Monday, November 25, 2013
Hello Everyone,
This week has been different, but good. At first nothing whatsoever was happening. We did a whole bunch of tracting, and still... nothing. Tracting (knocking doors) is about the least effective thing you can possibly do while on your mission, but the MMM is a tracting mission. When we do not have investigators to teach, we more often than not will be out tracting. President Clements has told us that this will continue until the members begin to do missionary work themselves. Hopefully that will happen sooner rather than later ;) One night after I was fed up with tracting, we decided to stop by some former investigators. We stopped by a woman that the sister missionaries in this area found a while back. She invited us into her *warm home, and we were able to talk with her briefly about the Book of Mormon! It was definitely an answer to a prayer, because I was SO done with tracting in the cold haha.
Last Sunday we received a referral from the Bishop. A man from Utah called him and told him that his daughter lived in this area, and that she was going through a really tough time. She was going through a divorce, and friends and family members were turning on them after years of friendship. To make matters worse, her daughter who is in high school was beginning to be cyber-bullied, and was suffering from depression. A few days ago we were able to stop by their home. We talked with them for a while and got to know them better, all the while I felt something special while we were talking with them. We talked about prayer, and later offered to give them a blessing. The daughter asked for a blessing as well. We were able to give them blessings of peace and comfort, and she mentioned that she felt the spirit throughout her blessing, and explained it as "getting the chills through her body". I was amazed! As we talked a little bit longer, I was struck by the spirit. I realized as I was talking with them about my own experiences that I had been prepared from the beginning to teach them. I have been wondering for a while now why I needed to serve in this area of Minnesota, and this was it. It was an amazing feeling, and I am SO excited to be able to visit with them in the future!
A few days ago in my morning studies I came across a quote that I really liked. "A candle that lights another loses no light itself." - Anonymous. It reminded me of a training I received from BYU Athletic Director Tom Holmoe in my student leadership class at BYU. He talked to us about being "fire-lighters". We need to be the kind of people that share our light with others, and light others fires. Like that quote says, as we share our light, we do not lose any light ourselves. If anything, we gain light from sharing it with others! I hope that one day I will be able to be a successful "fire-lighter".
So, awkward story time! A few days ago we were stopping by a less-active member, and we tracted his neighborhood afterwards. I had to grab an extra coat and gloves and everything from the car before we went tracting though, so I grabbed all my stuff and got ready to head out for the next hour. It was ABSOLUTELY freezing, like 15 degrees with a whole bunch of wind. In Minnesota they have this weird thing called wind chill that makes it WAY colder than the thermometer says, not cool. Anyways, so we went out and did our thing until it was about time to head off to our dinner appointment. As we approached the car, I felt around in my pocket for the car keys. You guessed it, they were in the car! Actually, they were in the back seat of the car. They fell out of my pocket as I leaned over grabbing all of my stuff. We called the mission office, who told us to call a locksmith, so I called 411 for an emergency locksmith and I waited on the phone for like 30 minutes for the man to say that the nearest one was 2 hours away. By this time I just gave up momentarily, mostly because my whole body was frozen, and had to make the call of shame. We had to call the member who we were having dinner with, the Hogan's, and ask him to pick us up because I locked the keys in the car. On the ride over to his house, we found someone to come unlock the car after dinner, and all was well. They broke into our car in about 10 seconds, and we were on our way!
Our meal calendar in this area is absolutely insane! Basically every night we are fed by a different member family. It is awesome! In my last couple areas we were generally fed 2 sometimes 3 times a week, so this is a major upgrade. A couple days ago we were eating with a family who moved from Utah a little while back, so we talked about Utah for a while. I asked them where they moved from, and they told me that they moved from Saratoga Springs, Utah. I told them that I had a friend from there. Turns out my friend and her family were in their stake, small world! This man is a CES coordinator here, and teaches institute at the University of Minnesota, which is what caused the move out here to bitterly cold Minnesota.
On Sunday in my studies I came across D&C 64:33 in the handbook to overcoming addictions from LDS Family Services. Kind of a long story, but I was reading it because EVERYONE in this mission either smokes or drinks or does some kind of drug. Anyways, It talks about how great progress comes from little steps. That really rang true to me as I thought about my mission thus far. It feels like progress is coming EXTREMELY slow, mostly because I am impatient, but I remembered that from these little steps "[my] missionary experiences will build a solid foundation for the rest of [my] life." My patriarchal blessing has said this the whole time, but I never quite got it. I still probably don't completely get it, but I am making progress haha ;) Patience is a virtue... I just sometimes want to give up and scream "I DON'T HAVE ANY VIRTUE!" But that would be bad.
A few days back we stopped by a family whose records were just transferred over to the ward. As we stopped by, we found out that only two members of the family are members of the church. A 16 year old, and a 14 year old. The 16 year old boys friend in Alabama invited him to church, and he eventually converted. His little sister became interested later, and she converted as well! No one else in their family is a member, so I was absolutely stunned at how their situation has all worked out. We met with the two members, and eventually their Mom came in to listen. She said that she really didn't know anything about Mormons, and that she wanted to at least know what her daughter believed. Her daughter (the 14 year old) then proceeded to begin teaching the first lesson. WOW! We were able to teach about the Restoration, and invite the Mom who is "Catholic, but first and foremost a Christian" to church. She readily accepted, and is excited to continue learning about her daughters church. She so far has said that everything makes perfect sense! Unfortunately they were sick on Sunday, but next week they will all be attending.
Sunday was interesting. Sacrament meeting was nice, but Sunday school was absolutely awful! There was some contention. It was not good, and the spirit certainly was not there. I think Heavenly Father was secretly blessing us this week by not having any investigators come to church. Hopefully this will only be a one time occurrence!
Today we have an hour to email, but our P-Day is officially on Thanksgiving, which will be awesome! We will be spending Thanksgiving with two different members of the Ward, possibly three if time permits. It will be interesting to see how it all works out :) Luckily we will not be tracting on Thanksgiving though!
Thank you all so much for your love and support. I am so thankful for you all, and for everything you do for me! I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday :) Have a great week!
Best Wishes,
Elder Kyle William Andrews
Showing posts with label Tracting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tracting. Show all posts
Monday, November 25, 2013
Monday, September 30, 2013
Receive No Witness Until After The Trial Of Your Faith
September 30, 2013
Hello Everyone,
This week has been one of many highs and lows, but I made it through alive! I realized the other day the importance of being a leader, not a follower. When I get lazy and unmotivated sometimes, I tend to coast and just follow after others. We cannot coast, we must "keep moving forward" like Walt Disney once said. I was reading over my patriarchal blessing, and it talks about how I will lead others down paths of righteousness. I cannot do that by merely following others, it will not work.
I have been praying recently for an opportunity to meet and teach a family. The other day we were tracting during painfully unproductive hours 7-9:00 PM, and we stopped and prayed for guidance. As we prayed, we saw a family moving in to the home across the street from us. We went over and offered to help them move in, and they accepted! We weren't able to share a message with them that evening, but we offered to come back the next day to continue to help them move in, and we set up an appointment.
I went on a last minute exchange with an elder after district meeting on Wednesday. After we arrived in Sparta, we went out tracting on a predetermined street. It wasn't going very well, and we were approaching another street. I decided that we were going to keep tracting this street, and that we wouldn't go down the other street. As we got closer, I realized there was only one house on that street. Finally, for whatever reason, I got over myself, and we went and knocked on the door of the one house on the street. A teen answered and we were able to visit with him and teach him! I didn't realize at the time that I was being tested whether or not I was going to go down the street, but we did and we were blessed! Later we were able to visit with the family that we helped move the night before, and we continued to help them move in. After we were done moving, we shared a quick message with them. It was great! Hopefully they will begin to show interest in our religion, but if not, maybe their hearts will be open sometime in the future because of our work with them.
We have been able to do a lot of service this week. We set up a hospital bed in a members home, mowed a lawn of a disabled member, and pulled weeds in our apartment complex for a potential investigator. Even though we often aren't able to teach during these service opportunities, we are able to help make a difference in others lives. When we were pulling weeds with the potential investigator, we were led eventually to a really great discussion about God and religion. It helped too that at the time, a different religious group were out tracting our apartment complex ;) Afterwards she fed us, and gave us Diet Coke. SO GOOD! Hopefully we will be able to continue to visit with and teach her.
This week our 10-year-old baptismal candidate and his father cancelled their appointment again. We are still holding out for October 20th, but we will have to wait and see. We did however get the opportunity to visit with our spanish speaking investigator. We have been trying to get in contact with her for a while now, with no success, so this was a great moment! We had a very quick visit, but we were able to reestablish contact.
Today we received our transfer emails, and my companion and I will no longer be serving together in Sparta, Wisconsin. I will be staying here in Sparta. I am very saddened, but I knew that it was going to happen eventually. I am sure that things will work out great with my new companion but I am scared out of my mind! Change and starting over is always scary and stressful. I know that this is what needs to happen though, for whatever reason.
Thank you all so much for your love and support. I love hearing from all of you, and what is going on back home! I hope you are all doing well, and that this will be a great week for us all. Talk to you next week, I love and miss you all!
Best Wishes,
Elder Kyle William Andrews
Hello Everyone,
This week has been one of many highs and lows, but I made it through alive! I realized the other day the importance of being a leader, not a follower. When I get lazy and unmotivated sometimes, I tend to coast and just follow after others. We cannot coast, we must "keep moving forward" like Walt Disney once said. I was reading over my patriarchal blessing, and it talks about how I will lead others down paths of righteousness. I cannot do that by merely following others, it will not work.
I have been praying recently for an opportunity to meet and teach a family. The other day we were tracting during painfully unproductive hours 7-9:00 PM, and we stopped and prayed for guidance. As we prayed, we saw a family moving in to the home across the street from us. We went over and offered to help them move in, and they accepted! We weren't able to share a message with them that evening, but we offered to come back the next day to continue to help them move in, and we set up an appointment.
I went on a last minute exchange with an elder after district meeting on Wednesday. After we arrived in Sparta, we went out tracting on a predetermined street. It wasn't going very well, and we were approaching another street. I decided that we were going to keep tracting this street, and that we wouldn't go down the other street. As we got closer, I realized there was only one house on that street. Finally, for whatever reason, I got over myself, and we went and knocked on the door of the one house on the street. A teen answered and we were able to visit with him and teach him! I didn't realize at the time that I was being tested whether or not I was going to go down the street, but we did and we were blessed! Later we were able to visit with the family that we helped move the night before, and we continued to help them move in. After we were done moving, we shared a quick message with them. It was great! Hopefully they will begin to show interest in our religion, but if not, maybe their hearts will be open sometime in the future because of our work with them.
We have been able to do a lot of service this week. We set up a hospital bed in a members home, mowed a lawn of a disabled member, and pulled weeds in our apartment complex for a potential investigator. Even though we often aren't able to teach during these service opportunities, we are able to help make a difference in others lives. When we were pulling weeds with the potential investigator, we were led eventually to a really great discussion about God and religion. It helped too that at the time, a different religious group were out tracting our apartment complex ;) Afterwards she fed us, and gave us Diet Coke. SO GOOD! Hopefully we will be able to continue to visit with and teach her.
This week our 10-year-old baptismal candidate and his father cancelled their appointment again. We are still holding out for October 20th, but we will have to wait and see. We did however get the opportunity to visit with our spanish speaking investigator. We have been trying to get in contact with her for a while now, with no success, so this was a great moment! We had a very quick visit, but we were able to reestablish contact.
Today we received our transfer emails, and my companion and I will no longer be serving together in Sparta, Wisconsin. I will be staying here in Sparta. I am very saddened, but I knew that it was going to happen eventually. I am sure that things will work out great with my new companion but I am scared out of my mind! Change and starting over is always scary and stressful. I know that this is what needs to happen though, for whatever reason.
Thank you all so much for your love and support. I love hearing from all of you, and what is going on back home! I hope you are all doing well, and that this will be a great week for us all. Talk to you next week, I love and miss you all!
Best Wishes,
Elder Kyle William Andrews
Monday, August 5, 2013
A Baptism!
August 5, 2013
Hello Everyone,
This week has been absolute madness, but all is well! On Monday I was in Rochester, Minnesota and went on exchange with one of our zone leaders. We had a really great time together, and had the opportunity to a Somalian man from the Noobian tribe (not sure how to spell that.) It was amazing being able to teach him, and to get to know more about him and his family. They are so very accepting to the gospel, something that Americans are not always the best at. They were incredibly humble, and prepared by the Lord. Apparently the Minnesota Minneapolis Mission (MMM) is one of the most diverse missions, but I haven't been able to serve in any of those areas just yet. La Crosse and Sparta are mainly made up of Caucasians (yep... trying not to sound like a racist here haha!)
The next day my companion and all of the missionaries with leadership positions went to Mission Leadership Conference in Oakdale, Minnesota. They were able to go to the temple with President and Sister Clements! Maybe one day I will be able to do the same. As for me, I went on exchange with an elder. His companion is a district leader as well. We spent the day in Rochester, Minnesota. It was an interesting experience. I had a great time on exchange. Afterwards, we spent the night with the zone leaders, and drove back to Sparta in the morning.
On Thursday I went on exchange with an elder from Utah after district meeting. We had some really cool experiences tracting oddly enough! We went to Riverside Park in South La Crosse, and met a man. He was sitting on a bench by himself, so we asked if we could come sit by him. We talked for a bit, and he completely opened up to us, and talked about his past. He told us that he isn't a social person at all, but for whatever reason felt like he needed to share this with us. We talked to him about how the gospel blesses individuals and families and taught him the restoration. It was a really cool experience! Maybe one day he might even get baptized ;) We also met a girl with bright blue colored hair. She said that she had seen the Book of Mormon Musical in NYC, and that she had always wanted to meet missionaries! We gave her the actual Book of Mormon, and talked to her for a while. It just goes to show that some not so good publicity can turn out to be good publicity! After the exchange, my companion and I went back to Sparta, Wisconsin. We then got a call from South La Crosse informing us that we had their keys, and they had my suitcase. Some things will never change ;) At least I have never locked the keys in our car though!
The other day we did service for a disabled woman in the branch. During a wind storm, her tree was blown apart, and a big portion broke off and fell to the ground. We borrowed some tools, and helped her out. I have never used an axe or a hatchet in my life, so this was an experience for sure! I was terrible at chopping the tree, so eventually I was on saw duty haha! Pretty much our hands are destroyed, but we got everything taken care of. Our blisters will be a reminder throughout the week to give service to others!
Yesterday, Fast Sunday was pretty remarkable! Our investigator was baptized after church, and everything worked out really well. I almost said it worked out perfectly, but there were a few funny moments to remember ;) First of all, in order to have a baptism, you must fill up the baptismal font with water. Yep, we forgot! It filled up right in time though, and the baptism wasn't postponed. Also, the plumbing in the building is made of copper. You must run the water for a few minutes before filling up the baptismal font, otherwise the water will be green. Yep, we had a green baptism! All in all, it was amazing though, definitely a day to remember! Our investigator even made brownies, which was kind of funny as well. We might need to cover the law of the fast lesson with her again in the future ;) Next week in church she will be confirmed, and will officially become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!
My companion and I have had some really great experiences this week! We had a companionship inventory session, where we just talked about ourselves and our lives, and how we got to where we are today. It was awesome, and we became a lot closer because of it. My companion is like my best friend, it is the best! I hope that all of my companionships are able to be this close. We work long and hard together, and have a great time together doing it. He is the best!
Because we are not close enough to the cities in Minnesota, next week we have our own zone activity planned instead of going to a Minnesota Twins game with the mission! You might not have known, but in Austin, Minnesota there is a Spam Factory. Sick! For our zone activity, we will be touring the factory and doing other fun things together as the Rochester zone!
This week has been amazing though, and has flown by SO quickly! I can't believe that we are already on week 4/6 in this transfer. Hopefully I will be able to stay in Sparta, Wisconsin with my companion this next transfer, but we will have to just wait and see. I love and miss you all, and hope you have a great week!
Best Wishes,
Elder Kyle William Andrews
Hello Everyone,
This week has been absolute madness, but all is well! On Monday I was in Rochester, Minnesota and went on exchange with one of our zone leaders. We had a really great time together, and had the opportunity to a Somalian man from the Noobian tribe (not sure how to spell that.) It was amazing being able to teach him, and to get to know more about him and his family. They are so very accepting to the gospel, something that Americans are not always the best at. They were incredibly humble, and prepared by the Lord. Apparently the Minnesota Minneapolis Mission (MMM) is one of the most diverse missions, but I haven't been able to serve in any of those areas just yet. La Crosse and Sparta are mainly made up of Caucasians (yep... trying not to sound like a racist here haha!)
The next day my companion and all of the missionaries with leadership positions went to Mission Leadership Conference in Oakdale, Minnesota. They were able to go to the temple with President and Sister Clements! Maybe one day I will be able to do the same. As for me, I went on exchange with an elder. His companion is a district leader as well. We spent the day in Rochester, Minnesota. It was an interesting experience. I had a great time on exchange. Afterwards, we spent the night with the zone leaders, and drove back to Sparta in the morning.
On Thursday I went on exchange with an elder from Utah after district meeting. We had some really cool experiences tracting oddly enough! We went to Riverside Park in South La Crosse, and met a man. He was sitting on a bench by himself, so we asked if we could come sit by him. We talked for a bit, and he completely opened up to us, and talked about his past. He told us that he isn't a social person at all, but for whatever reason felt like he needed to share this with us. We talked to him about how the gospel blesses individuals and families and taught him the restoration. It was a really cool experience! Maybe one day he might even get baptized ;) We also met a girl with bright blue colored hair. She said that she had seen the Book of Mormon Musical in NYC, and that she had always wanted to meet missionaries! We gave her the actual Book of Mormon, and talked to her for a while. It just goes to show that some not so good publicity can turn out to be good publicity! After the exchange, my companion and I went back to Sparta, Wisconsin. We then got a call from South La Crosse informing us that we had their keys, and they had my suitcase. Some things will never change ;) At least I have never locked the keys in our car though!
The other day we did service for a disabled woman in the branch. During a wind storm, her tree was blown apart, and a big portion broke off and fell to the ground. We borrowed some tools, and helped her out. I have never used an axe or a hatchet in my life, so this was an experience for sure! I was terrible at chopping the tree, so eventually I was on saw duty haha! Pretty much our hands are destroyed, but we got everything taken care of. Our blisters will be a reminder throughout the week to give service to others!
Yesterday, Fast Sunday was pretty remarkable! Our investigator was baptized after church, and everything worked out really well. I almost said it worked out perfectly, but there were a few funny moments to remember ;) First of all, in order to have a baptism, you must fill up the baptismal font with water. Yep, we forgot! It filled up right in time though, and the baptism wasn't postponed. Also, the plumbing in the building is made of copper. You must run the water for a few minutes before filling up the baptismal font, otherwise the water will be green. Yep, we had a green baptism! All in all, it was amazing though, definitely a day to remember! Our investigator even made brownies, which was kind of funny as well. We might need to cover the law of the fast lesson with her again in the future ;) Next week in church she will be confirmed, and will officially become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!
My companion and I have had some really great experiences this week! We had a companionship inventory session, where we just talked about ourselves and our lives, and how we got to where we are today. It was awesome, and we became a lot closer because of it. My companion is like my best friend, it is the best! I hope that all of my companionships are able to be this close. We work long and hard together, and have a great time together doing it. He is the best!
Because we are not close enough to the cities in Minnesota, next week we have our own zone activity planned instead of going to a Minnesota Twins game with the mission! You might not have known, but in Austin, Minnesota there is a Spam Factory. Sick! For our zone activity, we will be touring the factory and doing other fun things together as the Rochester zone!
This week has been amazing though, and has flown by SO quickly! I can't believe that we are already on week 4/6 in this transfer. Hopefully I will be able to stay in Sparta, Wisconsin with my companion this next transfer, but we will have to just wait and see. I love and miss you all, and hope you have a great week!
Best Wishes,
Elder Kyle William Andrews
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