Helloooooo Family! I love you so much. It's so much fun talking to you on the phone and realizing that nothing has changed in our relationships. :) Does that make sense? Anyway, I just like how much at home I feel when I talk to you on the phone, family :)
Thank you!
It was a pretty great week for us in Cumming, GA, here's what happened:
On Monday, Elder Scothern and I went Mother's day shopping with a former investigator named Michelle. It was pretty cool just because she hasn't shown much interest since I've been here. Taking us shopping seemed like a big step for her haha. When we were driving there she started talking to us. She said, "I understand most everything, but why no Coffee or Tea??" We told her a few things, but told her that the most important part of many of God's commandments is faith. Have a little faith, and then watch to see if God blesses you, and wait to see if it's a good thing.
While we were out at the mall I ran into quite a few less-active members from our ward that I hadn't met. I started talking to this girl in the store and after a minute she asked, "So what ward are you from?" I was speechless for about a second haha, she totally caught me by surprise. I didn't know she was a member and we hadn't talked about anything churchy. A minute later her friend came over and asked the same thing. They grew up in the Pilgrim Mill ward and just stopped going to church after high school. I got both of their numbers and gave them our card. Then on Sunday one of them showed up to church! So that was good.
This week I thought a bit about less-active Young Single Adults. We went to dinner with a guy in the ward whose motto about religion is "I don't bother God and he doesn't bother me." There are quite a few Less-Active YSAs and it's just sad because chances are if they don't re-introduce spirituality back into their lives now, chances are it won't ever happen. So we talked to Bishop Sherman about it on Sunday, and we're gonna try to work out a plan.
Tuesday we met with our super awesome new investigator (Louie) again at the church. He's so cool. Haha, each time we see him again he has watched like 5 videos about the church from the church online. He has questions galore. When we were teaching him on Tuesday we were going over the Introduction to the Book of Mormon. He stopped us and said, "Sooo, other churches don't read the Book of Mormon, but do they believe in these prophets?" We told him probably not and he said, "Sad! We need to tell the whole world about this!" hahaaha it was hilarious. Brother Rushton said that's what the missionaries are for, because we members don't usually do a good enough job haha. Louie came to church on Sunday with 2 million more questions. He felt the Spirit, learned lots, and loved it. He decided that there are some things that he needs to work on in his life and we gave him the baptismal date of May 22! He said, "Absolutely!" We've got a lot of work to do to get him ready... But for real, he is the most legit investigator that I have had on my mission. He just wants the Gospel in his life.
On Wednesday we were biking through the Walmart parking lot and this guy in a car yelled at us and told us to come over. He bashed with us for like half an hour. We kept telling him that we had to go, but he just kept talking. He is going to Seminary, probably to become a preacher and his class read a few verses from the Book of Mormon. His whole argument against us was that you don't need the Book of Mormon. But at the end he told us that he knows that we love Jesus, he knows that we are saved, and that we do great work. So I'm kinda confused about what he was complaining about. Haha, I felt so bad for Elder Scothern. And I just hate being in a contentious atmosphere like that.
That night we went with Brother Tayman, our ward mission leader, to go visit this sweet family that Elder Scothern tracted into when I was on exchange. They are members who used to live here, they moved back to Mexico, but then moved back here. They don't have a car so they haven't been to church yet! Jonathan the boy is 11 years old and he is so awesome. He loves the Gospel. When we came over he brought out of his room every single little publication that the church has ever made. Now that we found them he is super excited to go back to church.
Thursday I had District Leader Council in Lilburn. There are a lot of changes happening in the Missionary Department, so President King wanted to have some meetings to get us up to speed for when President Wolfert arrives. It was a very good meeting. We discussed many things that will help us be better District Leaders, but it seems like everything comes down to the two greatest laws that Christ gave us: Love God and Love your neighbor.
We discussed the cool new training program for new missionaries that is coming out in August. We talked about having the Spirit with us stronger so that we can inspire ward members, finding those who are searching for the gospel, and being in tune for teaching. President King told us to not be afraid to give an investigator a baptismal date on the first lesson. If they are someone who is searching for the Gospel then all will go well. He said that the church wants to put more missionary effort into the areas that are doing well so that we can have "centers of strength."
We discussed keeping our minds and hearts pure, so that God can bless you, so that the wards will trust you, and so that you can be focused on missionary work. We learned much about how to help our districts and be good missionaries, and one of my favorite parts of those meetings is seeing friends. We carpooled with Elder Whitehead and that was great. I love that kid. Haha we know each other so well and have so much fun together. He is STILL in Cornelia, haha going on 3 months, so he updated me on everyone back there and I got to talk to my good old friend Bruce on the phone.
Elder Scothern had a great day in Cumming, GA, while I was gone. Haha I swear he does best without me there. He shines, you know? He learns a lot being in charge of the day and area. He taught a great first lesson to a kid that he found last week, and said that he got a lot of good experience in. That evening we went with the Relief Society President, Sister Vermuelen, to go meet a lady that moved into the ward. It was good to be able to meet her. She was last in the Ft. Yargo ward, where Elder Whitehead served, so we kinda had that as common ground. You never know who is going through a hard time until you find out. Everyone is important, we just gotta do our part to help them out.
Friday night we met with Hannah, she is doing well. She is slowly progressing. She told us that she only has a month left until she turns 18, so she is excited to get baptized. We went with Sister Thomas (our awesome neighbor who is a recent convert) to go see a woman's son that she visit teaches. The kid is 23 years old and just got diagnosed with a brain tumor and lung cancer. He talked about how easy it was for him to stop smoking and switch over to Nicotine-free Electronic Cigarettes, and it's just sad--because he smoked for those 7 years when he was a kid, he is now getting chemo at a super young age. He and his mother were both extremely positive and happy, which was inspiring to see.
Saturday morning we went to one of the very far parts of our area and got a great view of Lake Sidney Lanier. It was beautiful. I love Georgia. The Coal Mountain Elder made us lunch-- fried chicken babyyy. Hhahaha it was super funny on Thursday, Sister Armstrong, a member in the ward was driving me and the other district leader (Elder Banner) to meet up with Elder Whitehead to go to the meeting and she got us breakfast at McDonald's. We both got chicken biscuits. She is from NY and when we ordered that she said, "Oh my! You two are so southern. I never in 10 years would have thought of getting a chicken biscuit for breakfast." haha it was funny. At the meeting President King asked us to go visit each of the members to find out if they invited anyone to the Temple Open house, so that we can get more referrals. So we had some really good conversations visiting members Saturday. We've been biking a lot lately. I lost four pounds, that's pretty good because I'm so fat.
Sunday was Mother's day (Happy Mother's Day Mom and Grandmas!), and it was so good talking to y'all and eating at the Carters.
Monday (yesterday) we went Mountain Biking up in Dawsonville with a kid from the ward, Jarred, and the Coal Mountain Elders, Disbrow and Hampton. We did that in the morning and it was a blast. Our bikes were completely covered in mud haha. In the afternoon we had appointments so that's why I didn't email yesterday.
One last story. On Saturday when we were on the way to that far neighborhood by the lake, we were biking down a hill and there was a guy walking up the sidewalk towards us. He stepped to the side of the road to let us pass. He was a nice looking guy in his 40s or so, and I wanted to just bike past because we were late, but I felt like I should talk to him. Instead of saying something that I would normally say, I asked him where he was from. He told me that he was from Atlanta and that he has a cabin on the lake. He said that his car had broke down, his cell phone had died, and that he had been walking for miles to get to a mechanic's shop. He was a real nice, guy--he wasn't trying to make us pity him or anything. He wouldn't have told us any of that if I hadn't felt like I needed to keep asking him questions. We let him use our phone, I gave him a bottle of water which he downed in a second, and gave him directions on where to go, and a mormon.org card. It was a great experience, it felt like what Jesus would do, you know? Anyway, point being, it wasn't anything great that we did, it only was able to happen because the Holy Ghost whispered, and we listened.
Sooo, listen to the Holy Ghost. I'm learning lots about personal revelation and inspiration. God wants to speak to all of us, don't doubt, just listen.
I LOVE YOU!!! Sorry if I forgot anything! Write me and tell me what is happening in your lives, keep up the great work!
Mikey
