Having Some Great Experiences - Week #37

I've officially been out on my mission for 9 months.  That's so crazy to think!  We spent the first part of this week moving apartments which turned out to be a bigger ordeal than we thought.  The apartment we were moving into didn't have a couch, desks, and almost no basic furniture.  So we had to bring a lot of those things with us which was not easy with just the two of us.  We got the apartment all situated and it looks really good now.  We now live in a much better location and we also live in the apartment directly above the other elders in our district so it's nice having them around too.

This week Elder Parker and I worked really hard to get appointments with as many active members in our ward as we possibly could.  We are trying to find ways to motivate them to bring friends to lessons.  It seems like missionary work can be really intimidating and hard to follow through with, but working with members is the most efficient way for us to find people to teach.  We're hoping that soon it will pay off.  This week we had a dinner appointment with a single sister in our ward that has a non-member friend living with her who has never liked the missionaries so far in our ward.  She would usually avoid them when they were in their home.  Well, we were able to change that!  We taught about the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a way that she participated in the lesson, answered questions, and commented on how well she enjoyed that lesson.  The member that had us over to dinner made the comment, "I would trust you guys with any of my friends to share the gospel with them."  That's always something that we like to hear.  Hopefully more people will feel that way soon. 

City View

We had another Baptism in the YSA this week which went really well.  You could really feel the Spirit there as the girl who had just been baptized bore her testimony on the Savior.  She could barely speak and kept repeating, "I just feel so good! I don't know how else to describe it!"  Just being able to see that change in someone is motivation to keep moving forward, and to keep teaching.  I want everyone to be able to experience that joy.

This week we are making a focus on visiting the Cadets from the Air Force Academy.  They're really busy with finals coming up, but they're a big strength in our ward.  Many of them are preparing to go on missions or recently returned from one.  Hopefully some good prospects come from visiting with them.

Elder Parker BBQing in the Snow.

I hope you all have a great week! Take care!

God is Great!

Elder Gillingwater