Week 26: Exchanges

This week flew by sooo fast. We had a lot of things happen this week, but not much success. On Monday night we visited Gabriel, and he seems to love having us over. He generally agrees with everything we teach him, but he thinks that there isn't just one true church. He thinks that when it talks about "one Lord, one faith, one baptism" in Ephesians 4 it means it relatively. He thinks that as long as everyone is headed in the same direction, it doesn't matter which path you take. He also doesn't want to be baptized, because he doesn't see how his church doesn't have that authority. It's a little frustrating, but we'll keep working on him.

On Tuesday we did service all day long. We didn't get into a shirt and tie until 7 pm. We first helped someone clean up their yard a little so they could sell the house and move, then we went over to a member's house and raked leaves and picked up sticks to clean up his yard, and then we went to a different church to help with a community event that they were having. That night all we did was have a meeting with one of our ward mission leaders. So we didn't do any sort of normal proselyting or teaching that day.

Wednesday we had weekly planning, and we planned some ways that we could save miles for the month. We're only given 1,000 miles per month, and we are running low. So for that night we walked around to appointments, but it was awesome to be able to talk to so many people that were outside.

Thursday was zone conference. We got some good trainings on how to use the Spirit more, and to improve our door approaches and treat everyone with love.

Friday we had interviews with President Leishman and started exchanges. Elder Larsen, Elder Skousen, and I stayed in Sumner while the other three went up to Bonney Lake. It was a really good day. We got to do some teaching for the first time in a very long time. The people we visited all let us in and talk to them. In my area, we hardly get to talk to anyone which is kind of hard.

Saturday was the first day we pulled out our bikes, and we rode them all day. Elder Salisbury and I were together for the day, and as we were trying to visit someone, a lady stopped us to get some information about some things our church does for addiction recovery and things like that. So that was really cool.

Sunday was roller coaster. Elder Larsen and I had to bike up to the islands which are the farthest point in our area. It kind of sucked. We didn't really have any solid appointments, and no one answered the door. We stayed up there for dinner (we were having dinner at a member's house) and knocked the island for 5-7's. We only knocked about 19 doors and talked to 5 people, but Elder Larsen is a huge talker, so he talked to each of them for at least 45 minutes. Although the topic wasn't always gospel related, it felt better than any other night when we would have just gotten a door slammed in our face. However, we still were having a rough day by the fact that we couldn't get in to teach anyone and we didn't have any appointments set up. That night, however, we biked to a small family that hadn't seemed super solid, but when we got there we were let inside and we got to talk to them and teach them a little. We were able to teach them about the Book of Mormon and get them really interested in reading it for themselves. We also talked about what we do on Sundays at church, and now they want their own Come, Follow Me manual to study in. It completely changed our day, and we felt a lot happier and had a better outlook on the day.

That's mostly all that happened this week, and I've found that I like to be on bike more than in the car mostly because I then have a chance to talk to a lot more people and be guided by the Spirit more.This week we're going to be doing a lot more biking, and I'm kind of excited.

Most of the zone at the community event.

Week 25: My Sixth Month Mark Today

Hello everyone!! This week was actually pretty good. I'm not really sure what made it go so well, because just about nothing happened this week. Elder Salisbury and I got in to teach one lesson, but that was it. We haven't taught anyone else this week.

Tuesday was park day, so we all biked that day and me and Elder Larsen went to the farthest point in our area and almost got hit like five times because the road we had to bike on had no shoulder to bike in and the road was super busy.
Wednesday we had district council where we had some pretty good trainings from a senior couple. We also taught Gabriel that night and went over lesson 3. We asked if he would want to be baptized and he said no because he already was, so we'll have to talk to him about proper authority and such.
Thursday was a relatively uneventful day. Just weekly planning.
Friday was the day that Elder Salisbury and I got in to teach someone. We met with a woman named Kathy who is from Texas. She's been taught a little by the missionaries in West Virginia before, but her husband stopped her from being baptized so she told us that we can keep coming over until her husband puts his foot down. Hopefully we'll get to keep coming back, because she is so close to being ready for baptism.
On Saturday we did a lot of service. We helped two different people move, so that took up most of our morning. We also tried to contact some inactive members with UBC's, but when going to one of these members, one family acted just like a normal door approach: "Sorry, not interested." *slams door* So that was kind of weird.
Sunday we had another Why I Believe fireside which was good as always, and as we continued to look for less actives with UBC's, we found one who we could come by and talk to! We'll see how it works out.

That's all folks!
-Elder Smith

Our little garden that we started of strawberries and peppers

Park Day with Elder Larsen

Goofing off with Elder Salisbury

Week 24: Transfers!

This week has been super awesome! We had transfers on Wednesday, so we dropped off Elders Borsky and Loader, and we picked up Elders Kameron Salisbury and Zackery Larsen. Elder Salisbury is from St. George Utah, and Elder Larsen is from Glenwood Springs Colorado. They're super fun to be around, and I think this transfer is going to be super great. Elder Larsen was into hunting and fishing back home, and Elder Salisbury was into being a rancher.

As for the work, not too much has progressed. We haven't met with Gabriel since last Sunday, and we don't really have any other solid people that we're teaching, so the work has been a little slow. Plus transfers took up a lot of our time. We're trying to do more member work though, so maybe that will help a little. For the most part, we feel like there's something we need to do that we aren't already, but we don't know what that something is. We're thinking that the work will change a lot at general conference, because there's been a lot of changes recently, and with the missionary communications change, there's bound to be something about missionary work at conference.

But that's mostly all for this week. We've tried scheduling appointments with our most solid people, but they've all fallen through, and we haven't been able to get in and teach anyone. It's been a lot of stopping by people to see if they're interested and knocking on doors. A little disappointing, but that's all we can really do. Love you!
-Elder Smith

Week 23: First Investigator At Church!!!!

So this week was pretty great. We found some great people, and dropped others. We also got transfer calls on Saturday. I can't believe it's the end of another transfer! This one went by way too fast!! Elder Mendenhall and I will be staying in the BLT and getting Elders Larsen and Salsbury. Elder Borsky is going to Wapado Park in Tacoma, and Elder Loader is going to Lincoln also in Tacoma. I'm super excited for this next transfer. It's going to be a blast!!

At the beginning of the week, we met with Proctor again, and every time we go over, he says the same things and he doesn't improve. He also won't read the Book of Mormon because he sees no reason why he should. So we had to drop him, but we gave him a chapter to read and our number if he ever changed his mind. We also had to drop a woman named Barbara for the same reasons. She felt so uncomfortable with trying to read. She would say that she prayed about it, but it just didn't feel good. IT WAS SO FRUSTRATING!!!!!! So she told us we could stop coming by.

Also at the beginning of the week, we met a young inactive member family who wanted to get their child baptized. We were so excited! They told us we could return the next day and on Friday, but when we went by the next day, the dad was not happy to see us there (we had previously only talked with the mom), so that was a little disappointing. However, we did have success this week. At the same apartments that we found Zarita and several others, we had also found a man from Uganda named Gabriel. He is super spiritual and sees God hand throughout his life, and in the Book of Mormon. We met with him twice this week, and he also came with us to church yesterday. It was super awesome! He was clapping along to the hymns, and he wanted to see how we taught the children, so we sat in on primary, and also went into a random 12 year old classroom. It was kind of weird doing that, but everything went super smoothly and he liked everything from what we could tell. We're not sure if he wants to come to church again, but I'm glad I get to stay to work with him this next transfer.

Last night we had another Why I Believe fireside, and it was pretty good. The Spirit was really strong. The only downer was that when I was talking with the other missionaries, I found out that my MTC/CCM companion, Elder Tobler, went home. I don't know the situation, but he went home. I really hope it's only for a medical reason and that he'll be able to come back out again, but I don't know.

Transfers are this week, so it'll be a pretty fast one and we'll get to meet our new companions. I'm pretty excited. But that's all for this week. Love you!
-Elder Smith

Week 22: Exchanges

Not a whole lot happened this week.The highlights were stake conference, having done some truly inspired knocking on Tuesday, and meeting some of our focus people.

Everyday when we plan, we try to be inspired about where we need to knock that night from 5 to 7. On Tuesday when we had exchanges with the district leader, we felt the need to knock this one road that had a small apartment complex, and not many other houses. We didn't think it would take our whole 2 hours for that night, but we felt we needed to do it anyways. We started with the apartment complex, and it was amazing. We found a lot of people to teach, and the complex alone took us an hour and a half. The main reason for that was because this one door we knocked on they actually let us in. It was a young family of a two year old daughter and the parents. The mom grew up a member, but her family left the church when she was young, or something like that. So we started teaching them. We taught the restoration, and when we got to the first vision, the mom, Zarita, could feel the power of the event as I quoted Joseph's experience. And then right after that, the 2 year old ran up and hugged me out of nowhere. That was super cool, especially since the mother took that as a sign that her daughter could feel the power of our message. When we finished teaching the lesson, Zarita asked us if we could give a blessing to her daughter since she has been having night terrors and wouldn't go to bed. That was when I gave my first blessing. I was so nervous about it, because I didn't want to mess up, but I could feel the Spirit comforting me as I gave the blessing and telling me that it was okay. The blessing was pretty short, but the Spirit was so strong. It was a really cool experience for me. And what's even better is right after meeting Zarita, a couple doors down we found a Hispanic man who said we could come back. We'll have to refer him, but that's okay.

Saturday night, we had the adult session of stake conference where someone from the quorum of the seventy spoke. It was really amazing to hear him speak, and at times it felt like he was speaking right to me. I got some answers from it that I have been looking for, but it didn't answer everything. Then on Sunday we had stake conference, and I stayed after to play piano for a baptism that some elders were having. So I didn't do anything for that day, but after 7 I got to go visit one of our focus people who tried to drop us because she didn't understand what the Book of Mormon can give her that the bible doesn't. She's also afraid to read it, because we're seen as a cult from the perspective of other churches.

We also visited some of our other focus people. Jillian, a foster child who hasn't been baptized, is living with some members, but in two weeks she's going back to her family and her parents want her to get baptized in a different church. Jillian wants to get baptized super bad, but we're not sure if her parents will let her. We might be able to continue meeting with her after she goes back to her family since they've been talking about moving up to Bonney Lake within these next two weeks. We're just hopeful that they'll be in hour area.

As for Proctor and Gatlin, we've tried visiting them a few times, and it's getting to the point where they're not progressing and are getting stuck on the same point. They're very great at listening without listening. It's kind of annoying, but that's where they're at now. But that's all for this week. Love you all!
-Elder Smith

The Puyallup zone after the adult session of stake conference.