This week was pretty busy and it was a lot of fun! It started out with the temple trip on Tuesday. Our entire zone goes to the temple the same day, Elders at noon and Sisters at 1:30. It was another video that I hadn't seen before so I'm 3 for 3 with the new videos. It was also a really cool experience, because we had someone from our ward with us who had been through for the first time only a few weeks ago. He's been through the temple more times than I have already though, he's so pumped about family history work and the temple and everything. It's great!
We also had a lot of fun on Thursday. First, we had a Corona Zone Turkey Bowl in the morning at one of the parks. It was really wet because it had rained the night before, so the ground was super muddy and people were slipping and sliding all over the place! But in the end we were all tired and dirty and ready to go home. After that, we went to see Mitch because he had his son with him for part of the break, so we got to meet his son finally. We also were able to help him find a member to have Thanksgiving with, so that was good. After that we headed over to have Thanksgiving dinner with the Martins. They had some of their kids and old family friends there, and they were all between 24 and 31, in that age where they've finished college and have jobs and stuff. It felt just like a Cornaby family reunion because there were a bunch of intelligent people who were older than me talking about cool things, but I had no idea who any of them were! They were very nice to us and tried to include us in the conversation. Everyone at the table was an RM so there were lots of mission stories being told. Then that night we went to the stake center for another zone activity where we played games. I played some board games and card games with Elder Mecham and Elder Prestwich, and who ever else wanted to throughout the day. I really love the people in the zone this transfer. We both survived Thanksgiving without being too overstuffed which was great for us.
On Friday we taught Dylan about the Word of Wisdom. He had really taken the initiative this time, he had read the chapter we gave him as homework, and also the Word of Wisdom pamphlet we had given him. That made the lesson super short and really straightforward. And we had some good luck too. Apparently his member friend had talked to him about it 3 weeks earlier, so he'd already started trying to live the Word of Wisdom better. He said he'd gone from somewhere around a gallon of sweet tea a day, to just one glass, and he is going to try to quit it very soon. He doesn't have it at his house anymore, but there is still the temptation to go to Starbucks or McDonald's to get an iced tea or something. So if all goes well this week, he will pass his interview this weekend and will be ready for his baptism on the 13th.
This week we also had a blitz in our area, which means that the entire zone came to our area and did their hour and a half of contacting for the day in our area. It got us over a dozen referrals that we can try to stop by this week and see who is really interested. Hopefully that will lead us to our next solid investigator.
The best teaching moment I had this week was with a new investigator. We had the opportunity to get to meet her for the first time really, and then to teach her part of the plan of salvation. It was a really good opportunity because it allowed us to practice so many principles from Preach My Gospel with a real investigator instead of just members or role-plays. Specifically it was things like how to set expectations, leave commitments and set return appointments. She will be a good one for us to practice teaching, though getting her to commit to baptism might be difficult. But if everyone was golden, we wouldn't grow in our own testimonies now would we?
Make sure you watch the Christmas video, A Savior is Born, at chirstmas.mormon.org and try to find someone that you can share it with. It gives me chills every time I watch it.
See you soon,
Elder Cornaby
"Get on your knees and pray, then get on your feet and work." -Gordon B. Hinckley