Working the Ward

 Getting really comfortable here in Bristol with the people and new missionary norms. Great week that I'm going to try my best to recall. Our mission did a "park day" where no vehicles were allowed to be driven, oh no I guess we have to walk, it was awesome! Unfortunately some lessons fell through but we had the chance to do some solid work online. We attended a meeting with bishop and the elders quorum presidency to discuss literally every member in the ward, 3 hours later we were finished. 

Thankful our amazing bishop Youngblood provided some Chick fil-a which I can't even imagine how much that must've cost. We then made up a Google sheet with all the members we were tasked with visiting and reactivating and set out to work. Quite the adventure as we traveled every which back road tracking down members who haven't been to church in ages. Truly amazing to see this bishop dedicated to his ward and fellow shipping them, I may have busted up our  little Chevy Malibu on the trek but it was worth it. 

We have a week mapped out to see more of them as well as appointments to get to know them better. Thinking we should have done this awhile ago as I might be transferred out in a couple weeks but it's all good. Had some amazing lessons with some investigators, really trying to nail down some points and seeing some progress. We have been trying to remember that we might not see the "fruit" of baptism but we watered the seed along the way, just grateful to be a part of he process. High expectations must be accompanied by love for others as well as yourself. 

Chau fam squad

Espanol Speaking

 This past week has been enjoyable, especially with all the rain. Started off getting to meet Jubal, the first Spanish speaking person I've really met here in Tennessee. I have been practicing my Spanish the best I can and was so excited to finally put it to use. It has been difficult to understand why God has placed me here with little opportunity to use the Spanish language but answers come as promised and I was finally revealed the blessing. After we sat down and talked for a little bit I introduced our purpose and began walking through the restoration lesson only to find out afterwards that he is a member and has been his whole life. His aunt originally reached out to us about him talking about going to church and it turns out he just wants to go back to church since he loved to the states and does not speak English very well. In the end I was honored to get to meet him and we are now working on which of his friends we can contact and about ward members who could help him at church. 

During the week we worked on creating an ad for Facebook which was really fun. Thursday we had an amazing lesson with Vicky and Aiden under a tiny umbrella in the pouring rain. As far as concerns for her we are working to explain baptism by proper authority. She is doing well but it has been difficult helping her get to church. We also had the chance to meet with Brianna who is on date for baptism and very excited. We had the opportunity to travel to a baptismal service far up in Virginia for a young man who is Filipino, and my comp served there and was able to talk to his family. So both of us had the chance to use our mission languages and it was great. These next few days we going on a fast from cars to save miles since we're driving too much so walking it is. We are lucky to stay at the other elder's apartment so we aren't stuck in the motel miles from any residential house. 

Hope life is cooking for everyone else, and as for a spiritual thought, my comp and I put trust in the Lord to guide us as we utilized our language so I invite you to take life more simply and trust in Him.

Keep Hoping

 Just want to highlight a few things from this past week that stand out to me. The work has been going well and we are leading a few investigators towards baptism. As a zone we are focusing on Alma 32 and the idea of a seed of faith. We have taken the word seed as an acronym and this past week the S in seed stood for a swelling within our souls. We had the opportunity to share this zone goal with Lisa, a lady we have been teaching and the spirit was very strong. 

Along with an uplifting zone conference on Friday regarding the same idea, we have been able to focus our lessons with these same ideas and see great miracles come from them. It is such a joy to see those we are contacting in person and get to know them more and more every week. I was happy to be able to post everyday about something I am grateful for on Facebook and it has allowed me to have a greater attitude throughout the week. I hope those who needed to see my posts saw them and I trust God took a part in that as Facebook is a huge part in His work today. 

The greatest blessing from this week came as we were referred to person who only speaks Spanish. A lady on Facebook told me about her son who is interested but can't speak English and would like things explained in Spanish. Boom guys, there you go, I was called here for a reason and this is the start of it. No matter how long of a trial it may be you've gotta keep pushing and you'll get results as a promise from God. 

Excited to see what happens and you use my language capabilities. I am thankful for the support and the guidance I receive and pray for the same on everyone else. 

Keep working, nos vemos!

La Obra y Elder Moe

An amazing week here in Bristol with a big turnaround in attitude. Knowing and understanding that I am here to help families be happy is awesome and rewarding in ways I'll never forget. 

The littlest of things go a long way for me as I get to talk with Aiden, a 9 year old genius for an hour. This lesson with him and his grandma Vicky was great. We were on exchanges with the Zone leaders and I was with Elder Moe, a friend from back home, so it was great to talk with him and throw the football around. He was reassigned from Mexico and now we're here in a trailer park both struggling to teach in English. It went great though as little Aiden was quoting scriptures like John 3:16 to us. At 9 years old I think the only thing I had memorized was the McDonald's menu, the kid's a stud! Still not an easy task as they weren't able to make it to church yesterday, but we'll keep at it. On the other side of the exchange we got a lady on date for baptism, so truly an empowering day. 

That same day we met a dude I've been talking to on Facebook. He works at Taco Bell so I suggested we meet there before he heads in for work, and to grab some tacos of course. Tyler is a super nice guy and accepted a Book of Mormon for us so I'm looking forward to get back to him. 

Another thing we did this week was help some elderly members move furniture which is a missionary's specialty. My back is a little sore but I'm young so no complaining. They took us out to eat in person which is the first time some members have done that here besides dropping off gift cards so that was nice. In our motel the mold in the shower is getting everywhere so we talked to the front desk and we think we'll just move to the next room over or something. 

District council went well and we discussed our progress and goals, mine being to love the people around me more. A better attitude comes when we shoot for kindness and accept others as they are. For Pday I think we're going to hit up the giant Bass Pro Shop store across the street, really getting into the whole southern vibe. Love your neighbor a little extra this week, cuidense!!