RAIN!
Family,
We have had a good week. Things are finally starting to come around when it comes to the work here. We were blessed with 5 new investigators this week when we have been averaging 1 every week up to this point. As a result to that, we have a total of ten appointments for Tuesday and Wednesday combined. Transfers are coming up next Wednesday so hopefully I don't go anywhere. We have a baptism the day after transfers so that would be super bad to get moved. This transfer should bring in some interesting things, but we'll just have to wait and see.
To answer your questions, I do not do zone leader stuff every day. In fact we do stuff about 3 days every week. To be honest, I don't see a difference in maturity with missionaires coming out. Just the same eagerness to serve and sense of humor that every missionary has. There are lots of missionaries that do get depressed and go home (I heard of one even as recent as this past week, in fact), unfortunately. I've known quite a few that have done that. On to my week.
To answer your questions, I do not do zone leader stuff every day. In fact we do stuff about 3 days every week. To be honest, I don't see a difference in maturity with missionaires coming out. Just the same eagerness to serve and sense of humor that every missionary has. There are lots of missionaries that do get depressed and go home (I heard of one even as recent as this past week, in fact), unfortunately. I've known quite a few that have done that. On to my week.
Monday was an okay day. I played Rugby for the first time. It's kind of boring, to be honest. I'd rather play football. That night we went to FHE. I love the ward and the people in it, but sometimes there's a lull in the activities and it gets boring. Tuesday we did service by scraping dry paint off of a cement floor before the carpet company comes in and deep cleans it. We also swept up all of the dust in all the rooms. We didn't finish in 2 hours of work but almost did. Later that day, we had a lesson with a former investigator (now new investigator) and invited him to church. He said: "Oh, I want to attend my church before I attend yours." That was pretty much our Tuesday.
Wednesday, we did a survey in preparation for a general authority visit the first week in November. His name is Elder Nash. I don't know who he is but I'm sure he's special. That night we had dinner and a lesson with the person we have on baptismal date. She is ready to go. Actually, she and her member boyfriend went back to her parents house this past weekend again in Pittsburgh, Kansas to talk to them about it. Apparently her Mom got really mad and there was a big fight. But they still made it to church. What a champ she is for standing up for her testimony in front of her active Catholic parents and be that example. I'm so proud of her and excited for her baptism in a couple of weeks (if I'm here).
Thursday we had a lesson with one of our dieing investigators (not literally). He belongs to the church of the NFL, as Dad puts it. It's so frustrating to see people do that. That night, we had a good correlation meeting with our stake President. Man, he is such a good leader for the stake and really knows what he is talking about. That night, we gave an MML (member motivational lesson) to an active member and a recent convert for the Derby singles ward. I've never met her before until that day, but her whole family is Muslim so once they found out she got baptized, they were disappointed. If she was in Iran or whatever, she probably would've been killed. But good thing she's in Kansas! She has one of the strongest testimonies on the planet. We can find people like that everywhere, even San Diego. It's just our job to find them.
On Friday after a great district meeting conducted by one of the most experienced missionaries in the mission, we began exchanges with the Auburn Hills Elders. Elder Chun came with me and has been out for a month and a half. He's from Thousand Oaks, California (or somewhere around there). I thought it was interesting that his Dad works at the LA temple as a security guy. The exchange went well as we also attended a baptism for the Rolling Hills ward. That night, we had an appontment with the neighbor of our relief society president. He is the son of active Cathlolic parents and is really knowledgeable about the gospel. he asks lots of profound questions; some I didn't know the answer to (for example: he mentioned the quote that says esentially this: "As man is, God once was. As God is, man may become." So he wanted to know who Heavenly Father's father was.). We also watched the 20 minutes restoration DVD. That really invited the spirit to the meeting. I think if he just slows down during our lessons and other spiritual settings, he'll be able to comprehend everything that he needs to know.
On Friday, we commited a member to bring her non-member cousin to church. She was successful yesterday as her cousin attended all 3 meetings. Haha, it was funny, because in gospel principles, everyone was introducing each other and after saying her name, said: "and I'm catholic." I thought that was pretty funny. Everything fell through on Saturday even though we were blessed with good numbers. That's the funny thing. You may have bad weeks but good numbers (or days) or you may have good weeks with bad numbers. It all depends on the work ethic.
Sunday was also a good day. The sister we had dinner with turned in her papers on Saturday. It's so exciting to see everybody getting ready to serve missions, especially the sisters. We just need the same enthusiasm in the males of the church too. Pretty soon, we may have more sisters than Elders. But at church yesterday, when sacrament meeting began, we had like 3 non-members and like 15 members. So it was a good meeting, but just not a lot of people there. But that was week!
Wednesday, we did a survey in preparation for a general authority visit the first week in November. His name is Elder Nash. I don't know who he is but I'm sure he's special. That night we had dinner and a lesson with the person we have on baptismal date. She is ready to go. Actually, she and her member boyfriend went back to her parents house this past weekend again in Pittsburgh, Kansas to talk to them about it. Apparently her Mom got really mad and there was a big fight. But they still made it to church. What a champ she is for standing up for her testimony in front of her active Catholic parents and be that example. I'm so proud of her and excited for her baptism in a couple of weeks (if I'm here).
Thursday we had a lesson with one of our dieing investigators (not literally). He belongs to the church of the NFL, as Dad puts it. It's so frustrating to see people do that. That night, we had a good correlation meeting with our stake President. Man, he is such a good leader for the stake and really knows what he is talking about. That night, we gave an MML (member motivational lesson) to an active member and a recent convert for the Derby singles ward. I've never met her before until that day, but her whole family is Muslim so once they found out she got baptized, they were disappointed. If she was in Iran or whatever, she probably would've been killed. But good thing she's in Kansas! She has one of the strongest testimonies on the planet. We can find people like that everywhere, even San Diego. It's just our job to find them.
On Friday after a great district meeting conducted by one of the most experienced missionaries in the mission, we began exchanges with the Auburn Hills Elders. Elder Chun came with me and has been out for a month and a half. He's from Thousand Oaks, California (or somewhere around there). I thought it was interesting that his Dad works at the LA temple as a security guy. The exchange went well as we also attended a baptism for the Rolling Hills ward. That night, we had an appontment with the neighbor of our relief society president. He is the son of active Cathlolic parents and is really knowledgeable about the gospel. he asks lots of profound questions; some I didn't know the answer to (for example: he mentioned the quote that says esentially this: "As man is, God once was. As God is, man may become." So he wanted to know who Heavenly Father's father was.). We also watched the 20 minutes restoration DVD. That really invited the spirit to the meeting. I think if he just slows down during our lessons and other spiritual settings, he'll be able to comprehend everything that he needs to know.
On Friday, we commited a member to bring her non-member cousin to church. She was successful yesterday as her cousin attended all 3 meetings. Haha, it was funny, because in gospel principles, everyone was introducing each other and after saying her name, said: "and I'm catholic." I thought that was pretty funny. Everything fell through on Saturday even though we were blessed with good numbers. That's the funny thing. You may have bad weeks but good numbers (or days) or you may have good weeks with bad numbers. It all depends on the work ethic.
Sunday was also a good day. The sister we had dinner with turned in her papers on Saturday. It's so exciting to see everybody getting ready to serve missions, especially the sisters. We just need the same enthusiasm in the males of the church too. Pretty soon, we may have more sisters than Elders. But at church yesterday, when sacrament meeting began, we had like 3 non-members and like 15 members. So it was a good meeting, but just not a lot of people there. But that was week!
Don't worry about telling me about football. I get to hear all about it during ward council/PEC every week. I heard that BYU lost, but oh well. Dad, my companion and I conduct zone meetings but I haven't been zone leader long enough to know what we do at zone conferences. I'm pretty sure zone leaders just conduct the conferences. They may give training's at times but not many. That's awesome to hear that your ward is doing okay. I hope that all those LA's will be able to see that the church is true and return to activity. But anyways, let me know if you have anymore questions. I got super excited this week when I got a letter from Whitney saying that she's going to Columbus, Ohio (high in the middle and round on both ends, yuk yuk yuk yuk!) and Sadie going to Independence. I can't wait to hear from them and how their preparation is going. Well, my time on the computer is running down. I need to get going.
Love y'all!
Love y'all!
Elder Sutherland
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