Elder Christian Tanner - Best Week Ever!!!

Elder Christian Tanner - Looks Cold

 

AHHH! I have soo much to write!!!

Transfer Weekl!!!! Elder Millsap took the ENTIRE day to pack his few belongings in to his bag. So I just did a lot of language study and reading today. Elder BILODEAU didn't get into Halmstad until 8:55pm and Millsap didnt leave unil 9:02pm. So you could say it was a loooong day.  In the morning me an my new companion got up and I actually had companionship study and companionship planning!! It was AMAZING! I knew exactly what we were going to do that day. We went to the bus stop and bought the Sisters their bus cards. Then we took the bus out to the church where we had district meeting with the new district. The District is Bilodeau, Myself, Sister Christensen, and her new greenie Sister Hosenfeld. It was super awesome. We got on the computers I we divided up the area and I just gave everybody all the information they need to know about Halmstad. It was kinda fun being the only person who knows what Halmstad is like! Haha. We had a great lesson on setting goals. We all set really reasonable achievable goals for this week. After some "get to know you" games I showed them town. Took them to Medyas and got the best Kebab in town. After we ate there Bilodeau and I ran to the apartment to grab the ward list. Well, the sisters waited outside. As we were walking into the apartment, they started contacting. We were not even inside for 5 MINUTES. We come back out and they have 2 numbers already. Uhhh. what?? We asked Sister Christensen what she does to contact. She told us: "don't run up to someone and say 'I am a missionary from the church of jesus christ of latter day saints...' it scares them away the second they hear 'missionary' and 'church.' So what you do is, is say 'We come from the USA and we come to Sweden to talk to people on the life of meaning. What do you think the meaning of life is?' then they are already drawn into the conversation and want to answer your question." Genius! Well, after that we went to the sports hall where we play Innebandy every friday. I showed them where it was so they could come and invite investigators to Innebandy. We then walked over to the library and got their library cards for emailing. After which we just sat down on a few of the tables and looked over the ward member list and I just told them everything they need to know. While we were doing this, one of the guys that the SIsters contacted on the street about 1 hour earlier texted them and said "when can we meet and talk about life's meaning?" hahaha! They ended up meeting half an hour later... and their contact brought a friend with him! My goodness. Well, while the sisters taught their lesson, we decided we would go contacting and try out Sister Christensens way. And it WORKED! Not everybody wants to hear what we have to say, but we still get into really good conversations with some really fine people. We ended up talking to like 6 different people for like at least 10 minutes each. And as we were walking home we contacted this older woman. She accepted our book of mormon and gave us her number. A potential investigator! I absolutely LOVED contacting. I think it is fun! It forces me to use my Swedish and I get to meet a bunch of people. Not to mention it strengthens my testimony on the Atonement. Meeting soo many people and thinking "wow. that is amazing that Jesus really does love every one of us.. .and thats a lot of people to love." It really is great. So that Sisters called us and told us about their lesson. The guy who they contacted was walking home from work. He normally walks home a different way, but decided to go a different way. He didn't know why, but decided he should. Then the sisters contacted him! Awesome, huh? I was soo happy today that i was just dancing all day. I think everyone thought I was crazy...and I am... but I was so happy!

 

The next day we had to take a bus to meet Karin Bergman. But we had an hour until the bus so went our separate ways and went contacting. After that hour, we had given away another Book of Mormon. The sisters came back with a number. Of course. (for the record, I like to make a competion out of it. so when they come back with something more than us, it makes me even more competative.) We went to Karins house and they met her. She is an important member to meet because she always wants to help. She always offers her place as a place to teach investiagors. She is always willing to go on teaches and just anything we need. So I figured it best to go to her. After we visited her, we went to Innebany! We had 0 members there! Except 1 (patrick källberg) but he's inactive. So everyone there was an investigator or potential investigator. The sisters didn't play this week. But while the rest of us were playing, they started teaching Caroline (patricks sister). She is an atheist (as with everyone else in sweden). Sister Hosenfeld didn't believe in God until just a few years ago. So she could relate and apparently they gave a great lesson while the rest of us were playing. It was so awesome to see how many investigators we have, though. There is sooooo much potential. After we finished playing Caroline took the sisters home. She wouldn't let them take the bus (and its a 15 minute drive to Tylösand too...). Apparently there have been some guys who, at night, try to catch young girls and take them home. They have been trying to find out who is doing it, but they have no idea. So, thats why she drove them home. Super nice of her. Tomorrow is conference so we had to go to the store and get "CONFERENCE GODIS!" haha. We walked into a different store than usual because they were cheaper prices. And the guy we met just spoke a bunch of english to us. We talked for a bit. He comes from the middle east somewhere. He has a wife and kid and tries to make ends meet by keeping his little store open. He just talked and talked. It was awesome. He does have a different religion, muslum, i think. But he was totally just open to anything we say. He didnt want to fight anything (unlike the other guy). We were like "do you want to come to church with us sometime?" and he was like "yeah! that would be great!" and before we left he said "I am in here all the time. You can come in and talk when ever you want as long as i dont have customers." We were like YES! So we are definetly going to go back there and talk with him.

 Since we are suppose to do weekly planning on friday nights but we have Innebandy, we do weekly planning on saturday. Weekly planning takes like 3 hours to do. While we weekly planned, we made Chili and Cinnamon Rolls (just perfect too, because that what we do at home on conference!). It was SOO good! We spent hours going over what we want to do and making calls and cooking. It was really fun actually. Conference started at 6. About 4:00 we went out and decided to place a Book of Mormon. We made a goal that everyday we are going to give away one Mormons Bok. Well, we go out contacting and we aren't getting much. So we decided to go to the Svenska Kyrkan (Swedish Church). Don't ask me why! But we did! We walk in, and this kid that is 17 years old walks up to us. He asked if we wanted to go into the tower. So we were like "sure." Turns out, this kid is investigating different religions right now. He said he read the Book of Mormon and agrees with much of it. Its kinda funny. They part he does agree with is that Christ also came to the Americas. Perfect! But what he does not agree with, is that fact that Lehi and his sons and such could sail across the ocean. He doesn't think that the technology existed back then to do such a thing. We asked him if he had ever been to one of our church meetings. He said he had, but had been wanting to go to one again. So we invited him to come to our church any sunday at 10:00. We have him a passalong card and said he can call anytime we want. I would like to go talk with him again and get his number. But it was awesome! We have 3 potential investigators in 3 days. Thats what I like about Bilodeau. He is pretty laid back but will ACTUALLY WANT to go out and do something. So, its been great. We went up to the church and enjoyed an amazing Saturday morning conference session. I really enjoyed it. And Tony, our investigator, came! It was pretty neat. 

Sunday! Conference, Conference, Conference! Three session today! Whewwhooo! Love conference!! :) First we went to Priesthood session in the morning. It was really really good! I loved it! I had the thought, though. I know if you just keep inviting Greg back to family activites, and church activities, he will find the truth again. Just invite him to EVERTHING. He will find it. He just needs to know that he is loved by many. And I believe he will open up and find te truthfulness again. Dont forget our brother, son and uncle. Anyway, that ended at 1:00. Sister Lindahl brough lunch for us missionaries and such. Saturday afternoon session started at 2:00. Remember the two guys the sisters taught a few days ago? They came to this session of conference. It was pretty neat. I don't think they thought too much of it, but they said they enjoyed it. After another wonderful session, we went out contacting for 2 hours. Bilodeau and I talked to everyone we could and got NOTHING! The sisters came out half an hour after us, and got back at the same time as us, and got 2 numbers and 2 addresses. UGH! It's awesome and all, but they kicked our BUTTS!!!!!! Lets he honest here, the sisters are REALLY being blessed, or Sister Christensen knows what she's doing 200% of the time... or both. With these Sisters here, we are going to tear it up here. I really really feel it. By the way, was I right or was I right when I said Halmstad needs Sisters? Geez. Haha. We wached another session of conference and JEFFERY R. HOLLAND DESTROYS AGAIN! Haha. He gives such amazing talks. I love hearing him. But really every single talk was just amazing. We went back to the bus stop and waited for the bus. Then we went back to the appartment and went to bed! Long week but like I say BEST WEEK EVER!

Autumn in Sweden

 

Cool Looking Spider Web

 

Sister Rebecca Packer - "Most Powerful General Conference Yet" - Pres. Monson

Dear Family,

Hasn't this week just been so amazing! I feel so blessed to have what we have in this gospel. Hearing the testimonies of the Prophet and his apostles has given me a spiritual boost like nothing else! I really enjoyed President Uchtdorf's Talk. I loved how he talked about why we are all members of this church and what keeps us being members, but also things that sometimes, sadly, push some members away. It helped me a lot to hear why people leave the church, because now I can better help those members come back. Re-activation work is just as important as other missionary work. These less-actives are people who have already covenanted with the lord and are not keeping their covenants. They need our help and love! I am sure you have all read President Monsons message in this months ensign about "coming to the rescue"? If you haven't I encourage you all to do so. I just read it this morning and it talks about the important call we, as strong members of this church, have to "rescue" those who have been lost or who have fallen away. Love your less active friends!! It is our responsibility! My favorite quote from Pres. Uchtdorf's talk was "Doubt your doubts, before you doubt you faith!"  I want to make a promise

to

all of you, my wonderful family. If you will doubt your doubts and have faith that you will be guided in your words and actions in helping re-activate members of this church, and also in sharing this gospel with those who are not members, you WILL see miracles happen! I Promise you that. You just have to act first! The miracles will happen only after "the trial of your faith". Have faith!! :) ......ok...I am done being all preachy. :) haha but seriously. That promise is legit! :)

 

This week has been pretty good. We haven't had a lot of teaching opportunities, unfortunately. But we have been trying to talk to as many people as possible! People just haven't been wanting to listen and I have started to just be sad for them. Sister Taylor and I were talking to a man yesterday. We were all pumped on the spirit because we had just gotten out of listening to conference. So we started talking to him and I brought up that we had a modern day prophet and I went on to share how that has blessed my life, and given me so much strength and that It is proof that God loves all his children. Well, this man, Greg, was almost offended that we would even think that we still needed a prophet, because we can govern ourselves and we don't need a prophet to get revelation for us cause we can speak to got directly on our own. Well, We can pray to god and receive our own revelation and we can govern ourselves, BUT how much easier is it to follow Christ when we have a prophet of God who has Direct Communication with God and Jesus Christ. So much easier! We know what God expects of his children in this day and age. I don't even know how lost I would be in my life if I didn't have the guidance and council of a prophet in my life. I was so sad for Greg, and I prayed last night for him that he would be able to understand that God has called a prophet and how that could bless him in his life.

 

My dear family, I only have 5 minutes left, but I just want you all to know how much I love this gospel. It has made me the women that I am today, and it has blessed me with all of you. I am so thankful for the knowledge that I have, that I know that I have been sealed through the power of

G

od, through the priesthood, to all of you. I know that I will be with you all in the next life and I am so thankful for the temples and the blessings that we receive there. Heavenly Father loves you all so much, just as I do.

I hope you all have a fantastic week!!

Love, Sister Packer

Sister Courtnee Wood - Chicken Head Soup and BIG Spiders! Halloween? No, Just Life In Laoag

Apparently Sister Wood got the Halloween package!

Hi everyone!

Another week has come and gone, and it sure was a great one. This week I had the opportunity to cook for our apartment. Soooo.... you know of course I do the usual breakfast for lunch on saturday which consisted of banana pancakes and bacon! That is what I decided I wanted to make haha. The only thing that was different was that the bacon here isn't like at home where it has flavor. It tasted like it had come right out of the pig. Haha oh well, it was worth the try!

The other night I saw a massive spider on the road, so I found the heaviest thing close to me (a cement brick) and dropped it on it. Come to find out it was pregnant and right as I smashed it, tons of baby spiders came running everywhere. So sooner than later, there will be many giant spiders like the one I squashed. 

 

This spider would've been a deal breaker for my arachnophobic son Stetson, but not for Sister Wood!

 

This week we happened to come across a huge group of women under a waiting shade. Like I am talking 30+ ladies. So I told my companion, lets teach them! Haha of course after I said that she made me lead and do the whole thing. All of the ladies were so attentive, and it was such a good experience for me. It was scary teaching a group that big with such broken Tagalog, but I know the Lord helped me big time.

There is a 75 year old Nanay that came to church this week. Her name is Nanay Batugal (grandma of joey who just got baptized), and she has been being taught for 5 months. Yesterday was the first time she has come to church. It was truly a miracle. We went to her house in the morning and took breakfast so that there was literally no excuse for her not to go! As she got out of the tricey and hobbled into the church I couldn't have been more happy. 

This week we had 19 new investigators!!!!!!! It was such a blessing! We got 21 a few weeks ago, but the Lord is putting so many people in our paths! We just need to work to get all of these people baptized. Right now we have 10 people with baptismal goal dates. There is a whole family amongst that number, and we are doing everything we can to prepare them to be baptized. 

We are all so excited to watch General conference this weekend. It is such an amazing time to bring all of our investigators and for all them to hear the words of our living prophet! I know for a fact that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God. He leads and guides our church. We are so lucky that Heavenly Father loves us enough to call prophets! I hope you all have an amazing week.

Love,

Sister Wood

P.S. People here think that Clara looks like an "xerox copy" of me (meaning twins). Is that true?!? haha

 

Chicken Head Soup............Before

Thank heavens they have been de-beaked

Chicken Head Soup...............After

 

Showing me how long her hair is getting. She just might be overdosing on vitamins

Sunday night Sister Session - Sister Wood loves these girls

 

The weekly random cow picture - Sister Wood is so irritated that they treat the cows like this. How would you like a rope through your nostrils?

 

 

Elder Xavier Stilson - Conference Weekend!

Elder Stilson - So grateful for new glasses

What an awesome, weird, testimony growing week!! To start out, last P-day we played volleyball with a bunch of elders and sisters! It was awesome and I am trying my best to start a new trend here in Brazil...wearing LAVA LAVA’s!!!! Haha yep I played volleyball in my lava lava last week and it was awesome! I had the thought before we started playing to throw some shorts on underneath, JUST IN CASE. Well I didn’t! What could possibly go wrong?! Well NOTE TO SELF when you are playing volleyball in a lava lava make sure you wear shorts and Don’t try to kick the ball!!!

Elder Bybee: "OPA"!!!

Sister Santos:"OPA!!!"

Sister ARAÚJO (Our Mission president’s wife):"OPA!!!!!!!!!!!"

Yep DONT KICK!! Haha

The Notorious Lava Lava

 

Tuesday was the first day since I have been in Brazil that I woke and actually thought "We can do this". We tried to get into 3 people’s homes on the main island of Vitória but none of them were home. I was getting a little frustrated but I decided I needed to change my attitude! We started talking to a bunch of people on the street and Elder Torres asked if I wanted to play a game that should help with your Portuguese?  The game was to take turns coming up with one random word in Portuguese that we had to use while we were talking to people that we had just met on the street. I came up with a really good word for Elder Torres, it was Sorveite which means Ice Cream!:) Haha that wasn’t nice but he did an awesome job with it! It was a lot of fun meeting and talking to new people and trying to learn new ways to use the Portuguese language. That day flew by!

Wednesday we knocked on doors. Now this is not something that we usually do here in Brazil and get success from but it turned out it was actually pretty good and we have three new potential investigators. We are excited to see what happens!

Thursday was a very strange day! We were talking to people on the street again but we as we walked by this one guy we decided to continue on because he just seemed a little creepy. Now USUALLY we don’t do that but it was definitely weird. As we passed he started yelling and stopped us.  He wanted to talk to us about the Book of Mormon and some things that other missionaries had taught him. He started telling us about some things that he had done in the past. NOW IT GETS WEIRD! Here in Brazil a lot of people believe in voodoo. He then tells us that he can never be loved by Christ again because of his past. I took the restoration pamphlet that we had given him and told him to look at the Lamb that Christ is holding and HE COULDN’T. He then took us over to the spot where he was sitting and showed us all of his Voodoo stuff! I HAVE NEVER FELT SO WEIRD OR LOST; ESPECIALLY FROM THE SPIRIT IN MY LIFE!!! I grabbed his shoulder and told him that anything that he had done in his past could be forgiven! When I touched his shoulder I had a very sharp pain on my wrist... I didn’t think anything of it at the time. We decided to pray for this man so we started praying and just as Elder Torres said "Please bless this man." SOMETHING pushed us both back. Elder Torres finished the prayer and just as he said amen and the man almost fell over. My companion grabbed me by the arm and we took off! We tried to talk to each other both in English and Portuguese but we could not understand each other. We had to stop and kneel on the corner of the street and pray. I started my prayer in English but somewhere in the middle changed to Portuguese. It was the biggest relief that I have EVER gotten in my life. I want all of you to know that Satan is VERY REAL and VERY POWERFUL! But through the power of the Holy Ghost and Jesus Christ we have to power to ALWAYS over come him!!! Even though this was a very scary ordeal, it taught me a very valuable lesson!

I was able to listen and watch General Conference in English this week and was so grateful for that!! I loved all of the talks that were given but there was one that really stood out to me. I can’t remember who gave the talk but he started out by talking about the Jaredites coming across to the Promise Land. In my personal study I studied this and it is true. Why didn’t God just take away their hardships and give them a nice smooth sailing to the Promise Land? By this talk we learn that is was for the best of the Jaridites! When they were in need of something like air they HAD to pray. This was the ONLY way that God was able to keep fear in their hearts so that they would always remember Him. Now this morning I was reading on in Ether 6 after the Lord has touched the stones. In verse 3 is says “And thus the Lord caused stones to shine in darkness, to give light unto men, women, and children, that they might not cross the great waters in darkness". To me I think of this as the Holy Ghost or in everyone’s case the Light of Christ. The chapter continues as the Lord explains that He WILL send forth hard winds. I always thought that it was so they could get there and it is but it was to keep them strong in their faith as well! I was reading in 1 Peter the other day as well and I love chapter 1 vs 7 where he talks about the trial of our faith. These winds WILL come, these hard times are here and we don’t want them BUT the lord has given us a way that we can see the light always! The brother of Jared thought he was tempting God by bringing the stones to him to touch and maybe he was. But the Lord gave them so that we would have a way to continue on. Sometimes we are scared to pray for things because we don’t know if they are going to come true or we are scared that they will come true. Through our faith however all things are possible!

Is there anything better? Guava and General Conference

I love you all and hope that everyone is doing good! With what I have been given today I honestly hope that I can go through this probationary life together with you all and with Christ! I love you all and miss you but just as Russell M. Nelson said "We need to love our Heavenly Father more than we love our mortal parents." I am here because I love Him and I want others to find that love! A mission is hard but I know that I can make it through. God had given me you all as MY Light!

EU AMO VOCÊS!!!

Amor,

Elder Stilson

Elder Zach Taylor - October 7

This week has been good! My favorite part was General Conference. I love how everyone has to go to the church to watch it, it makes you feel more united as a church. I never realized how amazing it is too that I can sit here, thousands of miles away, and see into the Conference Center in Salt Lake. It made me realize how really united we are as a church. There are people all over the world who come together every 6 months to hear the prophet and Apostles speak. It´s kind of amazing. I got to hear it in English, so that was good too! We had three of our investigators show up to the Sunday morning session, and I was so glad they did. They don´t realized how great of an opportunity this is, but I´m hoping we can help them learn. To be quite honest, I don´t remember much of the week besides that.. we spent every day inviting people to conference because of what a special opportunity it is. I never appreciated conference at home as much as I do here. I loved how many messages there were about families.. it made me want my own. But we all know that´s not going to happen for a while so.. haha. We did teach Abrahan again, the guy that came up to us while drunk in the street a couple weeks ago. He´s really great. I know he has a strong desire to quit smoking and drinking, but its hard for him, and it´s hard for me to know how to help him since I´ve never known anyone that does that before. It is kind of upsetting when he pulls out his cigarettes in the middle of the lesson.. I just want to yell what are you doing!?!?!!! I have a feeling like that wouldn´t go over too well though.. sometimes I feel like Paraguayans have no concept of the word commitment.. but I¨m going to keep trying! And Conference helped a lot. I also loved how they said that now is the time for members and missionaries to work together. I feel like that was something this ward needed to hear as well as many others. I feel bad now for not trying to help them when I was at home.. there really is more success in the work when the member help the missionaries. I guess we´ll see if anyone´s attitude changes. We also went to Itaipú this morning, which is apparently the biggest dam in the world. It was pretty huge.. I think it powers all of Paraguay and part of Brazil.. crazy, huh? I thought it was really cool that we got to go see that. Well, have a good week everyone!

Elder Taylor

Elder Kaden Barlow - Beak Soup

Elder Barlow and Elder Lumene

Santo Domingo Temple

 

 

On visiting the local university: “We went to the University this last Friday. We got there and just went out contacting! Me and my compañero placed two Book of Mormons and left a bunch of pamphlets with people. It was so much fun, I was super sad we only had just over an hour there. My favorite guy that we taught was this guy named Fernando. He was one of them that we gave the Book of Mormon to. We taught him for around 35 minutes because he just kept wanting to know more! It was really cool to test out our Spanish. :) We will go to the University tomorrow for the last time and then the last two Fridays we are here we go out on splits into our mission so that will be super cool!”

 

On playing the piano: “This last Sunday I accompanied one of the Elders in my district as he sang a solo. We mashed together an arrangement of Come Thou Fount and Joseph Smiths First Prayer(Is that the English name?) because there is no arrangement of Come Thou Fount in Spanish :( We have been playing piano in that room I told you about the first week, everyday after lunch. One time we accidently walked in on one of our teachers who was taking a nap in there so now we actually have permission and we usually draw a bunch of Dominicans and Missionaries in that want to listen. :)”

 

On the food: “I got sick last night and was in the bathroom for awhile, not sure what I ate but I’m pretty sure it was the mystery soup that we had for lunch.. Someone said they found a beak in theirs and I wasn’t the only one sick. The food is done by some Dominican guy, he shows up in his truck everyday. So the food is made else where and brought here. He is a cool guy named Alex and is always teaching Elders things they shouldn’t say. Not bad, just slang that isn't professional.”

 

Life in the D.R.: “The power goes out here all the time! There is a generator here in the CCM so most the time the lights come right back on, but last week I got to use my headlight for a few minutes! Also the Dominicans are very relaxed! Things don't really start on time, except for the meetings run by the Americans, even in the CCM haha. I’m super excited for General Conference Saturday and Sunday It will be really cool to be in the CCM and to watch it. One other cool thing that I did this week was teaching TRC again. It was really cool to see how much more me and my companion could speak in Spanish. We taught a great lesson on prayer and even got cookies. I love the Rodriguez family and I can’t wait till next Monday to teach them again.

 

On Sundays: “Yes I love the CCM and my favorite part is probably Sunday where we can go back to English. . . I get so tired that its nice just to relax and feel the spirit. Plus on Sundays we get Pizza and Ice Cream. . . I taught the District Sunday School class this week on hope. I didn’t prepare much I just had preach my gospel and a few thoughts and figured I could go for 40 minutes and it was no big deal. Then the MTC president walked in with his wife and asked if he could join us, and I started getting nervous. Thanks to the spirit though the lesson went really well and they enjoyed it. She asked us after to help her make pizza for dinner so we got to make 25 pizzas after watching The Joseph Smith movie. I LOVE Sundays!!”

 

 

Elder Christian Tanner - What Does The Fox Say???

 

Family and Friends,

 

First things first. I had no idea about "What does the fox say?" obviously. We were at Bishops house on Sunday for dinner and he told us about it. Then he showed it to us. But I think I died laughing. The old guy when he goes "wuffff wufff wufff wuffff wuffff" hahahahahahaha. Oh my heck. Funniest thing ever. Maybe just because I havent seen anything like that in forever.

I am staying in Halmstad, as you know by now. I am getting a new companion named Elder Billadue (but i dont know if thats how its spelled.) We get sisters, too, as I menioned. One of them is Sister Christensen and I dont know the other. Tomorrow Millsap goes to Helsingborg and Billadue comes here to Halmstad. Wednesday the sisters come and we'll get settled in. I think I am going to like this, a lot. When these new missionaries come, I will be the only missionary here who knows Halmstad in and out. :) Its kinda fun, I think. As I mentioned, we will be in a District with the Sisters, my comp will be the District Leader and I will be the Senior Companion. It will be really good transfer. I am exctied to see what big changes will happen the next 6 weeks and such.

 

Jens. We are talking to him right now, actually. We were just sitting here writing home and he walks up to us and wants to talk. We arnt talking religion right now. He's having a hard time with his life, so we are just talking about... well... life. So if this letter is short, thats why. He didnt get baptized on the 28th. He hasnt read anything, so it could be a while before we get him in the waters of baptism. Its too bad, though, for Millsap. He was really excited about Jens. Billadue and I will work hard with him. He is so stubborn though. He knows what the spirit fills like and we feel it every time we teach him. His problem is that he just wont commit. We ask him to read, he says yes. Next lesson we find out he hasn't read anything and says why (which is usually a pathetic excuse, to be honest). So we try asking him to do different stuff like pray, come to church or innabandy, and he doesnt commit to anything. So its been tough with him. We just keep praying and hope the Lord will lead us in the right direction with him. I am not going to give up on him until I feel from the Sprit (and my companion confirms it) that we need to stop teaching him. He needs people to talk to, and we are those people. So, I am glad about that. I feel like we are good people for him to talk to.

 

Tony. Well, now that Millsap is leaving he doesnt want to meet with us. He told me "You can come to my house, but not your companion. If your companion comes, then the missionaries will never stop coming. So if you want to come to visit me, give me a call and I will come and get you. But not your companion." That was a little bit depressing. He did tell Millsap he would get baptised in 20 years. But, obviously, thats not a very good... date... for a baptism. I was able to convince him to meet us at the library once in a while. So, we havent completly lost him. Like with Jens, I wont stop meeting with him until I get a confirmation to stop or he just refuses.

 

The good part about both of these, is that they actually have done missionary work for us! Tony gave us a referal to one of his friends and Jens gave his friends one of his 3 Book of Mormon. Last saturday we met with Tonys friend at an asain buffet. It was good too. We didnt just come out and talk about our religion, actually. We felt like we just needed to be really soft and just more get to know him than anything else. We know where he lives so we might go knock on his door (with my new comp) in a few days and just slowly work our way up to lessons.

 

Now that I have been out in the feild for some time, I have been realizing now more than ever just how important the spirit is. You never ever know when an opportunity will come up to teach someone. I realize a lot more now what "set apart" means. We are seperate from the world. We are in it, but not really. For example, I spend everyday outside and I see what the style of clothes is like, I see posters for movies, I see drugs and cigars all over the street, but all of that is a distraction from the Spirit. Like I say, I didnt even know about What Does the Fox Say?. Its because I am focused on what needs to be done and I work hard to not worry about what the "world" is doing. The talk I gave in church on my farewell about how to recognise the spirit has been really really helpful to me. I know that talk helped me realize what the spirit is, and what it sounds like, and how to follow it. Missionary work without the Spirit is like... the story of Lord of the Rings without the One Ring. Just like everything revolves around The Ring, everything revolves around the Spirit.

 

And I think I will just end it with that. I love you guys! Miss you lots!

 

Have it good!

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