May 19, 2014

May 19, 2014

 

What a busy week! Following transfer calls on Wednesday, we weren't sure if we had a good reason to go to the transfer meeting on Thursday, but we eventually decided to go and it's a good thing that we did! When the transfer was announced, no new missionaries were put into the Big Walnut Creek 2 elders' area. They were doubled out and no one was doubled in. In other words, we found out that their area is now closed. So, we went to their apartment and took all the good food that was left, along with a few other items they left behind. We divded their area with the sisters in our ward, so now we cover about twice as much geography as we did before. This new area included several great investigators. There is a 9 year old girl named N. who is from a part-member family. She is being baptized on the 7th. We also are now teaching a nice guy named T. and a lady named S., who are also both from part-member families.

We visited C. twice and she gave us the last of her cigarettes twice. I don't think she will buy any more now. She also gave us all her coffee the first time and we gave her a substitute called Choffy (made with cocoa beans instead of coffee beans) so she shouldn't have any more problems there either. We have made a plan with her for baptism on June 7th, and she is excited!

We have also been visiting with a lady named P.. She is in the pictures from the social media split, though her name isn't on the for privacy. She came to church yesterday and seemed to enjoy it pretty well. It is different from what she is used to (she is Lutheran) but she certainly has potential.

Now, the trick is going to be keeping all of this going!

I'm glad things went well with the move and everything. I love you all.

Have a blessed week!

Love,

Elder Schow

May 6, 2014

May 6, 2014
It has been a very busy week. We had interviews with President and Sister Nilsen on Tuesday and some training from the assistants. Recently, we each companionship was given a DVD with some Mormon messages on it to use during lessons. Each companionship also had a portable DVD player in our apartments. During the training on Tuesday, one of the assistants told about using the DVD player as a tracting approach. We took it to heart and spent the rest of the week knocking on doors and offering the share a brief video about Jesus Christ. People were SO much more receptive to a video than they ever have been to a "message." The best part is, we got so share our message anyway after the video was over. We found 20 new investigators, which was almost a mission record. Our whole mission broke our investigator record again and found 505 investigators last week, which was pretty cool. We've been pretty busy going to the appointments we have set up as a result of all these contacts. Sometimes the people are there and sometimes they are not, but I guess that's how it works.

A man named K. and two of his children came to church with us on Sunday. He seemed to enjoy it and he plans to bring his wife and the rest of his family next week.

Yesterday we played baseball with our whole zone. It was rainy part of the time, but it was really fun anyway. After the activity, we and the other Elders in our ward had to help a less active lady named Whitney move out, so that took up the whole afternoon. I really think it left a lasting impression on her and we hope she will eventually come back to church. She may try to find you on Facebook.

Since you guys asked, 2-2-5ing basically is tracting around the home of a member or an investigator or someone like that. We knock 2 doors on either side, and 5 across the street. I guess it just makes it more likely that the people we talk to will have some sort of connection to the Church. It often leads us to prepared people.

Mom, thank you for the quote on perserverance.

They haven't given us any details for Mother's day, so I'm assuming I'll be calling. Our church goes from 1 to 4 our time or 11 to 2 your time. I'm thinking maybe I'll call around 5 or 5:30 my time, but I'm not sure. Once we figure things out a little better. We can probably come back to the library and send a short email telling you exactly what is going on.

For the social media split (explained in that other email) you might want to friend Tammy Lee and Mike (Michael?) Winslow on Facebook with both my account and yours.

I hope you are all doing well. Thank you for your love and support.

Have a blessed week,

Love,

Elder Schow