This last week was the busiest week of my mission. We taught 26 total lessons, and were able to do a lot of good. We were greatly blessed in our work this week.
Monday started out on a bit of a bad note. We had one of our lessons cancel on us, but we were able to reschedule for later on in the week. We were able to go downtown though, and teach Bianca, and Manoa. We taught them the Gospel, and she was able to explain repentance perfectly to us. We asked her about baptism, and she said that she had already been baptized, but as a child, and she felt that since baptism is a promise with God, one should be able to make the promise, and as a child you aren't aware of anything. She said she wasn't ready for it now, but that she has been thinking about it a lot. Manoa is out of town for the next two weeks, but we hope that we will be able to meet with her. She didn't come to Church on Sunday.
Tuesday we had a great District Meeting, we talked about baptism. In our role-play I used 3 Nephi 11 to show the need for the preisthood, and baptism by immersion. There is nothing so simple and straightforward as the Saviors own declaration that this is the way. After lunch we were able to teach Dirk. We taught the Gospel, and he really liked it. He had gotten on mormon.org, and loved it, he asked lots of questions. He was willing to read a chapter from the Book of Mormon. At the end of the lesson we asked if we could bring someone else, and he agreed to that as well. We have an appointment set up for Wednesday evening. We did some tracting, and then rushed over to the Visitor's Center to meet a referral from the sisters there. His name is B J. He has been taught all of the lessons, and been going to the VC for since last year. They tried referring him before, but something happened and they lost contact. He is really sensative to the Spirit, and he wants it more in his life. He wants to be baptized. We got his information, shared a quick lesson with the sisters, and then had to leave for another appointment. He called in the middle of the lesson, and left a message asking to meet. We called back with no answer, we tried to meet him, but he didn't show up. We haven't been able to get ahold of him since. We finished the evening teaching David and Melissa how to liken scriptures to themselves.
Wednesday we tried to have an appointment with Brandon. We did some tracting, were able to set up a couple return appointments, and then we taught the Myers family. It was a great lesson, we taught them the Plan of Salvation, and we had really good participation in the lesson. They are still commited to baptism on the 12th of January, but they didn't come to Church again this week, so we are going to have to push that back. I'm not sure why they didn't come, they had transportaion and everything. That night we were able to have another lesson with Ted. He is still struggling on who/what God is. He read the entire book of Alma, but he still hasn't been praying. It will be slow moving with him, unless he starts to pray. We also met with Clancy that night, and were able to talk about repentance. He has a very good understanding, and he knows he needs to. He knows it feels good, and he is going to start now.
Thursday we met with E M, and her children, we talked about the true meaning of Christmas, and about prayer. Something cool that was said was: If you look at the word Christmas, and then you seperate it into Christ, and mas. You have the spanish word for more, and Christ. If you were to conjugate the sentence The meaning of Christmas would be, More Christ. I liked that. We also met with the L that night, and taught them the Gospel as well. The son has been reading, and they have all been praying. They came to Church again this week.
Friday we spent most of our time downtown trying to find people that President N asked us to stop by. We were able to meet with one of them, she was an active member, but she is alone, and needed the company for a little bit. We met with Bishop S that night, and were able to talk with him about the work in the ward. He was impressed on how busy we had been, and on how clean our apartment was. The note that was left by the A said that it was the cleanest they have seen that apartment in the year and a half they have been apartment inspectors. We also met with Howard that night, and he opened up a lot. He talked with us about some of his life experiences, and hobbies that he has. It was probably the best lesson I've had with him. He came to Church this week as well.
Saturday I was on exchange in the Summerlake ward. It was neat to be back in Tigard. We had a slow day, with mostly tracting. Elder Lott and Elder Palmer though taught a lot. They met with Jeff and Sarah, Ken McMichael, Ronnie, and they taught a few people on the street in downtown. I really enjoyed the exchange, it was fun to spend time with Elder Ackerman, and see how I could improve.
Sunday we got another referral at Church in Market Street. He was being taught by the Columbia zone leaders, and moved into our area. He also wants to be baptized. We have a lesson with him this Friday at 7. He is on parole as well, and he was just released from prison for theft, so he may not be able to be baptized for a while, but he is fine with waiting as long as it takes. We met with David and Melissa again, and gave David a blessing. We read with them Alma 24, and talked about burying our weapons of war. We also met with Nathan Vega in Market. He is a less active member, and he has a friend Chris, that is semi mentally handicapped, but Nathan has been reading to them. We are going to meet with them Saturday at the Church building. We also saw Jeff and Sarah again. Jeff is trying to quit smoking marijuana, and is going through withdrawls. He said he can't quit if she doesn't. We focused our lesson more on her, and we talked with her about burying her weapons of war as well. We talked about doing it now, not waiting for our enemies to come, but do it before you risk sinning again. She started to cry, and felt that she couldn't do it. We shared Ether 12:27, and talked about how God gave her this weakness so she could turn to Him, and be made strong. We told her how much we loved her, and we gave both of them blessings. Him to overcome the sick feelings, and to be able to quit, and her for comfort, and strength to quit. I promised her that if she would pray everyday, that God could take away her desire to smoke. It was a powerful lesson. I found out last week that she liked Swedish fish, so I took the bag of them as a present for her, and gave it to her, she loved it, and I was glad that it could help cheer her up. Thanks for sending those, they helped a lot.
Its been fun opening a present every morning. I had the strongest desire to open them all at once, and then not tell you that I did that, but I have held out strong, and done one a day. I have really enjoyed the music and the lights, the ties were great, and the food appreciated. Thanks for everything you guys do. I'll talk to you tomorrow. You better have questions for me, because I'm not a talker. I would like to sype, but that is against mission rules, sorry dad.
I am excited for Christmas, and the chance to spend with members celebrating the birth of Christ. This is a special holiday, and I'm glad to spend it as a servant to Him. Christmas to me is a message of hope.
Love Elder Schultz
No comments:
Post a Comment