Goal of Eternal Life as a Family (Week #23)

Soooooo our week......yikes. SO yeah J came to church again. We're best buddies. He bore his testimony yesterday. We had a few investigators at church. M, J, V and K. She can't seem to grasp that everyone has a chance to talk in sacrament meeting and our "pastor" doesn't talk every week. She can't understand that we don't even really have a pastor. Finding was good. We had a big zone blitz of pretty much everyone's area. Found some pretty solid peeps. Ohhhhh G. ugh freakin heck. Kid texted us the other day and dropped us. Said he needed to focus on getting a job to support his grandma and wanted to put baptism to the side. Wayyyyyy frustrating. J would be able to pass the sacrament if he came to church.....

What has been your biggest challenge this week? 

Biggest challenge has been keeping my head up after G dropped us. I loved that guy. He was awesome. But it's all good.

What has been your biggest concern? 

Concern...maybe meeting all the new people from the blitz. We don't want anybody slipping through the cracks.

 

What has been your biggest success?

We sat down with M and J's whole family and had a huge talk about their goal of eternal life as a family and basically set life goals with them. It's hanging on their wall at home now!

Who has been your favorite person this week? Why? 

Sister S. She's a single mom with 6 mouths to feed and has the best attitude ever. She's a really good mom. When we had the planning session she shared a lot of really great feelings and hopes for her family. She wants them all together and she's only been a member for a few months. She works 2 jobs and maybe gets like a few hours of sleep every night. 

What has been your most significant tender mercy?

The day we got dropped by G was when we had the planning sesh. So I went in with kind of a bad attitude. But I really wanted to help them. At one point we got to talk about the temple and baptisms for the dead. And Sister S brought up that she had a son die when he was born. And I got to tell them that he was already saved. and the happiness that they showed was amazing. Then we asked them if they'll follow their goals so they can reach eternal life as a family. And M said they'd follow it if I'd be there with them...Super great feeling. Motivation for sure.

What are you looking forward to this coming week? 

This week we have a branch movie night...And there'll be ice cream...sooooo yeah. Just kidding. I'm excited for that but Only because we'll have investigators there to introduce to members and stuff.

Do you have a goal set for this coming week? Tell me about it. 

Our goal is to finish out the transfer strong. Keep finding and not fade at the finish.

Which scripture has had the biggest impact on you this week?

Stories about the family of Nephi and the lack of unity they had and how they sort of fell apart when Lehi died. Taught me the importance of unity in everything. 

Oh!! And I finished the Book of mormon in spanish!! No big deal! Really cool stuff.

Love you guys! Hope you have a great week!

Elder Hess

Texts from Your Mom After Curfew (Week #22)

I'm doing good! This week was a little frustrating just because people didn't show up to church. G's phone broke and M and J slept in and everyone else flaked too...But it's all good! We've had some really good lessons with people and are really trying hard to find less actives to come again. Speaking of which! That random number guy (J) showed up again! And he brought his girlfriend too! He has some good desires. 

What has been your biggest challenge this week? 

Just not having people at church. It really messes up their baptism plans and everything.

What has been your biggest concern? 

Finding new investigators again. We really have to find more. It's weird because you find for like 4 weeks or more into the future. So if you don't find for a week, you have a week in the future, maybe, that doesn't have anybody.

What has been your biggest success?

I finally got J's (kid i beat at basketball last week) earrings! And G is still our investigator! We had a lesson planned with the YSA Sisters to see if he wanted to go there and he cancelled that lesson and just said "We're having a family talk. I can't meet you guys today. I have bad news". THE WORST TEXT TO EVER RECEIVE IN YOUR LIFE!!!!! (besides texts from your mom after curfew....) But the news was that he was moving (still in our area) and that he really didn't want to go to YSA. So yeah!! He's still ours and doing good!

Who has been your favorite person this week? Why? 

Brother M 

What has been your most significant tender mercy?

I think I finally realized what I want to do with my life...I was sitting in Sacrament meeting and a thought just hit me! So I think I'm going to try to be a marriage counselor. No idea how but like that idea had to come from somewhere. I've really been praying for ideas and stuff so yeah.

What are you looking forward to this coming week? 

I'm interested to see more changes come about. Like all of our progressing investigators have had huge changes in their lives. Especially M and J. J's mom is a recent convert and when she was taking the lessons, M and J hid in their room. And Sister S (the mom) works 2 jobs just to support her kids. And M had been searching forever for a job. But now, after a month of the 2 taking lessons, they both have jobs. So now they'll have 4 paychecks coming in. The gospel blesses lives!

Do you have a goal set for this coming week? Tell me about it. 

Finding more people!!

Which scripture has had the biggest impact on you this week?

The story of the brother of Jared. The amount of prayer and obedience he had.

Hope you guys have a great week! Love you!

Elder Hess

Last week, Gannon mentioned how he plays basketball with various people. Because he's a white kid, people think he won't win. For one game, he made the deal that if he won, the kid would have to give up his earrings so that he could pass the sacrament. Well.....