Thanksgiving week

Hey everybody!

The weather has been kind of crazy here with snow and rain and slush and then it got super windy and cold. Its kind of fun to step on the puddles that froze because the water under the surface is absorbed by the ground and it sounds like glass breaking. It makes walking in the cold a little more enjoyable and fun.

So this week was pretty good. We taught a decent amount of people and some of our investigators kept their commitments to read. Unfortunately no one kept their commitment to come to church so this week we are going to be focusing on helping people come to church and feel of the spirit that is there. We had a funny lesson with a couple that we are teaching about the word of wisdom. Both of them have something that they need to give up and both of them are willing however there are always those two or three excuses for throwing them away. Its amazing to see what a blessing it is to have learned about the word of wisdom as a young person so that I could be free of addictions.

Thanksgiving was pretty fun. We helped someone out cleaning up some stuff during the early afternoon. We knew it would be a hard day to find people home but doing service for a few hours worked out well. We had dinner with a member and then one with an investigator. When I woke up the next morning, I still wasn't hungry because there was so much good food. Unfortunately the lesson with the investigator that day didn't go like we thought it was going to and we are deciding to stop visiting that family as much. They just don't listen very well and they think they don't have to pray to receive answers. So we are just going to go by once a week for now instead of twice a week.

A couple of days ago I started to feel a little under the weather so right now I don't have much of a desire of writing but there is something that I need to share with you. The church has produced another video about keeping Christ in Christmas. Its a wonderful video that brings the spirit very powerfully and quickly. If you just click on the link, it will take you there. Please share this video with everyone. We need to spread the message so we always remember why we are coming together as families to remember the birth of our Savior. I know he live and loves us and wants us to be the best we can be so we can return to live with God again. I know the church is true and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that Joseph Smith was called to restore the church. Also I know by that same spirit that President Monson is a prophet of God and by following his council and the council of the twelve Apostles, we can reach exaltation!

Hope you all have a great week and that you see many miracles!

--Elder Young--

Zone Conference with Elder Arnold and Snow!

Hey everyone!

Hope you have had a great week!

This week was really long but really fast at the same time. We found a new investigator with a lot of potential. When we found him, he told us that he goes to church but he doesn't really get anything out of it and feels like it doesn't help him very much and he wants to go to a church that helps him get closer to Christ and where he learns more. We have planned to see him tonight and we are excited to see what kind of progress he will make in the coming weeks. Also we have been finding some really good potentials that want to learn more and want to read from the Book of Mormon. Its amazing to see the difference between the people that are prepared and those that are not. The Lord really is preparing people to receive the gospel at this time.

So on Friday we had a zone conference with Elder Arnold of the Seventy. I had a leadership session with him at 7:30 in the morning and then it went from there until 2:30 in the afternoon and I felt sad when it was over because I wanted more. He talked a lot about working with the ward councils and the members to do our finding. Also he talked a lot about being stronger with the commitments that we extend.

We were also supposed to go to Othello for a spanish conference with Elder Arnold as well but it started snowing and they decided not to let us go. I attached a picture of the snow the next day. It was inspired because it took us a long time just to get back to Brewster and it would have been even worse at 9:00 at night.

Something that I want to do better that Elder Arnold suggested is to FEAST from the scriptures. He turned his scriptures around to show us his marking and it was completely covered in notes. He said he spent 6 weeks on 3 Nephi 11 and 12 weeks on 3 Nephi 12. The scriptures contain so much knowledge and truth but our loving Heavenly Father allows us to grow our faith by searching pondering and praying.

Have a great one! and hope to hear from you soon! Happy thanksgiving!

--Elder Young--

Staying Brewster for my last one!

Hey everyone!

So we got transfer calls this week and all 4 of us in our apartment are staying so it looks like I'll be dying in Brewster. I love Brewster and we have been having some good success this past week.

Its been super cold but despite that we are still looking for more people to teach and teaching the people the Lord has given us. We were able to teach the family we found last Sunday because they were busy but the couple that we have been teaching came to church. Funny story. This whole we had struggled to meet with them because things just kept getting in the way so we decided we were just going to do everything we could to help them keep their commitments. We texted them Sunday morning to remind them about church and we didn't get a reply so we assumed that they were still asleep so we stopped by their house and knocked on their door a few times to wake them up. A few minutes before sacrament meeting we get a text from them saying that they are outside. When we saw them they asked if we knocked on their door and they said it woke them up so they could come. Then the sisters of the recent convert, Junior, came and also his niece. It was pretty neat to see so many non-members in church. The Lord is blessing us in so many ways.

Some funny stories from this week. One of the Elders found this huge pine cone and stuck it in my bed before I jumped in and pretty much we have been moving the pine cone around the apartment just trying to find place to surprise each other with it. It sounds kind of dumb in writing but its pretty funny to see.

Hope you all have a great week!

--Elder Young--

The Blessings of Talking with Everyone

Hey everyone!

This week was pretty good for us. We have been able to try back with some of the people that we have been finding and having some success with it. There was a family that we found last Sunday but they didn't have time to talk so we went back yesterday and we were able to teach them about the restoration and leave them with a Book of Mormon. They seemed like they will read it and we are going to go teach them next Sunday. 

We have also been working with couple that seems really interested and they have a desire to come to church but it seems like something always gets in their way just when they are about to come. We had a lesson with them this week that seemed really round about at first but then they actually got the importance of reading the Book of Mormon to find out if the Church has been restored. It was a pretty neat lesson and we hope to see more progress from them this week.

There have been days these past few weeks that we come back at the end of the night and we are just drained because we'll walk all over the place to try and talk with people and then we will also have spiritually draining lessons. It feels really nice to be tired like that.

Hope you all have a great week and that you see many miracles!

--Elder Young--

Why does the time go so fast?

Hey everybody!

This week was really fast but we had some really good lessons that show the love of our Heavenly Father. We spent some time in the rain looking and talking with people but I feel like the Lord blessed us with some more people to teach because we showed our faith to keep working despite the rain.

One of the lessons that was a pretty big miracle for us came from a referral we got a few weeks ago from a member. We have been having a hard time meeting with them on a regular basis but when we do have a lesson, the Spirit is there and they just eat it up. So they came to the english classes and that went well and then afterwards we discussed the chapter they read and they got out of it exactly what the chapter meant and then we had a church tour. When we were talking about the baptismal font, she asked if we put hot water in it because she doesn't like cold water. To me and my companion, that just meant that she was already thinking about it. We have high hopes for them this week as the apple harvest is coming to an end and they will have a little more time.

Funny story from a lesson we had last night. We taught this family that is a little crazy sometimes but like us coming over and when we talk about the gospel they like to learn. We read a chapter with them and then said a pray and were about the leave because it was getting late. Quickly I grabbed her Book of Mormon and marked Alma 32 for her to read before the next appointment and then told her its a chapter about faith. She just looked at me and said "Wow! Thats weird! Every time we open the book or read something it answers my questions." She went on to say that the chapter we read had answered a question for her and then she also had a question about faith. The funny thing was that she never asked us a question about either thing. We just followed the little thoughts and impressions that we got and its helped her. I know the Lord will lead and guide us when we humbly seek his help.

Sorry its a short one this week, it just rained a lot and we were walking in it a lot.

--Elder Young--

WOW What a week!

Hello,

This week was really good for us, we talked to more people than we did last week and we found a couple of really good investigators that have a lot of potential. We are super excited to work with them and help them come closer to Christ. Last night we were stopped by to see if we could talk with them for a few minutes and we ended up listening to stories of events that happened in their life that has prepared them to receive the gospel. We didn't have to say much but what was said was exactly what they needed and we could feel the trust that they have towards us now. The Lord is preparing people in a number of different ways, we just have to be sensitive to the spirit to know how to help.

This week we also did some service as part of Make a difference day. It was mostly helping people that had their homes burnt or their property burnt and helping them with the things that would take too long for them to do on their own. My companion and I helped dig out wooden fence posts that were left in the ground and then we put in new ones so they could rebuild their riding arena. It was pretty neat to see the community get together to help others. There were about 200 people there as part of the relief effort.

Thanks for all that you do and hope you have a great week!

--Elder Young--

Miracles come after lots of training

Hey everybody!

This week was pretty good for us. We had a couple of training meetings and then we also had interviews with our mission president. It really helped us to focus on the basics and talking with everyone. After all of our training meetings we were able to find 2 new investigators and they seem like they have really good potential because they actually do what they commit themselves to do. In the mission that is a rarity and a huge blessing. We hope to see great things come from them in these coming weeks as we continue to work with them towards the commitment of baptism. 

At our interviews president talked a lot about our desire and how that affects our work. It made me realize that we can't just say that we have a desire to do the work but we actually have to do it and do it with everything that we have. It made me think about how it would be the same for the celetial kingdom. We can't just say that we have been good but we actually have to do it and do it with full purpose of heart. I love the examples in the scriptures because of the missionaries in the scriptures do everything with such energy and zeal that its a great example for us to do our very best each and every day.

Sorry the letters are getting shorter. I'm kind of getting burnt out on writing letters. Its still hard to believe that I'm coming up on my last transfer. October is almost over already which is insane! Hope you have a great week!

--Elder Young--