Monday, January 20, 2014
Hello Everyone,
This week we had some really great experiences! On Monday, we had a district P-Day in Princeton, Minnesota. We played a card game called Munchkins, and Stategem or something like that. It was fun :) We also realized that we were going to be seeing everyone together the next day for our Zone Conference, so it was going to be a really fun week!
On Tuesday it snowed a lot, and our Zone Conference was cancelled. Our whole day had been dedicated to our Zone Conference, so we basically had no plans. We went around shoveling snow for people that don't pay for their driveways to be plowed (which are very few), and then I felt inspired to go and shovel snow for one of our investigators, who lives not too far from us. We began to chip away at the several layers of ice that covered her driveway, and then she came home in the middle of our shoveling. She was SO incredibly grateful for our service to her, and was truly amazed that we took time out of our day to come and shovel the snow on her driveway. It was great, and I realized that there was a reason that our Zone Conference did not happen that day, we needed to shovel her driveway!
On Wednesday we went up to Big Lake, Minnesota and taught our investigator as well as a part member family. We talked to our investigator about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and we discussed the Law of Tithing with the part member family. We had the Ward Clerk as our joint teacher - both lessons went really well! It is always so great to be able to teach with a member from the congregation, not only because it saves our miles, but because they invite a special spirit to the lessons, and the members are more permanent, missionaries can be transferred every 6-weeks.
On Thursday we met with the fiancée of a less-active member in the ward. She has met with missionaries in the past, but hasn't really felt that it was the right decision for her. We got to know her a little better, and she is ever so slightly more open to meeting with us now! Hopefully good things are in the works for the future :)
We had a great lesson with a part member family later in the week with members from the ward joint teaching with us. We talked about the Book of Mormon, and watched a really great Mormon Ad that hit home with our investigator. She really enjoys reading books that not everyone has in the Bible, so she thought it might be fun to read the Book of Mormon. Apparently in the Catholic Bible they have a few extra books that not everyone has, so that is where her interest in other books began.
On Friday evening we met with an investigator and talked to him about the Restoration of the gospel. He was really interested in what we had to share, and said that he is open to discussing philosophies with us in the future. While we know that the Restoration isn't simply a philosophy, it is a good step in the right direction!
On Saturday morning I was WAY sick. All throughout the night I was unable to sleep, and was awake for every hour except for 3:00 AM, so I must have slept a little bit! I had a really bad cold, and my voice was trashed. The members we live with gave me some medications that helped a ton, and I am feeling a lot better now! My voice is slowly improving, and my cold is just about gone. (Maybe delete sections from this part) Later in the day we met with the mother of an investigator. She wanted to discuss plans for her daughters baptism with us. She was really kind, but mentioned that she didn't think February 1st was going to work out. All will be well in the end! The most important thing is that this girl will be baptized.
Saturday evening we taught an investigator with a member from the ward. We discussed the Book of Mormon with her, and were able to make some serious headway! Unfortunately her husband was at work, so we will have to catch him up later, but it was great to see how accepting she was of the Book of Mormon. She has a hard time reading it, so we were able to read with her for a little bit in the lesson. The English can be difficult to understand, especially if you didn't grow up reading it! SO many people out here read the New International Translation of the Bible, so it is simplified and easier to read.
On Sunday Church was 1 hour. The pipes in the building froze, so none of the plumbing worked. We attended Sacrament meeting, and then went home. The church service was really good while it lasted though, and we even had a part-member family that attended! All in all, it was a great week :)
Today we went out to lunch with two sisters from the ward. We went to a restaurant called Space Aliens, so of course we had to take a picture with the Alien. My companion wasn't super thrilled, but I couldn't pass up the picture opportunity :)
Thank you all for your love and support! Your prayers have done some pretty amazing things for me, and I have been able to receive SO much strength from you all. I hope you have an amazing week :) Talk to you soon!
Best Wishes,
Elder Kyle William Andrews
Showing posts with label Sick. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sick. Show all posts
Monday, January 20, 2014
Monday, October 14, 2013
God Has A Plan
October 14, 2013
Hello Everyone,
It has been another crazy week in Wisconsin, but things are going well! This week we were able to meet with a part-member family in Tomah. The wife is a member, and her husband is of a different faith. Because of their difference in religion, they decided that neither of them were going to attend their religion until they could agree on one. One day we were randomly making calls to those on the branch directory, and we came across her name. We called and set up an appointment to visit with her, and she became very excited for us to meet with them, and for us to teach her and her husband. On Wednesday we were able to teach them the restoration, and we watched the church produced restoration video with them. It was a really great lesson, she cried many times, and I could see that her husband was really internalizing what we were saying. He did not agree on a baptismal date, but they are open to having us visit them weekly. I am excited to see where things will go with their family!
We received a mormon.org referral this week in the VA Hospital. We went to go contact the referral while we were in Tomah, and they would not let us in. We needed security clearance from his family to visit with him. Luckily, the referral was from his member daughter, so they left a voicemail with her, and told us to check back later. We eventually did receive clearance, and we will be able to contact him this next week! As we were exiting the building, we stopped to figure out where the heck I parked the car. Yes, my sense of direction is still absolutely awful, and the VA is designed in a SUPER confusing way! We were looking around, and we came across a newly baptized members, foster mom that we taught a few weeks ago. This was no coincidence that I lost the car, Heavenly Father must have not given me a sense of direction for a reason ;) We were able to catch up with her, and talk for a moment--it was great! This was all happening while we were on exchange with the South La Crosse Elders. As I talked with one of the Elders, I found out that he lives right near our home (within a few blocks). Crazy stuff! He just got here a week ago, and is training in South La Crosse. I was able to help him a little bit with his transition to the mission field, because I had a lot of those same adjustments.
We helped set up for a wedding reception the other day. Two families in the branch have children that are marrying each other. They took down the chapel completely, and changed it for the reception. It actually looks rather nice, I will have to take pictures. The branch here is so small that they do not have a cultural hall, so the chapel was designed in a way that it could be easily taken down for social events and what not. If the branch is ever expanded, than they will build out, and transform that room into an actual cultural hall.
These past two days my companion has been sick with something, so I have had a lot of down time. I have been doing a lot of cleaning and organizing in our apartment though which is a plus, and have been watching church movies and studying. Being sick here is a lot different than back home, because there is pretty much NOTHING to do. We don’t just watch TV, get on Facebook, or surf the internet. It is quite boring actually... Hopefully I will not catch anything, so we won't have to go through this whole thing again!
On Sunday we had Stake Conference. Because the Stake is so spread out, it was filmed in Rochester, Minnesota, and was broadcasted to several buildings in the Stake. We had to drive down to La Crosse to watch Stake Conference, as did our entire district! We had four sets of missionaries (North La Crosse Sisters, South La Crosse Elders, Sparta Elders, and Winona Elders) together for Stake Conference, it was kind of funny! Because it was about a half hour ride from Sparta to La Crosse though, we weren't able to get any investigators to church. Hopefully this next week will be better!
About a week ago, a family in the branch, lost their son. He was over at their home, and became incredibly drunk and they lost control of him. They had to call the police as a last resort. When the police arrived, he ran outside armed with knives from the house, and was shot and killed on their front lawn. The community is in an uproar right now. Police officers make mistakes, and overstep their bounds. Heavenly Father has a plan for us all, but that does not make it any easier. Their son had a very difficult life with drugs and alcoholism, and is free now from the addictions and pains of his life here on earth.
I realized the other day that tomorrow I will have been out on my mission for 5 months. Kind of nuts! Hopefully I will be able to experience a little more success, and be able to improve my missionary efforts as a whole. I am excited to see what the future has to hold! I love and miss you all, and hope you have an excellent week!
Best Wishes,
Elder Kyle William Andrews
Hello Everyone,
It has been another crazy week in Wisconsin, but things are going well! This week we were able to meet with a part-member family in Tomah. The wife is a member, and her husband is of a different faith. Because of their difference in religion, they decided that neither of them were going to attend their religion until they could agree on one. One day we were randomly making calls to those on the branch directory, and we came across her name. We called and set up an appointment to visit with her, and she became very excited for us to meet with them, and for us to teach her and her husband. On Wednesday we were able to teach them the restoration, and we watched the church produced restoration video with them. It was a really great lesson, she cried many times, and I could see that her husband was really internalizing what we were saying. He did not agree on a baptismal date, but they are open to having us visit them weekly. I am excited to see where things will go with their family!
We received a mormon.org referral this week in the VA Hospital. We went to go contact the referral while we were in Tomah, and they would not let us in. We needed security clearance from his family to visit with him. Luckily, the referral was from his member daughter, so they left a voicemail with her, and told us to check back later. We eventually did receive clearance, and we will be able to contact him this next week! As we were exiting the building, we stopped to figure out where the heck I parked the car. Yes, my sense of direction is still absolutely awful, and the VA is designed in a SUPER confusing way! We were looking around, and we came across a newly baptized members, foster mom that we taught a few weeks ago. This was no coincidence that I lost the car, Heavenly Father must have not given me a sense of direction for a reason ;) We were able to catch up with her, and talk for a moment--it was great! This was all happening while we were on exchange with the South La Crosse Elders. As I talked with one of the Elders, I found out that he lives right near our home (within a few blocks). Crazy stuff! He just got here a week ago, and is training in South La Crosse. I was able to help him a little bit with his transition to the mission field, because I had a lot of those same adjustments.
We helped set up for a wedding reception the other day. Two families in the branch have children that are marrying each other. They took down the chapel completely, and changed it for the reception. It actually looks rather nice, I will have to take pictures. The branch here is so small that they do not have a cultural hall, so the chapel was designed in a way that it could be easily taken down for social events and what not. If the branch is ever expanded, than they will build out, and transform that room into an actual cultural hall.
These past two days my companion has been sick with something, so I have had a lot of down time. I have been doing a lot of cleaning and organizing in our apartment though which is a plus, and have been watching church movies and studying. Being sick here is a lot different than back home, because there is pretty much NOTHING to do. We don’t just watch TV, get on Facebook, or surf the internet. It is quite boring actually... Hopefully I will not catch anything, so we won't have to go through this whole thing again!
On Sunday we had Stake Conference. Because the Stake is so spread out, it was filmed in Rochester, Minnesota, and was broadcasted to several buildings in the Stake. We had to drive down to La Crosse to watch Stake Conference, as did our entire district! We had four sets of missionaries (North La Crosse Sisters, South La Crosse Elders, Sparta Elders, and Winona Elders) together for Stake Conference, it was kind of funny! Because it was about a half hour ride from Sparta to La Crosse though, we weren't able to get any investigators to church. Hopefully this next week will be better!
About a week ago, a family in the branch, lost their son. He was over at their home, and became incredibly drunk and they lost control of him. They had to call the police as a last resort. When the police arrived, he ran outside armed with knives from the house, and was shot and killed on their front lawn. The community is in an uproar right now. Police officers make mistakes, and overstep their bounds. Heavenly Father has a plan for us all, but that does not make it any easier. Their son had a very difficult life with drugs and alcoholism, and is free now from the addictions and pains of his life here on earth.
I realized the other day that tomorrow I will have been out on my mission for 5 months. Kind of nuts! Hopefully I will be able to experience a little more success, and be able to improve my missionary efforts as a whole. I am excited to see what the future has to hold! I love and miss you all, and hope you have an excellent week!
Best Wishes,
Elder Kyle William Andrews
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