Best Exchange Ever!

We did awesome, as a district, in finding new investigators this week; we found nine all together!  We were able to find four down here in Floyd, and there's a cool story behind every single one of them,  including us teaching a Spanish man who didn't know a whole lot of English! (Let's just say my measly two yrs. of Spanish came back to bite me.) 

Mon. Apr. 20: We had another zone P-day filled with excitement! (driving mostly) 

Tue. Apr. 21:  We had District Meeting this morning.  My portion was on Teach, Testify, Invite, Promise, Follow Up.  We need to do every single one of those if we want to be the most effective teachers we can be! 

Then, afterwards, we went on exchanges.  Elder Degooyer came down to Floyd with me, and boy, did we have fun!

Elder Degooyer & I

It was probably the best exchange I've ever been on.  We found April and taught her the Restoration.

Then we taught Sister Briggs in the Swortzel's home.  She feels like she doesn't have a testimony of the Book of Mormon, so she's bought herself a student manual to better understand it! 

We had dinner, then tried a potential investigator named, Juan.  He spoke a lot less English than we thought, so I would be able to say a few things in Spanish, but what we ended up doing is I would say, "Juan, Leer" and then point to a box in the Spanish Restoration pamphlet.  He'd read it then we'd move on to the next one.  I bore my testimony of the Book of Mormon in English, then Elder Degooyer's prayer was priceless, "Dear Heavenly Father, Please bless Juan.  In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

Wed. Apr. 22:  I learned a lot from Elder Degooyer (like he was a little grossed out to be in a trailer with mice)...

{2nd mouse we got!  Thanks to mousetraps provided by my mom}

 ...and surprisingly, he learned a lot from me on our exchange. 

We had three appointments set up (member-present lessons at that). April wasn't there when we went back today with Bro. Banks. 

We went to go do service and a lesson with a potential. (that fell through because she wanted us to mow her lawn, but she didn't have a lawn mower. Hmmm.)  Our backup plan was going to try to see Nara, a potential.  Turns out the Lord wanted us there - we had a great lesson.  

Our appointment with Taylor w/ Bro. Brown also fell through. 

Thur. Apr. 23: We had interviews with President Salisbury - always a pleasure. 

We performed service for the Steen's and they fed us lunch. 

We also played basketball tonight, I played some good ball. 

Fri. Apr. 24:  We got three referrals today!  Two from the Fizer'sy, who we decided to meet with.  They pointed us to their unbaptized son, his fiance, and their 9 month-old baby girl.  She was adorable and they were such nice people.  We have a return appointment with them on Monday (April 27).

Sat. Apr. 25: We worked in town today - it was kinda raining all day, so not so many people out and about to talk to. :( 

We had a Bible study with Sam, Ricky, & Dustin.

Later that evening, we got in with Keith, a man we met while serving at Angels in the Attic.  We taught him the Restoration and he accepted to read the Book of Mormon.  We're going back Tuesday!  4th new investigator!

Sun. Apr. 26:  Today was Regional Conference/Stake Conference.  All the talks were great.  The Stake President addressed us over satellite, then it switched to the regional feed where Larry S. Kacher (I met him), Linda S. Reeves, Neil L. Andersen, and Robert D. Hales addressed us.  I found each one of these talks very appropriate for the people out here.  The Region involved in this conference was the North East Missions.  Elder Hales grew up in New York and he told us that since 80 yrs. ago, the North East Region has grown from 34 congregations to 1,300!  Incredible!  

Also, Jodie came with Katie and the girls! (Alec was working) :(

Well, got to go!  Love You All!

Love, Elder Brenchley