Ballin Everyday
Date
March 14, 2016
Area
Parker Colorado
Companion
Elder Layton
Ballin Everyday
So this has been a week. That’s for sure. First of all, in three days I will have been out here for a month. Where the heck did that go!? It makes me sad, time is going by too quickly, but I am not wasting a second, so I find comfort knowing that.
I’ll start with the most exciting news. Ben was baptized yesterday!! Man it was so amazing! He really is such an amazing kid and hearing him stand up afterwards and bear his testimony was beautiful! Both his parents where there and we were able to talk with them after the baptism, so I am hoping that they felt the spirit. There were a lot of non-members there which was really neat to see them supporting Ben in this huge step in his life. He will be confirmed a member of the Church and receive the Holy Ghost next Sunday. He is already working towards receiving the Priesthood and going to the temple! We are hoping that it will be before Elder Layton and I leave the area, because Ben really wants us to go with him, and I want to too!
So last week I got my first glimpse of Colorado Weather. As we walked into the library to email, it was sunny, we walked out to snow, and two hours later warm and sunny again. So it will be fun to experience that more.
We are recognized as Elders everywhere. Because the area I am serving in is so small, and the members are ALL active, nearly everyone has neighbors who are Mormons. So most people have heard something about the gospel, which can be both good and bad when trying to find people to teach. So far, it has been rough, but we found several people last week that we set up return appointments for this week so we are praying every day that those go well!
Friday night, we had 45 minutes before our dinner appointment, so we were about to go walk around and we saw these kids playing football. So we went over and started playing with them for a little bit. We invited them to our youth sports night that we hold on Saturdays at the church and went to dinner. It was a ton of fun! The next morning we were at a park going through our records to make a list of people we wanted to visit, and who walks up but three of the boys. We challenged them to a game of basketball. There was three of them but we still won. Don’t be too impressed, they were only 15. It was still fun and we found out that they have some Mormon friends so we are hoping that we can get their families invited to our ward Easter activity coming up in a few weeks.
I have found that you need to get creative in the way we try to find people. When I say our area is small, I mean that the city of Parker is split up into neighborhoods, and we have the smallest one. It is super nice though and I am so glad I am here. Elder Layton and I are continuing to try and find cool ways to meet people so we will keep you updated on how that is going.
The members continue to feed us too well. And they don’t allow me to say no to seconds. I almost bought a scale today but didn’t want to ruin my day so I decided not to.
I have learned a lot of things since I have been out here. I continue to learn that my faith is not as strong as I thought it was. Do not misunderstand, I have faith in the Gospel, I just realized I doubt myself a lot. I doubt my Mission President when he says there are people prepared to hear the message we have. I have discovered that I need to leave our apartment every day, and KNOW that there is someone waiting for us to talk to them. I have to trust that the Lord knows where we are needed, and if we are following what he asks, we will have success. It is a process to learn that, but I am grateful that I have the opportunity to!
We taught the Gospel Principles class in church yesterday. Our investigator that was supposed to be there bailed for the second week in a row :( But I loved being able to teach again. We had some amazing conversation! I seriously just love getting to teach and I love talking about the gospel! It is such a blessing to be able to spend the next two years of my life focusing on that!
As always I love you all! I am so appreciative of the support I feel from all of you and I can’t wait to be able to share more experiences with you. You are all in my prayers!
Elder Richards
I’ll start with the most exciting news. Ben was baptized yesterday!! Man it was so amazing! He really is such an amazing kid and hearing him stand up afterwards and bear his testimony was beautiful! Both his parents where there and we were able to talk with them after the baptism, so I am hoping that they felt the spirit. There were a lot of non-members there which was really neat to see them supporting Ben in this huge step in his life. He will be confirmed a member of the Church and receive the Holy Ghost next Sunday. He is already working towards receiving the Priesthood and going to the temple! We are hoping that it will be before Elder Layton and I leave the area, because Ben really wants us to go with him, and I want to too!
So last week I got my first glimpse of Colorado Weather. As we walked into the library to email, it was sunny, we walked out to snow, and two hours later warm and sunny again. So it will be fun to experience that more.
We are recognized as Elders everywhere. Because the area I am serving in is so small, and the members are ALL active, nearly everyone has neighbors who are Mormons. So most people have heard something about the gospel, which can be both good and bad when trying to find people to teach. So far, it has been rough, but we found several people last week that we set up return appointments for this week so we are praying every day that those go well!
Friday night, we had 45 minutes before our dinner appointment, so we were about to go walk around and we saw these kids playing football. So we went over and started playing with them for a little bit. We invited them to our youth sports night that we hold on Saturdays at the church and went to dinner. It was a ton of fun! The next morning we were at a park going through our records to make a list of people we wanted to visit, and who walks up but three of the boys. We challenged them to a game of basketball. There was three of them but we still won. Don’t be too impressed, they were only 15. It was still fun and we found out that they have some Mormon friends so we are hoping that we can get their families invited to our ward Easter activity coming up in a few weeks.
I have found that you need to get creative in the way we try to find people. When I say our area is small, I mean that the city of Parker is split up into neighborhoods, and we have the smallest one. It is super nice though and I am so glad I am here. Elder Layton and I are continuing to try and find cool ways to meet people so we will keep you updated on how that is going.
The members continue to feed us too well. And they don’t allow me to say no to seconds. I almost bought a scale today but didn’t want to ruin my day so I decided not to.
I have learned a lot of things since I have been out here. I continue to learn that my faith is not as strong as I thought it was. Do not misunderstand, I have faith in the Gospel, I just realized I doubt myself a lot. I doubt my Mission President when he says there are people prepared to hear the message we have. I have discovered that I need to leave our apartment every day, and KNOW that there is someone waiting for us to talk to them. I have to trust that the Lord knows where we are needed, and if we are following what he asks, we will have success. It is a process to learn that, but I am grateful that I have the opportunity to!
We taught the Gospel Principles class in church yesterday. Our investigator that was supposed to be there bailed for the second week in a row :( But I loved being able to teach again. We had some amazing conversation! I seriously just love getting to teach and I love talking about the gospel! It is such a blessing to be able to spend the next two years of my life focusing on that!
As always I love you all! I am so appreciative of the support I feel from all of you and I can’t wait to be able to share more experiences with you. You are all in my prayers!
Elder Richards
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