I've uploaded more photos to Jacob's Snapfish account. Click here to view.
Elder Jake to Dad:
We had interviews this week with President rasmussen and I told them that you guys were moving to Boise and they got excited and wanted to know where you guys were going and get your phone number. Oh well i guess!
We have not placed a single book this week and not one of our return appointments last week went through! We have a few that we can try by again, Chris in particular is still promising. President threw us a pretty big curveball this week! In our district meeting before interviews he talked about finding by the spirit. My attitude towards finding up until now has been all about dilligence and thoroughness: talk to as many people as possible as often as possible. However, President wants us to move to a more faith based approach. One of slowing down (a lot) and discerning and listening and following the spirit. Its kind of turned my approach on its head. It was really uncomfortable at first thinking about it and I felt really overwhelmed by it and a lot of the other counsel weve been given over the last few months. I really stuggled with it over the weekend but I want to do it! Its scary because it means we need to talk to far fewer people with a much higher success rate. Our new standards of excellence are to find 4 potential investigators a day and 3 new investigators a week!
There are other changes as well!! Along with all the new missionaries comiong in our transfer meetings will be discontinued and we will be going straight to our new areas at transfers!
Weve taught our investigators twice this week! Debbie is still very stubborn (I wont change!) but she reads what we leave her and prays so well see about that! Helen, her daughter, is very receptive! We taught the plan last night and she listened very well and felt that her questions were answered! We really only have one more chance to sink the hook with our next lesson! Hopefully the Gospel of Jesus Christ will answer their questions and concerns! I think it will really help Debbie see why we believe that going to church is important and that one true church is necessary! She has a really big issue with the necessity of church attendance shes always saying she doesnt need a church to pray. She has a lot of preconceived ideas that keep her from really listening to us and considering what we say. Pray for her heart to be softened and for her to listen! At the very least we need her to be ok with us teaching and focusing on Helen.
The last big thing from this week goes back to District Meeting, just after the massive changes and interviews started Elder Ockey gave a great district meeting about sustaining our leaders and following their counsel! (very appropriate!) Ive known Elder Ockey for 7 months now and in the last 6 weeks hes completely changed! He promised us all that if we would follow the many things weve been given over the last few months that we would all have an investigator on a date before transfers! And every time ive talked to him since its obvious how much more faith hes got; you can feel the spirit! Its pretty cool and it really helped me out when i was struggling with the changes the other day.
Pray for us to be in tune with the spirit! We need more faith here!
I love you! I will pray for you guys!
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Monday, January 14, 2013
November to January
So we (Eric and I) were able to spend about 45 minutes talking to Jacob on Christmas. He looks really good and is really enjoying his new companion, Elder Watt, who we got to meet very briefly. He's from Scotland, and has a pretty mild accent from what Jacob says. Sounded pretty thick to me, but Jacob also had a touch of an accent to me! Elder Watt has been teaching him some pretty confusing Scottish slang. There's an email all in it, and he had to explain it to me when we talked on Christmas.
He's finally out of Swindon, but hasn't given me his current address to update, so for now, stick with the mission home. He's been moved to a suburb of Birmingham, called Cannock. He's fairly close to the mission home now.
Here are the emails I've been hoarding :)
He's finally out of Swindon, but hasn't given me his current address to update, so for now, stick with the mission home. He's been moved to a suburb of Birmingham, called Cannock. He's fairly close to the mission home now.
Here are the emails I've been hoarding :)
1/07
Elder Jake to Dad:
We had a really good week this week!!
Over the past 2 weeks in Cannock weve only placed a total of 4 Books of Mormon but this week we placed 7!!! We have 5 return appointments scheduled for this week!
On Wednesday we were off to a good start and talking to everyone. We had a really good discussion and although he wasnt interested, he said that Bridgetown had a lot of people who might need some upliftment. So after setting up a return appointmnet with a potential from a week or so ago we headed down there and did some tracting. We met a pregnant lady named Stacy and she took a book and a return appoinment! Later in the day we were tracting a pretty posh area and eveyrone seemed too comfortable with their money to listen to us. Elder Watt was starting to get discouraged and we decided we would move on to another street we had planned for but as we were walking I remembered the words from Alma 26: 27 Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to aturn back, behold, the Lord bcomforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the [Cannockites], and bear with cpatience thine dafflictions, and I will give unto you success.
So we turned back and I spent a minute looking down the street. Finally i decided on a door and walked right up to it. We talked to a nice Catholic lady named Anne for a bit and told her about the Book of Mormon. She aid "Well, are you going to leave me something to read?" Miracle! We left her 3 Nephi 11.
On Thursday we had an appointment in the evening that cancelled and we hadnt made back up plans so i looked at my map and picked a near by street. We started tracting and we really had the help of the Spirit as we were talking to people! Along the way we met a young guy named Chris. Hes 24 and he has a young son. His partner is an inactive member and her whole family are mormon. We talked to him a bit and left him Moroni 10 and made a return appointment.
On Saturday we had planned to give out 6 books as we were going to have several hours and our vision was high but in the morning I had a nasty flat and we only ended up having an hour to tract in Great Wyrley before we had top head to a ward activity. We prayed and started to walk down the street and we both turned to a specific door at the same time and met Diane. She wasnt sure who we were at first but she could tell instantly we werent Jehovahs witnesses! We talked a bit and she expressed some interest and believes in the afterlife! We left her alma 40 and well be calling her this evening or tomorrow to set up an appointment!
On Sunday we didnt have much time because we had a dinner/lesson in the evening. We got there 15 minutes early though and left our backpacks at the members house and knocked a few doors. We picked one on our way back and met Jonathan! He already had a Book of Mormon form a year ago when he lived in Birmingham and we left him 3 Nephi 11. Well go back same time next week! Afterwards we had a dinner with some members and Debbie and her daughter Helen, two possible investigators that the meber, Sister McCall reffered to us months ago. Elder Watt and Elder Patten spent a while building a relationship with them and we finally ahd a chance to sit down. We watched the Restoration DVD and then talked a bit. It was a bit chaotic! The members first instinct was to try to thoroughly answer ever concern that came up! I do not recommend it! But we gave them both the Book of Mormon and we will be teaching them over the next 3 weeks starting on Tuesday! 2 New Investigators! First ones in cannock!
Another highlight of the week was knocking on a Jw's door. He was one of the most condescending people I have ever met in my entire life! It was very entertaining though and we may go to one of their services in the near future! (Elder Watt is super curious, and neither of us have been to another Church yet)
It was a good week! Things are starting to happen! We are very excited and our successes this week really help us to keep going! The area is ready! The Ward likes us, they are willing to come teaching and to share the Gospel with others! Its awesome! And its all mine! Finally im not in a 4 man area >:D Granted, President asked us if Cannock can handle 2 more and we may get sisters in here in the next several months! Lame!
Im sure ill find out more at Presidents interviews this week!!
12/17
Elder Jake to LoraLynn:
(I told him his Christmas package was on the way, and that he was not allowed to open it until Christmas. This was his response) Oh no ya' pap! Ill set yer face on fire! Ill thor frosen haggis at ya'! Ill be on that package like a dog on rhubarb!..... Im scranned oot my nut! I just took a massive jobbie!
:P
Ok, ill wait, but there better be SOMETHING I can open.
12/11
Elder Jake to Dad:
I dont have much time to type today, hopefully ill get some time after transfers. The word is in, Im going Sr. with an Elder Watt in Cannock (its not far north from Birmingham) which just so happens to be one of Elder Hutchings previous areas! But the best news of all is Elder Watt is Scottish!! Im super excited! Im gonna be all over that wee jabbie like a dog on rhubarb! I will find out more about Christmas likely after I get there so ill be able to tell you more then but im super excited!!! I hear the Chapel in Cannock is one of the nicest in England and can be converted into a temple if needed so Ill make sure to find out more about that! Also its snowing out, barely, here in swindon. Everything is white with frost!
12/03
Elder Jake to Dad:
Bhesh is no longer getting baptized this week! we have to push it back again because he couldnt make it to church this week and we werent able to teach him, and wont be able to until saturday. Hes a tough one but we dont want to baptize him before hes ready and we have several things we need to teach him.
This week we had the worst numbers of my entire mission! We taught one lesson to a possible investigator, one to a recent convert, Catherine (we have to reteach her some things as well because she hasnt been to church in a few weeks and doesnt seem to understand the principle of the sabbath as well as some other things), and one to the Phelps who are my pride and joy! The whole family came to church again this week, save brother phelps who was home sick. He snuck in for sacrament however because he couldnt miss it and because he didnt want to let us down. What a trooper!
We finally managed to place some books this week! After two solid weeks of not placing a single one! We put out 7 this week. 3 to good possible new investigator (we have return appointments for tomorrow, friday, and in two weeks!) one to a lady who rushed off before we could get her details (but shell read it!) one to an unbelievably prepared woman!!... whos going to australia for 3 months! (she cried teared up on the doorstep when we told her she could see her husband again! she will cherish that book of mormon!) one to a turkish guy in Swindon B's area, and one top a very nice recently converted Christian who said we could follow up in a month! Woohoo! The return appointments are obviously what were most excited about. One is Dale a pretty gruff guy without a whole lot of beliefs but he was interested to read the book of mormon, one to a really cool kid named Dex and his brother tyrone; he was really eager to learn more! And one to a skeptical old man named Ian Wardrop who really liked the idea of finding out for himself, he said prove to him we were right and we gave him the book of mormon and invited him to prove to us it was wrong! (He chuckled at that and accepted)
Next week is transfers so I dont know when ill get to email. I figure im most likely moving out of swindon! I will tell you the news as soon as i can!
I love you!
This week we had the worst numbers of my entire mission! We taught one lesson to a possible investigator, one to a recent convert, Catherine (we have to reteach her some things as well because she hasnt been to church in a few weeks and doesnt seem to understand the principle of the sabbath as well as some other things), and one to the Phelps who are my pride and joy! The whole family came to church again this week, save brother phelps who was home sick. He snuck in for sacrament however because he couldnt miss it and because he didnt want to let us down. What a trooper!
We finally managed to place some books this week! After two solid weeks of not placing a single one! We put out 7 this week. 3 to good possible new investigator (we have return appointments for tomorrow, friday, and in two weeks!) one to a lady who rushed off before we could get her details (but shell read it!) one to an unbelievably prepared woman!!... whos going to australia for 3 months! (she cried teared up on the doorstep when we told her she could see her husband again! she will cherish that book of mormon!) one to a turkish guy in Swindon B's area, and one top a very nice recently converted Christian who said we could follow up in a month! Woohoo! The return appointments are obviously what were most excited about. One is Dale a pretty gruff guy without a whole lot of beliefs but he was interested to read the book of mormon, one to a really cool kid named Dex and his brother tyrone; he was really eager to learn more! And one to a skeptical old man named Ian Wardrop who really liked the idea of finding out for himself, he said prove to him we were right and we gave him the book of mormon and invited him to prove to us it was wrong! (He chuckled at that and accepted)
Next week is transfers so I dont know when ill get to email. I figure im most likely moving out of swindon! I will tell you the news as soon as i can!
I love you!
Elder Jake to LoraLynn:
The scarf got some attention on Sunday! Some 14 year old girls asked if i was from Gryffindor, theyre were very impressed, i was very uncomfortable! Attention from 14 year olds is something i dont need! I certainly hope that you are doing well! I will have something small but special for you and others very soon! I may ask you to deliver some for me (thats a definite)
I love you!
11/26
Elder Jake to Dad:
Mixed review this week!
Our finding has still produced no fruit (visibly anyways) as we havent been able to place a book or secure a return appointment in almost 2 weeks now. Lots of conversations, lost of people quite "comfortable" with where theyre at. Its quite frustrating and I have to try really hard to not bash. I can think of so many rational ways of pointing out that thats not good enough (I am picking up a lot of Bible knowledge that I must not use for evil purposes) but that never helps! An intellectual testimony is useless as anything but an expansion on a spiritual testimony! And i cant give people a testimony! Speaking of an intellectual testimony! Ive been listening to loads of talks as of late (we have a member in our ward who gave each of us loads and loads of talks he accumulated on his mission) and there are two interesting ones called "The 17 Points of the True Church" and "Little Known Evidences of the Book of Mormon" Both very interesting and worth looking up! Still many more to peruse through but theyve been really giving me a boost this week!
We had a bit of a miracle this week concerning our assignment to seek out unbaptized children! Elder Barker and I biked out to Purton (a few miles outside of Swindon) for a return appointment with a woman Elder Brewer and I met, and then planned to bike to Cricklade (even further outside of Swindon) to contact the mother of one of the children in the ward. The appointment flogged and we did some finding in the area before setting off for Cricklade. When we arrived we found that my tire was leaking air pretty quickly. We walked to where the girls mother lived and found she wasnt in so we contacted the other Swindon Elders and they told us there was a less active family nearby. We went to this family and met the husband who isnt a member (nor is he particularly interested) and he helped us to patch the tire. As he was helping us, his wife and step-daughter came home. His step-daughter is the woman we were trying to contact! We did not make an appointment at that time but we learned a bit about the situation and will hopefully be finding her daughter a ride to Church in the near future. The daughter loves Church and would supposedly come every week if her Mother was more willing! We also spoke to the mother of another unbaptized girl in our ward and have dinner with them tomorrow! Melody has a lot of phobias and is really shy but is not opposed to baptism beyond any of her anxieties! Her mother said it would help if we came around for dinner more often! Score! Hopefully we can help her with some of her fears!
Probably the biggest surprise of this week is Bes, our Nepalese guy who has been coming to Church but didnt want to be taught, is now completely committed to Baptism at the soonest opportunity! Weve been trying to teach him things but his schedule has been crazy due to a number of temporary jobs hes been talking on. But he accepts everything that we teach and passively believes everything he reads in the leaflets we give him ("Do you believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet?" "Yes, I read the book.") Its a little off putting! But he will be baptized either this Saturday or next depending on how many times we can see him this week! Crazy! other than him our teaching pool is nil and as much as I want to move on at the end of the transfer, I also really want to leave this area better than I found it (empty). The next transfer day will be the 12th of December I believe.
I am not pasty white!... I think! I was actually doing alright in the summer but it is winter now and its very cold and wet! Emphasis on wet! Nothing is waterproof enough for this kind of wet and it doesnt dry quickly indoors. Good stuff!
Not much else to report this week, Ive gained a renewed enthusiasm for the Book of Mormon through a couple of talks Ive been listening to, namely that one about little known evidences, very very interesting!
I love you!
Our finding has still produced no fruit (visibly anyways) as we havent been able to place a book or secure a return appointment in almost 2 weeks now. Lots of conversations, lost of people quite "comfortable" with where theyre at. Its quite frustrating and I have to try really hard to not bash. I can think of so many rational ways of pointing out that thats not good enough (I am picking up a lot of Bible knowledge that I must not use for evil purposes) but that never helps! An intellectual testimony is useless as anything but an expansion on a spiritual testimony! And i cant give people a testimony! Speaking of an intellectual testimony! Ive been listening to loads of talks as of late (we have a member in our ward who gave each of us loads and loads of talks he accumulated on his mission) and there are two interesting ones called "The 17 Points of the True Church" and "Little Known Evidences of the Book of Mormon" Both very interesting and worth looking up! Still many more to peruse through but theyve been really giving me a boost this week!
We had a bit of a miracle this week concerning our assignment to seek out unbaptized children! Elder Barker and I biked out to Purton (a few miles outside of Swindon) for a return appointment with a woman Elder Brewer and I met, and then planned to bike to Cricklade (even further outside of Swindon) to contact the mother of one of the children in the ward. The appointment flogged and we did some finding in the area before setting off for Cricklade. When we arrived we found that my tire was leaking air pretty quickly. We walked to where the girls mother lived and found she wasnt in so we contacted the other Swindon Elders and they told us there was a less active family nearby. We went to this family and met the husband who isnt a member (nor is he particularly interested) and he helped us to patch the tire. As he was helping us, his wife and step-daughter came home. His step-daughter is the woman we were trying to contact! We did not make an appointment at that time but we learned a bit about the situation and will hopefully be finding her daughter a ride to Church in the near future. The daughter loves Church and would supposedly come every week if her Mother was more willing! We also spoke to the mother of another unbaptized girl in our ward and have dinner with them tomorrow! Melody has a lot of phobias and is really shy but is not opposed to baptism beyond any of her anxieties! Her mother said it would help if we came around for dinner more often! Score! Hopefully we can help her with some of her fears!
Probably the biggest surprise of this week is Bes, our Nepalese guy who has been coming to Church but didnt want to be taught, is now completely committed to Baptism at the soonest opportunity! Weve been trying to teach him things but his schedule has been crazy due to a number of temporary jobs hes been talking on. But he accepts everything that we teach and passively believes everything he reads in the leaflets we give him ("Do you believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet?" "Yes, I read the book.") Its a little off putting! But he will be baptized either this Saturday or next depending on how many times we can see him this week! Crazy! other than him our teaching pool is nil and as much as I want to move on at the end of the transfer, I also really want to leave this area better than I found it (empty). The next transfer day will be the 12th of December I believe.
I am not pasty white!... I think! I was actually doing alright in the summer but it is winter now and its very cold and wet! Emphasis on wet! Nothing is waterproof enough for this kind of wet and it doesnt dry quickly indoors. Good stuff!
Not much else to report this week, Ive gained a renewed enthusiasm for the Book of Mormon through a couple of talks Ive been listening to, namely that one about little known evidences, very very interesting!
I love you!
11/19
Elder Jake to Dad:
This week has been really tough!
We lost all our investigators this week (except Bhesh, but he was in London). Darren finally got out of the hospital but he suffered some brain damage and essentially has a degree of memory loss. We sat with him and talked and gave him a blessing but he was forgetting things as we were sitting with him. Sandra is just too busy at the moment and doesnt want to waste our time. We have tried and tried to meet with Sue but here health simply hasnt allowed it. Debbie looked like she was coming back this week but ultimately cancelled. Bhesh is in London! We have been finding a lot and met with little success. We only managed to place 1 book this week.
So there hasnt been too much going on! but we had our less active family at Church again yesterday! It was asweome! The Phelps are way cool (theyre the ones that took us to Stonehenge) and Ive been dropping by ever since I came to Swindon and theyve finally made the step back to Church! We taught them this week and had lunch with them and you could just see how much they enjoyed coming last week. We saw them at a ward activity on Saturday and it was really awesome how they just fit in. The ward knows who they are very well and was just as excited as us to see them back!
We also had a workover with the Zone Leaders yesterday and it was really good! Elder Brewer and Elder Rogers (my former DL) are really some of my best friends. They are inspiring examples to me and theyre just really good guys! Elder Brewer served here in Swindon for over 7 months and he could really relate to how I was feeling about things and we are very like-minded in our attitudes about missionary work. Plus hes best friends from back home with Elder Hutchings! Which I dont know if Ive mentioned it but Elder Hutchings is training again at the moment! I have a mission Brother! Hes from Georgia and he never read the Book of Mormon before his mission (they dont have it in Georgian and his Russian isnt great, nor is his English!) I cant spell or pronounce his name so i wont type it here. Cool stuff though!
Also! Skype time is drawing near! Just over a month from now it will be that time again!
I love you!
We lost all our investigators this week (except Bhesh, but he was in London). Darren finally got out of the hospital but he suffered some brain damage and essentially has a degree of memory loss. We sat with him and talked and gave him a blessing but he was forgetting things as we were sitting with him. Sandra is just too busy at the moment and doesnt want to waste our time. We have tried and tried to meet with Sue but here health simply hasnt allowed it. Debbie looked like she was coming back this week but ultimately cancelled. Bhesh is in London! We have been finding a lot and met with little success. We only managed to place 1 book this week.
So there hasnt been too much going on! but we had our less active family at Church again yesterday! It was asweome! The Phelps are way cool (theyre the ones that took us to Stonehenge) and Ive been dropping by ever since I came to Swindon and theyve finally made the step back to Church! We taught them this week and had lunch with them and you could just see how much they enjoyed coming last week. We saw them at a ward activity on Saturday and it was really awesome how they just fit in. The ward knows who they are very well and was just as excited as us to see them back!
We also had a workover with the Zone Leaders yesterday and it was really good! Elder Brewer and Elder Rogers (my former DL) are really some of my best friends. They are inspiring examples to me and theyre just really good guys! Elder Brewer served here in Swindon for over 7 months and he could really relate to how I was feeling about things and we are very like-minded in our attitudes about missionary work. Plus hes best friends from back home with Elder Hutchings! Which I dont know if Ive mentioned it but Elder Hutchings is training again at the moment! I have a mission Brother! Hes from Georgia and he never read the Book of Mormon before his mission (they dont have it in Georgian and his Russian isnt great, nor is his English!) I cant spell or pronounce his name so i wont type it here. Cool stuff though!
Also! Skype time is drawing near! Just over a month from now it will be that time again!
I love you!
Elder Jake to LoraLynn:
Its really cold!!! Saw a thermometer the other day and its about 8 celsius, which comes close to about 40 degrees I believe. Not to mention the air is wet! Theres been a lot of mist lately and going out in the morning and finding frost on everything is not uncommon! Awesome! Luckily I have my cozy scarf! Which many poeple are attributing to Dr. Who lately... interesting!
Bulldogs are ugly!! (Eric and I found a lost bulldog and took care of it for a night)
Its so cool how many people are going on missions! Ive heard of several already; Elder Barker has multiple girls back home going on missions! :O
We lost pretty much all of our investigators this week and our finding efforts have been unusually ineffective as well! Woohoo! But its ok, weve got things to try and well see how this week goes!
Much love!
11/5
Elder Jake to Dad:
This has been a mighty interesting week!
On Monday last week we committed Darren to baptism on the 8th of December!! He wants to do it and he knows he has to quit the drugs and alcohol! The kicker is by Wednesday night he OD'd and hes still in the hospital, in and out of consciousness, having occasional seizures..... so we didnt count him as "1 with a date" this week. We spoke to his Dad and hopefully this experience finally puts him off his habits and if he recovers soon than he should hopefully be even more prepared to live the gospel; thats what we hope anyways.
Once again we did a LOT of finding this week. Lots of door knocking. Unfortunately I feel ive completely fallen out of the habit of stopping poeple on the street between places and I cant seem to just get back into it. I need some prayers to get me back into proselyting shape!
As of this week my 5th transfer is finally over and were starting my 6th which means I have been out 7.5 months. I added up the totals for the transfer and we gave out 34 books! A new record for both Elder Barker and I but still 26 below the "standard" we are striving to achieve. Still, its a great improvement, i can only account for 5 given out in the previous transfer (though im sure there was a handful more i just didnt take note of)
But Elder Barker and I have established our vision for this upcoming transfer.
4 Baptisms, 2 With a Date, and 2 Returning Families. This is what we might consider optimistic. But were gonna do it! And the Glory be to the Father! Were excited to get to work and we have a handful of appointments set up this week already that were really crossing our fingers for.
Some interesting experiences worth noting this week:
-We were tracting and a woman invited us to strip her wallpaper. (She was being cheeky) We quite readily accepted and then entered a room full of girls between ages 12 and probably about 20 and stripped half the wallpaper while they teased us and commented on our butts. I dont think there was a male in the house and were definitely not going back.... but we gave them a Mormon.org card!
-I was invited to teach Gospel Principles just before we left for Church on Sunday. I prepared about a third of the lesson in Priesthood and then had to wing it from there. The subject: Eternal Marriage! And the other elders had an investigator there that is unmarried and living with her partner! Supposedly I did a good job but it was incredibly stressful.
-I bore my testimony in Church on Sunday, i somehow timed it so I was the last one, but it went really well and for once I didnt cry! I was close though, it was like weird crying without tears
-We had dinner on Halloween with an American family that recently moved into the ward, it was awesome!!! Soft tacos, American Style! I had 3 overstuffed wraps! Followed by brownies mmmmmmm. 3 days later we had dinner with the chinese family in the ward. It was really good but afterwards they brought out dessert. I could have sworn it was fish eggs and fish chunks in dirty brown water... turns out it was just tapioca!! Still looks gross though! Were actually pretty lucky when it comes to food, I have yet to have something really weird and man I love roast dinners. Meat and gravy and yorkshire puddings, roasties are good too but i still dont particularly fancy mashed potatoes.
-Andrew is back and we taught him again! he still likes the Book of Mormon, thinks Joseph Smith was probably a prophet, but isnt sure he agrees with the things we believe ( the deep dodgy secret stuff!). Interestingly he experimented with living the word of wisdom while he was in Scotland and abstained from tea and coffee for 3 weeks! Interesting fellow! We have come to the conclusion that there is some deeper concern feeding his continued insistence that he disagrees with some of the things we believe in. We believe that he has thought very seriously about joining the Church (likes the Book of Mormon, liked the Church environment, experimented with the WoW, and still wants to hear us out) but were trying to figure out what is REALLY holding him back, it seems like hes just trying to find excuses not to go through with it.
-It was Elder Hutchings Birthday on the 1st!! Hes 21 now! its nuts hes only got about 4 or 5 months left!
Nashville! There are guitars in Nashville!! I want to say that Fender has a factory there that you can tour or something like that, maybe Gibson as well... I want to see pictures!! (Mom and Dad went on a trip back East and visited Nashville)
Man everything will be so different when I get home. OH! I almost forgot! Will I be getting an absentee ballot for the election?? I want to vote darn it! I cant complain about it if i dont!
I Love you!
On Monday last week we committed Darren to baptism on the 8th of December!! He wants to do it and he knows he has to quit the drugs and alcohol! The kicker is by Wednesday night he OD'd and hes still in the hospital, in and out of consciousness, having occasional seizures..... so we didnt count him as "1 with a date" this week. We spoke to his Dad and hopefully this experience finally puts him off his habits and if he recovers soon than he should hopefully be even more prepared to live the gospel; thats what we hope anyways.
Once again we did a LOT of finding this week. Lots of door knocking. Unfortunately I feel ive completely fallen out of the habit of stopping poeple on the street between places and I cant seem to just get back into it. I need some prayers to get me back into proselyting shape!
As of this week my 5th transfer is finally over and were starting my 6th which means I have been out 7.5 months. I added up the totals for the transfer and we gave out 34 books! A new record for both Elder Barker and I but still 26 below the "standard" we are striving to achieve. Still, its a great improvement, i can only account for 5 given out in the previous transfer (though im sure there was a handful more i just didnt take note of)
But Elder Barker and I have established our vision for this upcoming transfer.
4 Baptisms, 2 With a Date, and 2 Returning Families. This is what we might consider optimistic. But were gonna do it! And the Glory be to the Father! Were excited to get to work and we have a handful of appointments set up this week already that were really crossing our fingers for.
Some interesting experiences worth noting this week:
-We were tracting and a woman invited us to strip her wallpaper. (She was being cheeky) We quite readily accepted and then entered a room full of girls between ages 12 and probably about 20 and stripped half the wallpaper while they teased us and commented on our butts. I dont think there was a male in the house and were definitely not going back.... but we gave them a Mormon.org card!
-I was invited to teach Gospel Principles just before we left for Church on Sunday. I prepared about a third of the lesson in Priesthood and then had to wing it from there. The subject: Eternal Marriage! And the other elders had an investigator there that is unmarried and living with her partner! Supposedly I did a good job but it was incredibly stressful.
-I bore my testimony in Church on Sunday, i somehow timed it so I was the last one, but it went really well and for once I didnt cry! I was close though, it was like weird crying without tears
-We had dinner on Halloween with an American family that recently moved into the ward, it was awesome!!! Soft tacos, American Style! I had 3 overstuffed wraps! Followed by brownies mmmmmmm. 3 days later we had dinner with the chinese family in the ward. It was really good but afterwards they brought out dessert. I could have sworn it was fish eggs and fish chunks in dirty brown water... turns out it was just tapioca!! Still looks gross though! Were actually pretty lucky when it comes to food, I have yet to have something really weird and man I love roast dinners. Meat and gravy and yorkshire puddings, roasties are good too but i still dont particularly fancy mashed potatoes.
-Andrew is back and we taught him again! he still likes the Book of Mormon, thinks Joseph Smith was probably a prophet, but isnt sure he agrees with the things we believe ( the deep dodgy secret stuff!). Interestingly he experimented with living the word of wisdom while he was in Scotland and abstained from tea and coffee for 3 weeks! Interesting fellow! We have come to the conclusion that there is some deeper concern feeding his continued insistence that he disagrees with some of the things we believe in. We believe that he has thought very seriously about joining the Church (likes the Book of Mormon, liked the Church environment, experimented with the WoW, and still wants to hear us out) but were trying to figure out what is REALLY holding him back, it seems like hes just trying to find excuses not to go through with it.
-It was Elder Hutchings Birthday on the 1st!! Hes 21 now! its nuts hes only got about 4 or 5 months left!
Nashville! There are guitars in Nashville!! I want to say that Fender has a factory there that you can tour or something like that, maybe Gibson as well... I want to see pictures!! (Mom and Dad went on a trip back East and visited Nashville)
Man everything will be so different when I get home. OH! I almost forgot! Will I be getting an absentee ballot for the election?? I want to vote darn it! I cant complain about it if i dont!
I Love you!
Elder Jake to Mom and John:
John- What did you get??? Is it fun?? (a video game John earned the money for) Dont spoil the ending for me just yet! How tall are you now. Its getting really cold over here, close to 0 degrees (Celsius) It snowed during Church yesterday! Dont remind me how much time I have left! I love you bud!
Mom,
Its been an alright week! A bit weird at times! An investigator missed an appointment because hes in the hospital and ANOTHER one missed an appointment because she had a stroke! Were killing everyone we meet! Other than that we continue to find, find, find, find, find! Not doing a whole lot of teaching, nor have we been for a while but were really optimistic for the next several weeks! We have several appointments set up this week, not sure how solid all of them are, but weve also got lots of ideas in mind for how to get things moving. Our leaders are always supportive and always have suggestions and we have Zone Conference this week to hopefully give us some ideas.
So good things ahead!!
It sounds like things are going well at home too! Make sure to have fun while you guys are taking a break! I love you!
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