The Best Is Yet To Come

Hello Everyone,
It has been another great week in Minnesota, with a few unexpected surprises! On Monday, Conge Civique (CAN), we had our P-Day. Nothing super out of the ordinary happened, but it was a pretty good P-Day. In the evening we went joint teaching. We had a lesson with an investigator, and to our surprise the Sisters were at their home when we arrived. It was kind of an awkward experience, but we all taught a restoration lesson together. Apparently they have been teaching two of the wife’s God-Daughters, and so we had both scheduled our lessons at the same time. It was a really good lesson though :) Afterwards we went over and met with another investigator. We have been trying to get a hold of her husband for a while now. She informed us that his work schedule had changed and that he was rarely home. Kind of sad that he is never home because he has a cleaning business in the morning, and he works at a factory in the evening with no days off. She said that the only time they really see each other is when the other person is sleeping. She mentioned, however, that they might be moving to St. Paul sometime soon so we will have to see what happens.

On Tuesday we had District Meeting and afterwards we went on exchange. I was with an Elder from Orem, Utah. It was a really great experience, but for some reason my throat was giving me problems. I didn't mention anything though, and just kept on chugging along. We had a great lesson with a new member, and watched Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration with him. He mentioned that he learned a lot about the life of Joseph Smith and the trials he faced as he attempted to restore the Church. Afterwards we were going to go contact a mormon.org referral that we received, but I felt distinctly prompted to stop by a man that lives near the member. We rode over to his home, and found him doing some work in the backyard. We taught him the restoration, and he agreed to be baptized on August 30th! He told us that he has been really struggling with his current situation. He is unemployed, and rents the upstairs from his daughter. He said that his self-confidence was really struggling and that he was looking for something that could help him. We talked to him about how the gospel can help us, and we connected him with our ward employment specialist. He agreed to come to Church on Sunday, and told us that he wants his daughter to start taking the lessons and coming to Church with him as well. In the evening we went out with a member and helped a family move. They are moving to Bloomington, Indiana for business school. The father is going to get his MBA. It was one of the first organized and orderly moves on my mission! It was great :)

On Wednesday my throat was REALLY bothering me, but luckily I had a check-up with a Dr. at the clinic anyways so it all came together perfectly. They checked me for strep throat, and said that they would get back to me. They had to send the swab to a lab, because they are just a clinic. He said my throat looked pretty bad though. Afterwards we exchanged back and had accountability. In the afternoon we had a lesson with a friend of a member that we have been working with in the ward. We had a super great lesson with her, and she committed to be baptized! She is going out of town for the next few weeks though, so it will be a while before we can see her again. In the evening we went out with a joint teach and met with some new members. It is so crazy to me that they are leaving! I am so used to being the one that leaves, so it was weird having to say goodbye but on the flip side. Afterwards we went over to an investigator family, and watched Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration with them as well. It was a really great experience, and then afterwards we pretty boldly told them that if Joseph Smith went through all of that to restore the Church, they should probably try and come to the Church that he worked so hard to restore! The result was good though, they completely agreed and said that they hadn't even really been trying to get to Church. Ahhh... 9:00 Church problems! I feel like 9:00 Church should probably be banned, but that's just me :) We stopped by the pharmacy on the way home to pick up my long overdue prescription, and they told me that they didn't have it. WHAT?!?!? My throat was killing at this point, so I was super thrilled to find out that they didn't have my pills!

On Thursday my thoughts were confirmed. They called and told me that I have strep throat. I told them that I still did not have my prescription, and they told me that they had misplaced the prescription order. How do you lose a prescription! I just wanted relief, but soon enough I was able to get my pills at Walgreen's :) At least I was able to get a prescription and start the road to recovery! We weren't able to go out for the day, so we did a lot of studying. In fact, I finished the Doctrine and Covenants and started the Pearl of Great Price on Wednesday. In the evening I asked a member if he could come give me a blessing, and it seriously was exactly what I needed! He told me that "God is mindful of you" and that he knows my struggles at this time and that he is there helping me along. I only remember that one part in particular, but I just remember that it really hit me and helped me. Kind of an interesting day, but it all worked out :)

On Friday we had Weekly Planning and we did some Area Book Work. We reviewed a lot of the training Preach My Gospel videos that they give us, and learned how to more effectively Weekly Plan, and do Area Book work. It was great! In the evening we had a ward picnic and some investigators came! It was super great, AND I was feeling a lot better which was awesome :) It was kind of a slow two days, but at least I was able to start going back to work again.

On Saturday we had a lesson with a woman and her significant other. We had a lesson with them about the Plan of Salvation. She was really accepting of our teachings, but he was not having it. He acknowledged that a higher power does have a plan for us though, so that was a start! She agreed to come to Church with us on Sunday, and he said that he would come eventually, but not this week. Then the seat on my bike broke. Well, it didn't really break, a bolt came loose so the seat was falling off. We don't really have any shopping centers in our area so we checked a few gas stations and nearby stores, but no one had any tools that would fix it. So... we walked. Later in the afternoon we had a lesson with a less-active member, on Lehi's dream and the tree of life. I shared a quote by Elder Holland titled "The Best Is Yet To Come", and we encouraged him to come to Church with us on Sunday. He said that he would surprise us one of the weeks and show up! He likes to do things his own way, which is always eventful ;) We finished off the evening with a lesson a less active member. We watched a movie called "Between Heaven and Earth" that was all focused on the temple. It was a super great video, and we were able to encourage him to return to the temple often.

Sunday was awesome! The woman and her significant other both came to Church, and we had a really great Sacrament Meeting! After Church we had correlation and our weekly meeting with Bishop. In the evening we went out joint teaching. We went around contacting a bunch of different mormon.org referrals that we had received this week, but none of them were really panning out the way we had hoped. Some were false addresses, some just wanted a free Bible and had no intentions of meeting with us, and some were not home. We did, however, have a great lesson with an investigator! We talked with her about serving others and doing missionary work. She is excited to work with her friends and family members, and to help them to feel God's love.

Overall it was a really great week! In the meantime, my companion cracked his tooth, so we will have to get that fixed up sometime this week. Today we have a District P-Day though! We are going to Stone Arch Bridge and the General Mills, Mill City Museum in Minneapolis! Should be a pretty exciting day :) Thank you all so much for all of your love and support and for everything you do for me! Talk to you soon.

Best Wishes,
Elder Kyle William Andrews