Devon - Week 49 - Temple

Went to the Temple today.

Last week we challenged Bree to read the Gospel of Jesus Christ and then teach it to us. Bree taught us the gospel of Jesus Christ better than any child I know.  It felt weird for someone else to teach the lesson especially an investigator.  Usually her Dad listens to the discussion but he was not there so we had to emergency call members to see if one could join us because we can’t teach if there is not a third male. Luckily a member joined us and it worked out. Jen the Mom listened in to the discussion :) (She is not a member) and she seemed interested.  Unfortunately the Mom could not listen to the whole discussion because of the baby, but the lesson went really well. 

Chester is an older man that is a real hoot.  He is a Baptist that gives everyone a hard time and one of his favorite lines is the true religion is Baptist because John was a Baptist.  He also like to call me Red Kentucky.  He is pretty lonely so he is cheered up when he sees us. We have started to read the Book of Mormon with him.  We go over and read a chapter and then we assign a chapter for him to read.  To our surprise he keeps every commitment we give him except for going to church. Slowly but surely Chester is reading the Book of Mormon one chapter at a time.  i have also noticed that he gets more excited to read and that he retains more and more each time he reads. I Love the power of the Book of Mormon on people.    

I went to a Baptism and a Weeding this week!  I got to witness my first wedding on my mission. I am glad that I got to work with them for a short time; even though I was not the main contributor to the baptism and the Wedding I am still glad that I could keep them progressing towards their goal.

Elder X got sick so we had a sick day.  The day went very slow for me and I had cabin fever.  But i will not forget what happened that day.  I saw a general conference DVD set and randomly pick a CD and went to a random talk.  I listen intently to the next three talks. I can’t express the exact feelings and troughs i had.  I was amassed by how direct those talks were to me.  I needed those talks and they strengthened my testimony of Modern day Prophets in which I am Grateful.

Week 48 - Bree

We Taught Bree the Plan of salvation.  It went very well.  She was confused about the three Kingdoms of Heaven so we went into further detail about it.  at the end of the Lesson I asked Bree if she would be Baptized and she excitedly said yes. Bree has a baptism date on June 27!!!

We are going to set up Family Home evening for the Castions. They have been struggling so much in family life and financial problems we know that a gospel center Family Home evening will bless there family in more ways than they can count. Plus the Members in our ward really want to help out as well.

We spent 5 hours moving a Mountain of dirt for a member. I was so exhausted at the end that I could barely hold on to the handle bars on my bike.  As we were heading to our next appointment they canceled so we headed home took a 20 min power nap woke up revived and worked the rest of the day.

Zone Conference focus on the Book of Mormon was inspired.  Most of the people that we are working with are struggling with reading or understanding the Book of Mormon. With this training we can help people find Christ within the Book of Mormon. 

Br. Hoyt is back from Alaska.  He has been gone for two weeks and because he has been gone we have struggled to teach Avery and the rest of the family.  The Hoyts are a Part member Family and Br Hoyt and one of his daughters are the only members in the Family. This last Friday we went over and had a great discussion.  Br. Hoyt told us that he saw a weeding while in Alaska.  He did not like it  when the pastor said "till Death due you part."  He wants to be with his family forever but he has little faith in the doctrine of sealing.  He asks us why would God give me this Family on Earth and take it away from me in the next life if his family did not get sealed. We understood where he was coming from and testified of the truth and told him to have Faith that it will all work out and that one day his Family could be sealed. We believe that some day that they will be sealed.  It looks like Br. Hoyt really wants the gospel in his family and has asked us to come over more. 

Devon - week 46

Star is a rural area with a bunch of farm Land.  The area's here are bigger but there are multiple areas in star.  There are two districts that cover the Star Stake.  Since the areas are bigger We bike everywhere which is taking time to get adjusted to.  On my first two days I had 5 flats!  The people in star are mostly nice county people but you have some mean people that will yell at you. HAIL SATAN and other chose words.  We keep the apartment maintained but we have not had a day where we can clean it all the way.  

What ward did we go to when we lived in Ohio?  Someone might know us.  I am surprise to find that there is people in Star that know about Kentucky.  I know that the Derby was last Saturday who won? Tell Robert good Luck on AP EURO test

We got a new solid investigator this week and we are teaching them today.  An 11 girl named Bee Nelson was invited to go to church and activity girls by her friend.  She went and loved it and her friend gave her a Book of Mormon.  The first time we meet she told us that she want to get Baptized and we found out that she has been reading the Book of Mormon 30 min a day.   She lives in a Part member family with her Dad being a inactive member and her Mom a Catholic so we thought that her Mom might stop her but both parents want her to find her own religion.  It sounds too good to be true.    I feel like God is guiding us people that are "kept back because they know not where to find it."   We are going to try and help her dad be worthy to baptize her which will be tough but anything is possible.  The other positive thing is that it will be a change from all the older people that we teach.  I forgot how much some people can talk for.  You have to interrupt them and tell them that you have to leave other-wise you could be trapped there for 2 or 3 hours.  We have been doing non-stop service since I got to star.  It is spring; clean-up time and everyone wants help from the missionaries.  If it keeps up this i will have done more service in this area than my previous ones.  I was blown away when I heard that Mother’s day was in a couple weeks it had slipped my mind that Mother’s day is in May It just felt like Mother’s day was month away.  I don't know where we are going to Skype - I will find out.