Lasagna and skyping with Family

May 9, 2016

So this week was fairly interesting...

•   Presidential Interview

•   Video all home (Happy Mothers Day!)

•   Got my bag back

•   Got in contact with Jeff!!!

•   Teaching Miracles

•   Personal Pasta Platter

So, it seems like a lot right? Well... It might not take as long to read as ya might think... That is about as false as.... things that are false? I'll think of something that will work with that phrase.

The "Presidential Interview" was with my mission president. Whatever may be happening with the presidential elections, I try to stay out of it as much as possible. And from what I have heard, I am glad I am on a mission.

 Anyway, found out my mission president's favorite animal is a jaguar. That was super cool, then he gave me some advice for preparing for home life (when the time comes). The craziest part was getting to the interview. Originally it was a five minute drive away, but our mission president was running late so he asked if we could meet at another location which was an hour drive away (because if he didn't meet us there, all 8 other interviews would be pushed back 3 hours). We found out about this about an hour and a half before our interview time. So it was super hectic trying to get a ride over there. We were able to get one and were 3 minutes early to the interview. Good stuff.

About 7 weeks ago I left my bag at an investigator's house and we haven't seen him since then besides the past Tuesday and when he saw us, he pointed at me and said "Your bag, here you go". I was so happy (not 100% about getting the bag, that was about 7% because I could have obtained another bag, I was just glad we got in contact with him, and he invited us to teach his girlfriend, who has a copy of the Book of Mormon and wants to read it with him daily!!

 You might notice I am not going in order of the bullet points... I wish to save the Mother's Day call for last. We hadn't seen Jeff in a long while and it was my goal on Thursday to go and see him, so we went to the bus stop and walked down the street and Elder Shupe recognized Jeff from a distance and we waved and he did too! We set up an appointment with him the next day and we had a wonderful discussion with him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and about how prepared he is to change and be baptized.

After our lesson he asked us when he would be able to come out with us and teach people and we said, come with us right now! He had to look after he 4yr old daughter then but said that he will be baptized and the only thing left is to have his wife agree. I fasted for him this past week. He is keeping all the commitments we left with him and doing well. Please pray for Jeff.

So we had about 4 lessons fall trough Friday night and we decided upon lunging down a referral that we had been trying to locate for the past week but this night I think we were a bit more determined because the Spirit said "it's time". We found His house!! But he wasn't home... So we knocked some doors around the neighborhood and almost every single person whose door we knocked on, they not only let us in but wanted to be baptized as well!! Even the Baptist preacher said that he wanted to read the Book of Mormon again and ask God to know if it was the best to understand Jesus Christ. What we told him is that "it goes hand in hand with the King James Bible and tells of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ" and that he will know.

Okay so this picture is wonderful, especially the backstory behind it. So there was recently a baby born in the congregation and people will volunteer to make meals for the family. A member made a meal for this family and found out that the family already had 2 meals that night made for them and the dish was something that couldn't really be eaten over a period of long time, so they gave the entire pan to me. An entire homemade Italian lasagna. The reason I say it was homemade Italian was because they made it from scratch and both of the parents went to Italy for their missions. They said they wanted me to have it to thank me for the service that I have done so far. It was very appreciated.

 Mom. Mother's Day. Got to video chat with my family!!! That was so wonderful, I forgot how much I missed them. Coco the dog is still alive!! Hang in there Coco!!  That is like my one main fear... if Coco dies.... But is all good, she is part of the family and I am sure God will help me out with it somehow. The family is doing good and we are all excited for my sister going off to college!! That will be an adventure! Basically they asked me a bunch of questions about what was going on and I did as well, apparently I have changed a bit... In a good way! No worries. But yeah, life is good. God is Great. Don't ever think ya ought to hate. Love the people, anyway. Soon you'll see, it's a beautiful Day.

John 3:16

May God Bless and catch ya next week.

Movin' trucks

May 2, 2016

•   Jeff. The Glorious Jeff

•   Move of a lifetime

•   Pizza Complete-za

•   God's Gangstas are back?

•   Unification of the Saints

Soooo.... Jeff. The dad who is as prepared as Paul to follow Christ (after he got rid of his Saul like stuff n stuff). He is really prepared and the only thing left is for him to get married and he is ready for the ability to bless his family with the priesthood of God. Please pray for Jeff.

We helped move a new member who came out with us the day he got in town. His name is Brother Cruz and he has come up with a name called "DaynLewis" which background, Brother Lewis is a member of the branch that knows a ton and is a practical jokester. I apparently am under that classification as well (but according to Brother Cruz, not as much as a jokester). Elder Shupe and Brother Lewis and I helped unload a Budget rental truck with Brother Cruz and his friend and his friend's boys. About 2/3 the way done... The Mendez family shows up as reinforcements of the second wave. It all was done in about 2 hours! The Pizza Complete-za (and nickname) comes from us going to Pizza Hut after where Elder Shupe, Brother Lewis, Eric (the Son of the friend) and I got breadsticks unbeknownst to the other table of people and when Bro Cruz found out he said something along the lines of "if it wasn't Brother Lewis it was Elder Day". Brother Cruz is a great man and will be a blessing to the branch.

We have been “finding” like crazy and got in contact with a family of 4 and another of 6. The Grandma of the family of 6 was the one that requested the Book of Mormon asking to herself and saying "when will be the day I can get one of those Mormon Bibles?" So we delivered the Book of Mormon and explained to her we Love the King James Bible and would never want to replace it. The "Mormon Bible", also known as the Book of Mormon, helps us understand and clarify the Gospel of Jesus Christ in its fullness. Because of the years of taking away and adding things in the Christian realm there needed to be a Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and that came with the purpose of the Book of Mormon, to have the fullness of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. She really loved our message and Kevin (the recent convert to the church that was there) testified to its truth that he found for himself. We findin' the Crew and teachin' The Word to all we see.

That was something I noticed this past week. Every single person we talked to that knew something about the church loved the family oriented atmosphere and the "Unification" being the word I heard most often this past week. Before the 2nd coming of the Lord, there will be a unification of the saints, and many will be un-unified  (if that is a word). I pray all will be well with all y'all that read this and may God bless!

This is an upside down photo of the moving company (the 2nd and third row came an hour after we started)

Elder Day

In the Hood, staying

April 25, 2016

Week

•   Exchange

•   Miracle of.... wait what happened?

•   So want a cool photo spot? I'm Down.

•   Lawrenceville for the 7 1/2 month marker

This week we had an exchange and I went to the Wakefield area with Elder Afemata. He has shown me the example of testimony through an individual. Throughout the day we talked about life and the conversion process and the importance of the testimony of the Book of Mormon. We both agreed that to have or share a testimony, many times, if not all, there has to be a test to have us know certain things in life. An example may be that someone knows that prayer is a way to communicate with God because they had an experience that by praying about something they felt God comfort them or answer a question that was a concern. This is one possible way I have seen the power of prayer be testified. There are many different ways to do so.

Back at home, we's doing good down in “the hood.” We are teaching a guy named Jeff. He is a father of 2 kids and loves the family oriented church. The reason I say it's a miracle is because when we met with him he had to go really quick and said come back tomorrow. Elder Shupe had a great idea to take a break from our weekly planning and stop by Jeff's place (a bit earlier than scheduled) and when we stopped by, he was walking out of his apartment going and waiting at the bus stop for his kid and when we saw each other the first thing he said was "hey what's with all the Lamanites and Nephites going back and forth hating each other". He read the stuff we gave him and said "dang, you Elders are awesome" and is going to be baptized hopefully by the end of May. The reason I say Hopefully is that all he needs is to come to church and he good! We had a few other experiences like that as well. Shirley M. is going to be baptized on the 21st of May as well. Lawrenceville is a bumpin' place.

Oh yeah, this is a place in our area we found. Only been once because of the distance to get there was about 50 miles and we were looking for an inactive member and wanted some peace during a dinner break we had. Good spot for it, wouldn't ya say?

Good place for our dinner break 

Also we had transfer calls and I will stay here with Elder Shupe for another transfer. Good times.

Dog Gone It!

April 15, 2016

Sorry there are no pictures of the baptism, the person that took all the pictures hasn't gotten back to us yet with them...

Week

•   Baptism 

•   The Gift of the Holy Ghost

•   The Adventures of Charismatic Kevin!

•   Hit a dog on a backroad

•   Reconnection With a lost family

•   Trust in many other people

So let's start with one of the greatest things that can happen for anyone. Kevin B.  was baptized!! And Dorthy W.  came an saw it.  She loved it and wants to be baptized herself (she said soon so we are thinking by June a the very latest). As Kevin was being lifted up out of the water he slipped and fell so his torso was grabbed and he was lifted out. It was one of those moments that seem to always happen when something of this magnitude happens. He was so happy both before and he was beaming afterwards. 

The next day (Sunday) when Kevin received the Gift of the Holy Ghost, He was super happy and said that he felt the greatest peace he had ever felt in his life. 

He needed a ride from church to his house so we gave him a ride and beforehand he was wondering if he could come out with us to teach people, of course we said yes and were super excited to have him help teach.

We went down to Gasburg to visit his family (grandma) because he wanted her to read the Book of Mormon and pray and ask for herself if it was true. Her grandma had one of the most unanswered questions for a religious individual. "Why are there so many churches if there is one God, one Savior, and should be one Gospel?" And Kevin explained her answer through his testimony of coming to know the Book of Mormon was true and asking God for Himself. As Kevin said "You will know with even greater knowledge, just as I came to know that This is the answer to that question granny". He then came with us to Daphne B.'s house and testified to her of the importance of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. She had seen that it was important to him and was interested in asking for herself to find that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and testifies, just as the Bible that Jesus is the Christ. Our final stop by was Dorthy W. that fine Sunday and I think we might have woken her up from a nap (around 5:15 in the evening) but as soon as she saw Kevin her eyes got really wide and she said "come in come in I have some questions for this young man about the Gift of the Holy Ghost. So Kevin helped answer them and talked about the bliss that he felt, like he never wanted to do something wrong again in his life.

Yes, even with all these amazing things that happen, we can still have unexpected accidental sad stories. I hit a dog on the way to church Sunday morning. We were able to get some help for it and as far as we know there were no broken bones, no  ajor hemorrhages and the only main injury we saw (to our amazement) was that she had a bloody paw and was in shock from a vehicle hitting her at 40miles an hour on a country backroad. I will be completely honest, my companion had more sympathy for the dog than I, however it did cross my mind what would happen if someone hit my dog, what would I want them to do? Truth of the matter is their dog is doing well and that's a relief.

We were able to reconnect a family I haven't talked to in about 7 weeks. Apparently the mom of the family is really stressed out with raising solo her five boys and when we talked with her at first she looked at us like she wanted to kill us, but as we asked how her kids were doing, she said "one sec, I'll be right out" and then came out and pretty much told us all the shenanigans going on since we last talked with her and she wanted a blessing to help with her trials. That was completely a miracle how that happened and I will explain why.

About 2 weeks prior ,as I was praying, that family came to my mind and when that happens I usually say to myself "hey God, can we visit them today?" And ya know what my answer was? It was No. A Very firm and distinctive No. What came right after was "write down on a sticky note to visit them on the week on the 11th through the 17th and I will prepare the mother for you to hear My word". So we did, we waited for 2 weeks and on that Friday, we went and saw her. Then this all happened... I don't know if that has ever happened before, but the story doesn't end there. As we were about to leave, we felt a distinct impression there was someone else we needed to talk to and as Elder Shupe confirmed that impression he was looking and saw a lady by her car and thought "maybe she is the one we need to talk to?" And right as he said that, the confirmation to him was when she dropped her stuff out of her car and we had the impression to help. Talked to her and it turns out she is not her Mother that wants her and her 3 children brought into church again because they had moved from North Carolina and needed a home.

Throughout this entire transfer I have had struggles with the issue of trusting God, but once I said to myself "I trust you" and followed what was given, I have seen the miracles of God be brought to pass.

Elder Day