The Perfect Sunday to have Investigators Come to Church

Hey Y'all!

It's transfer week again and Elder Maxfield is heading to Flatwoods, WV.  I am sad to see him go; he has been a great example to me of what a good, Christlike man we should all strive to be!

I am getting Elder Jolley as my new companion - he is coming from Fairmont, WV.  He just got done serving with Elder Braxton Johnson, my former comp in B.V. 

This week was full of so many great things.  We started off the week really rocky - barely teaching anybody, barely finding anyone, but we hit our stride about Thursday and finished strong!  I think we taught about 16 lessons and found 7 new investigators!  It's awesome!  We had two investigators come to church, as well; Myra and her sister, Roxanne! 

Well, I just realized I forgot my journal pages at home, so this might be a vague weekly update! 

Here's the week! 

Mon. Feb. 29:  Leap Day/P-Day.

Brother Winkler came to the church with all his camera equipment, and was taking pictures of us.  He had the flashing strobe lights and everything. 

We went and visited Sister Franklin, a less-active member who wants to return to activity.  She lives in such a bad part of town that they haven't ever assigned her Visiting Teachers.  It's been great to see the ward still reach out and try to find her a better place to live. 

We were able to meet with Patricia - she is the Jamaican lady.  She enjoyed The Restoration lesson, but had concerns about being baptized again.  You'd think after me hearing this one a million times, I'd have a "silver bullet" answer to this that just fixes their concern on the spot.  Not quite.  She will have to read from the Book of Mormon to understand Priesthood authority.

Tues. Mar. 1:  We taught Brother Gary Tourville - he finally gave us a hard commitment to come to church this Sunday!
Tonight we had dinner at the Cowling's.

Wed. Mar. 2:  We met with Brother Lloyd and talked about the Word of Wisdom.
Bishop Williams took all the missionaries out to dinner to Logan's Roadhouse.  It was a good opportunity to get to know Bishop Williams, and also get his insights on certain people we are working with in the ward, or ask him for assignments to go see people.
We had Missionary Coordination meeting.

Thur. Mar. 3:  We did our weekly planning.
We had Brother Richardson come with us to see Jasim, but he wasn't home, but we were able to go see "M" and she expressed she really wanted to come to church on Sunday!
We then had dinner with the Blevins' and Brother Jack Turner.

Jack Turner

Blevins'

The lesson was on the temple and the importance it has in our lives.  All three of them have not been to the temple yet, and we really want to help them go.  Jack is thinking he'll go when he goes up to Baltimore for opening day for the Baltimore Orioles - then can go to D.C., as well.
We had planned to go to a Baptism of an 8 yr. old tonight, but then we decided not to because we didn't have an investigator or a less-active coming.  We were blessed for our diligence!  We were able to meet a cool guy named, Brad and get a return appointment.
Then we tried an old potential investigator named, Lori.  After a life-changing event, she has been really humbled and wants to do anything she can to come closer to God.  We were able to teach her right there on the doorstep; she was eager to receive a Book of Mormon.
Then we were able to teach the Adam family (at least half of them), Endesiar and Mohomoud.  We gave them an Arabic Book of Mormon and read the introduction with them.  They stated, "We are Muslim. But this...We are curious."

Fri. Mar. 4:  We had a wonderful zone meeting.

{Elder Caldwell, Elder Esplin (the other Esplin's younger brother), and Me}

 

We got a call from President letting Elder Maxfield know that he would be leaving, and called him as a District Leader.  I'm pumped for Elder Maxfield!  President also told me a little bit about my new companion without giving anything away.  He also released me as District Leader.
We were able to have Brother Huffman come with us to see Patricia.  Her son, Kidane, was there and he was really involved in the lesson.
We had a lesson in the Laymon's home for Johnathan and Courtney.  The Laymon's did a great job at fellowshipping, but Courtney and Johnathan aren't progressing.  Hopefully something will click for them. 

Sat. Mar. 5:  We exchanged with the Salem 2 Elders; Elder Kelly came with me to Roanoke and Elder Maxfield went with Elder Rose to Salem.
We had the Cowling's come with us to see Myra.  We made a plan to have the Cowling's give her a ride to church the next day.  Myra's sister, Roxanne, was there and we invited her to sit in on the lesson.  The lesson was great; we read from 2 Nephi 31.  They both said they would come to church tomorrow.
We had a lesson with Brother Gary Tourville - he's set to come to church tomorrow.  Bummer though, he got rid of all his birds (6).  I got attached to those birds!
We had a quick lesson with the Wohlford couple.
Brian had to cancel our appointment with him. 

Sun. Mar. 6:  Church was great!  Gary came!
Myra and Roxanne came, as well! (2 investigators at church)  They both came!  It had to be the best church experience I have ever seen two non-members have.  They arrived early and sat with the members who drove them.  By coming early, they were able to be introduced to a lot of members.  It was a spiritual Fast and Testimony meeting.  Their cousin, who's a member, showed up and gave them the biggest hug, and escorted them to all their classes.  They participated in Gospel Principles class.  At the end of church, we set up a return appointment and they gladly told us, We will be back to church next week!  Later we heard how much they enjoyed Relief Society and Myra stood up in Relief Society and expressed to the sisters, This is the most love I have ever felt in any church.  The power of church is remarkable!
We were also able to see Shawn and Nicole.  Shawn is a less-active member and his girlfriend, Nicole (investigator), is very interested in starting the journey of becoming an eternal family!  They have the cutest 1 yr. old daughter.
Also, we were able to get in with Brother Henegar, and he committed to come to Salem ward since he says he can't wake up for 9:00 a.m. church, but thinks he would do better at 11:30 a.m. church.
With the Gasore family, we had them read scriptures from the French Book of Mormon and the Kirundi Bible.  I ordered some Swahili Book of Mormons for them, too.

The Scripture I want to share this week is D&C 31:11

11 Go your way whithersoever I will, and it shall be given you by the Comforter what you shall do and whither you shall go.

We were so blessed to follow the Spirit; to help us find new investigators as well as families to teach, and what to teach them.  As we live worthy of The Spirit (also called the Comforter) to guide us in our lives, we will be given WHAT we should do and WHERE we shall go!  I so testify of this.  It was amazing to see this past week!  I love Missionary Work, but I wouldn't love it if I didn't do it by the Spirit!  I invite y'all to look to have the Spirit with you more, to pray for it more, to search in the scriptures how you can obtain more guidance from the Spirit.  The Spirit is truly wonderful! 

Love You All! 

Love, Elder Brenchley