Wednesday: We had a district meeting to evaluate in the morning. We went to Elder Pearce’s district meeting. It was a really good meeting because of the followership Elder Pearce has. He applied everything that we talked to him about and it’s really good to see how he follows President Lansings vision and our zone vision. We see a lot of potential in him. His meeting was focused on prayer, and how prayer is so instrumental in people’s conversion because they can’t just take your word for it. Through personal prayer we can receive answers to the questions we have. After the district meeting we had a Zone leadership council, with all the district leaders and Sister training leaders. We came up with some ideas on how we could help each missionary in our zone. We gave a training on seeing people for who they can become rather than who they are. We played a video that recently came out and it tied in perfectly with what we wanted to focus on. It’s called “A pianos purpose” it’s a video where there is this nice piano that gets old and worn downs and eventually someone buys its and restores it to a nice looking piano. It’s how we need to look at people, not for who they are, but who they can become. That is how Jesus Christ looked at everyone he came in contact with. After the ZLC we taught an active member a lesson because he is lonely during the afternoons. We had the idea of having him think he is serving us by letting us teach him to work on our teaching skills when in reality we are serving him and his wife by giving him company.
Thursday: We had interviews with our mission president, President Lansing. It was a good day for President because he was really happy with all the missionaries in the “West Jordan Kingdom” (Zone) and the growth they have had this transfer and for the missionaries they are becoming. It’s always a special opportunity to sit down with our priesthood key holder and to receive revelation on how to best help the missionaries we have stewardship over. After Interviews we started exchanges with Elder Bretschneider and Zarate. I was with Elder Zarate in our area and Elder Gehrett went to their area with Elder Bretschneider. It was a pretty good exchange I was able to really help Elder Zarate grow his faith. He has been in his area for awhile now and feels like he has tired everything to see success. We were able to focus on talking to people when they are out and about, and having the faith that they would be prepared to receive the gospel. While on exchanges we split up with some ward mission leaders and while I was away we visited some new move ins and talked to one right before they were headed out. It was a recently returning member to activity and she had a friend that was with her who had been coming to church for a few weeks with her and wants to learn more! We were able to set up a time to come by and teach Jennifer.
Friday: We ended the exchange with the Elders in the morning so they could do their weekly planning. In their area Elder Gehrett and Bretschneider found someone who was ready to recognize the gospel and accepted to work towards baptism on April 7! It was through talking to someone in the street so it definitely should help build Elder Zarate’s faith! We did our weekly planning and then had our lunch Correlation meeting with the Remington’s. After dinner we had a lesson with the James family. We talked about Temples and how important they are to receive the full ordinances for Salvation. They are excited to go to the temple in a year from Alyxus, Mariah, and Jaycees baptism. Families can be together through Heavenly Fathers plan and by going to the temple and being sealed as a family for time and eternity. We believe in our church that it isn’t death do we part, but that marriage and families can be eternal. At night we taught Terry and Shelly, the new couple we are teaching that moved in from Cleveland. When we got there we could tell there was tension in between Terry and Shelly and Shelly went on a walk when we got there. We ended up just teaching Terry. We talked about how the most joy in this life comes through living the gospel of Jesus Christ. There are some roadblocks that come up in our lives but if we can trust in the Lord and keep the commandments he will prepare a way for us to find joy through the gospel.
Saturday: We had a breakfast with our Stake President and the other Spanish missionaries who cover the Spanish ward. After the breakfast we had to grab an iPad HDMI adapter for Elder Partidge and Westover. We went to their baptismal service and they used the iPad adapter to share a message while their investigator was changing after the baptism. They gave a good message all focused on how we can find truth. At night we ate dinner with a blind lady who amazed me how smart she was. By Elder Gehrett and I talking she knew what color of hair and eyes we had! She says that she can read our personalities and know what hair and eyes it corresponds with! She was dead on for both of us! At night we had a lesson with the James family again and we did it at the church where the baptismal font is. We showed them where he would be baptized and how it would work in preparation of their baptism on March 17. It was really cool to see them prepare to be baptized. Meanwhile we were having the lesson we got some calls from Terry. They walked to Walmart in South Jordan and their ride wouldn’t answer their phone. They needed a ride home so we called up a member of the ward and went to go pick them up. It was a great experience since they got to meet someone in the ward and we drove past a temple and a church building which they had questions about. Once our night was over we drove over to a missionaries apartment to get our weekly supplies from them since they had it in their car trunk. Well the rule is as a missionary that we need to be home no later than 9:30 and we sat outside waiting for them. They didn’t show up till 10:22 which is not good at all. We had to correct them and make sure that they don’t do again.
Sunday: We had the opportunity to go to the priest quorum in the fox point ward (boys age 16-18) and we talked about missionary work and preparing to go on missions. They seemed to like it and we hope that our testimonies inspired them to go on missions. We were hoping to see someone at church but they didn’t show up so we decided we needed to go find someone. We walked into our apartment complex and felt prompted to walk a certain way, and then felt prompted to knock on a random door. We did and a lady named Christina answered and she was super receptive to our message and said we could come by Wednesday! After that we went to the Garden Cove Ward to sit with Terry and Shelly. Sadly Shelly wasn’t feeling to well due to her pregnancy but we were able to sit with Terry at church. The talks that were given were perfect for him and he really enjoyed it. At night we did splits with some young men. Saia and Carson. I went with Saia this week and Elder Gehrett went with Carson. Saia and I didn’t have too much luck but we helped someone move into an apartment. On the other hand Elder Gehrett went to other missionaries areas to help them out. They found 3 new people and one accepted to be baptized!!! They helped out 3 different companionships find a new person haha!
Monday: We had our Elite 8 showdown in March madness with Elder Steed and Collier. We both had really good role plays and we will figure out who will move on the the finals for the teaching tournament! Either way someone from the West Jordan Kingdom will be in the final 4!
Hope you all have had a great week.
Love,
Elder Aaron Ashby
Pictures: District activity at an Escape Room...we made it out with 15 seconds to spare.
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