Date
January 23, 2017
Area
Brighton, Colorado
Companion
Elder Hansen
Another week down! This week has been a GOOD one. It was interesting coming in here and trying to turn stuff around that wasn't going the best, but the work is really starting to pick up!
So, there is this family we teach..... They are..... interesting. I won’t go into detail... but I will say there are two grandmas that live in the house, Wendy and Kay. Kay has been a member her whole life, Wendy was baptized about 8 months ago. Wendy has her two kids, Sean and Toni that live in the house. Sean has wanted to be baptized but struggles with PTSD and other things, so he has never been able to progress. Toni has never been interested in the church, but her husband, Dan was baptized 8 months ago as well, and their two daughters, Tiana and Autumn were baptized and Toni likes it for them.
Well, we are helping Dan prepare to receive the Aaronic Priesthood. In our lesson Toni was sitting in and I challenged her to be baptized and she said she probably would in the next 8 months. So, I challenged her to Feb 17, because it will be my 1 year mark out here and she accepted, which is a big deal, because she has never been even close to that. So now we must teach her all the lessons. A few days after that lesson, she told us that she is serious about that date. Their family is awesome and hilarious, but they are.... interesting. Can’t help but just laugh over there. So that is exciting!
We also had a good lesson with an older man named Albert. It was a super cool experience for Elder Hansen, because when I first came into the area, we were trying to get me to meet everyone that they had been meeting with. Some of the people like Albert they were just stopping by and sharing a scripture with and they didn't think they would ever progress. The first time I met Albert, we just got to know him and didn't teach him. Afterwards, I told Elder Hansen that he has a TON of potential. Elder Hansen said, “how do you see potential in him!?” We talked a little bit about that, and then when we went back for a lesson with him this week the spirit was STRONG!!! We invited him to be baptized, and he said he would pray about it. He has been Christian his whole life and wanted to be baptized, so I asked why he had never been baptized before in any other church. He told us he had gotten close a few times, but for some reason he never had been and he didn't know why. We told him that we thought it was because he was waiting for us. He said he thought it might be, and he started to get emotional and apologized. We shared with him that what he was feeling was the Spirit! It was a super cool lesson, and I think it helped Elder Hansen to get excited about the work. We will be following up with him tomorrow!
We also had the cool opportunity to go back to Boulder for Ian's baptism! Man, that kid is awesome! The spirit was crazy strong at the service, and Ian bore his testimony after and it was amazing! It was good to see him and Emiley and a few of the people from the ward including the McDonald family, with whom we spent time on Christmas. It was needed for me to help me stay motivated and loving the work!
We had Zone Conference this past week and found out about some interesting changes that will be coming to missionaries! We will find out all about them this week in a World-Wide Missionary Broadcast. It will be cool moving forward. Our daily schedule will be changing, but in a good way!
I will close with probably my favorite part of Ian's testimony. He is in the Marine ROTC, and shared an experience from his Officer Training. He talked about this 12-mile hike with an 80-lb. pack. They started the hike in the complete pitch black. He said you couldn't see the person in front of you it was so dark. He shared that along the way he felt helpless, and in his first uttered prayer, he told God that if he was there, that he couldn't do this on his own and he needed God’s help. It touched me because of the similarities between his own prayer, and the same prayer that I offered almost 4 years ago that changed my life. I know that I needed Ian in my life to help me learn more than he needed me. I am so grateful for his example to me and that God allowed me to take part in teaching him.
The Lord knows us in a very personal way, and he is ALWAYS there for us. We only need to ask and recognize his hand in the darkness.
I love you all!
Elder Steven Richards
So, there is this family we teach..... They are..... interesting. I won’t go into detail... but I will say there are two grandmas that live in the house, Wendy and Kay. Kay has been a member her whole life, Wendy was baptized about 8 months ago. Wendy has her two kids, Sean and Toni that live in the house. Sean has wanted to be baptized but struggles with PTSD and other things, so he has never been able to progress. Toni has never been interested in the church, but her husband, Dan was baptized 8 months ago as well, and their two daughters, Tiana and Autumn were baptized and Toni likes it for them.
Well, we are helping Dan prepare to receive the Aaronic Priesthood. In our lesson Toni was sitting in and I challenged her to be baptized and she said she probably would in the next 8 months. So, I challenged her to Feb 17, because it will be my 1 year mark out here and she accepted, which is a big deal, because she has never been even close to that. So now we must teach her all the lessons. A few days after that lesson, she told us that she is serious about that date. Their family is awesome and hilarious, but they are.... interesting. Can’t help but just laugh over there. So that is exciting!
We also had a good lesson with an older man named Albert. It was a super cool experience for Elder Hansen, because when I first came into the area, we were trying to get me to meet everyone that they had been meeting with. Some of the people like Albert they were just stopping by and sharing a scripture with and they didn't think they would ever progress. The first time I met Albert, we just got to know him and didn't teach him. Afterwards, I told Elder Hansen that he has a TON of potential. Elder Hansen said, “how do you see potential in him!?” We talked a little bit about that, and then when we went back for a lesson with him this week the spirit was STRONG!!! We invited him to be baptized, and he said he would pray about it. He has been Christian his whole life and wanted to be baptized, so I asked why he had never been baptized before in any other church. He told us he had gotten close a few times, but for some reason he never had been and he didn't know why. We told him that we thought it was because he was waiting for us. He said he thought it might be, and he started to get emotional and apologized. We shared with him that what he was feeling was the Spirit! It was a super cool lesson, and I think it helped Elder Hansen to get excited about the work. We will be following up with him tomorrow!
We also had the cool opportunity to go back to Boulder for Ian's baptism! Man, that kid is awesome! The spirit was crazy strong at the service, and Ian bore his testimony after and it was amazing! It was good to see him and Emiley and a few of the people from the ward including the McDonald family, with whom we spent time on Christmas. It was needed for me to help me stay motivated and loving the work!
We had Zone Conference this past week and found out about some interesting changes that will be coming to missionaries! We will find out all about them this week in a World-Wide Missionary Broadcast. It will be cool moving forward. Our daily schedule will be changing, but in a good way!
I will close with probably my favorite part of Ian's testimony. He is in the Marine ROTC, and shared an experience from his Officer Training. He talked about this 12-mile hike with an 80-lb. pack. They started the hike in the complete pitch black. He said you couldn't see the person in front of you it was so dark. He shared that along the way he felt helpless, and in his first uttered prayer, he told God that if he was there, that he couldn't do this on his own and he needed God’s help. It touched me because of the similarities between his own prayer, and the same prayer that I offered almost 4 years ago that changed my life. I know that I needed Ian in my life to help me learn more than he needed me. I am so grateful for his example to me and that God allowed me to take part in teaching him.
The Lord knows us in a very personal way, and he is ALWAYS there for us. We only need to ask and recognize his hand in the darkness.
I love you all!
Elder Steven Richards
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