Transfers and Surprises

Hello Everyone,

It has been another great week :) We got our transfer emails today from President Clements, and my companion and I will be serving together for another transfer. Luckily transfers weren't really a stress, because when we went joint teaching with President Clements a week ago, he basically told us that we would be serving together for another transfer! Life is good :) I can't believe that this will be President Clement's last transfer email though. He goes home on June 27th, and then we will be under President Forbes jurisdiction. Happy Pentecost Monday by the way :) Haha sorry, I have a ton of things on my mind right now, so this letter is kind of random.

Last Monday after our P-Day concluded we went joint teaching with a ward member. We had a lesson with an investigator family on the last part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.) They loved it, and we recommitted them to come to Church on Sunday. We set up a time to do a Church tour with them on Saturday so that they wouldn't get "lost" again. We also had a quick discussion with another investigator. He mentioned that he was going through a really tough time, because he was notified that because of his grade in Spanish, he was being put on academic probation in his prep school. He is there on scholarship, so it is a big deal. We talked to him about prayer, and how he can receive the Lord's support in his trials! He really enjoyed meeting with us, and he even said the closing prayer :)

On Tuesday we started off the day with a little bit of service! We mowed a family’s lawn, and I used their clippers and manicured their bushes, hedges, and trees. It was a fun project for us! On the way back home, a helpless little duckling ran in front of us, tripped and fell on her back, and was chirping and running and falling all over the place. She almost ran onto the street, where cars were rushing by, so we had to help her! We have a rule that we are not allowed to have pets of any kind, but we felt like Megan, the duckling, was an exception to the rule. We brought her home, made a little box for her, fed her some bread, and gave her a water dish. She was walking kind of weird, and wasn't particularly pleased to be in a box. We texted a teenager in our ward, and told her about our predicament. She and her Mom rushed over to our apartment to meet Megan! We took a bunch of pictures, and passed Megan on them for further care. I believe they gave Megan to the humane society to get her leg checked out, and to make sure that she was well taken care of. It was an eventful start to the day! Afterwards we had a bunch of accountability calls, and then we went joint teaching. We had a great lesson with an investigator and his family on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We reset his baptismal date to July 12th (right before my birthday!), and talked to him about conversion. He bore really sincere testimony to us, and it truly was an incredible lesson. It is so amazing to be able to be a missionary, and to "invite others to come unto Christ." He is an amazing father, and he is going to lead his family in righteousness! Afterwards we went to an apartment complex, and met a man and we taught him the restoration outside, and set up a return appointment for Tuesday next week. It was a great day!

On Wednesday we had our last District Meeting of the transfer. I made s'mores cupcakes and pink lemonade chex mix to celebrate! We took District photos, and afterwards we had accountability with our Zone Leaders. I had an appointment with the Dr. afterwards, and he referred me to a dermatologist (which I expected). I will be meeting with a dermatologist on June 21st. In the evening we went out joint teaching. We taught an investigator the restoration. Our joint teacher was amazing at bearing testimony, and promising him blessings of the changes that the gospel would bring his life. Our investigator really appreciated his kind words, and was a lot more accepting of our teachings. Good things are ahead! Afterwards we met with a less-active member who recently relapsed from 90 days of sobriety, so we talked about faith and repentance, the gospel of Jesus Christ! He really liked what we were sharing with him, and it really lifted his spirit :) It is cool to see an almost instant change in people when we meet with them!

On Thursday we had some pretty crazy things happen to us. We have not been very good at doing our weekly service. In fact, we have only been once this transfer because of scheduling complications. We planned to go on Thursday, and then an investigator texted us and said that she could only meet with us Thursday afternoon at 2:00. So we cancelled service, and walked over to her home. On the way there, we met a man at a bus stop. We taught him the restoration, and gave him our card before he hopped on the bus. Afterwards a man Ethiopia ran across the street to talk to us. We taught him the restoration as well! He does not speak English super well, but he really wants to learn more about Jesus Christ and the restored gospel. SUPER cool :) All of this because we were walking to an appointment! Afterwards we met with our investigator and taught her about the Plan of Salvation. She said that it was very different than she had been taught, and that she would have to study it out and pray about it. She really enjoyed learning about it though, and wants to continue meeting with us. We will see her next Thursday afternoon! Later we went out joint teaching. We met a man who had met with missionaries in the past, and he was very open to being taught again. We scheduled another time to meet with him, because he had family over and didn't have a lot of time to meet with us. Before we went to bed, my companion and I discovered that we were in the same choir! We both went to Honor Choir at Albravanel Hall when Corey Mendenhall (my old choir teacher) was the conductor. Small world!

On Friday morning we went to the temple. Afterwards we did some weekly planning and scheduled out the next week! It makes planning a lot easier when you pretty well know that you will be staying together ;) In the evening we decided to go and stop by an investigator. We talked to him at his doorstep for a while and the conversation wasn't really going anywhere. All of the sudden his wife pulled into the driveway and joined in on our conversation. She told him that she had Sunday off work and that they were going to come to our Church. It was a miracle! No ifs, ands, or buts, they were coming to Church. We arranged to pick them up so that they would have some friends to walk into Church with.

On Saturday we met with our Jehovah's Witness friend. For our lesson we met at the Kingdom Hall with his wife. We discussed the Plan of Salvation, and it was probably the most frustrating lesson I have had on my entire mission. Regardless if we had a scripture that backed up what we said in the Bible, it didn't matter. They don't use the King James version of the Bible, and so all of their scriptures are different and contradict what our Bible says. He had looked up some anti on Wikipedia, and the lesson just didn't really go anywhere. I tried sharing a scripture that clarified what we were talking about in the Book of Mormon, but they weren't having it. Aye ya yi! Afterwards we went over to the Church and began filling the baptismal font for our investigator's baptism. We set up the Church and everything was prepped and ready to go :) I love organization, so organized events make me happy! The baptism went great, and Sister Clements even came! Afterwards we got a phone call from an investigator family, saying that they couldn't meet with us until 6. They were supposed to have come to the baptism. So at 6:00 PM we did a Church tour with them, and they loved it :) We committed them to come to Church, and then one of them announced that she just got a job at Sears, and that she had to work that Sunday. Frustration! We talked to her about asking for Sundays off, and joked that we would be praying for her to lose her new job ;) She didn't like that part too much haha! Needless to say, it was a pretty good day.

On Sunday we walked over to our investigator’s house and picked them up for Church. Their four-year-old son even came with them! We drove to Church, walked in, and sat down. I shuffled my stuff, and turned around and looked behind our row, and then had to do a double take. For two seconds it looked like someone that I knew back home was at Church with us! Wait, someone that I know WAS at Church with us! Ashlee, from Utah FCCLA was sitting on the back row with her grown up four-year-old daughter Elsie! Elsie was born when I was a state officer, so it was super weird to see how old she was now! Ashlee was in town visiting with her sister, and looked me up. Fun times :) After Church our investigators invited us over to their home for lunch. We went over and met their big extended family. Their extended family, however, was not super thrilled to meet us. They talked in Spanish the entire time, and didn't have a lot of nice things to say about us. Hopefully this won't cause any problems for our investigators! I think it was much less that we were Mormons, and more that we were white Americans, so that is good at least. Well... not good, but you know what I mean haha ;)

It has been a great week, and I am excited to see what is ahead this next transfer :) My birthday list is in the mail, and should arrive shortly. I know you have been anxiously awaiting it's arrival ;) Thank you all for your love and support! I am truly blessed to have so many supportive friends and family members while I am our here serving my mission. Have a great week!

Best Wishes,

Elder Kyle William Andrews