Well Hey!
This week was hectic! Oh man, let me tell you... For one thing, about half of the missionaries in our zone got sick. That was a bummer. But everyone seems to be doing better now, so that's no longer an issue!
This week was hectic! Oh man, let me tell you... For one thing, about half of the missionaries in our zone got sick. That was a bummer. But everyone seems to be doing better now, so that's no longer an issue!
I finished reading the Book of Mormon the other day! I can't remember when I started it, probably in February or March. A slow and steady study. As I read through it, I circled each reference to God the Father and Jesus Christ. There's no doubt who the Book is about! The new study I've started is about influences for good and evil in the Book of Mormon. Let me just tell you, that Nephi was one great influence!
 |
| This is the page that, flipping through, I think might have the most references. There's almost 100 in on these two pages. It's the account of the vision of the Brother of Jared. There was a couple of pages in Mosiah that made a strong competition. |
A couple of weeks ago Rob, our ward mission leader, organized our ward missionaries into 8 companionships to go out and find and meet all of the "unknown" people on the records of our ward. These are people who we've never heard of, who haven't come to church, but who's records drifted in. There was a lot of success that night! The ward missionaries contacted about 40 of the 60 unknown members. From the results of the "blitz," Elder Rosequist and I got a list of people who the ward leadership feels we should visit. We did some of that work this week, and there's been success!
first, we visited Colette, a less-active member. She doesn't come to church because she doesn't like the singles' ward. But, we went over and visited with her, and invited her to a lesson. We said, "We are teaching a guy named Jack on Wednesday, and we think it would be good if you came to the lesson." She asked if he was an investigator. We said, "No, he's a member..." to which we got the reply, "...just inactive like me?" And we said, "Yes! Just like you." She has a good sense of humor. She came to the lesson, and it was great! We read from 2 Nephi chapter 2, which explains a lot about the Atonement and repentance. We asked them both to share their testimony of the Atonement, and they did. Both Jack and Colette agreed to come to church on Sunday, but only Jack came, and two hours late... But hey, better late than never!
The other person we were able to contact from the blitz was Jacob. He is another inactive member who lives far on the north end of our area, 30 minutes from the church building. He seems to have gotten caught up in a lot of things other than the gospel. He is really into video games. But we went to his house and got to meet him. He declined an invitation to ultimate frisbee, saying that he wasn't big into sports; but he accepted the invitation to institute on Thursday! We got a ride from one of the ward missionaries lined up for him, and he came! We always show up at the end of institute (8:30-9:00) to meet and greet non-members and less-actives, and also to talk to the members about their missionary work and to ask for any help we might need from them. So, when we were there we introduced Jacob to some of the members of the ward, and he seemed to enjoy himself. He didn't come to church, but we'll definitely reach out to him again this week!
first, we visited Colette, a less-active member. She doesn't come to church because she doesn't like the singles' ward. But, we went over and visited with her, and invited her to a lesson. We said, "We are teaching a guy named Jack on Wednesday, and we think it would be good if you came to the lesson." She asked if he was an investigator. We said, "No, he's a member..." to which we got the reply, "...just inactive like me?" And we said, "Yes! Just like you." She has a good sense of humor. She came to the lesson, and it was great! We read from 2 Nephi chapter 2, which explains a lot about the Atonement and repentance. We asked them both to share their testimony of the Atonement, and they did. Both Jack and Colette agreed to come to church on Sunday, but only Jack came, and two hours late... But hey, better late than never!
The other person we were able to contact from the blitz was Jacob. He is another inactive member who lives far on the north end of our area, 30 minutes from the church building. He seems to have gotten caught up in a lot of things other than the gospel. He is really into video games. But we went to his house and got to meet him. He declined an invitation to ultimate frisbee, saying that he wasn't big into sports; but he accepted the invitation to institute on Thursday! We got a ride from one of the ward missionaries lined up for him, and he came! We always show up at the end of institute (8:30-9:00) to meet and greet non-members and less-actives, and also to talk to the members about their missionary work and to ask for any help we might need from them. So, when we were there we introduced Jacob to some of the members of the ward, and he seemed to enjoy himself. He didn't come to church, but we'll definitely reach out to him again this week!
We taught Ashleigh three times this week. The first time was kind of impromptu. She had asked if we could talk about "redemption," based on her reading in 2 Nephi 2. On Wednesday she and Shay showed up to an activity an hour early, so I told them we would come and talk about the gospel. Ashleigh loves the temple, so we met in the Temple Annex. The Annex is a small building like a mini visitors' center. As soon as we started the lesson, a member of the ward walked in and asked if he could join us. Then some teenage girls walked in and sat down. Then a family came in, followed by tons of youth, probably about 25 people in all. They were all really quiet, just whispering to each other, but we just kept right on going with our lesson. Finally we had to go, because we had another appointment. I asked Ashleigh to say the closing prayer, and she did, in front of all those people! Everyone said "Amen" when she finished the prayer. It was really funny, but also a big step for her! It's so great to see people push themselves out of their comfort zone and grow!
The second lesson we had with her was the next day. We watched the movie "The Testaments," and told her to focus on the faith, repentance, and conversion of some of the characters. She took notes the whole time on the repentance process of the main character, Jacob. At the end of the movie, she felt the Spirit big time, and cried. She got so embarrassed when our host turned on the lights. But it's awesome. She knows that Jesus is the Christ. In our third lesson, we finished studying the topic of redemption in the Temple Annex.
Speaking of people stepping out of their comfort zone, Shay is going to speak at our Zone Conference on Wednesday! Each of the three stakes was asked to have a recent convert speak for 5-7 minutes about their conversion. Shay is one of the most shy people I know, so this is huge! She also got a job working at the department store Ashleigh works at, and she signed up for the BYU Pathways program (online BYU education)! She says everything is falling into place in her life. Ashleigh also expressed interest in doing the Pathways program, and in attending BYU in the future if she can keep her grades up.
I can see the gospel changing people's lives! I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, and the Savior of all men and women individually. This restored gospel blesses lives. Let's share it! Oh my GOSH it's so true!!!
Be excellent to each other and choose the right!
Sincerely,
Elder Rogers
Sincerely,
Elder Rogers
No comments:
Post a Comment