Hello Everyone,
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.
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!
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.
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...
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 ;)
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.
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!
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!
Best Wishes,
Elder Kyle William Andrews
Showing posts with label Baptismal Interview. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Baptismal Interview. Show all posts
Monday, February 9, 2015
Monday, January 19, 2015
The Work Moves On
Hello Everyone,
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.
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!
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.
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
Best Wishes,
Elder Kyle William Andrews
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.
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!
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.
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
Best Wishes,
Elder Kyle William Andrews
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