Date
January 11, 2016
Area
Owosso, MI
Companion
Elder Laing
Look at Michigan's weather forecast! Enough said!
Hello family and friends! Another week has come and gone. Hope you all had a great week and are enjoying the new year. We have had a pretty good week, so here goes.
Monday was a pretty good day. We did our usual routine of laundry, shopping and emailing. We went to Lansing and checked out the Meridian mall and then went to the stake center for some ball. Also we finally got haircuts as well so that was good. Kinda scared though cause the guy who wanted to cut our hair was in the navy and he was known for hair buzzes, so that kinda freaked me out cause I didn't want a shaved head. He did a great job though!
Tuesday morning we traded off with the Dewitt elders and I stayed in Owosso with Elder Mills. Good 'ole Elder Mills is from Bountiful Utah. He is convinced that Utah is the best (he says its the promised land) and his evidence for that is the prophet lives there. But he's a good guy and we had a blast together! We taught our investigator Arlene, who is progressing slowly but surely. We did our finding time for the day and visited some potential investigators as well. We had dinner with the Rileys, and discussed a temple trip for our recent convert Traci Settlemyre. Traci is doing great by the way, we havent been able to meet with her because her mom and dad have been in the hospital. But she continues to go and lets us know often of how blessed she feels for us to have found her and bring her the gospel! That keeps me going as a missionary!
Wednesday we had district meeting and the zone leaders came. We had a good discussion about our relationship with others. Its been kind of a struggle for some in our district, so it was good to receive insight and advice for that. Our appointment with a potential fell through, so we went doorknocking until it got dark. Dinner was with the Stowers, which is always great cause Sister Stowers is a fantastic cook!
Thursday we had our weekly planning session, and planned for our investigators and others. We were on foot as well, so we were pretty limited to where we could go. We went and door knocked and street contacted, and found some cool potentials. We found this one lady who is an avid genealogist. We were able to talk to her about her passion and I got to kind of relate to her because I've done family history work. Though she wasnt interested in hearing our message, we were able to talk with her and answer some of her questions. Truly a blessing to be able to talk with her!
Friday we did some more door knocking and found a former investigator, who I thought is pretty solid. When we looked at his old teaching record, we noticed some dilemmas he had and that the missionaries had with him. I'm not discouraging his new found interest, I'm curious as too how converted this guy is. Anyway, we had dinner with the Oberlins and visited some less active members that evening.
Saturday we did some more knocking (we don't do this just for fun by the way. Each week we are required to achieve 15 hours of finding, whether that is door knocking or street contacting) in various places, Ovid, Corunna and Owosso. We had an AML ( a new thing the mission started, means active member lesson) with the Rileys and got some good insight.
Sunday was great, we had few in attendance at church because of the weather, but still great! After church we went and shoveled people out, gave a couple blessings and visited the Oberlins.
I love missionary work! I know The Lord leads those who sincerely seek his direction to those His children. As we prepare ourselves and humbly seek the Lord's help and guidance, he is able to work through us. He needs to be able to trust us. I have seen the difference when I have and haven't sought the Lord's help in every aspect of my day. The reward is much more joyous and satisfying, though it may not always be what we expect. I have a testimony of this gospel, and that THERE IS simplicity in Christ, as Elder Uchtdorf explains.
Love you all! Have a great week and talk to you all soon!
Elder Brown