Hey Ya'll!
It's going great out here! This week was one where you just had to power through with you head down, until you started firing on all cylinders. That's what happened this week. We didn't see anything the first three days (Mon.-Wed.) No lessons, no nothing. But Thurs.-Sun., we finished strong and taught nine lessons, and six of them we got members to!
Sep. 7, Mon: P-Day/Labor Day
We played soccer with all the Elders in the district, plus a lot of Hispanic kids (some from the SVU soccer team). We played with Gabe and Luis Ramirez, who are Brother and Sister Ramirez's non-member sons, so we were able to introduce them to the YSA Elders.
Nothing much happened after that. We did go to contact an old potential investigator, and we ran into Sister Cook and her son Ian, who has Down Syndrome (he's so smart and spiritual). They kind of take care of this older lady named, Peggy, so we were able to talk to her about the Gospel, and Sister Cook asked Peggy if we could stop by. Peggy shrugged and said, “Sure.”
Sep. 8, Tues: Nothing much again. We did have district meeting.
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| Back Row (L to R): Elder French, Elder Kelly, Elder Tunnell, Elder Moser,
Me
Front Row (L to R): Elder Johnson, Elder Hugentobler, Elder Ostler, Sister
Kelly, Sister Ford |
We had this cool experience: we walked all the way to the outskirts of our area, and the people we tried weren't home. A man in a utility truck pulled up and started talking to us. He's from Covington,VA (which is in our zone) and has been married to a member for 10 years. He said "Oh, all I need to do is quite chewing, and I know I'm joining the church.” We asked how long it's been since the Elders have stopped by. He said it’s probably been about year and a half. We asked if we could send them over. He said, “Absolutely!” Funny how The Spirit prompted us to plan to walk all the way up there, and nothing happened, except then we met this man Shawn, who hadn't been on the missionaries radar for over a year!
Sep. 9, Wed: Happy 21st Anniversary MOM & DAD!
Straight zeros today.
We did finally get to meet the Garrett's (Misty and Brandon’s family). They are a great part-member family; Brandon (dad) is not a member, and two of the kids aren't either.
Sep. 10, Thurs: We taught Randy in the morning with Brother Forsberg. The Lesson was on Apostasy. We think Randy finally understands that there is only one true church.
We had Stake Correlation – that’s when the zone leaders, the Stake President, and the Mission President get together and have a meeting.
We taught Peggy Fitzgerald in Sister Cook's home. The lesson had so many tangents, that we only got to The Apostasy. Brother Alvstad came with us.
We also exchanged with the Lexington Elders. Elder Ostler came with me to Buena Vista, and Elder Johnson went with Elder Hugentobler (that's right I said, Hugentobler) to Lexington.
We taught Betty and Debbie, with Brother Turman, about following the Prophet. They are both excited for General Conference. Unfortunately, Betty has to stay at home until she gets permission from her doctor to leave. :( So, no coming to church for now.
Sep. 11, Fri: Today is 9/11 which also marks the 1 year mark I got to my first area.
Elder Ostler and I were driving and I saw Jordan Garrett out on his porch, and I felt we had to abandon all our other plans and go teach him. We pulled over and were able to talk with him, then his wife, Brittany, came out, and we were able to teach them the Restoration on the porch. We have a return appointment for Sunday.
Elder Ostler is from Los Angeles, and knows Spanish, so we tried every single Hispanic potential/less active/investigator we have in Buena Vista!
We ended up having a great lesson with Brother Ramirez.
We also helped the Congdon's move out - they gave us two referrals!
Sep. 12, Sat: The Lexington Sisters had an investigator who finally said, "Fill the Font!" about a week ago, so we were scrambling to get in contact with anyone we could get to go to the Baptism. No dice. :(
We were able to teach Peggy Fitzgerald the second half of The Restoration. She is convinced that she doesn't need to read the Book of Mormon more than once, but she reads the Bible everyday. So, we tried to help her connect the dots (they are both scripture!)
After contacting the Stoneman's (Congdon's referral), we had a lesson with Betty and Debbie on the Word of Wisdom. Betty is gladly willing to give up coffee, and Debbie is going to give up sweet tea. They are so prepared - they just need to be healthy!
Sep. 13, Sun: We had a lesson before church with Randy, and Brother Hardy came along. Randy would have come to church, but he was sick. (I'm surprised he didn't cancel our visit.) We taught him about why we need to be baptized, and how it is to be done. We tied it to the Sacrament, and how it doesn't make a difference if you are Baptized but never take the Sacrament.
Church was good.
We contacted another referral, the Jarrett's. They said they were interested, but not until January. Hmmh.
We had dinner with the Himes. Elder Johnson and I agreed, they’re probably the most sophisticated family we've ever been with and with the most sophisticated house we’ve been in.
We brought Sister Wheeler to Brittany and Jordan’s, since she lives two doors down, and is the new Activity Days leader, and Brittany & Jordan have an 8 yr. old daughter. They weren't home, though.
The last two people we contacted, in the last 30 minutes, both gave us their phone numbers and told us to text them!
Buena Vista Zone Update: we are doing awesome as a zone! We started the transfer with just six investigators with a Baptismal date, and we are now at 19. We hit a Buena Vista zone record last week with 153 total lessons taught! So, things are popping!
It's been a ride, and the transfer is almost over; this is week 6!
A challenge I'd extend this week would be to reach out to a friend. There's a great Mormon Message for youth ya'll should watch!
Keep me posted, everyone! I'm working hard out here! Thanks for all of your support!
Love, Elder Brenchley
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