This week we had the opportunity to do a lot of catching up
on service opportunities. I know we are supposed to have planned service
opportunities each week, but it seems like everyone’s needs all come at once,
and then we will have a couple of weeks each transfer where we get to do a lot
of service and then other times there will be weeks where nobody seems to need
(or want) our help. This week was one of those where we have been able to find
lots of opportunities to serve. The good news is that from what I've seen in
the past; in the weeks following weeks where we are able to serve lots
temporally, we are able to find lots of opportunities to serve spiritually as
well.
Last Sunday we got a call that a family in our Ward needed some help moving some furniture the next day. They had also enlisted the help of our Bishop and his oldest son, our High Priest Group Leader and another family in the Ward. We ended up having two trucks there and were able to get the things moved without taking too many trips. Which in turn saved time AND effort. We also used that opportunity to set up a time to visit with the Bishop and his family as neither Elder W nor I has gotten to know them very well in our time here. Bishops schedule was pretty open so we were able to meet with him and his family the next evening.
We were able to visit them Tuesday evening and did get to know them a lot better. It would seem that their trust in us has increased as well as the ended up giving us a couple of referrals, and we arranged to take their oldest son out with us to do some Missionary work later in the week. Speaking of member trust, we accidentally (or perhaps we were unknowingly guided by the spirit) tracted into a family in our Ward who told us that they had just been looking for our phone number so that they could call us and ask us to do them a favor, they needed us to fill the baptismal font for their eight year old sons baptism this next Friday (the 19th), they were also telling us about how the have invited a bunch of their nonmember friends to attend their sons Baptism by telling them about what a special day it is for him. We have been teaching their son for a while now and we have been meeting at his grandfather's (who is not a member) house and been trying to use that as an opportunity to involve the grandfather in the lessons as well. We talked to the family and they said it would be okay for us to invite the grandfather to officially take the lessons at their sons’ baptism.
Wednesday we had a wonderful District Meeting with Elder M who shared with us what he had learned from District Leader Council. Our afternoon was filled with personal finding, and in the evening we had dinner with a Part Member Family. The mom is a member and several of their sons have served missions, although the youngest son is lest-active. The father is the nonmember. I was able to meet him for the first time (Elder W has met him before), and he did seem to be pretty friendly and open. We hope to be working with him a lot more in the near future.
Thursday we did our Weekly Planning in the morning. In the early evening we helped our upstairs neighbors move, they are moving back to Washington, and so the upstairs is empty for now. We'll be sure to keep you posted if anything changes there. In the evening we once again had an opportunity to meet with R, our less active member with a sprouting testimony of Jesus Christ. It would seem that his testimony is strengthening slowly but surely. It’s awesome to see how much simply reading the Scriptures with him is having a profound effect on his spirit. As I believe I mentioned before (I can’t really remember if I did or not) we introduced him to his Home Teacher who is also planning on starting to visit and share messages with him as well. With both of us working on him (plus the spirit) there's practically no way his testimony can’t continue to grow stronger. He has yet to come to church in my time here but as his concerns continue to melt away the idea is becoming more and more of a possibility.
Friday afternoon and Saturday morning I was on exchanges with Elder G. Elder G is an awesome Missionary who is excited to serve, and his enthusiasm is contagious. We did a lot of Personal Finding and visited one Member family, we had planned on sharing the Restoration with them but after we started talking for a bit we decided to switch to a Scripture from the Book of Mormon. They have been going through a rough time in their life and have recently lost a lot of their earthy possessions, so we felt like the message we switched to was more fitting and helped them more. They gave us a referral to visit one of their neighbors who is already Christian and with whom they have had religious conversations before.
Sunday, after church, we took the Bishops son out with us to visit a potential we had stopped by earlier in the week. The potential had seemed interested in meeting earlier but when we went back he said that he didn't want to waste our time and wasn't really all that interested. We stopped by a few more people but weren't able to meet with them either, but I think it was still a good experience for the Bishops son and I think we will be taking him out with us again soon.
So far this week is looking a lot better than some of the past few. We have several more solid appointments set up already this week, and are planning on contacting as may potential investigators as possible and figuring out who’s really interested, so we can help them.
Last Sunday we got a call that a family in our Ward needed some help moving some furniture the next day. They had also enlisted the help of our Bishop and his oldest son, our High Priest Group Leader and another family in the Ward. We ended up having two trucks there and were able to get the things moved without taking too many trips. Which in turn saved time AND effort. We also used that opportunity to set up a time to visit with the Bishop and his family as neither Elder W nor I has gotten to know them very well in our time here. Bishops schedule was pretty open so we were able to meet with him and his family the next evening.
We were able to visit them Tuesday evening and did get to know them a lot better. It would seem that their trust in us has increased as well as the ended up giving us a couple of referrals, and we arranged to take their oldest son out with us to do some Missionary work later in the week. Speaking of member trust, we accidentally (or perhaps we were unknowingly guided by the spirit) tracted into a family in our Ward who told us that they had just been looking for our phone number so that they could call us and ask us to do them a favor, they needed us to fill the baptismal font for their eight year old sons baptism this next Friday (the 19th), they were also telling us about how the have invited a bunch of their nonmember friends to attend their sons Baptism by telling them about what a special day it is for him. We have been teaching their son for a while now and we have been meeting at his grandfather's (who is not a member) house and been trying to use that as an opportunity to involve the grandfather in the lessons as well. We talked to the family and they said it would be okay for us to invite the grandfather to officially take the lessons at their sons’ baptism.
Wednesday we had a wonderful District Meeting with Elder M who shared with us what he had learned from District Leader Council. Our afternoon was filled with personal finding, and in the evening we had dinner with a Part Member Family. The mom is a member and several of their sons have served missions, although the youngest son is lest-active. The father is the nonmember. I was able to meet him for the first time (Elder W has met him before), and he did seem to be pretty friendly and open. We hope to be working with him a lot more in the near future.
Thursday we did our Weekly Planning in the morning. In the early evening we helped our upstairs neighbors move, they are moving back to Washington, and so the upstairs is empty for now. We'll be sure to keep you posted if anything changes there. In the evening we once again had an opportunity to meet with R, our less active member with a sprouting testimony of Jesus Christ. It would seem that his testimony is strengthening slowly but surely. It’s awesome to see how much simply reading the Scriptures with him is having a profound effect on his spirit. As I believe I mentioned before (I can’t really remember if I did or not) we introduced him to his Home Teacher who is also planning on starting to visit and share messages with him as well. With both of us working on him (plus the spirit) there's practically no way his testimony can’t continue to grow stronger. He has yet to come to church in my time here but as his concerns continue to melt away the idea is becoming more and more of a possibility.
Friday afternoon and Saturday morning I was on exchanges with Elder G. Elder G is an awesome Missionary who is excited to serve, and his enthusiasm is contagious. We did a lot of Personal Finding and visited one Member family, we had planned on sharing the Restoration with them but after we started talking for a bit we decided to switch to a Scripture from the Book of Mormon. They have been going through a rough time in their life and have recently lost a lot of their earthy possessions, so we felt like the message we switched to was more fitting and helped them more. They gave us a referral to visit one of their neighbors who is already Christian and with whom they have had religious conversations before.
Sunday, after church, we took the Bishops son out with us to visit a potential we had stopped by earlier in the week. The potential had seemed interested in meeting earlier but when we went back he said that he didn't want to waste our time and wasn't really all that interested. We stopped by a few more people but weren't able to meet with them either, but I think it was still a good experience for the Bishops son and I think we will be taking him out with us again soon.
So far this week is looking a lot better than some of the past few. We have several more solid appointments set up already this week, and are planning on contacting as may potential investigators as possible and figuring out who’s really interested, so we can help them.
All my love, for all God’s Children.... but most especially
the ones reading this letter. ;)
Elder Thomson
Elder Thomson
No comments:
Post a Comment