Week 29 - North Oklahoma City - January 21, 2013
Mi Querida Familia,
This week has been very productive. We were successful in getting quite a few member presents this week and then on Sunday, we had quite a little miracle. For the first time in about 3 transfers, we finally had an investigator come to church from our area!!!!! Elder Mendoza and I were thrilled. The man's name is Aruldo and he has a small son and a wife. He liked the services....he wasn't completely converted, but he was fellowshipped by the members and he had a positive experience. More than anything this is a positive step in the right direction. Investigators just don't progress until they come to church. We were very happy and we hope to meet with him tonight and start setting some more concrete goals.
We also recontaced some investigators that Elder Morrell and I dropped last transfer because they moved out for a few weeks because they were renovating their house. WE talked with Fabian on Saturday and he still wants to be baptized WE are going to meet with later this evening as well and hopefully set some baptismal dates. These people could really progress; we need to do our part as missionaries and help them set goals and make plans.
This week I've really gained a testimony of this principle of set goals, make plans, mainly because I've been studying this chapter in Preach My Gospel. I applied this goal especially to my language study. I'll admit that for the past transfer my language studies have not ben quite as productive as they should have been. While reading PMG I felt prompted to make a plan for my language study. I did so and the difference has been night and day. My Spanish has improved, and more than that, I feel so much more in control of my life. I've been praying recenlty for the Lord to bless me with confidence and faith....the answer came in the form of setting goals and making plans.
This week we also had a great member present where I think the members were blessed more than the investigators. We took out two brothers this week to come teach who were recent converts and less-actives. the less-active at first was apprehensive to come at first because he was afraid of not knowing what to say. We read him some sciptures and testfied that it would be given to him in the very hour what he should say. As we came away from the appointment, he was very motivated, he mentioned how he could feel the words coming to his mind about what he should say. I'm so glad we were able to bring him out with us. Sometimes we use the members to help strengthen their testimonies as well as bring others into to church.
I'm so excited for this next week. We have a lot of appointments set due to diligent tracting and work on our part. We are starting to see the fruits of our labor here in the North and we have high hopes and faith for a baptism in the coming transfers.
Like I said it's been a great week. Next Sunday are transfer calls, Elder Mendoza and I kind of think we are going to stay another transfer but, no one really knows until day of. Thank you so much for your prayers and support. It means the world to me.
Have a great week everyone!
Con Amor,
Elder Powley
Week 28 - North Oklahoma City - January 14, 2013
Mi querida familia,
It's been a great week here in the mission. I can't beleive its below 0 out there in Utah, we've started to complain when it reaches 30 degrees. I guess we don't have much to complain about anymore. My companion and I are blessed with a car so we don't have much room to complain anyways.
We had some interesting experiences this week. One of our investigators invited us to what they call a Rosario. It's a tradition in Catholicism especially with hispanics, that is actually quite similar to Family Home Evening in our chuch. They recited memorized prayers and sang a few songs. The more interesting part was where they passed around a baby Jesus and took turns kissing it on the forehead (my companion and I respectively declined not to offend anyone but simply because it seemed to violate the 2nd commandment) It was different; the Spirit wasn't quite as strong since the prayers were memorized and repeated over and over, but you could definately a sense of unity in faith. After they finished praying, they had refreshments and everyone had a great time socializing and talking with each other. We were kind of hoping they'd let us share a passage from the Book of Mormon, but it didn't really work out that way.
If anything, we got to see our investigators and help solidify relationships with them. One of the men we are visiting didn't seem too interested in the Rosario and in fact asked me what I was reading when I brought out my Book of Mormon. We have an appointment with him and his family tonight. This is the Galvin Family that I think I mentioned a few weeks back. We're going to try and have church tour with them tonight with a member family. I pray it works out, we still need to master the art of making effective plans and then following through with them. Planning and communication are incredibly important here on the mission. God plans and communicates with us thorugh the Spirit. If we aren't listening or if we ignore spiritual promptings, he can't carry out his plans that he has for us. I'm still working on not ignoring spiritual promptings, especially when it seems like the prompting might be inconvenient or awkward. It's a skill that takes developing and I've seen many results from following impressions. Even when I don't see results I still feel good when I act on a thought that I receive.
For example, remember that family that dropped us last week that I was feeling kind of down about? My companion and I felt prompted to go visit her again even though she mentioned that she wanted to stop the lessons. We never talked to her directly, and so we felt like some confrontation was necessary. So we stopped by, she wasn't angry to see us or anything. We greeted eachother and we sincerely expressed that we felt a little sad that she didn't want the lessons anymore for her family. We talked a little, she opened up about a host of concerns from her childhood how she and her friends used to flirt with the LDS missionaries and how she didn't want her daughters following the same path as she did. We testifed that this gospel would bless her family. She beleives us. Ultimately the problem is that the Jehova's Witnesses got jealous that were visiting them. She didn't wanted to upset them because they were the ones to talk to her first and a bunch of other excuses. WE kindly asked her to pray about this decision. WE're following up tonight and hopefully she prayed with a sincere heart.
Other than that, we haven't had too much else happen. Our numbers weren't so good this week, we still havent set any baptismal dates for a few weeks. It's not that we aren't inviting, people just don't seem comfortable to make commitments with us quite yet. WE hope tonight will change with this church tour we are planning on doing.
This weekend I went on exchanges with Elder Fales. It was a good experiences, he's helping me replace doubt with faith and I'm really grateful for his example as a District Leader. We had a great lesson where we had a young man from the branch who is preparing to go on a mission accompany us. He had such a pure testimony that connected with the people we visitited, it made me glad to see the youth headed in the right direction.
Anyways, those are a few experiences we've had this week. Life is good out here in Oklahoma. Just got a haircut today from Elder Dalia.
Remember to keep reading the Book of Mormon! As missionaries we get soooo excited when we hear people are reading the Book of Mormon. When they don't we feel very sad. You cannot progress in the Gospel without reading the Book of Mormon. I reccomend reading it and highlighting every where it mentions the Atonement, it will really help you connect with Jesus Christ and how central his role is to each and every one of us.
Con Amor,
Elder Powley
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)