up wallpaper before! While we were over, some Amish people stopped by and wanted to look at their house. The family is planning on moving in the next few years, and the Amish people in the community found out about it and want an Amish person to move into their home. They have a had a few Amish people tour their home the past few months. They were really kind, and we were even able to have a gospel conversation with one of them. Crazy to think that if they moved into their home, they would rip out all the plumbing and electrical features. I certainly couldn't do it, but more power to them! I would probably die without plumbing and electricity. No hot showers, cell phones, lights, flushing toilets, etc... No thank you! For the remainder of the evening we weekly planned. We just haven't had a ton of time to plan this week! It flew by. <br />
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On Sunday one of our new members was confirmed in Sacrament meeting, and her sister (non-member) gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. It was a super good service! In the afternoon we visited with an investigator and talked to her about our lesson in gospel principles, the fall of Adam and Eve. Her memory is getting a little bit worse, but she is hanging on! Favorite quote from our visit, "God forbid I live to be 100!". She is a fun lady! In the evening we had a lesson with our investigator family on the Law of Chastity, so that is always exciting ;) They had a friend over, and his Mom wanted him to sit in on the lesson. She thought it was hilarious! She was very open with her comments ;) It was definitely an experience! <br />
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All in all it was a super good week, full of a few little surprises! It was a good week though :) Next Monday we will get our transfer emails, so that should be interesting. I have no clue what is going to happen. I have two transfers left, so I could stay here for the rest of my mission, or I could go over to a new area. We shall see! I hope you all have a great week, and a Happy Valentine's Day :) Talk to you soon! <br />
<br />
Best Wishes, <br />
<br />
Elder Kyle William AndrewsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16190926021699692563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5569440660429180241.post-26440862114870070402015-02-02T11:51:00.000-08:002015-02-12T12:09:40.104-08:00Stand ye in holy placesHello Everyone, <br />
<br />
HAPPY GROUND HOG DAY :) Hopefully spring will soon be approaching! What is the verdict?<br />
<br />
This week has been great! Not what I ever expected it to be, but usually it isn't. Plans were made to be changed ;) On Monday we had District P-Day at the Hogan's Pole Barn. We were given permission to watch the movie Frozen, so that was SUPER good! I have heard people talking about Frozen for over a year now, so it was good to get some closure on the situation! Definitely a movie I will watch again. In the evening we went out joint teaching and had Family Home Evening with an investigator family. We played the card game "B.S." and then we had a message on faith. <br />
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On Tuesday we had accountability calls in the morning, and then we had to go over to the Family History Center to update some referrals. The Church updated their referral system, and so we had to learn and update the system. Earlier we had a call in referral system that we had to call, enter a referral ID number, and update over the phone. Now the system is all online and is MUCH easier to use! In the evening we went over to a High School to witness a new member’s swim meet. He was baptized about a year ago, and we have been trying to get to know him and his family a little better. His Mom is a member, and his dad and younger sister are not members. <br />
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On Wednesday we had District Meeting. I gave a training on relying on the Holy Ghost and following the promptings we receive. It was kind of cool to look back on my experiences with the Holy Ghost over the years, and over the span of my mission. At the beginning I honestly had no clue what it was, and how to rely on it. I still have a lot of learning to do, but I have made progress! After District Meeting I went on exchange with an elder from Herriman, Utah. To start off the exchange I interviewed an investigator for his baptism next week. We had a really great discussion as we met together. As we talked about keeping the Sabbath day holy, he shared a really cool experience he had with me. He told me that he had never taken the sacrament before when he came to Church because it is to RENEW your baptismal covenants, and he had not made any baptism covenants. This past week, however, he did take the sacrament. He mentioned that as he partook of the bread and the water, he could physically feel something. A renewal of some sort. He mentioned that it was a really uplifting experience for him and that he felt re-energized afterward. Super cool! He committed to come to Church for life, and is set to be baptized on February 7th. While we were at the Church, a particular man walked in and asked to meet with the Bishop. No one knew who it was! He talked with the Bishop about getting some diapers and some money to fill up his car on gas. The Bishop agreed, and asked if the missionaries could share a quick message with him. We talked about the restoration of the Church, and committed him to read the Book of Mormon and to pray and ask if it is true. He is searching for a lot of things right now, and has overcome a very scary past. Hopefully it will only get better here on out! He has a lot of potential though :) <br />
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On Thursday we exchanged back, and went and did some service at a thrift store. In the evening we went out joint teaching, and had a lesson with an investigator family. We talked about fasting and fast offerings. Our joint teacher shared some really great experiences that he has had with fasting, and we committed everyone to come to Church and to fast this Sunday. <br />
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On Friday we had Weekly Planning, and then we went and did some service at a thrift store. In the evening we had a lesson with a member on standing in holy places. We talked about the principle of surrounding yourself with good things. We shared a story about a mother who's husband was lost at sea, and her fear of her children becoming sailors. When they grew up each one of them went out to sea, and she was absolutely terrified. One day she was talking with one of her friends, and was very upset. Her friend noticed that on the walls of their home they had pictures of the ocean, sailing, etc... No wonder the boys became sailors! We talked to her about putting pictures in her home of Jesus Christ and the temple, and uplifting things. We shared the scripture, "Stand ye in holy places." Afterward we had a lesson with an investigator family. We shared the restoration with them, and put together a puzzle of Christs Church. Of course a few pieces were missing until Joseph Smith restored them! The lesson worked out really well, and they were all really involved. It was awesome! <br />
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On Saturday we had a lesson with a member. We shared with her the parable of the ten virgins, and talked about preparing for the second coming. Later in the afternoon we went and did some NAC (North American Central Initiative - i.e. part-member families, children of record, and prospective elders) work, and some finding. We found a few people that had moved, and one individual that DID NOT want any contact with the Church. In the evening we had a lesson with a new member famiy on missionary work. We shared a movie called Labor of Love, and talked about ways that they can be missionaries. The mom had surgery earlier in the week on her SI joint (somewhere in your back), but was feeling a lot better. To finish off the day we had a lesson with an investigator family. One of them had some friends over, and the mom asked us to teach a lesson on honesty. One day prior, they took cans of spray paint and decorated the downstairs with some graffiti. They wanted it to be a secret, so they spray painted the furnace room. Bad idea! Luckily nothing bad happened, but you generally should keep spray aerosol cans away from a furnace ;) The fumes were really bad, however, and so they needed to clear out the house and let it air out for a while. We reviewed the 10 commandments, and shared a Mormon message about honesty. The video was called, "Honesty: You Better Believe It!" It was super good :) All in all, it was a really great day! <br />
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On Sunday the start of the day was not so great. Fast Sundays are kind of tough sometimes when you are a missionary. No naps, no nothing :p We went to Church, and our investigator family was unable to come, however, the other family was there as usual. After Church had finished, one of them came up to us and told us that she wants to get baptized! WHAT?!?!?! She told us that they have family coming for the weekend, and that she would like to be baptized on Saturday, February 7th. Crazy! The stars have all aligned though. Our Zone Leaders will be able to interview her on Wednesday, today we will be reviewing all the lessons with her, and so everything should work out! Super cool how it all came together :) Fasting... gotta love it haha ;) In the afternoon we visited with a member and shared a message from an older Ensign called "The Family: The Center Of The Gospel." We talked about the importance of families, and the great influence that she has on others. To finish off the day, we went out joint teaching. We visited with a family, and watched Bonnie L. Oscarson's speech, "Be Ye Converted". We talked about family history and conversion to the gospel. It was kind of interesting how it all worked out. When we moved from the kitchen table over to their TV to watch the speech, the our joint teacher groaned a little bit as he stood up and moved, and then laughed and said that none of us know yet. He then told us that he had been diagnosed with leukemia, and that his joints hurt really bad. He received a blessing earlier that day, but still... cancer is scary stuff. I am so grateful for him coming out joint teaching with us, but it totally freaked me out when he told us. What is he doing coming out joint teaching with us when he has leukemia?!?!? People these days ;) <br />
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All in all it was a really great week! The weather has cooled down a bit, but life is still good :) Thank you all for all of your love and support. You are the best! I will talk to you soon.<br />
<br />
Best Wishes, <br />
<br />
Elder Kyle William AndrewsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16190926021699692563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5569440660429180241.post-14421196517646209082015-01-26T11:37:00.000-08:002015-02-12T11:51:14.497-08:00On The Lord's ErrandHello Everyone, <br />
<br />
It has been a pretty crazy week. Not really the best week in the world, but it is in the past now so that is all that matters :) On the plus side, the weather has been AWESOME this week! All the snow is melting, and it has been a lot warmer. Super weird for January in Minnesota, but I will take it! Monday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day! I remember attending the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Dedication in Washington D.C. a few years back. SUCH a cool experience! We had our P-Day as usual, and then we had Family Home Evening with the a family in the ward. We talked about Enos and prayer. <br />
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On Tuesday we had mormon.org time to look up some of the cool new videos that the Church has produced. We watched one older video, however, titled "The Mailbox." Probably the most depressing video I think I have ever seen in my life. It was a BYU production about an old woman who walks to her mailbox every day to see if any of her children have written her a letter. She comes day after day, and never receives a letter. One day she goes out to the mailbox and retrieves a letter from one of her children. She walks back to her home, sits down to open the letter, and then has a heart attack and dies before reading the letter she waited so long to receive. Not really sure what the video was supposed to teach, but it sure was depressing. I drowned my sorrows with some Diet Coke and then things were good again! We had some accountability calls in the afternoon, and then we went and did some service at a thrift store. We took apart some cardboard boxes for recycling and a couple other odds and ends. In the evening we went out joint teaching. We had Family Home Evening with an investigator family. There was some contention in their home when we arrived, and a few arguments were going on. It took a while for the situation to calm down, but afterwards things were good again. We played Boggle and had a message on the 10 Commandments and prayer. We invited their son to attend the Pinewood Derby the following day, and he agreed! <br />
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On Wednesday we went on exchange. It was kind of a cool experience actually! I was pretty sure that I was going to stay in our area and that my companion was going to go to the other one. I prayed about it in the morning, and pretty distinctly felt like I needed to go to to the other area and that my companion needed to stay here. So I went with an elder from Grapevine, Texas. We had a super great day! We went out finding for a while and then had a lesson with an investigator. In the evening we had a lesson with one of their new progressing investigators. He is a really unique kid! He has a million questions, and really has a desire to learn. He met with the Jehovah's Witnesses for a while, but knew deep down that what they were teaching him was false. Since he started meeting with the missionaries he has believed everything that they have been teaching him. He has come to Church, and has a TON of potential. We had a really great lesson with him. We discussed the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and he really related each step (faith, repentance, baptism, holy ghost, endure to the end) to himself and how it can benefit him as he applies it in his life. <br />
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On Thursday we exchanged back and had Zone Interviews in the morning. We had a training from our Zone Leaders on effective planning, and then we were all interview by President Forbes. My interview seemed very short, but it was a good interview nonetheless. He asked me about my family, my mission, my area, my favorite hymn, etc... After Zone Interviews we went back to our area and had a lesson with a member. I shared President Uchtdorf's talk, "The Hope Of God's Light." We talked about how God's light influences us, and how it is a great blessing to have in our lives. In the evening we had a lesson with a referral that we received from a member of the ward. She works at Target, and is a very nice lady. She is open to meeting with missionaries, but isn't really interested in our Church. She grew up in a home where religion was seldom discussed, and so it is kind of different for her to discuss her beliefs with other people. She has potential though! In the evening we went out joint teaching. We had a lesson with the an investigator family on the Word of Wisdom. It went really well! Their daughter remembered the acronym CATTS (Coffee, Alcohol, Tobacco, Tea, and Substances) from when the missionaries taught her before. Overall it was a pretty great day! <br />
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On Friday we had Weekly Planning, and then we did some service at a thrift store. We helped move some things around, and tag some clothes. In the evening we went out joint teaching. We visited with a member and talked about following the Prophet. We watched the movie, "On The Lord's Errand" that goes through the life and ministry of President Thomas S. Monson. Super good video! Afterwards we stopped by the a family. The dad is a less-active member, and his daughters are eligible to be baptized. We talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ and taught them a fun way using your hands to remember repentance. It was a pretty great lesson! We committed them to come to Church on Sunday, and that we would set up a lesson with them for the next week. <br />
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On Saturday I interviewed an investigator for baptism, and then we attended another investigator’s baptism afterwards. It was a super great way to start off the day! In the afternoon we went out finding for a little while, and found a cool kid. He is 20 years old, and is not really religious. He builds E-Cigs for a living, and is very much so an entrepreneur. He invited us right in to his home, and we were able to teach him about the restoration. He is skeptical about prayer, because he doesn't feel like he has ever received an answer to any of his prayers, but he is open to meeting with us again. Afterwards we stopped by a part-member family. Holy cow! They had 5 foster kids, but in the past few weeks she has obtained 5 other kids. Their house was a disaster, and it was super chaotic, but she was at peace. Kind of crazy how that can happen. To make room for the 5 extra kids they are having to completely rearrange their home. We helped them move a few things, and then we had a lesson on service. She is a very service oriented woman. I had the biggest headache of my life after visiting with them, but it was a good visit. In the evening we went out joint teaching, and we had a lesson with a new member family on the restoration. We put together a restoration puzzle, but there were a few pieces missing like when Jesus Christ and his apostles were taken from the earth. But then the priesthood was restored, and the puzzle pieces were brought back. It was a pretty fun lesson! They were so frustrated when the put the whole puzzle together, but there were pieces missing. I imagine the early saints had a similar experience! To finish off the evening we had a lesson with an investigator family. This time just their son was home. We asked him about the Pinewood Derby, and he had a really great time! We talked about the importance of prayer, and watched the mormon.org profile video for Elaine, the drummer for Neon Trees. At the end of the lesson, their son said the prayer. He has never prayed in public before, so this was a HUGE step! We also committed him to come to Church the next day. <br />
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On Sunday we had a super good morning. The the less-active family came to Church, as did the son who went to the pinewood derby! Church was really good, and then we had a lesson with an investigator in the afternoon. We talked with him about following the Prophet, and shared a message from the January 2015 Ensign on following the Prophet. In the evening things fell apart. We had some lessons scheduled up in a different part of the area, but they all canceled. We decided to have a Family Home Evening with a new member family, but it was kind of a disaster. Kind of the theme in a way for the week. There were a few arguments and hurt feelings, and so only three of them were there for the lesson. We talked about coming unto Christ, and the importance of prayer. To be totally honest, it was super awkward and I had a pit in my stomach the entire time. I just wanted to fix the problem right then and there, but that isn't always practical. I sent the wife a text later in the evening, so hopefully that helped some. I don't know... it was pretty bad though. #MissionaryProblems #AwkwardMoments<br />
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It was still a pretty good week though. Things are going well :) We just had a few rough patches this week. Today is a new day though! We have District P-Day today, so that will be super fun. We are going over to the Hogan's Pole Barn, and we got permission to watch the movie Frozen! I have never seen it, so this should be super fun :) I hope everything is going well back home. Have a great week! <br />
<br />
Best Wishes, <br />
<br />
Elder Kyle William AndrewsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16190926021699692563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5569440660429180241.post-70844569862717232182015-01-19T14:28:00.000-08:002015-02-02T14:41:23.907-08:00The Work Moves OnHello Everyone, <br />
<br />
This week has been great! On Monday we had our P-Day, and then we had Family Home Evening with the a family in the ward and their friend. He met with the sister missionaries a while back, but didn't receive the answers he was looking for. Some time has passed, and he is ready and willing to try it again. For our message, we shared the restoration and watched a short movie about the restoration. He seemed to really enjoy it! He is going out of town for the next few weeks, but he would like to meet again when he returns home.<br />
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On Tuesday we stopped by part-member family, and shared the talk, "Obedience Brings Blessings." A while back the dad had a health scare, and is still recovering. At times he gets a little discouraged. We talked about how his obedience will help him as he recovers, and he readily agreed. He asked us to keep him in our prayers, and to pray that his spirit might be uplifted. Super good family! In the evening we went out joint teaching and had Family Home Evening with another part member family. We played the card game "B.S." and had a message on prayer. Everyone was really involved, which was great! <br />
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On Wednesday we had District Meeting. I gave a training on "We Invite, They Commit, We Follow Up." Lately our District has been lacking boldness and persistent follow up. At the end of the training, I shared Alma 18 with everyone when Ammon is a super boss missionary and causes King Lamoni to fall as if he were dead. The point of it was to be bold and powerful in extending commitments and follow up so that our investigators will be astonished and "ROLO"ver (yep.. we had some rolo's) into the baptismal font. It was kind of a stretch, but it worked! Afterwards I went on exchange with an elder. We helped a woman move some things into a storage shed, and had a lesson with an investigator in the evening. Since he had surgery he has kind of fallen away, and they have had a tough time helping him to progress. In our lesson with him we watched Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration and talked about all of the trials and challenges that he faced as the Church was being restored. Not fun! We set a baptismal date with him for February 7th, and he came to Church on Sunday and is doing great now. Good things are in the works with him. <br />
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On Thursday morning I interviewed one of their investigators for baptism. My first baptismal interview! It was really cool to hear his conversion story and all of the changes he has undergone. He is super excited for his baptism on January 24th! In the afternoon we exchanged back and went and did some service at a thrift store. They have not had as many donations lately, so setting up displays was kind of a stretch. Normally they have some cool things that you can decorate with, but not these past few weeks. It is a process haha! And bless his heart, my companion has the hardest time getting the displays coordinated and looking good. In the evening we went on splits with ward members. Originally we had a lot more appointments planned out in the evening, but a few of them fell through. I went and had a lesson with the part member family. We finished teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and read through 2 Nephi 31. We answered a few questions and then talked to their son a lot about the young men's program. My joint teacher is the Young Mens President, so it worked out perfectly! The son is excited to get involved in the young men's activities, including the Pinewood Derby this upcoming week. We arranged to get a Pinewood Derby car for him, and everything is set! <br />
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On Friday we had our Weekly Planning Session, and then we went over and visited with a member. We shared with her the First Presidency Message in the January Ensign on following the Prophet. She is such a sweet lady! This last visit was a little bit depressing though. She was talking about how sooner or later the people in the ward will forget who she is, and no one will know about her, but the God at least knows her. Sad! We assured her that she is well loved in the ward and that she has not been forgotten. Later we went up to a different part of our area. It was pretty cool actually! We didn't have a dinner appointment for once, and so we went to Subway to use some gift cards that we had. While we were in Subway the lady helping us asked us where we were from. We both answered, "Utah", and she told us that she used to live in Salt Lake City. Turns out, she is a Mormon! She was telling her co-worker about the beautiful lights at the temple around Christmas time, and how she hasn't been able to go to Utah for the past two years to see her family. We invited her to come to Church and gave her our card. Hopefully this won't be our last run in with her! In the evening we visited with a family briefly and talked to them about goals and progression. Later we visited with the a different family and shared a message with them about prayer. All in all it was a pretty good day! <br />
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On Saturday we visited with an investigator and shared Ephesians 6:11-12 with her and talked about putting on the whole Armour of God. She talked to us a little bit about the importance of being a good role model and withstanding temptation. It was a super good conversation we had! Her husband wasn't home, so we were just chilling on the porch with her. Later we did service at a thrift store. We helped move a few things around in store for them. They mostly have us do all the heavy lifting. Afterwards we went and visited with family who’s children are now all off in school at BYU-Idaho, and He (who is not a member... but comes to Church every week and has a calling) is having a hard time with it. We talked about progression, and how growing up is not easy. We related it to how God must be with us. I can't imagine it was easy for him to send us here to earth to be tempted, and to fail, but he saw that it would also be a time of great growth and accomplishment for us. There is opposition in all things, but with all the bad comes a lot of good. It was a fun visit! Afterwards we stopped by the two other families. We shared a quick scripture with both of them and headed over to our new member’s home. We talked to them about Teaching and Learning in the Church. We discussed preparing for service in the Church (i.e. callings, home teaching, visiting teaching, etc...) the dad was just called as a Deacons Quorum Adviser, and the mom was just called as a Gospel Principles Class President. Exciting stuff! <br />
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On Sunday we had Ward Council in the morning and discussed the February 7th Ward Baptism date. So far progress has been very slow, but hopefully it will pick up a little bit this week. Members of the ward have been assigned to extend the baptismal invitation to their friends, and so we are kind of in an in-between stage. We don't want to step on any toes, but we also want to get the ball rolling. We shall see what happens! After Church we went and visited with an investigator. He told us that his week was much better, and that things are going well. We talked with him about agency, choice, and accountability. He discussed a few family matters with us, and how that principle has played out these past few weeks. We talked about how you can't make decisions for other people, but you can try and help them to make better decisions. Agency is the greatest gift we could have ever been given, but sometimes agency is a little bit frustrating as well! In the evening we had a lesson with a family on missionary work, and then a lesson with a part member family on the ten commandments. Three of their kids unfortunately were not there for this lesson, but they will be there for our next lesson! <br />
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All in all it was a pretty great week! Thank you all for all of your love and support. I hope you have a great week :) Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day! <br />
<br />
Best Wishes, <br />
<br />
Elder Kyle William Andrews<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16190926021699692563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5569440660429180241.post-50827046168254369752015-01-12T14:02:00.000-08:002015-02-02T14:25:20.938-08:00Family History1/12/15<br />
Hello Everyone, <br />
<br />
This week has been great! The temperatures were a little bit colder, but overall this winter has been MUCH better than last year. I seriously thought I was going to die last year. I remember leaving the a ward member’s home thinking to myself that I may not return. Kind of morbid, but it was FREEZING! I would always give Richard a hug and a kiss before we left each day, and that was an amazing comfort :) It is funny how all the little pieces come together. I honestly don't know if I could have made it through last winter without my dog! On Monday we got our transfer emails, and I am staying here in Princeton with my companion for another transfer. In the evening we had Family Home Evening with the part member family. Their son was in charge of the activity, and so we played Angry Birds Uno. our new member was in charge of the lesson, and she talked about honesty and obedience. It was a great evening!<br />
<br />
On Tuesday we had the exterminators come over to our apartment. It was freezing cold in the morning, and so they were delayed a little bit. We had to shift our schedule around a little bit, but it all worked out. We just have one more treatment to go through, and then we are done! Afterward we had our weekly accountability calls, and then we went and visited with a member. We shared with her President Monson's talk, "Obedience Brings Blessings." She talked to us about how obedience has impacted her life, and how relying on the Lord has richly blessed her. Such a cool lady! In the evening we met with the a part member family. One daughter was baptized a few months ago, and things are going really well for her! The other kids are not members, and their mom is NOT supportive of them getting baptized. They were told that if they were to get baptized, they would be disowned. It is sad that some people are so very against the Church, but you just have to roll with the punches sometimes. Maybe one day hearts will be softened. We shared He is The Gift with them and shared the living nativity video from YouTube with David Archuletta and the Piano Guys. We talked about setting goals and making changes for the new year. We had a really great discussion! Their family is hilarious, we had a super good time :) <br />
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On Wednesday we had a meeting with the Bishop. We discussed all the work going on in the ward, and the things that we still need to accomplish. It was a very productive meeting! We discussed the ward baptism date of February 7th, and the part-members that are working towards that baptismal date. Ward members have been assigned to invite 13 individuals to be baptized on the ward baptism date. We will have to see what happens! So far the reception has been really good though. In the afternoon we met with a less-active member. We stopped by him a few days ago, but he was a little preoccupied. In fact he told us that he needed to keep his head clear to put some man behind bars. Who knows what happened, but apparently he was successful and someone went to jail. We talked to him about the Book of Mormon, and he was very receptive. I think in his mind he is an active member of the Church, although he has not been in a very long time. Interesting character! In the evening we went out joint teaching and had a lesson with our part member family. We taught the Plan of Salvation. We had a bit of a rough start. We were discussing our pre-mortal existence and Adam and Eve. Science and evolution were brought up, but the important underlying factor that we kept discussing was faith in God and Jesus Christ and that He created us. They all believe that, which is awesome! The other details are not as important right now. The daughter mentioned that the Bishop had talked to her in the afternoon, and invited her to be baptized on the 7th, and that she was interested but needed to think about it. She is really busy with school and extracurricular activities, and so her mind is a little scattered. I can totally understand! Focus was one thing that I lacked a little bit in high school. I had a lot on my plate, and focus just wasn't always practical! Overall we had a really great discussion. One family memeber mentioned that with everything that life has handed her in the past few months has made her feel a little bit like she is stuck in the mud in the middle of a corn field. She joked that if a farmer were to come and find her, he would probably get stuck too! I want to make them a cup of dirt, like the dessert that they used to have a TGIFriday's! I always loved those as a kid. I just thought it would give a little positive twist on things. Sometimes being stuck in the mud isn't always a bad thing ;) It quite possibly could be one of the best things that could ever happen to you. In fact maybe the mud is chocolate pudding, and there are tasty little gummy worms in the mud with you. (I am going to buy some oreos, gummy worms, and chocolate pudding today while we go shopping!)<br />
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On Thursday we went over to the Family History Center and learned a little bit about Family History. I still am super lost as to how to do it all, but I know enough to help other people a little bit. In the afternoon we went and did some service over at the thrift store. We set up a few displays and things. Right now the thrift store is super empty, so finding things that look good is a little bit of a challenge! We made it work though. In the evening we had a lesson with a member. We watched the movie, "How Rare A Possession: The Book Of Mormon." We talked about the power of the Book of Mormon, and how it can change our lives if we let it. We must search, ponder, and pray. I feel like my Book of Mormon studies could improve a little bit... I have almost finished the New Testament, so once I finish I will be able to devote a lot more time to that. I don't think I am going to bother to try and tackle the Old testament while I am on my mission... I just don't have enough time, and there are better things I could be doing with my time. Not that the Old Testament is bad by any means! One day I will read it :) <br />
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On Friday we had Weekly Planning and we did service at a different thrift store. We helped rearrange a few things, and tagged some clothes. In the evening we went out joint teaching and visited with the a family. We taught the restoration, and it went really well! The kids mostly taught us the restoration, so that was fun :) Hopefully good things are in the works for their family!<br />
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On Saturday we went out finding in the morning. We met three people who have potential for the future. These past few weeks our finding has been lacking a little bit. We need to schedule out little pockets of time that we can go and find new people to teach! In the afternoon we went and visited with an older member. We shared President Monson's talk, "Obedience Brings Blessings." She shared a few stories with us, and we had a great time! In the evening we had Family Home Evening with the our new members. We watched the movie Johnny Lingo and talked about how we are all children of God, and that we all have a noble birthright. It was a really fun lesson! I kind of felt like I was going through withdrawals. We hadn't seen them all week, it was kind of weird! Things are going well though. The mom is having a really tough time with the passing of her friend, however. She was telling us that she has a hard time feeling motivated to get out of the house, and to go out and talk with other people. Her husband without her knowing volunteered her to meet with the Bishop, but she wasn't particularly excited about it. (I was wondering if a Facebook message might help. I haven't discussed the passing of their friend with their family. I have been a little bit conflicted. I just don't really know how to share it and what details to share and what details not to share. I usually just don't end up sharing it because of that. I wonder if it might help if you talked to her about the pain that you went through, and what helped you to overcome that.)<br />
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On Sunday the dad of our new member family ordained his son as a deacon and gave him the Aaronic Priesthood. It has been super cool to be able to see the workings of the Church take place in their family! They all got their membership numbers and were able to start using familysearch.org and lds.org and everything. After Church we visited with an investigator. He mentioned that he might be moving in the upcoming weeks. His lungs are blown out from working as a welder, and from smoking. He probably going to move to Missouri to be close to his family, and get care from the VA over there. We talked with him about the Priesthood, and committed him to watch the Mormon Message, "Mountains To Climb". He always talks to us about how much he appreciates having someone to talk to, and to kind of vent for a little bit. He told us that we have really helped to strengthen his faith. I really hope that things get better for him! In the evening we had a lesson with our new member family on Temples and Family History. The mom lost her son many years ago, and so they are excited to be able to do baptisms for the dead in the near future! They are also excited to start doing all of their family history. Luckily we have a family history missionary in our ward, and people that can help them! To finish off the evening we met with our part member family and had a lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We talked about faith and repentance. Next time we will be talking about baptism, the holy ghost, and enduring to the end. Good things are happening in their family though! Hearts are definitely being softened, and the spirit is definitely working on each one of them. <br />
<br />
All in all it was a super good week! Thank you all for all of your love and support :) Have a great week! <br />
<br />
Best Wishes, <br />
<br />
Elder Kyle William AndrewsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16190926021699692563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5569440660429180241.post-23559141898872119152014-12-29T13:43:00.000-08:002015-02-02T14:01:51.533-08:00A Wedding and a BaptismHello Everyone, <br />
<br />
This week has been really great, with a couple unusual twists and turns! On Monday we had a couple hours to email, wash our clothes, and go shopping. It was not actually our P-Day because of Christmas. Unfortunately on Monday we needed to wash ALL of our clothes because of the bed bugs, so not a lot was accomplished. In the evening, however, we were able to attend our new member’s choir concert at Christ Our Light Catholic Church in Zimmerman. It was fun to get together with her family, and to see her performing a couple fun Christmas songs. <br />
<br />
On Tuesday we had a bunch of accountability calls to make, and then the bed bug exterminator came over to our apartment. They tore apart our bedroom and sprayed our mattresses, then they sprayed our furniture and our carpet. They found quite a few bugs on our mattresses, and even found some of my companion’s blood on his mattress. Nasty! We then purchased special bed bug mattress covers to seal any additional bugs in to kill them out. Apparently bed bugs can go 18 months without eating, so it is a fun process. They are going to do 2 additional treatments 2 weeks apart. Hopefully the problem has been resolved! <br />
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On Wednesday, Christmas Eve, we had District Meeting. For District Meeting we had a gift exchange, so that was super fun :) I had a couple people in our District give 5 a minute training on goal setting, planning, and execution. We talked about Nephi and how he was a goal setter and a go-getter. It worked out really nicely. Lets be real, it is a miracle in and of itself that District Meeting even happened with all of our bed bug craziness! We spent Christmas Eve with a family in the ward. They had family over for dinner, and we played a few games and opened a few presents. The mom works with glass, and so she made us both a glass sun catcher. They have cute little penguins sitting on an ice cube at the bottom. Kind of fun! <br />
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On Thursday, Christmas, we spent the day with another family in the ward. We opened presents with them in the morning, then went over to the other their relatives later in the day for Christmas dinner and a gift exchange. It was super fun :) On Christmas we also got to Skype home, which is always eventful! It is weird to see that people are growing and going on with their lives while I am here on my mission. I don't know why I thought life back home would pause, but it certainly isn't. Craziness! In the evening we visited with the family who is getting baptized tomorrow. We tried on jump suits, answered some last minute questions, and practiced the baptismal ordinance. They certainly had a crazy week!<br />
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On Friday, Boxing Day, we were scrambling in the morning to get everything ready for the wedding. The ward really came together and tried to get everything to turn out. With the ward helping, however, you run into a couple awkward situations. A member made all of the flower arrangements, and some of them were just plain ugly. The bouquet in particular. So a member sent us to Walmart to buy a bouquet in the wedding isle, and my project was to combine both bouquets and try to make something that looked good. It took a couple tries, but at last it all worked out! The whole day was awesome really :) A few extended family members were really late, so the day was pushed back a little, but at least everything happened! Their wedding was awesome! Definitely the highlight of the day. I love weddings :) After the wedding they had their wedding reception. The maid-of-honor (their daughter) gave a really touching speech during the reception. She talked about her Mom first and how they are best friends, and how she has been amazed at all the things she has overcome in her life. Then she talked about her step-dad, and what an amazing Dad he has been to her. None of the wife’s children are his, yet he has taken them all in as his own. She talked about how he has been more of a father to her than her real Dad. Then she made everyone cry. She talked about how she has always been looking for someone like him in her life. She talked about all the times that they had Daddy Daughter Dances and Daddy Daughter Dates in school, and she would always just have to stay home. She talked about what an amazing father he has been to them already, and that she was proud to call him Dad. It was a super cool moment! Then they took a bunch of wedding pictures, which turned out really nicely. SO MANY PICTURES! When I get married, if I get married that is, I will definitely be taking pictures on a different day than my actual wedding. Of course you have to take pictures on your wedding, but I am sure I can arrange for some of it to be done in advance. Plus, when you are getting married, you are the boss. It can totally happen! Then came their baptism. We all changed into our jumpsuits and white clothes, and everything worked out really nicely. There were too many people to fit in the Relief Society room, so the baptism was moved to the Chapel. There was an awesome turn out! I had the amazing privilege to baptize two of the daughters. It was a really cool experience! I feel like they have become part of my family. It's weird, but I like it. I love that family SO much! To finish off the evening, we had a lesson with our part-member family on obedience and scripture study. It went pretty well. We watched a few Mormon Messages, and had a really great discussion. It was an exhausting, but definitely a very rewarding day! <br />
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On Saturday we did some Weekly Planning in the morning, and then went out joint teaching. We had a lesson with a recent-convert on the Plan of Salvation. We watched a Mormon Message with her on the Plan of Salvation that puts it into the perspective of a 3 Act Play. It was super good! In the evening we went over to the some investigator’s, but they were sick so we set up another appointment. Afterwards we went over and visited with a part member family. A few weeks ago, her son took off though and has been living with some of his friends. We actually saw him at Walmart this week, but didn't realize that he still had not gone home. I don't know why you would take off during the holidays, but hopefully he will come back soon. We talked with them a little bit about Prophets and the Book of Mormon. It was all started by a discussion they were having on how crazy things are going in the world right now. It was a pretty good day :) <br />
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On Sunday we had our new member family Confirmation in Church. Last minute they asked me to confirm one of the sons. He’s is my buddy, so I totally agreed! It was super cool to see a family coming together in making and keeping covenants. They are amazing! After Church we went and visited with an investigator. We shared a message with him from the Ensign called "Fill The World With God's Love." Super good message. He talked with us about some family drama, and then he talked to us about how much he appreciates us coming over. He told us that he has no one to talk to. No one ever comes over to see him. His family has been falling apart since his parents died. For a while he didn't even talk to anyone! He is doing a lot better now though, and it is hard to even get a word in. Funny how that works! He is super good man though, I am grateful for the opportunity that we have had to meet with him. In the evening we went out joint teaching. We had a lesson with the new member family on obedience and scripture study. They were pretty exhausted with all the weeks events, but it worked out nicely. They are going to accomplish some really cool things in the future, I know it! <br />
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Today is not actually our P-Day either. Our P-Day will be on New Year's Day. Kind of fun how it all works out :) I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and that you have a Happy New Year! Thank you all for your love and support. Talk to you soon! <br />
<br />
Best Wishes, <br />
<br />
Elder Kyle William AndrewsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16190926021699692563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5569440660429180241.post-56515807774084089742014-12-22T13:16:00.000-08:002015-02-02T13:16:49.445-08:00Faith Brings Miracles12/22/14<br />
Hello Everyone, <br />
<br />
This week has been kind of crazy, but has been a super good week all together. On Tuesday we had our P-Day, and in the evening we went over to our investigator’s home and reviewed the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We also filled out all of their baptismal records, which was a process! I don't know why the Church hasn't made a family baptismal record, but they haven't. We had to make an individual baptismal record for all five of them. It was a process, but it is a good problem to have! I am amazed at their desire to follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God. They are on fire! On Tuesday, the Sisters took off. I found out that I am going home with one of the Sister, so it will be fun to catch up later! <br />
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On Wednesday we went suit shopping with the investigator family! The dad found an awesome suit at the Calvin Klein outlet for a steal. Shopping is the greatest :) Maybe I can be a professional shopper when I get home! Doubt it would pay enough for my own shopping though... Guess I will have to keep looking for a career. After shopping with them, we had our weekly meeting with the Bishop. We were kind of scattered, but it all worked out. We just have A LOT of work to do now that the Sisters are gone. We have two huge areas to cover now, and no extra time to do it all. Everything is going to be fine though :) In the evening we visited with an inactive member. We have been teaching her son for a while now, but as of recently he ran away. They are still trying to find out where he is, but hopefully he will come home for Christmas. We shared "He Is The Gift" with her, and she loved it! It was a really great visit :) She works in the oil fields in North Dakota, so she is rarely ever home. This was my first time meeting with her, but it seemed to go really well! <br />
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On Thursday we had a bunch of accountability calls in the morning, and then we went and did service at the thrift store. We helped with taking down and reorganizing some of the Christmas stuff. They are preparing for a big Christmas clearance sale to get rid of all of their Christmas stuff before the end of the year. In the evening we had a lesson with our investigator family on the 10 Commandments. We reviewed all of the commandments, and then we planned out their baptism. They are all super excited! Normally ward members are encouraged to participate in the actual baptizing of the converts, but the mom and her daughter have asked me to baptize them. The other daughter asked my companion to baptize her, their son will be baptized by his dad, and another child will be baptized by his uncle. Should be an exciting day! They are getting married at 1:00, afterwards they are having a reception, and at 3:00 they will be getting baptized. Crazy! Good things are in the works. To finish off the evening, we met with another investigator family and reviewed the Word of Wisdom. Our new member is doing great, and her sister has continued to sit in on all of our discussions! Her mom is very optimistic about her developing a desire to be baptized. <br />
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On Friday we had Weekly Planning, and then we went on exchange with our Zone Leaders. I stayed in here with an Elder from Kayesville, Utah. He is an awesome missionary, and we had a really great time on exchange. To start off the evening, we had our investigator family’s baptismal interviews. They all passed, no surprise. They are great! I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have had to teach them and to get to know their family better :) Later in the evening we visited with a member. We shared with her a message from the December 2014 Ensign called "Fill The World With Christ's Love." It is a super good message that talks about giving of ourselves this Christmas season. I am constantly reminded on my mission that it isn't necessarily the things that you purchase for people that makes the biggest difference, but the time and love that you give them. (Not that I don't want gifts for Christmas haha! I am definitely not to that point!) Time and attention make a huge difference! <br />
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On Saturday we went out contacting in the morning and shared "He Is The Gift" with quite a few people! We even came in contact with a woman who used to meet with the missionaries, that is interested in meeting with us again. She was on her way out, but we will have to try her again! We also helped a family in the ward move an old broken piano out of their home. Later in the afternoon we had an interview, and we were able to talk about everything that is happening in the District. We identified a few things that we can all improve, which is always great! One thing that we talked a lot about was time. I feel like there is never enough time to do everything, but again, it is a good problem to have. We talked a lot about sharing the responsibilities. I need to focus more on the District, and my companion needs to focus more on the area. I can't be the head of our District and our area. That means that I need to let go... that is kind of a big deal for me. I definitely like to organize and be in charge of things... that way I know that things will get done, and they will be done well. Sharing the responsibility is all part of learning though... it will be good for me, and it will be good for my companion. All good things :) No one ever said that good things were easy to do though! We later were able to visit with an investigator and share "He Is The Gift" with him. We talked a lot about Christmas and traditions, and his plans for Christmas this year. He is a really awesome guy! Later we exchanged back, and went out joint teaching. We had an awesome evening! We first visited with a recent convert in the sister’s former area. We talked with her about the Word of Wisdom and the Spirit. We shared the cool new living nativity video that they filmed in Utah with the Piano Guys and David Archuletta. Later we dropped off some cookies for a few home teaching families, and finished the evening visiting a part-member family. At first they were not very open to having us over. Their son had a fever of 102 degrees, and they did not want to get any of us sick. Our joint teacher offered to give him a blessing, but they kindly refused. I went on and talked about "He Is The Gift" and invited their family to watch it together, and a few minutes later he invited us to come inside. When we were inside, he asked his son if he would like a blessing, and he agreed! We explained what a blessing was, and gave him a blessing. The mom, who is Catholic, got very emotional. You could feel the Spirit really strong in their home after the blessing, and it took almost immediate effect. He was up dancing around and was feeling great! We talked about the Book of Mormon, and invited them to start taking the discussions, and they accepted! We will be visiting with them again next Saturday :) Now here is where things get REALLY interesting! My companion has a bunch of bumps all over his body from our exchange. He was bitten by something while sleeping in the other elder’s bed. They suspect they might be bed bugs. Yep! So we applied a bunch of anti-itch cream all over his body, and went to bed. <br />
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On Sunday, we had a really great service at Church. Because last week was our Christmas service, the Bishopric all spoke about the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. I thought it was a really awesome focus for the Sunday right before Christmas! Our investigator family all came to Church as well as a part-member that the Sisters were working with. On Saturday evening, a dear friend of our investigator family was killed in a car crash. They were very startled, and were having a tough time with it all. Totally understandable. Please keep them in your prayers. (Maybe a Facebook message would be helpful...) My companion’s bed bug bites were really irritated, and they had everyone at Church up on their toes. We texted President Forbes and the Assistants, and were waiting for a response. We got mixed reviews at Church, some people told us that we were going to die basically and that we needed to burn all of our furniture and clothes, and other people told us that it was no big deal. We almost got kicked out of Church, but someone looked it up and said we would be fine. After Church we talked to the medical and apartment coordinators, and started to wash and dry all of his clothes on the hottest cycle available. We counted and took pictures of all of his bug bites so that we would know if he got any additional bites when we went to bed. In the evening we had a lesson with our new member and her family on the law of chastity. It went really well, and I think everyone learned a lot! We talked mostly about having good standards, and the importance of our thoughts, words, and actions. <br />
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Today we have been dealing with the bed bug dilemma. My companion had some additional bites this morning, so tomorrow they will be exterminating our apartment before they spread. The Elders that we got the bed bugs from will be doing the same. We washed all of our clothes, and deep cleaned the apartment. I don't have any bites or anything, and I certainly do not want to get any! Today we have a quick P-Day. Christmas is our real P-Day. We are just emailing and shopping today, so that should be fun :) We are spending Christmas with a family in the ward, and it sounds like it is going to be a super fun day! Plus, we get to Skype, so that is always a good time ;) <br />
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Thank you all for all of your love and support! I hope you have a very Merry Christmas :) I will talk to you soon, and see some of you even sooner! <br />
<br />
Best Wishes, <br />
<br />
Elder Kyle William AndrewsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16190926021699692563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5569440660429180241.post-33766647577507220002014-12-16T12:53:00.000-08:002015-02-02T12:55:01.881-08:00Christmas Sunday, Zone ConferenceHello Everyone, <br />
<br />
This week has been insane! On Monday we had our District P-Day at the Hogan's Pole Barn. They have a rock climbing course, a multiple climbing ropes, go-karts, tricycles, anything you can imagine. It was super fun :) In the evening we visited with our investigator family, and shared "He Is The Gift" with them. We talked about the importance of Christmas time, and the birth and ministry of Jesus Christ. Afterwards we did the exact same thing with our other investigator family. It was great! I love sharing "He Is The Gift"! #ShareTheGift<br />
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On Tuesday we had a bunch of accountability calls to make in the morning. I love talking with all of the teams and finding out what is going on in everyone's areas. Missionary work is the greatest! Afterwards we went and did some service for family in the ward. The mom is the lead coordinator at the St. Paul Minnesota Temple, and has been having some trouble with an excel spreadsheet that she sends out with the schedule. She asked us when we were over doing our laundry if we knew anything about computers, and I offered to help. I don't know a ton about Excel, but with a little bit of playing around I was able to figure out the problem. In the evening we went out joint teaching. We shared "He Is The Gift" with the an investigator and her family. I love Christmas :) <br />
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On Wednesday we had District Meeting. This week I trained on "Revelation Through Church Attendance." We discussed how to effectively pitch an invitation to Church, and offering Church tours. It went really well! For a role play, we went on a tour of the Church. We each had our own individual assignments for the Church tour, and it all came together marvelously. I was pretty excited! I had a handout with a mustache sticker that said "I Mustache You A Question" - relating to inviting people to worship with us, and then a quote by Walt Disney. I don't remember the quote exactly, but it says something to the extent of, "We keep moving forward, opening new doors and exploring new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." I love Walt Disney! I really like that quote too. I think it perfectly describes our purpose as missionaries. It is our curiosity that motivates us to keep moving forward. If we didn't care about the people, then it would be pointless to keep doing what we do. We try new things, knock on different doors, and work with different people to help everyone come unto Christ. After District Meeting I went on exchange with an Elder from Texas in one of my old areas! It was a blast. We had dinner with a family in the ward, and then we shared "He Is The Gift" with three other families. All people that I love and used to meet with in that area! It was super cool. I can't wait to go on exchange there again. Right now the area is kind of struggling, so I hope to be able to help it grow. <br />
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On Thursday we exchanged back (kind of) and then I went on exchange with my old companion. This time I stayed in my area, and my companion went to a different one. We did some service at thrift store in the afternoon, which is always great. Before dinner we visited with a less-active member, and shared "He Is The Gift" with him and his family. They loved it! Basically everyone loves it. It has opened up SO many new doors and avenues for different ways to share the gospel. People are much more open to here a special Christmas message than a message about someone else's Church. Turns out Christmas has EVERYTHING to do with our Church ;) They don't realize that at first though. In the evening we had a lesson with our investigator family. We discussed the baptismal interview questions, and prepared the mom for her first interview with our Zone Leaders on Saturday. We talked about the reasons behind having an interview to declare your worthiness to a servant of the Lord. She was a little nervous, but totally ready. We finished the evening with our other investigator family. We were teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We shared "Treasure In Heaven: The John Tanner Story" that discusses all of the elements of the Gospel of Jesus Christ perfectly. (Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Holy Ghost, Endure To The End) It was an awesome lesson! We finished by inviting everyone in their family to come to Church with us on Sunday for the Ward Christmas Sunday. They made this Sunday an invite Sunday (invite non-members to come to Church with us) and made super cool invitations. They also chose to do our Christmas Sunday a week early so it won't interfere with other religions Christmas services so that people would be more likely to come. <br />
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On Friday we exchanged back for real, and did some service at a different thrift store. While we were doing service, I decided to push my limits and step over the pointy fence to save time. While I cleared the fence, my jeans did not. (Get ready for an embarrassing story) I got stuck! The pointy fence pierced right through the crotch of my jeans. So now I have a nice hole in my jeans. I had to pull my jeans off the fence, and all was well. After doing some service, we had our weekly planning session, which was kind of rushed. We have just been SUPER busy, which is a good thing for sure :) In the evening we met with our investigator family and shared a Mormon Message called "Expressions Of Love." We talked about the importance of sharing kind words of love and encouragement with each other. We then talked about Christlike love, and how he gave the perfect example of love. #AllYouNeedIsLove<br />
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On Saturday we had our investigator interview with one of our Zone Leaders. She passed with flying colors, and was set for her second interview on Sunday with President Ehlert. Afterwards we went and visited with an investigator. We shared a message with him about Christmas from the Ensign called "The Reality Of Christmas." We invited him to come to Church with us on Sunday for the Chirstmas service, and he agreed. Well kind of. I said that we would see him on Sunday, and he laughed and said "we will see!" He did tell me that I was very diplomatic and persuasive though, so that was a plus ;) Whatever gets you to Church! In the evening we visited with our investigator family and watched "Finding Faith In Christ" with them. We began teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and answered a couple of questions that they had. We finished off the evening with some last minute Church invitations for Sunday. We gave out the rest of our invitations, and headed home. <br />
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Sunday was awesome! SO many people came to Church! Three investigator families, our reluctant investigator, and a bunch of part-member families came, as well as a bunch of new people that other members invited. It was sweet :) Well it was sweet until I realized that with the additional people, we had a HUGE crowd to perform for. They asked the missionaries to perform the song "Does He Remember" in the December 2014 Ensign. It is a super pretty song, but I get SUPER nervous singing in front of people. I was fine until we had like 2 minutes before we were on. Holy cow, my heart was beating super fast, and I was really short on breath. We got up and sang, and my solo part did not go nearly as well as we had practiced. It is super hard to sing when you can't breathe! People still complimented our song and everything after Church, but inside you still totally know that you didn't do a good job. Mormon culture haha ;) You can give an awful talk, and people will still come up and tell you that it was amazing. I think I was mostly just frustrated that my nerves got the best of me. In high school I developed (after a LOT of practice) a love for public speaking, but clearly public singing is not my forte. I can sing in a choir, but a solo apparently freaks me out. Now I'm just rambling, on to the rest of the day! After Church, our investigator was interviewed by President Ehlert, and is now set to be baptized on the 26th of December! In the afternoon we went caroling with the Sisters, so that was super fun :) We handed out a TON of "He Is The Gift" pass-along cards, and made a lot of people happy. In the evening we had a lesson with our investigator family and finished teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. To finish off the day we met with our new convert and her mom and reviewed the 10 Commandments. All in all, it was a super good week :) <br />
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On Monday we had our Christmas Zone Conference at the Stake Center. The St. Cloud Zone was combined with the Anoka Zone, so it was super fun to see all of my friends in the Anoka Zone. I got to hear about all of the good things going on in my old Ward, so that was fun! Apparently they talk about me all the time, so that was good to hear haha ;) At the Christmas Conference we were able to watch "It's A Wonderful Life." It was fun to see an actual movie :) I don't think I have ever seen that movie before, so it was super great! Apparently it is a Christmas classic. I will definitely have to watch that one again. We got to hear from President and Sister Forbes, which is always great! We got to hear some HILARIOUS stories from them. Christmas Conference is always super different from all other missionary meetings, it is much more relaxed. The Forbes' son is getting married so Sister Forbes is flying to California this week for their son's wedding. Unfortunately President Forbes is not going to be able to make it, so it is kind of a happy and a sad time. In the evening we were able to go over to our investigator family’s and offer some service. They are moving some stuff out of their cabin up north to hopefully sell it soon, so we helped them organize the stuff that they moved into their garage and situated everything in their house. They had some "interesting" things in their cabin... like a Jackalope and a bunch of antlers. <br />
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It has been a busy, but super good week :) Thank you all for all of your love and support! The weather in Minnesota has actually been AMAZING this past week. All the snow melted, and it was a balmy 40+ degrees! Much improved from last year. It snowed yesterday though, so the temperatures are a little bit down, but still much better than last year! Hope you have a great week :) <br />
<br />
Best Wishes, <br />
<br />
Elder AndrewsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16190926021699692563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5569440660429180241.post-25169939455562863492014-12-08T12:33:00.000-08:002015-02-02T12:34:46.583-08:00He Is The Gift!Hello Everyone, <br />
<br />
It has been a great week, and luckily the weather has even been cooperating here in Minnesnowta! We have been in the double digits all week! Although we got an early start on the winter, it is starting to mellow out a little bit, so that is nice :) On Monday we were able to have a family home evening with our investigator family. We watched Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration. We made cupcakes and had a super fun time! It was great :) <br />
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On Tuesday we had a bunch of accountability calls to make in the morning. I talked to all the teams about their areas and investigators, and got to know all the missionaries a little bit better. It was kind of fun. Afterwards we went and helped finish sheet rocking an investigator's ceiling. The last little bit of it didn't turn out as well as the first part that we did, but mostly because the ceiling was not level. It was a process! Luckily it is done now. Now they have insulation and a ceiling to protect them from the cold! In the evening we went and had a family home evening with a different investigator family. The mom was at a Relief Society Dinner, but her daughters were home. We watched the prodigal son, and talked a little bit about repentance. It went really well! One of them is actually starting to sit in on all of our lessons, so that is super exciting to see :) <br />
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On Wednesday we had District Meeting. I gave a training on working with members, and it seemed to go really well. For a hand out I had Skor bars, and a little note that said "SKOR Some Referrals. Work With Members." It was super fun! I totally love public speaking. I am super glad that I had the opportunity to be involved in so many great student organizations in high school, as well as in college. Plus, the public speaking class that I took at BYU was AWESOME! We also had some exciting news to announce in District Meeting. They changed up a few of our key indicators, so instead of tracking restoration lessons taught, we have two new key indicators. TCI - Tracting and Contacting Invitation, and NAC Contact - North American Central Initiative (Part-Member Family, Child of Record, and Prospective Elder). I am super excited about these new key indicators that we have, because it makes what we are trying to do so much more efficient! Now we can actually use Church programs like "He Is The Gift" in our proselyting efforts, and not shove restoration lessons down peoples throats. This first week with the new key indicators was already super effective! I am excited to see where things go :) After District Meeting, I went on exchange. It went really well. We met with one of their progressing investigators who is getting baptized on December 20th. We talked to him about fasting and preparing for fast Sunday. In the evening we went caroling at a senior center, and then we dropped off some cookies to less-actives. We met with one less-active in particular. She just had a miscarriage, and was having a super bad day. She was blocking out the world, and then we stopped by with some cookies. She was crushed, and not very happy with God, but she was grateful that we stopped by and talked with her for a little while. To finish off the evening, we met with their Bishop briefly, and finished off the day. It was a great day! <br />
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On Thursday we exchanged back, and did some service at the thrift store. We mostly moved all of their Christmas stuff to the front of the store. They are preparing to start clearing it all out. Pretty soon here they are going to have a big clearance sale. It is the first week of December and they are already trying to get rid of all of their Christmas stuff! Crazy! I guess it makes sense though, they want to make sure it is all sold before Christmas. In the evening we had a lesson with our investigator. We watched a Mormon Message called "The Hope Of God's Light." We talked about the importance of prayer, and how God does answer our prayers, just not always on our timing. Later we met with the other investigator family and talked about the Plan of Salvation. Their daughter sat in on our lesson again, and even began contributing to the lesson. SWEET! <br />
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On Friday we had Weekly Planning, and then we went out "He Is The Gift" tracting. We were able to share a few "He Is The Gift" mormon.org cards, and we were able to have full discussions with two people in the area we were working. We met two women who both have a lot of potential! It is cool to see how this new TCI program is working, and how effective it is to be using "He Is The Gift" this holiday season. We are able to have quality gospel conversations with so many more people! To finish off the evening we had a lesson with our investigator family on the Plan of Salvation. We gave everyone a teaching assignment, and we took turns drawing our part of the lesson on their glass dining room table. It went really well, and it helped them to learn a lot more when they had to teach everyone rather than just listen to us. I think we might continue giving them assignments to work on to help them learn. After our lesson we went out and did some tracting again. This time it was late in the evening, and everyone was asleep. Not super productive. <br />
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On Saturday we went down to sister’s area. We found out that the Sisters in the ward are getting moved on December 17th. This transfer 13 Sisters are going home midway through the transfer for Christmas and school. Now that the influx of missionaries is over, we are not getting nearly the same amount of missionaries, and so they are having to close a few Sisters areas. First we went caroling at the hospital with the Sisters, and then we practiced the song that we will be performing in Sacrament meeting next week. It is called, "Does He Remember." It is in the December 2014 Ensign. It is super pretty! Afterwards we went around with the Sisters and they showed us around their area. We met with one of their investigators and got to know him a little better. We watched "He Is The Gift" with him, and set up a time to visit with him again. Then we met with the only African person in the area. He is from Liberia, and is super awesome. We were able to talk for a while about Liberia, so that was super cool! After spending 9 months in my last area, I know quite a bit about African people ;) The Sisters thought that I had been to Liberia, it was pretty funny! We shared "He Is The Gift" with him as well, and invited him to the Christmas Program at Church next week. In the evening we met with our Ward Mission Leader. His wife was out visiting their grand-kids, but we were able to share a fun Christmas message with him, and talk about some of the work going on in the ward right now. To finish off the evening, we went over to the investigator’s and finished teaching the Plan of Salvation. Their daughter sat in on our lesson again! Amazing things are happening with their family. <br />
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On Sunday we had Ward Council in the morning, and discussed the NAC Initiative and our investigator family with a baptismal date. They have been meeting with Bishop and planning out their wedding and a few baptism details. Church went really well! Fast and testimony meeting was awesome. After Church we set up the cultural hall for a pot luck later in the evening, and went out caroling with the Sisters for a little while to the houses around the Church. The Pot Luck was awesome! We had a great turn out. Lots of part-members came, including our investigator family. After the pot luck, we all watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional together. The devotional was awesome :) It always fun to see the conference center all decorated for Christmas! <br />
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All in all, it was an amazing week! Thank you all for all of your love and support :) If you haven't already, check out "He Is The Gift". I hope you have an amazing week, and that you are surviving the winter weather :) Talk to you soon!<br />
<br />
Best Wishes, <br />
<br />
Elder Kyle William AndrewsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16190926021699692563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5569440660429180241.post-52046347301084318592014-12-01T12:09:00.000-08:002015-02-02T12:10:43.630-08:00Transers and ThanksgivingHello Everyone, <br />
<br />
This week has been great! On P-Day last week we were all over the place because of transfers, but it was fun :) We had Family Home Evening with our recent convert and his family. They are really warming up to us now that he is baptized! We played boggle with them, and had a great time! After the activity we had a quick spiritual thought, and they were really open to it. Good things are happening in their family! <br />
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On Tuesday we had an opportunity to help out with a pretty unique service project. We were sheet-rocking a ceiling! Kind of nuts. I remember watching sheet rock go up in our old house before we moved, but I never would have thought of helping out with some dry wall. I am not particularly good at it, but it was kind of fun to learn. We were helping out a less-active/part-member family by sheet-rocking their ceiling in their main room. They have an interesting family situation, but they are great. Our investigator is renting the house and fixing it up for one of his friends. His Mom and Step-Dad and Step-Brother & Sister just moved from Las Vegas a few months ago, and moved in with him. Our investigator’s Mom is related to a family in the ward, and used to be a member. They are a really awesome family! Hopefully we will be able to start teaching them the lessons. The kids are already coming to mutual, so it would be great if they started coming to Church as well! In the afternoon we did a lot of goodbye visits. We met with a couple people, and in the evening we went out joint teaching and met with our investigator family. We shared Elder Dube's General Conference address about looking forward and believing. It was a super great lesson! The wife mentioned that she had been working on her paperwork to change her last name, and that it was almost complete. <br />
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On Wednesday we had transfers. Of course it was on the day that it snowed and was super icy, so everything happened a little later in the day than we had originally planned. My companion went to Buffalo, and I drove up to Bloomington with another Elder. We attended the transfer meeting, and then I met my new companion. He is from Manti, Utah and has been out on his mission for 6 months. He is just like his trainer, but white. It is kind of interesting to see the influence that a trainer can have on their trainee. His trainer is home now in Utah, but he has had a lasting affect on his greenie. Luckily for me, he is a little bit better than his trainer. The only big thing that I have noticed is that he does NOT like leadership in the mission. his trainer had a really hard time with leadership. He did not like any District Leader, Zone Leader, Assistant, or Mission President that we had. He was convinced that they all had ulterior motives. My new companion has the same struggle. He doesn't really like the fact that his companion is the District Leader, and he certainly does not like our Zone Leaders even though he has not met them yet. Kind of interesting. Things are all going to work out though! I have learned that each transfer, each area, each companion is inspired. Inspired does not always mean that it is easy, but you sure do learn a lot! After unpacking and everything, we went out and had a lesson with an investigator. He is the man that my previous companion and I had the "fun" cat experience with in the evening about a month ago. We had a quick lesson with him, because he was really tired, but we had a great visit! He has a really strong faith in Jesus Christ, so he has a great foundation. <br />
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On Thursday we had Thanksgiving! We started off the morning early with the 2nd Annual Ward Turkey Bowl. It was -4 degrees and freezing, so it gave you a great motivation to run ;) Around 12:00 we had our first Thanksgiving with the investigator family! They are amazing :) The wife has submitted her papers, and is waiting to find out if she got a grant to pay for the paperwork. We shared a video that the Church produced about Thanksgiving and gratitude, and then we went around the table and shared things that we were grateful for. It was a really cool lesson. Around 3:00 we had our second Thanksgiving with another family. Holy cow, we were stuffed already! They had two different kinds of turkey. Both were super good! One was a regular turkey, and the other was marinated in Pumpkin Beer. Super fun! Then we played a game with them called "Life On The Farm." The point of the game was to get 60 cows. We totally lost, but it was fun :) To finish off the evening, we went over to an investigator family for our last Thanksgiving. Luckily we just had a light snack and played some Boggle with them. We shared the same Thanksgiving video with them and talked about all the things we are grateful for. Gotta love Holidays :) #HappyThanksgiving<br />
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On Friday, Black Friday, we had Weekly Planning, which went really well! No black friday shopping or broken collar bones, however, we got a lot done, which was awesome. We have a lot more to plan now that I am the District Leader, so it was good to get everything organized. I love organization! In the afternoon we had a lesson with a ward member. We shared a message from the last Ensign magazine title, "The Reality Of Christmas". It was a super good message! You should all definitely read it. I am the first to admit that I get way caught up in Christmas, but it is always good to remember the reason for the season. To finish off the day we stopped by the family we helped eariler this week with sheetrock and set up another time to help them finish their sheet-rocking project. We had a little lesson with them on faith, and shared Alma 32. It was really cool!<br />
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On Saturday we had accountability with our Zone Leaders, and then we went out finding for a while. We went tracting in a trailer park, and found an 18 year-old girl. She was really interested in learning more about Jesus Christ. She attends a Lutheran Church (like everyone else in Minnesota), but she is open to learning more. She is moving though, but we will at least be able to refer her to some other missionaries! To finish off the day we had a lesson with a member. We shared that same Ensign article, "The Reality of Christmas". She shared a few Christmas memories with us, and we had a really great discussion. She is such a great lady! The Church has this new video campaign kind of like the one they had last Easter (#BecauseOfHim). It is called "Because Of Him". It is a super great video! We have been given special "Because Of Him" mormon.org cards, and we are sharing it with everyone this month! #ShareTheGift<br />
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On Sunday, St. Andrews Day, we had Church. We had a really good combined lesson on family history. I don't really know much about family history, so it was good to learn a little bit more! In the evening we went out joint teaching, and had a lesson with the investigator family. We watched the Restoration video and gave them a copy, and then we talked about baptism, and set a baptismal date of December 26th, the day after Christmas! They are going to be married and baptized on the same day. It is going to be awesome! We are super excited :) Afterwards we started our new member lessons with our new member, and taught her the restoration as well. We watched a Mormon Message called "Origin" that is a modern day example of the Restoration. It was super great! An awesome way to end the week :) <br />
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I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and Black Friday weekend! Thank you all for all of your love and support. You mean the world to me! I am #GratefulFor you all. I hope you have a great week, and that you are surviving the cold December weather! Have a great week :) <br />
<br />
Best Wishes, <br />
<br />
Elder Kyle William AndrewsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16190926021699692563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5569440660429180241.post-54889401004715643372014-11-24T13:57:00.000-08:002014-11-25T14:13:44.800-08:00Transfers and a Baptism!Hello Everyone,<br />
<br />
This week has been good :) On Monday, we had our P-Day. After all of our P-Day activities, we went and helped some guy that a member knows remodel his house. We were tearing out his tiled floor, and ripping out the floor boards as well. It was a new experience using a hammer and a crow bar and taking out the floor. Of course it came off in little pieces, but it all worked out in the end! We even helped a little bit with some sheet rock, and I helped sweep up the mess. You know me!<br />
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On Tuesday we did some Area Book work, and then volunteered at Family Pathways for a little while. In the evening we went out joint teaching. We stopped by a less-active family and shared a scripture with them and reviewed the 10 commandments. Later we had a lesson with a less active sister. We talked with her about the Book of Mormon and trials, and she asked us to give her a blessing. After we left she texted us thanking us for the blessing, and that it had made her day! The cool thing about it all is that our original plans for the evening fell through. Originally we were going to be in a different city, and we were not going up to that city. Everything happens for a reason! To finish off the evening, we had a lesson with less-actives returning to activity. We had a really great lesson with them, and talked about Moroni 10:32-33 "Come Unto Christ." It was a super great day! <br />
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On Wednesday we had our last District Meeting for the transfer. I have loved this District! We took some pictures, signed each others testimony journals, and went on our way. In the afternoon we had a lesson with an investigator. We talked to him about putting on the Armour of God. We showed a video about putting on all of the pieces of Armour, and he really enjoyed the lesson! In the evening we had a lesson with a member. We talked to her about a quote by President Hinkley, "Look For The Sunlight." It talks about looking for the positive aspects in life rather than focusing on all of the negatives. Super good quote!<br />
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On Thursday we did some service at a thrift shop. In the afternoon we helped out with a move into the ward, a part-member family. They are super nice! She is a member, and he is not, but he comes to Church when he can. AWESOME :) After the move we got ready for the evening and went out joint teaching with Bishop. We had a lesson with our investigator couple on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We did a little experiment with hard boiled eggs and a glass bottle where you pour in some alcohol, light a match, and the hard boiled egg falls in the glass bottle. Kind of fun! When you crack the egg shell and peel it off, it represents repentance. The alcohol is baptism, and the fire is the gift of the Holy Ghost (baptism by fire). As the egg squeezes into the bottle, it represents enduring to the end. The kids loved it! It was pretty great :) To finish off the evening, we had a lesson with our mother and daughter investigators on covenants, specifically the covenants she would be making at baptism. It was a great last lesson before her baptism on Saturday!<br />
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On Friday we had Weekly Planning for the majority of afternoon. Mostly because we got a little bit distracted, and ended up going to a restaurant, and participating in the "Big Stack Challenge." Super nasty. You have to eat four HUGE pancakes the size of your face. It was pretty disgusting. Still not sure why I participated! But we did it. We got free t-shirts, and our picture up on the wall with a bunch of other people that decided to overly indulge in some carb overload. Never again! The funny thing is... I don't even like pancakes! Totally a waffles person. But it is done and over with :) In the evening we had a lesson with a part-member family and then went out joint teaching. We had a lesson with a less active member in the evening that went really nicely! I shared a Mormon Message with her called "Looking Through Windows" and then discussed Elder Uchtdorf's talk, "Lord, Is It I?" Afterwards she asked us a lot of gospel questions that she had been having, and we were able to resolve them for her. Overall, it was a super good evening!<br />
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On Saturday we had a baptism! Even though we tried to plan it out well in advance, it always feels like a last minute dash in the end. It all came together though :) She asked my companion to baptize her, and me to confirm her. Normally we are strongly discouraged from participating in any baptismal ordinance so that the members in the ward that live there and will stay there longer than we will can participate, but she selected us before we were able to have anything to do with it. It all worked out though. The baptism service went really great, and all of her non-member family was there and enjoyed the service! In the evening we went to a city in the cities metropolitan area, and participated in a ward Day of Service at Feed My Starving Children. It was awesome! Such an amazing organization. We packed up a bunch of boxes of food to be shipped out to the Dominican Republic. Our investigator couple came and had a really great experience as well! Overall, it was an awesome day :) <br />
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On Sunday we had Church, of course. Our new convert's confirmation went really well. I was kind of nervous for some reason, but then it all came together. Her blessing talked a lot about her example as a member of the Church, and that through the light that she has, others will have a greater desire to come nearer to their Savior, Jesus Christ. She is going to be an awesome missionary! Being the only member in her family, besides her grandma, she is going to do wonders :) Together they are unstoppable! In the evening we went out joint teaching. We had a lesson with our investigator couple on consecration. We watched a movie called "Only A Stonecutter" that shares the story of John Roe Moyle. Super cool guy! We talked about acting and applying the principles of the gospel, and acting, not being acted upon. Later we had a lesson with our new convert. Her first lesson as an official member of the Church! We talked to her about the Holy Ghost, and the influence that it has in our lives. All in all it was a pretty solid week :) <br />
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Today we got our transfer emails, and I am staying here, and my companion is getting transferred to a new city, which is still in our District, so that is kind of fun! Thank you all for all of your love and support, have a great week :)<br />
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Best Wishes, <br />
<br />
Elder Kyle William AndrewsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16190926021699692563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5569440660429180241.post-42925999191967730762014-11-17T13:53:00.000-08:002014-11-20T14:06:36.220-08:00I hit my 18 month mark. CRAZY!Hello Everyone, <br />
<br />
This week had a crazy start with the freak snow storm last Monday, but things started to improve after that :) On Tuesday, Veterans' Day/Armistice Day/Remembrance Day, we had our P-Day so the bulk of the day was spent doing all of that fun stuff. In the evening we had dinner with an investigator family. The brother is a dry Mormon. He comes to Church every week, he has a calling, he has a quad and reads it regularly, but doesn't feel a need to be baptized yet. We shared with them Elder Bednar's talk, "Come And See" from General Conference. I love the story that he shares about his kids helping one another! Afterwards we asked if we could help him shovel their driveway, and he accepted! He is not one to ask others to do things for him, so this was a big step :) We shoveled for a while, and then headed on home. <br />
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On Wednesday we had District Meeting, and I was able to give a training on using time effectively. I had this fun little handout that said "Your mission is a limited-time offer, so act now! It's "werth" it ;)" I of course passed out werthers caramels along with my training. I have used it before in past districts, but it worked out perfectly for this training as well. I just love giving trainings, totally makes my day! After District Meeting I went on exchange with an elder from Twin Falls, Idaho. We went to his area for the day, and had some pretty cool experiences. We did some stop by's for a while, and then visited with a guy and a less-active Sister. The lesson was kind of awkward at points, and I said a few things that I shouldn't have said, so it was rough to start. (They complained about their neighbors, and I commented trying to make a joke, "You must have some crazies living around you." Turns out it is an apartment complex for people with mental disabilities. My bad!) So we had two options, I could just stop talking, or I could lay it on thick and charm the pants off of them! I chose the latter, but I wanted to be sure that their pants stayed on ;) It worked out really nicely actually. We had a great time discussing the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the lesson went really well. I was instantly forgiven, and they totally loved me by the end of the lesson. It was a close one though! Lesson learned... watch what you say and be observant of your surroundings. To finish off the exchange we had a meeting with their Bishop to discuss the work in their area. I wasn't able to contribute a whole lot, but it was fun to see how other wards work. <br />
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On Thursday we exchanged back and we were asked to clean the baptismal font for the Sister's baptism on Saturday. Cleaning is the best :) The Sisters are in our ward by the way, not sure if you knew that. After cleaning the baptismal font, we changed and went to work. We had a lesson with Granny. She is such a sweet lady! We shared the talk, "Lord, Is It I?" from President Uchtdorf in General Conference. We talked a lot about focusing on and improving our own imperfections rather than focusing on others. In the evening we went out joint teaching. We had a really great lesson with our investigator couple on the Plan of Salvation. We used shaving cream and drew it all out on their counter. While we were talking with them, however, she mentioned some concerns with baptism. She told us that the gospel has had a profound impact on her life, but that some of her kids were having a really hard time applying it. She is tired of her kids lying, and misbehaving, and she isn't seeing the changes in her kids that she has seen in herself. She feels like if her kids get baptized and things turn south, it will all be her fault. Our joint teacher provided some really great insight, but it is still a major concern for her. Any advice? (Maybe a message on Facebook or something would be helpful. You have my permission to talk about some of the struggles you may have had with me, or my inactivity, or whatever. I don't know... I'm not a parent haha! -- except for my family and kids in St. George... can't forget about them!) To finish off the evening we taught the mother and daughter. We had the same lesson with the shaving cream and the Plan of Salvation. The daughter really enjoyed it, and was able to teach us all the steps in the Plan of Salvation! On Wednesday while we were on exchange, the district leader interviewed her for baptism, and she passed :) Things are going super well. <br />
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On Friday we had a lesson with the 17 year old boy about service and For The Strength of Youth. His Mom works in the oil fields and is home for two weeks, and then at work for two weeks. Cody is a super good kid when his Mom is home, but he misbehaves a lot when she is gone. We talked to him about the importance of having good values, and serving others. Another lady that he lives with, is tired of his misbehavior, so hopefully this will help! Afterwards we started to do some weekly planning. We decided to do it at the Church, because we had to fill up the baptismal font later anyways, so it was more convenient. When we arrived at the Church, it was a disaster! It is cleaned on Saturdays, but the baptism was Friday night, so we had to clean it. The carpets just really needed to be vacuumed, so we got a little side tracked. After cleaning up the Church, we filled up the font and life was good again. An investigator was baptized in the evening, and everything went really well :) After the baptism we went out joint teaching. We stopped by a part-member family. We visited with them for a while, and we were able to give her a Book of Mormon. She was outside smoking in the freezing cold weather, SO glad that I don't have a smoking addiction! That would be SO cold. <br />
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On Saturday I hit my 18 month mark. CRAZY! It was also Koningsdag/Fete du Roi (BE), so that was fun ;) We mostly weekly planned during the day. In the evening we did a dinner swap with the a family. They made us Mexican food, and we made them American food. They are a pretty cool family, not members yet, but maybe one day. They made us something called posola and toquitos. Not a big fan... but don't tell them that! I just about died when they told us that the big thing swimming in the middle of the soup was a pig foot. NASTY!!! The toquitos had jalapenos and onions in them, so they were SUPER spicy. We made breakfast casserole, or hot dish as they would say here in Minnesota. There is something about the word hot dish that kind of makes me want to throw up though, so I think I will stick to casserole. It had hash browns, sausage, eggs, and cheese in it. It turned out pretty good :) Not exactly figure friendly though. I am starting my 6 months to sexy program, so that is pretty exciting! I bought a blender bottle and some protein powder, and upped my workouts in the morning. We shall see what happens :) In the evening we stopped by our investigator couple, because it was their daughter’s 18th birthday. We partied it up, and I burned a pair of pants for my 18 month mark. They were old nasty pants that were ripped at the bottom from biking, so it was good to leave them behind. <br />
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On Sunday we had a super great turn out at Church. All the investigator couple’s family came, and the 12 year old came as well. After Church we visited with an investigator with the Sister Missionaries. We knocked on his door, and then the Sisters showed up, it was kind of funny haha! It was a really cool lesson though. At the beginning, he seemed very uncomfortable, but at the end he showed a desire to continue to learn more and to start reading the Book of Mormon. He showed us some of his WWI and WWII memorabilia, including a Nazi flag, so that was pretty cool :) It reminded me of visiting the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C.. In the evening, we had a lesson with the investigator couple. They have their marriage papers from the court house, now they just need to fill them out and get everything set up and they will be on their way! We watched a movie called "Treasure In Heaven - The John Tanner Story." It was super good. It talks a lot about faith, and the importance of acting on our faith. We assigned the kids to watch a Mormon message called "Honesty: You Better Believe It!" and we asked parents to watch the Mormon message, "You Never Know." Hopefully that will help! To finish off the evening, we had a lesson with the mother and daughter. We planned the daughter’s baptism, and finalized everything for next weekend. All should be well :) Her mother had a tough weekend, but hopefully things will get better as the baptism draws nearer. <br />
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Thank you all for all of your love and support! Next week we have transfers, so we will see what happens. I hope you all have a great week, and that all is well back home. Talk to you soon :) <br />
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Best Wishes, <br />
Elder Kyle William AndrewsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16190926021699692563noreply@blogger.com0