"I hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year."
Monday, December 27, 2010
Monday, December 20, 2010
Update from Elder McGavin!
Hey Everyone!
Wow just another week down. Time just keeps going its way weird the warp you are in on your mission. I was in Riga for 2 days this week on an exchange with the Assistant to the President. His name is Elder Nielson and he graduated a year ahead of me in high school at Olympus. He is a great guy. He told me quite a bit about how transfers work and how missionaries are chosen to train. Next week we have our Christmas zone conference. I will have to do a lot of teaching as the zone leader next week at zone conference, lets just say 6 hours worth over a 2 day period. Preparation Day will be on Wednesday next week, just to let you know.
Wow just another week down. Time just keeps going its way weird the warp you are in on your mission. I was in Riga for 2 days this week on an exchange with the Assistant to the President. His name is Elder Nielson and he graduated a year ahead of me in high school at Olympus. He is a great guy. He told me quite a bit about how transfers work and how missionaries are chosen to train. Next week we have our Christmas zone conference. I will have to do a lot of teaching as the zone leader next week at zone conference, lets just say 6 hours worth over a 2 day period. Preparation Day will be on Wednesday next week, just to let you know.
I have a good story to share with you. This week we have spent a lot of time working with active members. We have actually had really good success receiving referrals from them. One of the members gave us a referral of her son in law who works as a shoe smith and locksmith at one of the local stores. She said to go there and try talking to him but to not mention her name. We went the next day and scouted out the situation. She had explained how he looks and when we walked in the grocery store and saw his little shop off to the side, we knew it was him. We approached him and asked him if it would be more worth it to buy new shoes or repair the hole that is on Elder Barney's heel. We got talking to him and he told us all of the pros and cons. We told
him it is hard to find shoes that will last for 2 years, the 2 years that we are here as missionaries. We were slowly easing the conversation in that direction. In the meantime we asked him if the grocery store would have a certain light bulb that we needed. He asked where we are from and we talked a little about that, and we told
him that we are here to talk to people about God. We asked him if he believes in God or not. He said he does but he has never felt a large need to learn any more than he already knows. He said, "But my mother in law
goes to sunday school somewhere here in Pärnu." "Oh really," I replied, "What's her name?" He said, "Zoja..." Then we asked "Zoja Idvani?" ..."Yeah thats her!" We told him how awesome she is and how good she is at coordinating game night. We mentioned that she always brings her grandkids along. He said that those are his kids. We told him that the Book of Mormon is the difference with this church and that it proves the Jesus Christ's true church was restored. We talked a little longer, and he said that he would be interested in talking another time. There was a nice little Euro change wallet he was selling that Elder Barney was interested in that will give us a good excuse to go back. We walked away after meeting Mario and just thought to ourselves, that couldnt have gone better! We meet with member, member gives us referral, we contact referral by happen chance, and now referral wants to meet. Elder Barney and I are going to talk about that for years to come and still be amazed at how well that somehow turned out. We have some other really promising referrals that we are excited about from some of the other members. We kind of realized that if President Hinckley said missionary work is through the members, we need to give it an extra hard push and see what comes from it. Our zone is doing well with many baptismal dates going around right now.
him it is hard to find shoes that will last for 2 years, the 2 years that we are here as missionaries. We were slowly easing the conversation in that direction. In the meantime we asked him if the grocery store would have a certain light bulb that we needed. He asked where we are from and we talked a little about that, and we told
him that we are here to talk to people about God. We asked him if he believes in God or not. He said he does but he has never felt a large need to learn any more than he already knows. He said, "But my mother in law
goes to sunday school somewhere here in Pärnu." "Oh really," I replied, "What's her name?" He said, "Zoja..." Then we asked "Zoja Idvani?" ..."Yeah thats her!" We told him how awesome she is and how good she is at coordinating game night. We mentioned that she always brings her grandkids along. He said that those are his kids. We told him that the Book of Mormon is the difference with this church and that it proves the Jesus Christ's true church was restored. We talked a little longer, and he said that he would be interested in talking another time. There was a nice little Euro change wallet he was selling that Elder Barney was interested in that will give us a good excuse to go back. We walked away after meeting Mario and just thought to ourselves, that couldnt have gone better! We meet with member, member gives us referral, we contact referral by happen chance, and now referral wants to meet. Elder Barney and I are going to talk about that for years to come and still be amazed at how well that somehow turned out. We have some other really promising referrals that we are excited about from some of the other members. We kind of realized that if President Hinckley said missionary work is through the members, we need to give it an extra hard push and see what comes from it. Our zone is doing well with many baptismal dates going around right now.
The Christmas spirit is in the air. As the song goes, "I'M DREAMING OF A (person dressed in) WHITE (on) CHRISTMAS" Everyone is hoping for a baptism on christmas cause that would just be awesome.
I love you all.
Vanem McGavin
I love you all.
Vanem McGavin
Merry Christmas from Elder Heaton
I love you all and wish you all a Very Merry Christmas. Let us all remember the spirit of Christmas isn't about gifts. But about our Savior, Jesus Christ. Remember, he was born on a "silent night" in the most humble of situations. I love you all!!
--
-Elder Heaton
Philippines Bacolod Mission
--
-Elder Heaton
Philippines Bacolod Mission
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Elder Taufui's Baptisms!
Thanks so much for everything. So this passed week was pretty fun!!! We finally got this one guy baptized. His name is Sitiveni and he's been taking the lessons for about 6 years b4. His wife is a member. He was suppose to be baptized like a month ago so the day b4 he was suppose to get baptized, the branch president called us, he had to wait cause he's not married and he's staying with his ex wife. So i guess they got married b4 and then a couple months after they got a divorce, but they still lived together. So finally we had the wedding then the baptism. It was good! The next day he got the priesthood. Then after, i was able to go see another baptism in my last area but ya so good. This was another part member family.
So b4 me and my companion were working with them, but man couldn't really get them to commit to do anything. It was just hard. But finally the sister missionaries to get the mom in the lesson. (the member) and i guess it all worked out. And b4, the mom, she had a lot of anti-mormon things and she felt like when she was baptized, she said that it felt like she did it cause she was forced to do it. But at the baptism she had a few words and she was telling everyone that she just started to come to church and started to pray, man the spirit was there so strong. Hecka tight and then her husband, that just got baptized and his testimony was way tight too. He got up thanked everyone for everything. Then started to bare his testimony. And he was telling everyone about a dream he had and that if felt like it wasn't a dream it felt like it was real life. And he said that in his dream that he got baptized and he said it felt like it was right for him and his kids to do. And he also said that when he came to the church that day he felt like he was baptized. So it's always good to hear new converts bear there testimonies. And its the spirit is way strong when you get to see them get baptized when they are making that promise with God. The best feeling man just makes ya wanna cry! hahaha its tight tho I'm so blessed to help these peoplez out here.
But ya it's cool how God can communicate with us and let us know what were are doing is right. Just wanna share an experience I had this last week and it had to do with a dream. K, I had a dream and I was in a group or something and someone was asking us what our favorite scripture was. and everyone started to share theirs and the person b4 me gave theirs Mosiah 3:7. So I was like what the heck! Mine is in that same chapter. So the morning came and I forgot about the whole dream. And I was studying the plan of salvation and when I was pondering about the atonement, I was thinking of my dream for some weird reason. And I remember the reference of Mosiah 3:7. I didn't know what it was going to say so I looked it up and it was talking about what Christ did and what he went through cause of us. It's tight cause at that time I was studying the atonement of Christ and man it was crazy so now its one of my favorites scriptures and I know that God does love us and he does communicate to us through every way, in our own way. thanks for everything
love ya
BYE
So b4 me and my companion were working with them, but man couldn't really get them to commit to do anything. It was just hard. But finally the sister missionaries to get the mom in the lesson. (the member) and i guess it all worked out. And b4, the mom, she had a lot of anti-mormon things and she felt like when she was baptized, she said that it felt like she did it cause she was forced to do it. But at the baptism she had a few words and she was telling everyone that she just started to come to church and started to pray, man the spirit was there so strong. Hecka tight and then her husband, that just got baptized and his testimony was way tight too. He got up thanked everyone for everything. Then started to bare his testimony. And he was telling everyone about a dream he had and that if felt like it wasn't a dream it felt like it was real life. And he said that in his dream that he got baptized and he said it felt like it was right for him and his kids to do. And he also said that when he came to the church that day he felt like he was baptized. So it's always good to hear new converts bear there testimonies. And its the spirit is way strong when you get to see them get baptized when they are making that promise with God. The best feeling man just makes ya wanna cry! hahaha its tight tho I'm so blessed to help these peoplez out here.
But ya it's cool how God can communicate with us and let us know what were are doing is right. Just wanna share an experience I had this last week and it had to do with a dream. K, I had a dream and I was in a group or something and someone was asking us what our favorite scripture was. and everyone started to share theirs and the person b4 me gave theirs Mosiah 3:7. So I was like what the heck! Mine is in that same chapter. So the morning came and I forgot about the whole dream. And I was studying the plan of salvation and when I was pondering about the atonement, I was thinking of my dream for some weird reason. And I remember the reference of Mosiah 3:7. I didn't know what it was going to say so I looked it up and it was talking about what Christ did and what he went through cause of us. It's tight cause at that time I was studying the atonement of Christ and man it was crazy so now its one of my favorites scriptures and I know that God does love us and he does communicate to us through every way, in our own way. thanks for everything
love ya
BYE
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