This past week was awesome! We literally had
every hour full of appointments until this last Friday Evening. We had
exchanges Tuesday and Thursday
and lots of people to visit through the other times. We did have some
cancel and stuff but it was a really great week. Exchanges were pretty
good. I went on Tuesday with Elder Dobosz, he is a Spanish Elder. It was
pretty fun to teach a Spanish investigator. I just sat there and smiled
while he taught. It was a rainy day but besides that it was awesome. We
got to teach this one lady that was really awesome. We taught her about
the Restoration, at the end of the lesson she pointed at me and said
"you are good at what you do, I bet they pay you a lot." I chuckled some
and told her, "We don't get paid for being out here. In fact, I even
paid to come out here and do this." She was amazed when I told her all
of that!
Thursday
was another good exchange with Elder Houldridge. He came out the same
time as me in September 2014, so it was cool to see how much we have
both grown. He is from Las Vegas, so he told me a little bit about there
and we had a good chat together. We got to teach a few people together
as well. We got to teach this one lady named, Cheryl. She was really
nice and receptive. We taught her about the Book of Mormon and left her
with a copy. After the lesson, Elder Houldridge expressed to me that he
had tried her house so many times but could never get in. Something told
him to go visit her and so we did. Now they are planning to go back and
hopefully she will progress. Daily blessings, I love it.
The
weekend ended really well. Elder Magleby was pretty sure he was going
to leave, so we made sure to see a lot of members before he left. It is
amazing to see the trust we have gained with the members. When I first
got here, I felt like there wasn't any. Now it is almost night and day
how different it is. We have taken time to go into the members homes and
do these "power visits." Share a short lesson, invite the spirit and
ask them for referrals. If they don't have any, we invite them to pray
for a name or a missionary experience. So far we have received only a
handful of referrals, but most of them are now investigators. It is
awesome.
I would like to share with y'all just 2
experiences we had from this past week. The first one is with a man
named J_____. He is an inactive member of the church that grew up going to
church with his family. We went into his humble home and began to talk
with him. He began to share with us the story of his life and all the
hardships he has gone through. After hearing them, I can't even imagine
having to go through a lot of it. We then wanted to read the scriptures
with him and he asked me to say the opening prayer. As I prayed that
day, I felt such sincere love for J____ and the words just came to my
mouth. When I finished, I looked up and found tears in his eyes. He had
felt the spirit, something he probably hadn't felt in along time. We
then read together about prayer and the Gospel. Helping him know that
the Savior and his teachings can really help deal with any problems or
challenges he is facing in his life. Like it does in ours. Before we
left, we offered another prayer together. This time, when we finished, I
saw tear run down his face. I was taught that day the power of sincere
prayer and the impact it can have on just one persons life. Pray always.
The
last one is short. Elder Magleby and I were praying together that this
week we would have an investigator in sacrament meeting. As the meeting
began, none of our investigators showed up. We were pretty bummed. After
the passing of the sacrament, the doors opened to allow anyone into the
chapel. To our surprise, our investigator B______ came running into the
chapel! She sat next to us and enjoyed the rest of the meeting with us.
When the meeting finished, she told us how happy she was that she came
and that she was going to come again. We were pretty happy, another
awesome Sunday.
This next week should be a fun and fast one, once again. Thursday and Friday
I will be going up to Jackson for a District Leader Council. We will
discuss our Districts and be trained by President. It should be awesome,
I am so excited! Well I better get going, we still have lots of
cleaning and packing to do before Elder Magleby has to head out. I hope
y'all have a great week, and keep on smiling! Just another day in
Paradise. :)
Love,
Elder Mason Rankin :)
No comments:
Post a Comment