This week was a pretty amazing week!
Monday night we visited a family that had set up a return appointment with us. We started out meeting with the dad, and taught part of the Restoration, then the mom came back and started listening too. We spent a long time there, probably a little too long, teaching the Restoration, showing them a general conference talk President Monson gave, and answering their questions. About 20 minutes before we left, their oldest son came in and listened in on the discussion and asked some questions for himself. They currently attend a non-denominational church, but he is willing to bring his family to church with us. This week he had to take a shift on Sunday because he took Wednesday off to replace his flooring with some help from family on that day. But we're meeting with them again tonight and we're going to invite the family to be baptized in April!
Monday night we visited a family that had set up a return appointment with us. We started out meeting with the dad, and taught part of the Restoration, then the mom came back and started listening too. We spent a long time there, probably a little too long, teaching the Restoration, showing them a general conference talk President Monson gave, and answering their questions. About 20 minutes before we left, their oldest son came in and listened in on the discussion and asked some questions for himself. They currently attend a non-denominational church, but he is willing to bring his family to church with us. This week he had to take a shift on Sunday because he took Wednesday off to replace his flooring with some help from family on that day. But we're meeting with them again tonight and we're going to invite the family to be baptized in April!
Moving on from there, we were able to meet with some really awesome families on Thursday. The first one was a guy named Henry. He was really nice, and we taught him the first part of the Restoration and committed him to baptism for April 30th. His background is Catholic, but he never really practiced his religion or even believed it, so we are doing our best to start with the basics. He wasn't even familiar with the story of Moses, so he has very little basis to go on which makes it more interesting. He also recently started a flooring company, but we committed him to not accept any jobs on Sundays to see if God really blesses those who keep the Sabbath Day holy. We also met with a family of former investigators. The first time we met them, only the mom was home and talked with us, and it was a short visit. This time, it was really interesting. Elder Goodrich was pretty much teaching her a separate lesson from what I was teaching her husband. They had different questions and concerns, so it was good for them, and we'll probably have to teach them separately anyway because they have different schedules, one works for the postal service, and the other for the fire department, so they're always gone nearly every day of the week. But we've got a system worked out with them. While we were teaching them, Elder Riding went on his first solo split with a ward member.
Saturday was another awesome day. We were able to meet with the Romero's and actually teach her a little bit of the Restoration. She's still kind of digging her feet in against coming to church, but she still likes us. On top of that, we're hoping to talk to Brother Romero about meeting with the Stake Employment Specialist to see about a job that will let him have Sundays off, because right now that's one of the 3 days each week he can work. Later that day we visited Sister Fiero, a less active we found street contacting a while ago. We had another very spiritual lesson that helped her to think about a lot of things, and brought the Spirit into her life a little more. She's still really stubborn and holding onto some things that kind of get in the way of her progression, but that's just how it goes sometimes.
Sunday was interesting too. So we were at church, and we were expecting Johnny to be there, but he didn't show up until about 1:40, right after the rest hymn. Elder Goodrich went out to talk to him as Johnny was finishing a soda and a smoke before he came inside. After Sacrament Meeting we made sure to ask if he was planning on staying, and he said yes, but he needed to go outside for another break. While he was out there, the Ward Mission Leader went out to tell him that he could not smoke on the church grounds, not realizing that he was one of our investigators. When he told us what had happened, we run outside and saw Johnny on the sidewalk across the street and let him know where class was and that we would be waiting for him inside when he was ready. We will probably have to give the Ward Mission Leader a hard time for a while for nearly chasing away our investigator.
I've had at least 1 new companion every transfer for the past 9 months. I think having lots of companions has been a challenge but also a blessing. One thing that I have learned by serving in a trio is how to be a mediator. I have also learned to work with people's abilities and needs when it comes to teaching and other missionary situations. I think you can learn something from every companion you serve with, so hopefully that means I've learned a lot. I don't have time to list what I have learned from each companion, but I definitely am learning a lot from this companionship/trio. It's probably the most challenging companionship I've been in my entire mission.
Anyway, things are going well and I'm loving all the work that we have going on right now. It's crazy how short my time left as a missionary is, but it's definitely productive and I'm making it count.
From the West Side . . . .
Elder Cornaby
Saturday was another awesome day. We were able to meet with the Romero's and actually teach her a little bit of the Restoration. She's still kind of digging her feet in against coming to church, but she still likes us. On top of that, we're hoping to talk to Brother Romero about meeting with the Stake Employment Specialist to see about a job that will let him have Sundays off, because right now that's one of the 3 days each week he can work. Later that day we visited Sister Fiero, a less active we found street contacting a while ago. We had another very spiritual lesson that helped her to think about a lot of things, and brought the Spirit into her life a little more. She's still really stubborn and holding onto some things that kind of get in the way of her progression, but that's just how it goes sometimes.
Sunday was interesting too. So we were at church, and we were expecting Johnny to be there, but he didn't show up until about 1:40, right after the rest hymn. Elder Goodrich went out to talk to him as Johnny was finishing a soda and a smoke before he came inside. After Sacrament Meeting we made sure to ask if he was planning on staying, and he said yes, but he needed to go outside for another break. While he was out there, the Ward Mission Leader went out to tell him that he could not smoke on the church grounds, not realizing that he was one of our investigators. When he told us what had happened, we run outside and saw Johnny on the sidewalk across the street and let him know where class was and that we would be waiting for him inside when he was ready. We will probably have to give the Ward Mission Leader a hard time for a while for nearly chasing away our investigator.
I've had at least 1 new companion every transfer for the past 9 months. I think having lots of companions has been a challenge but also a blessing. One thing that I have learned by serving in a trio is how to be a mediator. I have also learned to work with people's abilities and needs when it comes to teaching and other missionary situations. I think you can learn something from every companion you serve with, so hopefully that means I've learned a lot. I don't have time to list what I have learned from each companion, but I definitely am learning a lot from this companionship/trio. It's probably the most challenging companionship I've been in my entire mission.
Anyway, things are going well and I'm loving all the work that we have going on right now. It's crazy how short my time left as a missionary is, but it's definitely productive and I'm making it count.
From the West Side . . . .
Elder Cornaby