October 14, 2013

Hey, Hey, Hey!

Back in August on Elder Boswell's first day we went tracting and talked to this nice lady named Natalia.  She said we could back, but she did live-in care, so she was always either taking care of her patient or otherwise preoccupied.  I kinda thought we would never actually teach her, but about a week ago she said, that that wasn't working, and she set up an appointment by herself and promised us she would be there.  So we got to meet with her!  We found out that most of her family are members of the church, but they went less-active before Natalia was baptized.  She has a sister who still lives here and attends regularly, and her nephew recently returned form his mission.  All this contributed to her agreeing for us to come back, and now she seems to be in the perfect position to hear the gospel.  We're going to teach her every Tuesday.

This week it struck me that I actually have a sense of time passing now.  Like, I know how long an hour takes to go by, and I can say that it takes about 20 minutes to bike to the Stake Center.  Crazy huh?  I guess keeping track of every hour of every day will do that for you. :)

Well, that's about it.  I hope you have/had tons of fun in York!  Hey, does anyone have any awesome ideas on how to make district meeting more exciting?

Love,

rEdle Gerogais

October 7, 2013 It Was A Dark and Stormy Night...

Suddenly, a shot rang out!

Actually it wasn't, and it didn't.

So about a transfer ago we were waiting at the main bus station in Corvallis waiting to meet up with sisters to give them their baptismal record for one of their converts when this man sat down next to us.  We struck up a conversation and it turned out he had attended an LDS church quite a bit in the past.  He seemed to enjoy talking to us, but when he asked if we could teach him he said no.  We gave him a card with our names and number, then we left cuz the sisters weren't coming.

Saturday during Priesthood Session we got a message from someone named Ron who said he had a card with our names and phone number on it.  We looked through our records and couldn't find anyone by that name.  So we called him back.  That was a strange conversation.  He was just chatting with us like we were his best friends, stopping to talk to his cat (Blondie), and telling us he was going to buy us Christmas presents.  He also told us he was on pain meds so he was kind of loopy.  That explained it.  We set up an appointment for Sunday night and hung up bewildered.

Then on Sunday we met with him in his tiny little one room apartment.  At that point of course we remembered what had happened two paragraphs ago and knew who he was.  It was crazy because we give those cards out all the time, but no one had ever called us back before.  We chatted about the gospel, but mostly just listened to what he had to say.  By the end of the conversation Elder Boswell and I both felt like he needed to hear the Plan of Salvation, so we specifically asked if we could come over the next night to teach him that.  He accepted.

Yeah it's been a prooty good week.

Love you all so much!

Elder Georgia

P.S. - Aw dang, I was going to say I love the rain jacket!  Ever since they lightened up the dress code I have an aversion to black things to I'm glad it's blue.  Thanks! <3

P.S.S. - Oh, and conference was the greatest thing ever.  I need to read through all the talks before I even take in half of what was said.  Too bad it's over!

September 30, 2013 - Singin' in the Rain

Doo doo doo doo, doo dee, doo doo doo doo doo...

Yes it has been pouring buckets over here.  I stay somewhat dry with my pea coat, and it's not too cold yet.  We've discovered that we stay much dryer by walking with an umbrella instead of biking, but most things are too far away for that to be plausible.  So we just get wet and enjoy it!  We're definitely protected with super immune systems as missionaries, because pretty much everyone is sick in Corvallis except for us.

Most of the people we had hoped would come to church this week didn't come, but they either gave us warning beforehand, or they turned up sick.....

I am sooooooooooper excited for General Conference!  Partly because we think we can probably get a lot of people we're working with to watch at least one session, and also because it's just the greatest time of year.  For Christmas I would love a copy of this October's Conference Ensign (a member gave me a copy of April's issue).

For Corvallis 2nd's 5th Sunday we learned about family history and temple work (secretly, I like Haymarket's topic better) and it was awesome.  The part that hit me real strongly was a quote from Richard G. Scott, that said something like: Family History is a sure way to protect youth from the influence of the adversary in their lives.  Yeah something like that.  Sweet!  All youth should do family history!  There's something about remembering our fathers and mothers who have gone before that just gives so much meaning to life.  To seek out names that have been lost to time, and then to repeat those names, something like twelve times(?) in the temple, and to offer them the saving ordinances really does make you feel very strengthened spiritually.  Yup that's what I learned from church.

Not a whole lot happened this week though, what with everyone being sick and all.

Hey did you get that Family Mission Plan thing I attached to an e-mail?  Did you do it? :D

Love,

Elder Georgia

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