Tuesday: We went to go get some ice in the morning from
the Grahams. We needed some ice for our cooler, we were going to the
members of our district and bringing them cookies and milk and discussing the
"vision" they have for their area. We started with Elder Sandino
& Dutton, Sister Burgos & Anderson, then finished with the Zone leaders
Elder Anderson & Gehrett. We didn't have any scheduled dinner so we decided
to go to In-N-Out burger and a very nice lady paid for us and bought us a gift
card as well! At night we went to the Jensen's home and since they own a tie
company Tuvuu they gave us matching ties to wear to Zone conference on
Wednesday.
Wednesday: We had a Zone conference that took up most of
our morning/ afternoon. It had a big emphasis on planning more effectively in
order to fulfill our missionary purpose. If we plan better for our
investigators we are working with, they will have a better opportunity to learn
what they need to learn. There was also a focus on teaching by the spirit.
Elder Jeffery R. Holland gave a talk at a mission president seminar at BYU not
too long ago. He shared a story about a man who left the house when he was a
young man, he was in a biker gang and ended up in New York and realizing he
needed to change his life around. So he biked to California to live. One day
young missionaries were walking by his house and as they did, his two doberman
pinchers charged to the fence to scare off anybody who walked by. After the
missionaries walked by they stoped and talked for a little and produced to turn
around and head back to the gate. The dogs charged the fence again but as the
missionaries got to the fence the dogs bowed their heads and returned to the
porch and laid down next to the man. The missionaries opened the gate and started
talking to the man. They asked if he was from around here and he responded
with, "actually I'm from Pocatello Idaho." One missionary spoke up
and asked, "do you know so and so?" The man hesitated and said,
"yeah.... those are my parents." "Me too" said the young
missionary. God has sent me here to invite you to come home. Mom and dad have
been praying for you for twenty years not knowing if you were even alive. The
man didn't even know about having a younger brother, he was born after he left.
Elder Holland goes on to say how the Holy Ghost is vital in doing the Lords
work. The young man was guided by the spirit to serve a mission, the parents
were comforted by the spirit while
praying for twenty years, the spirit guided one of the members of the quorum of
the 12 apostles to assign this missionary to this mission in California, his
mission president was inspired by the spirit to assign this missionary to that
area at that time, the missionaries were guided by the spirit to work in that
area, the missionaries were guided by the spirit to turn around and talk to
this man. All of these series of events of following the spirit ultimately
brought two long lost brothers back to each other and reuniting him with the
family. The spirit is one of the most important things we need when we are to
align our life with Gods will.
Thursday: We started our exchange with the Zone leaders
in the morning. I was with Elder Anderson and Elder Collier was with Elder
Gehrett. Elder Anderson and I were driving by and we stopped to talk to this
lady and it turns out that she was one of their potential investigators that
they have been trying to meet with. So we started walking with her and she told
us to stop by when she's done with work at 4. After that we went to go visit a
less active man and discussed some of the things that were bothering him and he
felt that nobody in the ward cared or was friendly. We talked a lot about how
"be the change you want to see in the world." As Ghandi would say.
Sometimes people need to hear your personal testimony and it could change their
life. He committed to go to church on Sunday and to complement someone so they
can have a better day. We stopped by Subway at 4 to visit with Tamiera and we
started getting an understanding of where she was at and we ended up teaching
her at Subway! At night we went by a sober living home to visit one of their
investigators. They asked us to blessed the house to get rid of all the evil
spirits so we did. It seemed kind of weird but it was pretty cool!
Friday: We ended our exchanges with the Zone Leaders and
went back to our area. We had a lunch/ correlation meeting with our senior
missionary couple the Grahams. After the lunch I had to run over to a Zone
leadership meeting. For the first time in my life, I got to ride in a Testla. A
full electric car that is now the fastest car on the market. Man that thing
felt like it was a roller coaster! I believe if I remember correctly it goes
from 0-60 in 4 seconds. At night I was supposed to interview one of the Sister
missionaries investigators to be baptized but they had a late change of plans
and had to reschedule for Saturday morning.
Saturday: I interviewed Joey Bogan in the morning. He is
a 10 year old kid who was pretty cool. We didn't get the chance to go to his
baptism sadly. We stopped by our investigator's
house Lisa Carrol to invite her to Joey's baptism. We talked to her
husband Tim, and he said that he thinks that Lisa is close to deciding to be
baptized. That is great news to hear because it sounds like it's been a long
process with her. Sadly Lisa had to go to her brothers birthday party so
she couldn't come to see a baptism. At night we visited a few bishops and got
some people they want us to go visit and how the work is going in their wards.
At night we came back to our apartment to realize we turned off the fan and AC
in the morning so our apartment was 85 degrees at night! Man was it toasty! We
ended up grabbing everything out of our freezer and using it as a cold blanket!
Sunday: Elder
Collier and I had to give a talk in the Draper 11th Ward at 9am. We could talk
about whatever we wanted, so Elder Collier talked about the Book of Mormon and
I talked about missionary work! We had to give another talk in the Draper 6th
Ward as well. The topic for that was missionary work so I only had to write one
talk last night! They went really well and we hope and pray that it
inspired the members to be better at sharing the gospel with their friends,
because we can't do it by ourselves. We were planning on having a new investigator
Trey Scott at church, but the primary President got home late last night and
didn't invite him to church. We stopped by the Carrol home to see if Tim &
Lisa came to church and it sounds like they went rollerblading instead. The sad
part is Tim (the LDS member) didn't really want to go to church, and Lisa (not
an LDS member) wanted to go, but they ended up not going. We know that we
didn't have the best week work wise but we know that next week should and will
be better!
Hope you all have a wonderful week!
Love,
Elder Aaron Ashby
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