Monday, June 27, 2016
Mormon Mom!
Hello everyone!
It's starting to warm up again. We're back into the 90's and it's looking like it's only going to get hotter from here. We had another good week full of finding! Like I mentioned last week, since this area is so small, it's been a bit tricky as to how to find new people to teach. But we're keeping the faith! Life is good and we cannot fail when we do the Lord's work and give it all that we have.
Megan came to church yesterday too! She hasn't really been reading in the Book of Mormon which is a bummer, but overall she's doing well. These past couple of weeks have been really crazy for her and the kids so it's been a struggle to teach her. But we're having dinner at their house this Wednesday and we'll get to teach her afterwards. It was really cool to see her at church yesterday. Because her daughter, Madison, was sharing a scripture in primary so Megan was there to help her. She was right along side her at the podium helping her daughter read the scripture. She's already a mormon mom! So we're really happy for her. Her boyfriend is leaving on business trip next week and he doesn't get back until October. So hopefully that doesn't cause any hiccups in the teaching process.
Today is President and Sister Ware's last full day. They leave tomorrow and President and Sister White arrive. It's going to be really weird to have a new mission president. So this next transfer is going to be an interesting one. We get our transfer calls next week. More than likely I'm going to stay in this area. But you never know what's going to happen on the mission!
Yesterday at church, I think it was one of the best Sacrament meetings I've ever been to. There is this new family who moved into the ward, the Johnson's. And Brother Johnson spoke and also Bishop Porter spoke. They both talked about the power of service and how that relates to charity and love. Brother Johnson gave such an amazing talk! He told his story of battling cancer and how much love and service he received from the ward. As he received that service, he felt God's love in his life. He also shared some experiences from his mission about the value of service. How this really is God's work, and it's moving forward whether we're apart of it or not. Serving a mission or offering simple acts of service allows us to be apart of this great work. Bishop Porter (who is one of the greatest Bishops I've served with) talked a lot about in order for us to effectively serve someone, we have to be in the best possible place that we can. As we receive blessings of the Atonement, the natural result is that we want to help others. It was such a spiritually powerful Sacrament meeting. I'm so grateful for church and the Spirit that we can feel there.
Here are my scriptures for this week: Articles of Faith 6&7
"We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth.
We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and so forth."
I hope that all of you have a great week! And that you all look for opportunities to serve those around you. I love you all!
Elder Scott
Elder Scott
p.s. Preparation day next week is on the 5th. So that's when I'll be emailing!
Monday, June 20, 2016
This Day
I can't believe that it's almost the end of June. The days are flying by because we're working hard and staying busy. Even though staying busy has been quite the challenge in this area. This is the smallest ward in the stake and it's the only ward that we cover. So it has been a very interesting experience doing all that we can to stay busy and finding new people to teach. There are a lot of times where it's very easy to get discouraged and get frustrated at the work. But that's where the faith comes in. Being in this area has been an amazing learning experience so far for me.
Megan is doing awesome. She came to church again yesterday! And it was really great too because she came all on her own. Usually her boyfriend's dad, Brother Swallow is there to be with her. But he was out of town. So we were kind of worried that she wouldn't come without him but she still came and wrestled with her kids all by herself! It was pretty great. We are planning to have a family home evening with her tonight which I'm really looking forward to.
We had some really weird weather. It started off super hot. Then it cooled down a ton and it also rained. And now it's really hot again! I just hope this summer won't be like last. Because if that's the case, then the worst is yet to come.But summer time is so great for missionary work so it's all good.
We met with this less-active guy named Scott. He's such an amazing guy. He's a returned missionary but has been less-active from the church for over 25 years. But a few weeks ago he showed up to church! We had a really great lesson with him this last week and there was such a strong spirit that was there. We watched the conference talk "This Day" by President Eyring. As the talk ended, there was a brief moment of silence and he turned to us and said, "well, I have lots of things that I need to work on." We had a really good talk about small and simple things that he can do right now to build his faith. It was actually really easy to teach him. Because he already understands the gospel. He knows what he needs to be doing he just needs the motivation to start doing it. We invited him to come to church and pray every single day. And he came to church yesterday. He seemed very happy when he was there too.
I love that talk we watched with Scott by President Eyring. It's so important that we never procrastinate the day of our repentance. Whatever that may be. We can't say that we'll do it some day but this day. If we want to change we have to do something different--today. If you don't like the way that you're life is going, you have to DO something different. Understanding this principle has helped me a lot in missionary work. The gospel is just so simple! So I invite all of you to go and read this talk! It's from the April 2007 General Conference.
Here's my scripture for this week: Article of Faith 5
"We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof."
I hope that all of you have a great week! I love you all!
Elder Scott
Sunday, June 19, 2016
Holiness to the Lord, House of the Lord
We went to the temple today! Boy do I love going to the temple. It was a very bitter sweet experience because since we only go once every three months, this was my last time going as a missionary. I had a very powerful experience while in the celestial that was a huge answer to my prayers. I'm so grateful for the temple and for the Spirit that's available to us as we attend.
"We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.
We were lead to find someone new to teach this week! Her name is Erin and she has a pretty crazy situation. She's been addicted to drugs for a large part of her life and she's the mother of five kids. But recently she's been having a strong desire to change her life around and be the best mother she can be for her kids. We met her last Saturday and she's already been sober for three weeks. She lives with a less active family right now so we're looking forward to teaching all of them and helping everyone. One slight hiccup though, she's leaving on July 5th for Spokane to go to rehab. So we don't have very much time to teach her. But she'll still be able to got to church and meet with missionaries in Spokane. During our lesson she did commit to working towards being baptized on July 2nd. So that's what we're working with right now! She's a really great girl and she's been humbled a lot by her past experiences. So it's going to be very joyful to teach her!
Our main progressing investigator right now is Megan. She's doing really great. She lives with her boyfriend and his parents (who are all members of the church) and she's been coming to church for a while now. We had a couple lessons with her this last week and she's doing really great. She's been reading in the Book of Mormon everyday and she's really enjoying it. She also came to church last Sunday! Right now we're working on getting her married! Her boyfriend is inactive and we're also working on getting him involved in the teaching process. We're really excited for her though. She's been making amazing changes in her life. This last week we taught the word of wisdom And she does smoke and might have some issues trying to quit. But she can do it! I have faith in her!
President and Sister Ware are leaving on the 28th of June. It's coming up so fast. It's going to be so weird having a new mission president. But we've been hearing a lot about President and Sister White. So I'm pretty excited.
The weather was fantastic this week. There was a day where it went from 105 and the next day it was 80 and raining. And then it's been going down ever since! So now it's at the perfect temperature at around 68-70.
We've been doing lots of finding again this week. It's been pretty tiring. But we've been working hard. There's a certain satisfaction that comes when you come home after a long day and you're just exhausted and you lay down and you know that you've given it your all. That's what the mission is all about! Giving it your all for others and for the Lord. I love this gospel and I love being apart of this great work!
Here's my ponderizing scripture for this week: Articles of Faith 3&4
We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost."
I love you all! And I hope you all have a great week!
Elder Scott
It's going to be a hot summer!
Hello everyone!
This week seemed a lot shorter. Probably because our last preparation day was on Tuesday. But regardless, time is always flying by fast! So what else is new!
It's been insanely hot these past few days. Right now it's a 105 degrees out. It's going to be a hot summer. But summer time is also great because a lot more people are outside and even when it's 9 o'clock it's still light outside! Perfect missionary season!
President and Sister Ware had their last MLC meeting last Thursday. They head home on the 28th of this month. We all got to hear their departing testimonies and it was a very spiritual experience. And then to top it off we sang "If You Could Hie to Kolob" for a closing hymn. It was one of the most special moments of my mission. I'm going to miss the Ware's so much.
We were able to a lot more teaching this week which was really nice. We have some pretty solid investigators who we're teaching it's really exciting. One of our investigators is Brett. He's really awesome. He's from New Orleans, he's black and he's got these big, thick dreadlocks. And he loves basketball! Last Saturday we had an amazing lesson with him at the church with the Bishop. We set up some chairs right at the 3-point line. He's been having trouble reading regularly in the Book of Mormon. We testified to him how the Book of Mormon would bring peace into his life and it would help him to be a better father for his kids. The Spirit was very powerful and he committed to read everyday. This is kinda the last straw for him so we'll see where it goes.
We've been having a really tough time finding new people to teach. We've been doing all we can to work with the members and find on our own efforts. But since I've been here, it has seemed like every person we talk to has zero interest--at all. So that has been pretty tough. The area here is pretty wealthy and most people are comfortable with where they're at in life. We've been praying a lot that we would find someone new to teach. And last night a miracle happened! It was 8:50pm and we out walking along a street. We decided to knock a few more doors before heading in for the night. One door we knocked on, a younger guy answered and he told us that missionaries have come by before and that he's not interested. Door closed. Then we walked a bit farther down the road and there was a house that stuck out to me. Mainly because I saw people inside the house through the window! So we went to knock the door and, once again, a younger guy answered. He came outside and was very friendly. His name was Sean. We talked to him a little bit about his life and we found out that he grew up in Idaho and most of his extended family are LDS. Elder Malcom asked him how he felt about the church and he told us that he's had a lot of discussions in the past with his dad about the church, and that it's something that he's very interested in. Wait, what? I couldn't believe it. Someone was actually interested in learning more. I then told him about the Book of Mormon and gave him a copy and invited him to read it. And we're planning to go by later this week to see him again.
As we walked from Sean's house to the car, I felt so grateful to my Father in Heaven. It had been so hard getting rejected over and over again. But the Lord will always allow us to experience those miracles in life to keep us going. I know that He's aware of each one of our struggles.
This last week I realized I have some repenting to do. I don't really know the Articles of Faith as well as I should. So for the next coming weeks I will be ponderizing each Article of Faith, or maybe two...
"We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost. We believe that man will be punished for their own sins."
"We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost. We believe that man will be punished for their own sins."
I hope all of you have an amazing week! I love you all!
Elder Scott
RICHland
Hello everyone!
I am here in West Richland in the Highlands Ward serving with Elder Malcom. This is a really great area. I was very sad to say good bye to so many people from Pasco. I had grown to love those people so much! But that's what the mission is all about, constant change. So now I love the Highlands Ward! Once again, I'm in an all English area. Except this time there are literally no Hispanics--anywhere. At least in Pasco I could still practice some Spanish here and there. But here in Richland is very, very white. And it is all upper-class families. This is a very wealthy area. They don't call it RICHland for nothing! So it is a pretty big change but I love it. I love being in the place where the Lord wants me to be. "Behold, I sent you out to testify and warn the people, and it becometh every man who hath been warned to warn his neighbor."
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