E. Villejo and I just got
back from the Senior Center. Sister Talbot (an older widow here)
volunteers to cook at the Senior Center for 11 months out of the year!
Such a great lady. Today she was short handed so E. Villejo and I helped
out with preparing the food, serving the seniors (kind of like waitors)
and washing the dishes. It was actually a pretty cool experience and we
got some free tukey burgers out of it! :D Mormons seem to agree to
anything if there is food involved. It was also a really good
opportunity to get our names out there and for the seniors to see us
giving service. Hopeing that might open some doors for us! So we did
that from about 10:45 tillllllllll 1:30ish I think. Going back tomorrow!
What an awesome session of conference huh?! Lots of
good stuff, I hope you all got to watch it or attend! This week seemed a
bit slow as far as missionary work goes. Not a lot went on but still
had some good experiences. Transfers were last week so the mission in
general has been kind of hectic with new missionaries coming in and old
missionaries leaving. E. Villejo and i were pretty excited that we are
still here in Sheridan though. The ward is just flat out awesome here. I
don't remember what we did each day so I'll just write about the few
experiences that we had as I remember them.
Monday night we had dinner with Sister Smith (the
lady we built a fence for). She brought 2 non-members over to eat dinner
with us so we were super excited! One of the non-members was actually
who picked us up from our apartment. Her name was Gloria, and has been
great friends with Sister Smith for a long time. Sister Smith's neighbor
named Clous (CLOW-S) was also there. After an amazing dinner, (I just
realized how much I talk about food in these weekly letters...but that's
another experience), we all sat down and Elder Villejo took out his
guitar. We sang, "I know That my Redeemer Lives" and he said it was
"very nice." We asked him afterward if we could visit him sometime, and
he said that we could! Sister Smith on Easter, had brought him over an
Easter Basket with a Book of Mormon in it haha. he said he has started
to read it! So we'll see.
On Wednesday we went back to Sister Smith's for
another service project. This time, we raked here ENTIRE Montana-sized
backyard to clear all the leaves, rocks and sticks so that she can plant
grass before all the rain comes. It was actually kind of enjoyable and
the weather was nice! I also got to drive her lawnmower haha.
Thursday was the most productive day of the week. We
first visited with a new investigator named Ron Kee. He has met with
missionaries before, but isn't necessarily interested. He's an extremely
nice guy who likes to travel a lot. After asking about his beliefs, he
said that he doesn't feel the need to attend church as long as he "Loves
God and treats his neighbor as himself." So he happily lets us in and
is willing to discuss our "viewpoints" but has a difficult time
committing to any one church because he is afraid of choosing the wrong
one. This is why prayer and the Holy Ghost is so key! He's exactly
right! We could preach to him allllll day long about how we are the
correct church We could throw every scripture imaginable at him and it
would do no good. Until he (or whomever it may be), actually kneels down
and sincerely wants to the know the truth, he will never know which
church is correct. We are only the preachers. The SPIRIT is the teacher.
(I got that one from E. Villejo haha). So after chatting for about 1.5
hours, we thought we would visit James (our ex-communicated J-dub).
Turns out he used to work for "The Watchotwer" and got ex-communicated
because he told them he felt like a slave. And he felt like they never
gave him the support he needed in times of trial. So on our newly fixed
bikes (thank heavens), we found James actually outside walking his dog.
After telling us some random World War II history, we gave him the
second Discussion (the Plan of Salvation) while still on our bikes
outside. He agreed with everything we said and then (of course) Satan
needed to interrupt. One of his buddies rolled up in his car and decided
to conveniently visit with him while we were mid-discussion. Boooooooo.
So we said we would come back later.
Later that night we visited a new couple called "The
Wards." They moved here a few years ago from Alaska and are really into
art. Jackie (the wife) was extremely kind to us and we just visited for
a while. Her husband, Doug (who is also very nice) said something
similar to what Ron Kee said. He does not see the point in going to
church just once a week if the other 6 days people aren't religious. He
said they weren't interested in the discussions but neither of them
minded if we came by to visit at any time or if we shared a quick
spiritual message each time. Both of them were extremely nice to us and
open with us. Doug really likes the blugrass music, so E. Villejo and I
are working on a song he really likes. Gotta open up a door somehow
right? Then they sent us home with lemon bars :D
Friday we were in Twin Bridges. Nobody at all was
home :( So we did a lot of roaming. Mike Bias has been out of town, he
does guided fishing tours and stuff like that all over the state and in
Idaho, so we havent been able to meet with him. The Vial's (an awesome
member family) found us in the street and invited us over for dinner. So
we happily accepted and had an awesome meal. They live on a beautiful
set of property with a long rocky driveway. Since it is almost planting
season, E. Villejo and I helped Brother Vial and his two sons pick up
rocks a long side of the road so that it would be easier to till and
what not (I think).
Saturday was conference and we watched it with
Sister Stalder (who lives right next door). We then went to try and
finish our discussion with James. We got to his house and he offered us,
"non-alcoholic beer" haha. We declined but I thought it was funny. He
then spent about 30 minutes showing us kung foo moves (keep in mind this
guy is 75 and has a New Jersey accent). Haha so he told us all these
stories where he has used kung foo. Apparently he also used to train for
the Olympics and was a trainer for Mr. America. You wouldn't know that
seeing him now, but I we just rolled with it. Everyone has their glory
days! Our discussion didn't get very far. We got to the Spirit
World...J-dubs DO NOT believe in anything close to the Spirit world.
They believe that once you die, you more or less become mush. Both your
spirit and body remain in a state of nothingness until the Resurrection.
Which is a whole other topic. It kind of turned into a bash of
conflicting scriptures and he told us that we were teaching false gospel
(with reference to Galatians
So not a bad week. We did visit Gene. His excuse for
not reading the Book of Mormon is that the print is to small...which
may actually be true. But his Bible is the same size so we will never
know for sure. So we're working on giving him a copy with larger print
haha. No more excuses!
Anyway that's it for this week! I'm doing well and
still pushing forward! Not the youngest in our District anymore! Hit my 2
month mark 2 days ago! Woooo! Sounds like home is doing well! i'm glad
you got the package, I tried to make it fun for all of you! Glad to hear
Jesse likes his coon hat haha hopefully it isn't to big! Torie's doll
was handmade, I did't buy it at a store! I'm sure she'll take good care
of it :) Sounds like the garden is looking good and I bet the flowers
look pretty! What's the weather there? The weather has been warm here
the last few days. But today it's a high of 36 and it hailed yesterday!
Pretty sweet.
Thoughts from conference:
"Satan
is no match for the Savior. Satan's fate is decided. He knows he has
lost. But he wants to take as many of us as he can, with him." - Richard
G. Scott (Sat Afternoon)
"There are some things that must be left to the Lord." - Richard G. Scott
"Peace comes from knowing that the Savior knows who we are" - Quintin L. Cook
"A friend will not make you choose between your values or their friendship."- Robert D. Hales (Priesthood Session)
"Sometimes we are the lightening rod, and we must take the heat." -Robert D. Hales
"Glorify God's name by standing strong with the Savior Jesus Christ."- Robert D. Hales
"With increased vision, comes increased motivation" -Tad R. Callister
"Healing comes from leaving the darkness and moving towards God's light" -Dieter F. Uchtdorf (Sun Morning)
"Spiritual light cannot be discerned by carnal eyes." -Dieter F. Uchtdorf
"Hold the ground you have already won, even if it is limited." -Jeffery R. Holland (Sun Afternoon)
"Do not start your quest for faith by first stating how little you have." - Jeffery R. Holland
"Jesus' teachings were not theoretical. They were meant to be acted upon." -Dallin H. Oaks
And I have been trying to read the New Testament from beginning to end. I am currently in 2 Corinthians but came across these:
1
Corinthians 2:9: "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have
entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for
them that love him"
1 Corinthians 3:8-16: (from my journal)
By God's grace, Jesus Christ laid the foundation for our souls.
But we are the builders. We choose what goes on that foundation. We can
put whatever we want on it. But the day will come, in a very real sense,
that our "homes" will be tried by fire (verse 13). If we built
correctly, are still standing, and have not burned, "he shall recieve a
reward." For we are the temple of God.
Have an awesome week!
The picture is me today! I hit 200 pounds the other night...scary!
