Week 7 - First Week in the Field!
Date
October 24, 2016
Area
First Area - Woodburn, OR
Companion
Elder Patterson
Week 7 - First Week in the Field!
This week has been the hardest week of my life, not gonna lie. It's hard to be thrown into the field--because that's what happens. You walk off the plane and boom! You're on your mission. It was tough knowing less than nothing of what was happing, what the procedures for things were, and just acclimating to missionary life in general, was really hard. My trainer's name is Elder Patterson, and he's amazing! He really is the best! He actually just got finished being trained during his last transfer, so I am the first companion he's had who wasn't his trainer...and he's the one training me! We are in Woodburn Oregon for our first assignment, and we both whitewashed the area, meaning we replaced both the previous missionaries in the area. This means that neither of us know the area, know the investigators, or anything like that. We're basically starting from scratch. It's been...interesting. We live in an apartment with another companionship of elders and share a car with them. Neither of us actually live inside our area, so its fun trying to figure out how to split the car between the four of us. We've done a lot of walking this past couple of days, but now that I have a bike everything will go much much quicker. Just last night we walked by a part-member family's house consisting of Artemia, a member, and her husband who is not. He explained to us (in Spanish!!!) basically his whole backstory and how he grew up in Mexico. I didn't catch a lot of what was going on, but I definitely felt the Spirit while we were talking to them. That's where we are right now, and hopefully I'll have more to tell you next Monday. By the way, P-day is Monday for me!! Yay!!!!
In terms of actual proselyting, we only have one actual semi-progressing investigator...who we haven't even been able to meet yet so that's a bummer :( We meet with him on Wednesday to figure out where the previous elders left off with him in terms of lessons. We've done a lot of tracting around our area and just talking to people when we run into them. It's really opened my eyes to what missionaries actually do all day! Missionary work is 95% searching out people and 5% really amazing experiences that strengthen yourselves and the people you end up baptizing...That just hasn't happened to Elder Patterson and I yet. But it will soon! We're in the area for twelve weeks while I train. At least, that's the normal.
I know that the most important thing for both Elder Patterson and I right now is to stay positive and know that the Lord is with us and that as we continue to open our mouths, that eventually we will touch the hearts of people who are prepared.
Oregon is really pretty this time of year! The trees are yellow and bright red!! Like, bright bright red! It's so pretty! I don't have any pictures this week, but I'll do better for next week, sorry everybody! It's been a little crazy these past couple of days, if you can imagine that! :) I really do feel like my Spanish right now is totally inadequate, but I know that through Him and relying completely on Him and being faithful to the promises that God promises His missionaries that I will continue to learn Spanish quickly and be able to converse with the people we will be teaching. I'll leave you with this: When we open our mouths to preach the word of God to those we come into contact with we are given divine help.
I love you all!!
Love,
Elder Kehl
In terms of actual proselyting, we only have one actual semi-progressing investigator...who we haven't even been able to meet yet so that's a bummer :( We meet with him on Wednesday to figure out where the previous elders left off with him in terms of lessons. We've done a lot of tracting around our area and just talking to people when we run into them. It's really opened my eyes to what missionaries actually do all day! Missionary work is 95% searching out people and 5% really amazing experiences that strengthen yourselves and the people you end up baptizing...That just hasn't happened to Elder Patterson and I yet. But it will soon! We're in the area for twelve weeks while I train. At least, that's the normal.
I know that the most important thing for both Elder Patterson and I right now is to stay positive and know that the Lord is with us and that as we continue to open our mouths, that eventually we will touch the hearts of people who are prepared.
Oregon is really pretty this time of year! The trees are yellow and bright red!! Like, bright bright red! It's so pretty! I don't have any pictures this week, but I'll do better for next week, sorry everybody! It's been a little crazy these past couple of days, if you can imagine that! :) I really do feel like my Spanish right now is totally inadequate, but I know that through Him and relying completely on Him and being faithful to the promises that God promises His missionaries that I will continue to learn Spanish quickly and be able to converse with the people we will be teaching. I'll leave you with this: When we open our mouths to preach the word of God to those we come into contact with we are given divine help.
I love you all!!
Love,
Elder Kehl
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