Hello Everyone,
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!
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.
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.
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
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!
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
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 :)
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 :)
Best Wishes,
Elder Kyle William Andrews
Showing posts with label Black Friday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Black Friday. Show all posts
Monday, December 1, 2014
Monday, December 2, 2013
Thanksgiving a la Black Friday and the first sign of snow
Monday, December 2, 2013
Hello Everyone,
This week has been different with Thanksgiving, but has definitely been great! To start off the week, we had an exchange with the Buffalo, Minnesota Elders. I was on exchange with an Elder from Logan, Utah. Originally both sets of Elders were going to be in our area, so we arranged two meal appointments for the evening. They had an important appointment arise in their area, so they had to cancel the blitz. We received really sweet voicemails from the families feeding us, so I didn't have the heart to cancel last minute. So... we had two dinners. Absolute madness! One dinner at 4, and another at 5. We were stuffed, but it all worked out in the end. In the evening, we were working in Ramsey, Minnesota with a brother from the ward. I kept feeling like we needing to go somewhere else though, and then I thought of a mother and daughter who live in Otsego, Minnesota. We usually don't like to drive all over the place when we are with members, but I kept feeling like we HAD to go see them. Finally we went over to their home. The mom answered the door, and was absolutely stunned! She said "this is crazy, I was literally just thinking about you two seconds ago, and then you knocked on my door!" It was really cool to see how everything worked out, and then we were able to talk with her for a while, and teach her about the restoration of the church. (The difficulties her family is currently facing are worsening, and her daughter a day earlier was admitted into the hospital for mental health problems) I feel like we are going to have the opportunity to really help their family, it just hasn't completely taken off yet. But it will!
On Wednesday we taught a sister, and her kids again. Their mom is really gravitating towards our church's teachings. As we taught the Plan of Salvation, she said that it really resonated well with her, and it felt like she already knew everything. Each teaching we have shared, has been something that she already believed, but her church has not ever had it as a doctrine. They again didn't make it to church on Sunday though, so we still have a lot of work to do.
Thursday, Thanksgiving, was our P-Day last week. In the morning we had a mission wide conference call at 7:00 AM, and then we went along with our normal P-Day activities. At 1:00 PM we had dinner with a family, and they gave us seriously like hundreds of take-out boxes of food. At 4:00 PM we had dinner with another family. Luckily this time we had some time between the two meal appointments, but still kind of crazy! At 5:00 PM we had to do our shopping for the week, bad. Very bad! Walmart had their first Black Friday event at 6:00, so the store was absolutely crazy! We were just getting regular groceries, but the Black Friday shoppers were EVERYWHERE! Walmart was SUPER disorganized. When you walked into the store, they were handing out maps. They reorganized the entire store, and had video games and iPads in the grocery and produce areas, so it was insane. The Black Friday shopper in me kicked in though, and it was great! The only problem though was that people began to follow suit, even though we were just dashing for things like eggs and chicken. I only had to throw elbows a few times haha ;) I really wish we could have been regular Black Friday shopping, but with sacrifices come blessings.... I had an adrenaline rush for the rest of the evening though, it was great :) With this time of the year, also comes my one year anniversary! One year ago, I broke my collar bone on Black Friday and had to go through surgeries and craziness. I can't believe it has already been a year! Unfortunately I do not have any crazy stories to report, and luckily no broken bones, but it was still a good year. For the rest of the evening, we were with the family we live with doing service. We set up Christmas decorations, and talked, and had a great time! It was fun :) Thanksgiving was definitely a blast! And... in two more Thanksgivings I will be back to Black Friday Shopping haha!
On Saturday we met with a mom and daughter again. The daughter is back home from the hospital now, and is doing well! A family came with us to joint teach, and the sister (Young Womens teacher or president.. not sure) was able to really offer some great advice! We talked about For The Strength of Youth, the Broken Vessel talk from Elder Holland, and this sister gave the mom contact information for a great counselor in St. Cloud. It was a really great lesson, AND I made Lehi Roller Mills blueberry muffins to share, so it was even better :) Don't ask me how that muffin mix made it here to Minnesota, but it worked out perfectly! A member must have given it to the missionaries forever ago, and I am the only one apparently that knows how to make muffins.
Yesterday after church, we had dinner with a family. They just recently moved here from Provo, Utah, crazy! I saw this brother in church a couple weeks ago, and he looked SUPER familiar, but I dismissed it, because he lives here in Minnesota. I mentioned that he looked familiar when we were over having dinner, and he said that he had the same thought. Turns out, he used to work at Nordstrom in Fashion Place Mall in the Men's Shoe Department, my second home. Small world! But it gets even better. His wife grew up in Provo, Utah. She went to Timpview High School. We were talking about our families and everything when this brother and I were trying to figure out how we knew each other, and Sister Wilkinson said that my grandpa, William Bancroft, was her stake president back home. Apparently her dad and grandpa are good friends. She also told me that she went to school with Wayne. Small world! It is cool to have a family here with so many connections to my life back home :) We were also able to talk shoes for a while, which was AWESOME!
It has been a pretty amazing week overall, even though it snowed for like two seconds today for the first time. Luckily it did not stick though! I am SUPER paranoid about the winter here... hopefully I won't kill anyone with my little to no winter driving experience. (No sarcastic remarks Mom!) I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and that this week will be excellent as well :) Thank you all for your love and support, I couldn't do this without you.
Best Wishes,
Elder Kyle William Andrews
Hello Everyone,
This week has been different with Thanksgiving, but has definitely been great! To start off the week, we had an exchange with the Buffalo, Minnesota Elders. I was on exchange with an Elder from Logan, Utah. Originally both sets of Elders were going to be in our area, so we arranged two meal appointments for the evening. They had an important appointment arise in their area, so they had to cancel the blitz. We received really sweet voicemails from the families feeding us, so I didn't have the heart to cancel last minute. So... we had two dinners. Absolute madness! One dinner at 4, and another at 5. We were stuffed, but it all worked out in the end. In the evening, we were working in Ramsey, Minnesota with a brother from the ward. I kept feeling like we needing to go somewhere else though, and then I thought of a mother and daughter who live in Otsego, Minnesota. We usually don't like to drive all over the place when we are with members, but I kept feeling like we HAD to go see them. Finally we went over to their home. The mom answered the door, and was absolutely stunned! She said "this is crazy, I was literally just thinking about you two seconds ago, and then you knocked on my door!" It was really cool to see how everything worked out, and then we were able to talk with her for a while, and teach her about the restoration of the church. (The difficulties her family is currently facing are worsening, and her daughter a day earlier was admitted into the hospital for mental health problems) I feel like we are going to have the opportunity to really help their family, it just hasn't completely taken off yet. But it will!
On Wednesday we taught a sister, and her kids again. Their mom is really gravitating towards our church's teachings. As we taught the Plan of Salvation, she said that it really resonated well with her, and it felt like she already knew everything. Each teaching we have shared, has been something that she already believed, but her church has not ever had it as a doctrine. They again didn't make it to church on Sunday though, so we still have a lot of work to do.
Thursday, Thanksgiving, was our P-Day last week. In the morning we had a mission wide conference call at 7:00 AM, and then we went along with our normal P-Day activities. At 1:00 PM we had dinner with a family, and they gave us seriously like hundreds of take-out boxes of food. At 4:00 PM we had dinner with another family. Luckily this time we had some time between the two meal appointments, but still kind of crazy! At 5:00 PM we had to do our shopping for the week, bad. Very bad! Walmart had their first Black Friday event at 6:00, so the store was absolutely crazy! We were just getting regular groceries, but the Black Friday shoppers were EVERYWHERE! Walmart was SUPER disorganized. When you walked into the store, they were handing out maps. They reorganized the entire store, and had video games and iPads in the grocery and produce areas, so it was insane. The Black Friday shopper in me kicked in though, and it was great! The only problem though was that people began to follow suit, even though we were just dashing for things like eggs and chicken. I only had to throw elbows a few times haha ;) I really wish we could have been regular Black Friday shopping, but with sacrifices come blessings.... I had an adrenaline rush for the rest of the evening though, it was great :) With this time of the year, also comes my one year anniversary! One year ago, I broke my collar bone on Black Friday and had to go through surgeries and craziness. I can't believe it has already been a year! Unfortunately I do not have any crazy stories to report, and luckily no broken bones, but it was still a good year. For the rest of the evening, we were with the family we live with doing service. We set up Christmas decorations, and talked, and had a great time! It was fun :) Thanksgiving was definitely a blast! And... in two more Thanksgivings I will be back to Black Friday Shopping haha!
On Saturday we met with a mom and daughter again. The daughter is back home from the hospital now, and is doing well! A family came with us to joint teach, and the sister (Young Womens teacher or president.. not sure) was able to really offer some great advice! We talked about For The Strength of Youth, the Broken Vessel talk from Elder Holland, and this sister gave the mom contact information for a great counselor in St. Cloud. It was a really great lesson, AND I made Lehi Roller Mills blueberry muffins to share, so it was even better :) Don't ask me how that muffin mix made it here to Minnesota, but it worked out perfectly! A member must have given it to the missionaries forever ago, and I am the only one apparently that knows how to make muffins.
Yesterday after church, we had dinner with a family. They just recently moved here from Provo, Utah, crazy! I saw this brother in church a couple weeks ago, and he looked SUPER familiar, but I dismissed it, because he lives here in Minnesota. I mentioned that he looked familiar when we were over having dinner, and he said that he had the same thought. Turns out, he used to work at Nordstrom in Fashion Place Mall in the Men's Shoe Department, my second home. Small world! But it gets even better. His wife grew up in Provo, Utah. She went to Timpview High School. We were talking about our families and everything when this brother and I were trying to figure out how we knew each other, and Sister Wilkinson said that my grandpa, William Bancroft, was her stake president back home. Apparently her dad and grandpa are good friends. She also told me that she went to school with Wayne. Small world! It is cool to have a family here with so many connections to my life back home :) We were also able to talk shoes for a while, which was AWESOME!
It has been a pretty amazing week overall, even though it snowed for like two seconds today for the first time. Luckily it did not stick though! I am SUPER paranoid about the winter here... hopefully I won't kill anyone with my little to no winter driving experience. (No sarcastic remarks Mom!) I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and that this week will be excellent as well :) Thank you all for your love and support, I couldn't do this without you.
Best Wishes,
Elder Kyle William Andrews
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