"He wished that the Mormons would come stop by again."

Hello Everyone,

It has been another great week, and the weather is beginning to warm up here in Minnesota! This past week my companion was super sick though, so we didn't get a whole lot done.

On Tuesday we had District Meeting, and then we went out joint teaching with the Bishop in the evening. We met with a woman that President Clements referred to us last Sunday evening who is a less-active member that moved into a senior care center in our area. We also met with another member who lives in that complex. It was a nice evening :)

On Wednesday we received a mormon.org referral. We went out joint teaching with our Ward Mission Leader and went to go contact him. We showed up at his home, and it had been burned down, and had an arson sign on the outside. A lot of arson is being committed in Minneapolis. Not good! We had an investigator who had to move because his home was burned down a while ago, and now a mormon.org referral that we can't contact. We did, however, have a nice lesson with an investigator family. We began talking about the Plan of Salvation, and had a great discussion with them. They definitely have a lot of enthusiasm!

On Thursday we did some service for a family in the ward. The father recently had an operation on his ankle, and he asked us if we could do some yard work for them. My companion mowed their lawn, and I weed whacked their yard. I don't believe I have ever used that machine before, so it was definitely an experience! It was a good thing that I was wearing jeans, and not shorts, because my legs would have been destroyed! I don't know if I was using it wrong or what, but the cord every now and then would come out and whack my leg! Craziness. Afterwards my companion was feeling really nasty, so we had to go in for the day.

On Friday we had Weekly Planning. We got a lot of things done, and then we walked over to go visit with an investigator. Now that it is warm outside, we can teach people on their porch and at their doorstep, so the rule of three doesn't apply because we are out in the open. We talked about the Plan of Salvation with her, and read 2 Nephi 2. It was a fun lesson :) Afterwards we had a lesson with another investigator, but she was not home. We talked with the a family in the ward for a while, and my companion and I attempted to ride their unicycle. Still no future in the circus ;) In the evening my companion had to conduct a baptismal interview for the Sisters investigator. It was a pretty great day :)

On Saturday we went contacting in the morning, but NO ONE was home! In the evening we went out with a ward member, and stopped by some investigators. While we were talking to them, one noticed a big huge spider in the corner. NASTY! I hate spiders. I couldn't see it though, so I just avoided the thought. My companion tried to squish it with a newspaper, but couldn't. Finally they called on me to try killing the thing. I always called on others to kill spiders for me, so this was the ultimate pay back! I took the newspaper, and jabbed at the spider about thirty times ensuring that it was dead before I moved my hand. I was pretty dang proud of myself! We found out that they were actually two spiders mating, instead of one huge spider. Pretty much I saved them from having tons of nasty spiders in their home. I'm kind of a big deal ;) Our investigator talked with us about baptismal plans for the end of June. Things are going really well for them, and he is excited to get baptized! Later we talked with another investigator, but it wasn't a good time for them so we rescheduled our appointment. We finished off the evening by stopping by an investigator family. We talked about faith and prayer and read 2 Nephi 2 with them as well! They almost committed to come to church, but ended up deferring to another week. Lame! Hopefully they will come soon.

Sunday was interesting. In Sacrament Meeting one of the first announcements was that next week we are having a joint Sacrament Meeting with the another Ward at 11:00 AM to conduct important Stake business. No other meetings will follow. A lot of people are speculating that they are going to combine the two wards together. Hopefully it doesn't mess with any of our missionary work here, because things are going great! The only problem that I foresee is that we have two sets of missionaries, so the combined ward would have three sets of missionaries. Who knows what will happen though. We shall see! Maybe it isn't even anything close to combining wards... only time will tell. At 4:00 we went to the Kingdom Hall and met with the Jehovah's Witnesses. It was a super interesting experience! As we were walking over there, I felt super nervous. Our JW friend invited us a while ago, but I still felt kind of uneasy. I recognized that this is probably how our investigators feel when we invite them to church. It is really hard! We walked in though, and the people were really kind, friendly, and welcoming. I'm pretty sure they thought we were investigating their church, but whatever works haha! It was a good service. Different, but it was very insightful. In the evening we went joint teaching. We visited with an investigator for a while, and talked with him a little bit about the For The Strength Of Youth program. He loved it! Later we stopped by someone I found in our Area Book while my companion was sick. He lives in Minneapolis, and has had a tough life. He said that we arrived just in time, because he had just been talking with his girlfriend about religion and how he wished that the Mormons would come stop by again. CRAZY! He didn't have a lot of time, so we set up a return appointment, and went in for the evening. Probably better that way, because Minneapolis is pretty sketchy at night, so it was time to go ;)

It has been a great week, and my companion is alive and well now :) Hopefully next week will be even better! Thank you all for your love and support. Have a Happy Memorial Day :)

Best Wishes,
Elder Kyle William Andrews