September 24, 2013

Hello dear fam, I won't have much time to write, but today is the first new day of the transfer!  The district and zone changed, but nothing changed with me and my companion.  Woot!

I literally cannot believe that Luke will be driving anytime soon.  How old is he??  Nine?

A bunch of the people we had wanted to come to church on Sunday didn't, but not for lack of interest in the gospel!  And we found a few new potential investigators.

Ummmmmm I can't think of anything else to say!  Too frazzled!  Been a long day!  Sorry!  Love you!  :D!

Elder Georgia

September 16, 2013

I'm so glad that box made it!  You know, I've been working on that since March or something.  That's ridiculous.  Oh, I sent those cd's because I didn't feel like they were 100% missionary approved.  I ripped songs from all of them that were bonito (incorrect use of spanish hablas) and burned those ones onto a few cd's.  The Piano Guys and Jackie Evancho I bought when we went to Portland at Deseret Book, and I knew I would send them home, after I took the missionary appropriate songs haha.

It's great to hear about Christian and Kayla, how do they get along with the Ariases?  How old is Samantha now?

Today is Elder Boswell's birthday woot woot!  He just turned 14 haha.  JK He turned 19, but yes he's young.  Everyone makes fun of him.  He's awesome.

We received a referral this week through some other missionaries that came from the institute.  We contacted him on Thursday.  His name is Eric, he's a painter, he has four or five parakeets that just fly free throughout his house, he has a severe brain disorder (he says anyways, it's not very apparent, unless you look at his art, but all great artists are crazy right?), and he has read the whole Book of Mormon of his own volition and knows it's true and knows that Joseph Smith is a prophet.  I love missions!  His first contact with missionaries was right after he traumatically split up with his wife, and gave his only child away to be raised by relatives, two sister missionaries lived just down the street.  He said they would visit him a lot, and just chat and see how he was doing.  They helped him through a really hard time.  Then he was in the hospital for a while and one of the other patients gave him a Book of Mormon.  He read it with a sincere heart and real intent and cannot deny it's truthfulness.  He has a few hurdles to get over, but he knows the church is true, and absolutely LOVES missionaries.  We taught him the Restoration yesterday (with a lot of interruptions, he's very easily sidetracked) which prepared us for....

Finally being able to teach Mandii and her husband Jim!  they have a 3 yr. old daughter named Ava.  Words cannot describe that lesson.  I absolutely know the Spirit just took control and did the teaching, because it was an almost flawless lesson.  Straight from Preach My Gospel.  It was the first real real lesson Elder Boswell and I have taught, and it was super easy to teach together.  At the end of the lesson, we asked Jim to offer a kneeling prayer, he was hesitant, saying he hadn't prayed in a long time, but he did it, and afterwards he remarked on how easy and heartfelt it was and how calm he felt.  we also discovered that Mandii is actually a less active!  She was baptized as a teenager and fell away as a teenager, so her knowledge is very basic and incomplete.  Her records aren't even in our ward.

I love you many times a lot!

Elder Georgia

Sept. 9, 2013

It's kind of becoming fall.  I think it will be really pretty when it does.  I know fall is coming because I'm starting to miss Cox Farms.  It's too bad Luke won't be working there this year, but he'll probably find a better job somewhere else.

Those cookies you sent were super delicious!  A testament to that being that very soon after their arrival, a horde of hungry missionaries flocked down and ate them all.  Missionaries are like cookie vultures....

I've been telling all the homeschool families I meet about the LDSHE website!  There's actually a lot here in Corvallis, and they do co-ops!  They're actually going to do a mission prep class for the homeschool youth, and they may involve us!  So that'll be fun.

So are you still sending out my e-mails to people?  Or just uploading them on my blog?  I may prefer the latter, cuz then you can cut out the pointless stuff.  But make sure you let the people who were on the list know!  Dana said she wasn't getting e-mails anymore.

This week we were able to meet with a less-active woman we had been trying to get in contact with for a while.  We were planning on sharing a mormon message on the Book of Mormon, but she didn't have a dvd player!  I looked down the couch at my three-week companion, and the 17 yr. old priest who came with us, and knew that the fate of that lesson rested on my shoulders.  Actually, this type of scenario is a very common occurrence that I just felt like dramatizing.  But I was able to pull a pretty decent half hour lesson out of my nonexistent hat.  I don't share this to brag about my skills, but just to say, it's amazing what a mission does for you!  Until I started training Elder Boswell, I didn't know how far I had come.  I never would have been able to do that before!  So we still talked about the Book of Mormon, then we gave her 9 or so yr. old daughter a copy.  She was so excited, she kept asking her mom to read it with her.

Aside from that, the week was pretty good.  We weren't able to teach Mandy, but we got in contact with her, met her husband, and we have an appointment for next week.  We got to go to the temple again this week!

Love you!

Elder Georgia

Sept. 2, 2013

Your trip looked like so much fun!  Man I have the cutest family ever.  That's so crazy that you saw Hailey!

So... we've gone a long while without having any real investigators.  Paul got the Aaronic Priesthood on Sunday, and he should be going to the temple to do baptisms this week.  Fiona is out of sight, but as she is either leaving for France very soon or already gone we knew she would get too busy to meet with us.  We still meet with Barbara twice a week, and she just barely found out that her father passed away, so she's going through a bit of a hard time.  We're praying that her heart will be opened up to the Plan of Salvation.

So... on Friday we got a referral from the Spanish elders, and we contacted her on Sunday.  Her name is Mandy, she has a husband and at least one daughter, she said she had talked to missionaries about fifteen years ago, and when we asked her if she would like to learn more she said, "Yeah I would like that."  So we're going to teach her and her family this week.  We're pretty excited. :D

President Young came with us to a lesson this week with a less-active lady.  It was sweet.

Aside from that, not much happened!

Love you all so much!

Elder Georgia