Easter is late this year. It would have been cool if it was actually on the 6th but oh well. We had probably one of our best weeks here in Powell, if not the most productive. We taught a total of 28 lessons, half of which were less-active lessons. Pretty dang awesome!
Transfers are also this week. I was very relieved and excited when I found out that both Elder Rasmusson and I are both staying here in Powell another 6 weeks! I didn't want to leave especially now that things are picking up so fast. And I want to see those baptisms and reactivations go through!
Wednesday was our Zone Leader Training and I think it went pretty well. I gave a discussion on Faith, Repentance, and Obedience. This ZL Training was 2 hours shorter than usual so it seemed really fast pced and kind of chaotic. But it was beneficial. Afterwards a lot of us went to McDonalds for lunch where we found an excommunicated member named Charlie Brown! That is his legit name! He said Walmart doesn't accept his debit card because the name is too suspicious or something. He showed us his drivers license, military ID, and everything proving that was his name. Not having his card accpeted even sounds like a Charlie Brown story. :) Later Wednesday evening we taught the Davis family the Word of Wisdom. Both of them committed to live it and I guess they met with the Bishop yesterday to work towards renewing a temple recommend!!! Ahhhhh we are so proud of them. Decades of inactivity and now they are so ready to go to though temple.
We had a cool experience Thursday. We spent most of the day planning for the following week so we were pretty burned out. But later, we went to contact a less-active referral and we happened to pull up while he was outside. First of all, his German Shepherd nearly bit off Elder Rasmusson's hand. Fortunately Elder Rasmusson moved his hand away in time. That isn't the cool story though...he actually needed help moving his washing machine. He told us that earlier in the day his wife asked how he was going to do it by himself and he more jokingly replied, "maybe I'll call the missionaries or something." Careful what you wish for buddy ;)
We met another interesting man who has been inactive for a long time. He used to be in the Bishopric decades ago. He does not come now for a number of reasons. What was funny is he tried to anticipate every reply we would have to his concerns. So he more or less was bashing himself...but with false doctrine. He bases his testimony off of what others have told him about the church and clearly does not know the doctrine. Once he finally came to grips with himself and stopped arguing with himself with false doctrine, he actually accepted the commitment to re-read the Book of Mormon haha. Some people...
Friday we helped set up for a "Health Fair" at the college here. We had a good amount of service here this week. Saturday we took down the Health Fair after clearing out some flower beds for a non-member widow. I took out like 3 bushes with only a shovel. It was pretty fun :) We had a really good lesson with the Pederson's. We taught the Restoration to all of them and invited them to baptism. They all had some really good questions. To every pre-missionary I would invite you to know everything about the beginnings of other Christian churches. If you do not know it and get sent to someone who knows their history, you will not be able to answer their questions. Fortunately, I have studied quite a bit of Catholic history in order to effectively teach the Apostasy, so we were able to answer her questions :) And they all accepted a Book of Mormon!
We finally made headway with the See's. Aramon and Aramonie (the 9 year old twins who grew up in Mexico). Sister See and John Miller who she lives with are getting married (yay!) and now we can teach the twins the lessons. They truly are the most innocent children I have ever met. Their souls are probably pure enough to pierce the veil. Aramon is my favorite because he doesn't understand much but definately knows the Savior died for him. Something kind of funny though is Elder Rasmusson was in the middle of testifying and the 9 year old girl lets out this super loud fart and we all start crying from laughter. It was incredible xD
Yesterday was good as well, the Youngs were at church again! Tracy is on date to be baptized May 24th! Both of them have made tremendous progress and are so stoked to be active again. Yesterday we also spoke in church (with a 2 days notice). I talked about the meaning of Easter and used Elder Christofferson's talk from conference along with Elder Nelson, Hales, and Holland's talks. Forge unshakable faith in the Atonement! I feel like that was the underlying theme. I also got asked some really good questions yesterday from a part-member family about Jesus Christ and Lucifer being brothers, their plans, and how we are all brothers and sisters. Isaiah 14:12-14 talks about Lucifer falling from Heaven. Pretty deep stuff.
This week I have decided I will never be Less-active. Ever. not like I was planning on it, but I cannot believe how many people get "offended" because of someone or something that happened a milennia ago. I can understand if you never had a doctrinal concern resolved, but letting an imperfect man decide your eternal Salvation? Ridiculous! Our faith is in Christ, not other people! I was getting so frustrated this week with people. It is not a matter of "thinking about coming back to church," because you already made the covenant and commitment to remember the Savior every Sunday! And you CAN NOT have the gift of the Holy Ghost with you, if you do not take of the Sacrament. Period. That is the Promise. I flat out told someone this week that they are not remembering Jesus Christ or even letting the Atonement help them by choosing to not come to church. You simply cannot recieve full forgiveness without the Sacrament. That is the deal and not attending because someone offended you is frankly selfish. Elder Holland's talk about defending our faith is on point. We want to be told smooth things, we want a gospel where all we have to say is we believe in Christ but aren't willing to do anything about it. Your Faith becomes dead. And that is how I really feel :)
Although it is Spring here, we had freezing rain yesterday and snow come on top of it, so the roads were nice and icy. The wind is chilly, but tomorrow we don't have to be in suit coats till Fall! :D I can't believe Lacey comes home in 10 days. I bet she is freaking out. Jesse is going to have one of his favorite summers it sounds like. Have a great week!
I included a picture of Tawnya's Easter Package! That was so sweet of her thanks Tawnya! Also, tell me this truck doesn't look dumb. The other one is what Powell looks like in Spring...Freezing.
