Hello family and friends!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you mom for sharing that with me. I will definitely save that and keep it for me personally. You have such a strong will and testimony and that's how I want to be!!! So strong and independent. I need that! Man, still going to miss the wedding! Argh!!!!!!! I'm so mad I'm gonna miss that. I am glad you guys are going to make a huge cut-out cardboard of me and take pictures of the cardboard "me" with the family. That would be awesome and I would VERY much appreciate that!!!!! I don't know if the pictures have been printed out yet but if you could send me pictures of the proposal that would also be much appreciated!!!!! Wow, Cache is going on a mission as well? It's crazy how fast time goes!!!!! It really does go by quick!!!! I'll be back home before you know it. Hahaha!!!! The weather here has been amazing. 2 days ago it was warm and I wore short sleeves- how crazy is that!?!?!? Elder Klima likes to drive so I let him drive but if I need to I'll drive in snow. I haven't done that yet but I've gotten a lot of pointers on what to do so hopefully I'll be prepared! I have a pretty heavy coat but what I need to get is ear muffs!!!!! I'm going to buy some of those so that's what I'll use the money for. Thank you Mom and Dad, you're the best!!!!!!
Well this week was probably the hardest but also the best. hahaha I know, how does that happen? Well, I'll explain it to ya. So we had been doing very little work in the area and we were really trying to do more and get more lessons and such and that's exactly what we did!!! We did a lot of contacting potential investigators and less actives (which is what we had been doing but it wasn't that effective). So in weekly planning we made sure to get in contact with them and we had a lot of set appointments which was good. I felt like I was back in Olean where all we had was set appointments. So this week was a very hard working week! We had a total of 11 lessons!!!!!!! That doesn't sound like a lot but we had been averaging about 4 per week so this was a HUGE improvement. Remember though- it's not all about numbers! It's the effectiveness of the lesson that matters and actually counts. If you just go into a lesson and you just give a lesson so you can count it solely for the number and don't preach to what they need, then you just wasted your time and theirs. If you do however, go into a lesson and truly love and care for them and address their needs and concerns and teach off that then that is an effective lesson and that will benefit them in their lives. My favorite section in P.M.G. is Chapter 10 Teaching Skills. In there it teaches you how to teach effectively and how to begin teaching. A lesson we had this week that was very powerful and good was with our investigator "J" and he brought his friend "L". How amazing is? An investigator brought his friend to a lesson! He's doing missionary work and he's not even a member- how fantastic!!!!!!!!!! We were going to teach the whole lesson of the Restoration but as we were teaching and I was talking about how God is our loving Heavenly Father, I felt like I wasn't teaching with the spirit or with authority. So I began to ask questions and see what level he was at. So I paused and searched for the Spirit to teach me and tell me what to say and we then began to talk about prayer and how God is listening and can reveal truth to us. So we left him with a Book of Mormon and committed him to read and to pray about it. That was the commitment. We would've taught about the restoration but I don't think it would've gone well as it would've been too much information for him to understand. We told him we are going to reteach the Restoration and apply it to his needs at that time. Also in the lesson I was just teaching him like Elder Tengberg and I had worked on. I was a full-on AK just sitting there firing doctrine that was hitting everywhere except the target. So when I paused I remembered the quote, "Be a sniper rifle not an AK." As we began to teach about prayer I said a few powerful statements that I could tell were way more effective than the fire rate of an AK. I am trying to learn to be better at making my point and then being done. It just takes time and I understand that.
Some cool things that have happened are: 1. Every Saturday we play basketball with a group of non-members at the church. At first I was really bad and there were a lot of people that hated me on their team because I was bad. Well I have improved a lot and now I'm not the worst player on the court. In fact, I made a really cool basket and the guys were like what the heck did he really make that? I was pretty excited. People don't get mad at me if I mess up anymore. Hahahaha!!!!!! It was pretty embarrassing for a while but now I feel comfortable when I play basketball. I don't know how well I'd do one-on-one but playing with a team I can do alright. 2. This week I finished the book of Matthew and now I'm in Mark. I want to read the New Testament all the way through because I think learning how Jesus teaches is going to be the best as I can apply that into my teaching as well. 3. A bunch of kids wrote Christmas cards to the missionaries out in the field because I got a bunch of letters saying Merry Christmas and they hoped that my mission was going well. Austin, I just wanted you to let them know I really appreciated it and it meant a lot to me. You can tell them that I will keep those for the rest of my mission and even when I get home!!!! That meant a lot to me!!!! Haillie Nygren sent it to me so just tell her thank you!!!!!
There have been some frustrating moments this week. One night I knelt and prayed. I was still frustrated so I went to the scriptures for an answer on what I needed to do. I prayed fervently and sincerely!!! I got my answer. I found it in 1 Chronicles 21:13. It says, "And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall now into the hand of the Lord; for very great are His mercies: but let me not fall into the hand of man." This was telling me to fall into the Lord's hand and keep the commandments and to not let man detour or distract me from accomplishing that. This scripture helped me to find the peace I needed this week and give me the strength I needed to face the situations.
Elder Hebdon leaves in 2 days and he's really excited. I got a lot of his clothes and I'll probably get more. I also got a 3rd carrying bag because my 2 suitcases were stuffed full when I tried to pack it all together!!!! I love you all have a great week look for the positives. Love you bye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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