A Couple of "NO-NO's" ;)

Hey Y'all! 

The first and biggest news I wanted to tell Ya'll is: 

I'M STAYING!  I really wasn't expecting it!   Beckley 2 area rocks!

What a great week!  We are really keeping the momentum rolling with the Lord's help!  Miracles happen!

Mon. Jan. 5:  We helped a Sister from the ward move in the morning.

Then we went to New River Gorge Bridge!  That's really the pride here in Southern West Virginia!
  We had dinner at Heller's and we gave The Iron Rod object lesson for Family Home Evening.

{Here is the Heller's son, Jakob, clinging to The Iron Rod!}

 

Michael Wood wasn't home for our appointment with him.

Tues. Jan. 6:  We taught three lessons today!  Mike Lilly in the morning, Dreama & Eric in the afternoon, then Margaret & Kristen early evening! 

{All us "young" people, L to R: Margaret, Kristen, Megan Young (our member sit in), Me, Elder Caldwell}

(Sad to see them return to college in Lynchburg - we'll get the missionaries down there teaching them!)

Wed. Jan. 7:  It snowed a lot! 

So, we had the great idea to walk to the library for mormon.org study. 

I didn't see the point, but now I know I can walk a mile in a blizzard! 

The rest of the day, we tried to stay out of the cold as much as we could.  We helped this one gentleman's car out of the snow - it wasn't budging.  After five minutes we found out what the problem was; this man had his car in neutral!  Ah well! 

After a long, cold day, the Young's had us over for chicken noodle soup on potatoes!  Yum!

Thur. Jan. 8:  We tracted in the same trailer park that Dreama & Eric live in.  We found four potential investigators and set up two appointments!  

Later, after two of our lessons fell through, we were doing some tracting and we got a call from Michael Wood.  It turns out he is in the hospital and that's why he missed our appointment Monday Night.  We went to the hospital to see him and he's doing a lot better.  AND since we last talked with him, he's read all the pamphlets Matt & and we have given him, 3 Nephi 11, & all the way up to 1 Nephi 16.  He's cruising through his readings in the Book of Mormon!  We taught how the Book of Mormon and the Bible work hand in hand.  He has so much faith and wants to do whatever it take to become fully converted!  We put him on date for baptism Mar. 21. (Matt will be able to baptize him when the time comes!)  He asked if we had a Bible (he didn't want the non-KJV Gideon Bible which was in his hospital room.)  We told him we had one out in the car, so he came out with us to the car without telling the front desk (even after the nurse told him he needed to!)  I think part of the reason he came out was he really wanted to take a smoke.  So, here we are taking a patient out of the hospital (That's a NO-NO!) so we can give him a Bible.....AND so he can take a smoke (Another NO-NO!)  That looked a little funny!

We also gave Matt & Rebecca a call to let them know about Michael Wood and they told us they were getting married Feb. 17!  WooHoo!

February 17th is also Rebecca's birthday.... so Matt only has to remember one date!  Smart man!  Haha.  Matt asked us to be the Best Men at his wedding, too!  That should be fun!

Fri. Jan. 9:  Today we had a wonderful district meeting.  We each gave a 5-minute presentation on a Christlike attribute.  Mine was on patience; I had a lot to say about being patient with investigators! But, also how having faith & hope will really help your patience grow. 

Then, as a district, we went to Lavash.  We've been there like three times in the last three weeks!  It's Mediterranean and they have shwarma and kefta kebob wraps.  The waiters and managers know us all by name now. 

We then began exchanges; Elder Carter and I took over Beaver.  We were thinking we were both going to be getting transferred, but we didn't let that get us down - even if two of our appointments cancelled as well!  (Everyone's sick it seems like). 

We went tracting in this back hollar that's right by the main road, but I've never seen before!  We ended up finding a man named, Carlos; he invited us right in and we delivered the message of the Restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon.  We committed him to read and he said we could come back!  We set up an appointment for next Friday.  

We visited with a former investigator named, Claude, and his daughter, Oletta (who's a professor of history).  We had a very interesting discussion; filled with Oletta actually defending our religion to her father, Claude, who has no understanding of a Prophet (especially one who did polygamy - it's always great when that card gets played against us!)  ;)  Oletta was really interested in our religion and accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon.

Sat. Jan. 10:  We noticed Claude's driveway had not been shoveled, so went there and shoveled his and the Graham's driveway.

Afterwards, we called Mike Lilly to confirm our appointment in the morning - he said he's no longer interested in the whole prophet and polygamy thing.  We tried to explain better over the phone, but it didn't change his mind much. :( 

Bro. Snuffer took us out to lunch in payment for us moving his safe.  Sitting down with Bro. Snuffer is payment enough!  Elder Carter got to hear Bro. Snuffer's stories for the first time. 

We switched companions back and knocked some doors of potential and former investigators the rest of the afternoon. 

Sister Jackson didn't have us come up for service because it was too cold (around 8 degrees), but she still had us for dinner, and Matt's lesson.  This week's lesson was the Word Of Wisdom - again, Matt ate it right up!  He's been trying to quit smoking since Thanksgiving, and has gone from two packs a day to half a pack a day.  This lesson really helped give him some extra motivation!  He's so awesome - love him!  Also, more great news!  Matt's daughter, Jasmine, wants to start taking the discussions, as well!

That night we were expecting the phone call from the zone leaders to tell us how many were leaving/transferring.  To our great surprise, they said we were both staying!  WooHoo!  I feel so blessed to be able to stay here!  Both Elder Caldwell and I have so much to be thankful for!

Sun. Jan. 11:  Today at church, only Matt came, and only one other investigator from the district came.  So, we went from eight last week to two!  Kind of a big drop, but it seems like the sick bug got all of our investigators!  Also, the Bishopric here in the Beckley ward got all switched up!  

After church, we taught some new investigators by the name of Kim & Rob Wood.  Kim was paying close attention, while Rob was in the next room watching the football game (I think Kim said Cowboys?)  We invited her to be baptized, but she wants some more time to think about it! 

Then, later that night, we met the sweetest couple in the world while tracting!  Debbie and Daniel Shuck. And ah, "Shucks!"  They are so awesome! :)  They've been married for 38 yrs.  Debbie is the talker and Daniel is the listener. Debbie dated a Mormon who's now in the MoTab, so she has a pretty good understanding of our beliefs.  We taught the Restoration and gave them a Book of Mormon.  We set up an appointment for next Sunday and they told us if we need anything to call them - they want to be our "surrogate parents."  Debbie asked us if she could give us a hug after the lesson, and we had to turn her down - we felt bad!  :(

Mon. Jan. 12:  The Beckley Elders upstairs were really sick and asked us to give them blessings. 

We had lunch at the McGrady's and taught Dreama & Eric.

Then, we had Bro. Doolittle and Sis. Heller to come with us to teach a potential investigator, but her husband wants to be there for the visits as well, so we couldn't teach right then.  So, we went and taught Tom Poe with all of them.  He felt real bad he missed church, but there was powerful testimony borne by Sister Heller and Bro. Doolittle.

We also taught Michael Wood and his wife, Sara, joined the lesson.  They are going through some tough financial times, and we'll see if the Church can do anything for them.  He's really solid!  In his own words.... "I have no doubts the Book of Mormon is true!"  He'll just need a lot of prayers and help to quit smoking! :)

Tues. Jan. 13:  We spent most of the day checking out former investigators; seeing if they are still interested. 

McGrady's joined us for a lesson with Sister Cline.  We haven't taught her in a while because she was up with her daughter for the holidays.  The lesson was long, but very good! 

Then the Shrader's fed us pizza and Sister Shrader wanted us to start teaching the girls again!  So, we helped them get the Gospel Library app on their iPads.

Well, that was a longer "week" than usual due to it being transfer week this week!  But, I am amazed time and time again how much this area has progressed!  We found four new investigators this past week!  It's been crazy awesome!  And I get to stay!

This church is true, the book is blue, (well most copies).  The Lord is truly working miracles, and I am a living witness of them!

Love You All!

-Love Elder Brenchley