Hello Everyone,
This week has been great :) The weather has been kinda wacky, but things are good! On Monday we had our P-Day, which is always fun. It was my last P-Day that isn't super scheduled out, so it was good to be able to enjoy some down time haha! In the coming weeks we have our Zone P-Day, our District P-Day, and our Mall of America trip. I am super stoked for the upcoming P-Days though :) In the evening we had Family Home Evening with a family. I love that family! I shared the "repencil" lesson with them, and it was a really fun evening. Their daughter shared her hedgehog with us, so that was super cool! I did have a dumb blonde moment though. I tried to pet her hedgehog. Ouch! I did it quickly before anyone could warn me of my "special moment" so I got poked. I kind of want a hedgehog now, but it is also kind of a boring pet. You can't do much with it. Dogs are still the best! To finish off the day we visited with another family. We talked to them about the blessings of the gospel in families, and had a really great discussion. All in all it was a good day!
On Tuesday we had District Meeting, which is always exciting! This week District Meeting was on the Doctrine of Christ and our Missionary Purpose. We did a scripture chase, I talked about our purpose for a little bit, one Elder gave a training on the principle of love in missionary work, and the other Elder gave a training on the baptismal invitation. For my handout I had a red ribbon that I cut out at the library on the dye cut machine that I wrote our missionary purpose on, and on the back it says "What is your RIESEN for serving a mission?" and I had the "riesen" candies of course ;) After District Meeting I went on exchange with one of the new Elders in the area. He is originally from San Diego, California but then his family moved to a small town of 600 people in Idaho. For our exchange we did a little bit of everything. We did some finding, stopped by a few potentials and less-actives, and had a few appointments. In the afternoon the weather was nuts! It was a beautiful day, and then all the sudden it started hailing, then snowing, then it melted and was fine again. Crazy Minnesota weather! We visited with a man, which was kind of fun. My temporary companion taught him before he moved here, so we had a fun little reunion haha! We talked about the Book of Mormon and faith. In the evening we had a lesson with a family on the Plan of Salvation. I bought a can of cheap shaving cream, and we turned their kitchen table into a whiteboard. As we taught the Plan of Salvation, we drew what was happening into the shaving cream. It is always fun to be able to get hands on and involved in a lesson, and I think it helped them to learn better. It was super fun!
On Wednesday, Earth Day #SaveTheWorld and Administrative Professionals Day, we had an interview in the morning, and then we exchanged back at the temple. We went to the St. Paul Minnesota Temple with some members. They are great! At the temple I saw a few people that I knew so that was awesome! Two families from previous areas were there! It was great, plus I am starting to get the hang of this whole temple thing haha! I feel like I make a fool of myself half of the time, but this time I didn't need as much help at the veil. After the temple we had lunch and I did a little bit of clean up at our apartment. One of my goals on my mission is to always have a Celestial Apartment. Some of my companions are not always super supportive of this goal, however, so it makes it a little bit difficult. Since I have been in this area I have had two rather messy companions, so I have been on my own on the cleaning. I was cleaning, and my companion did some studying. We did some scheduling and made a bunch of phone calls in the afternoon and then we went out and did some finding. In the evening our appointments fell through, so we were able to help out with the Ward Service Project. We are responsible for a section of the highway, so we were doing some clean up alongside the highway. It was a good time. I was hanging out with my crew. We were freezing, but we made it fun! Kind of a gross job, but it worked out ;)
On Thursday morning we helped move some furniture. One family in the ward got some new furniture and so they gave our investigator family their old furniture. I never know how we always manage to get furniture in and out of people's homes, but it always works. It's a miracle! I swear this couch was NOT going to fit. We squeezed it through the doors, did some rearranging, and somehow we got it in! We visited with our investigator for a little while and reset his baptismal date for May 9th. They have had a rough week! She got Influenza B and Pneumonia, and then he got Bronchitis and Influenza B a day later. Needless to say we did some major hand washing after we met with them! Later we did our weekly service at the library. This week we were working on cow dye cuts. My companion cut out the cows, and I hole punched them and did some minor assembly. #BarnyardBash In the afternoon we had accountability with the Elders, and it sounds like things are starting to pick up. They found a few new investigators, and things are looking good! In the evening we did a little bit of finding, and then we had Family Home Evening with a family. It was the son’s turn to choose the game, and he chose Clue and Life. The daughter dominated at Clue, and then we weren't able to finish Life.
On Friday we had our mormon.org time in the morning, and then we had accountability with the Zone Leaders. Good times! Now that we don't have Sisters in the District I don't have a gossip hour call with the Sister Training Leaders, so that was kind of weird. Later we did our weekly service at the Senior Center. Good ole' Yahtzee! This week only one person got a Yahtzee so it was a little bit slower. Still a good time though :) After the Senior Center we did some Weekly Planning. It kind of rocked my world a little bit. I realized that after this Weekly Planning session I will only have two more on my mission. Super weird! In the evening we stopped by a few people in another city and then we visited with an investigator. We shared the video, "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration" with her and she loved it. She is interested in learning more about the Church and how it was established, so that video was perfect!
On Saturday we attended a baptism (8-year-old in the ward) and then we went to the library and made some music CD's. On Friday night recent convert from the other Elder’s ward was texting us and told us that she was having a tough time. She wasn't loving the new missionaries in their ward, and she felt like she was just in a little bit of a funk. She asked us if we knew of any upbeat and uplifting music that she could listen to to better surround herself with the gospel, and so we told her that we would make her a bunch of CD's to listen to with all kinds of uplifting music. In the afternoon we did some finding and met a couple cool people in the city. One of them has met with the missionaries before, and wants to come check out the Church sometime. The only problem is that he is a baseball coach for his son's team, and all of their games are on Saturdays and Sundays. Hopefully he will be able to come sometime soon though! In the evening we visited with a less-active member. We talked to her about Church, and she mentioned that she has really been meaning to get out and come to Church. They have been through some tough times recently, and she knows that Church can help them out.
On Sunday we attended Ward Council bright and early, and then we had Church. We have Stake Conference next week, so it was a Fast Sunday. Three of our investigators came to Church, so that was awesome! After Church we went and did some finding, and some stop by's. As the day progressed it felt like we were doing some records clean up haha! We stopped by a family, and they asked us how they could get their records removed. We told them, and then we stopped by another family. They also asked us how they could get their records removed. So then we stopped by yet another family. Same deal there. But to finish off our stop-by's, we visited with a family. One is a less-active member, and no one else in his family is a member. His Mom answered the door, and came out and talked with us for a while. She said they were busy and didn't have time to meet with us, but as we talked with her she began to open up more and more. She told us that her brother and his family were living with them and that he was a hardcore alcoholic, and was very controlling and verbally abusive. She said that she hates being in her home, and that she wants him to move out. Later her son came and joined us, and he told us that talking with us was kind of like a breath of fresh air. She told us that missionaries always come and stop by at just the right moments, and that they would like to meet with us again. We exchanged information and went on our way. It was a super cool moment! Later we had our weekly meeting with the Bishop after having dinner with his family, and then we had our weekly correlation meeting with the ward mission leader. We had an interesting finish to our evening, however. We got in the car to drive home, and I sat down on my seat (which was soaking wet) and our car smelled like alcohol. I looked over at my bag and noticed that my portable hand sanitizer had exploded, and so our car smelled like hand sanitizer haha! So we had a little clean up party to finish off the day.
Thank you all so much for all of your love and support! I have the best family and friends in the world :) It is crazy to think that in just 2 short weeks I will be home again. I found out this past week that my homecoming will be on May 17th, just a few days after my arrival home. You are all invited :)
Here are the details from the Facebook Invitation.
(Sunday, May 17 at 2:50pm
It's been a great two years serving in the Minnesota Minneapolis Mission (MMM) for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! My homecoming will be at the Grandview Stake Center. I would love to see you!
Please join us immediately afterward at our home (1675 N 1670 W Provo) for food and great company ;)
For my non-LDS friends: Find out more about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by visiting www.mormon.org)
Have a great week!
Best Wishes,
Elder Kyle William Andrews
Showing posts with label Repencil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Repencil. Show all posts
Monday, April 27, 2015
Monday, April 13, 2015
Embarking in the Service of God
Hello Everyone,
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 :)
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 :)
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 :)
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.
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 :)
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.
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 ;)
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!
Best Wishes,
Elder Kyle William Andrews
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 :)
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 :)
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 :)
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.
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 :)
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.
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 ;)
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!
Best Wishes,
Elder Kyle William Andrews
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