Ghetto

Monday 17th March, 2014

So this week has been a rollercoaster, the area is on fire, they have so much work to do, they had 22 lessons this week and found 2 new investigators.

 

The area is pretty ghetto, but the people are humble and willing to listen. They're working with too many people to talk about each of them, but the ones which stand out are Mary Allen and Eric. There's an area called the 'Sundance Apartments', it's pretty much the Byker of Las Vegas. Sam saw someone start their car by lifting the hood, pulling something inside to start the engine, then driving off, he has never seen that done before.

 

Mary is trying to overcome an alcohol addiction, it was so bad that she had her daughter taken away (back to England in fact!). She breaks down into tears a lot and tells them how much she misses her. They were teaching her the word of wisdom, and she turns to Sam and asks if they're ever going to give up on her. They promised her that they never would, and more importantly Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father never would either. They left her apartment with a trash bag of her alcohol, tea and coffee.

 

She came to church for the first time yesterday, she got a lot out of it, unfortunately after church, she relapsed and called the paramedics, Sam think she's been admitted, one of the members here picked her up and took her to the hospital.

 

Eric is carrying around a lot of guilt and pain from the past, he's really struggling to let it go, however they had a lesson with him on Saturday morning, and apparently two things which he's never done is let anyone in his back yard or in his house. They had a lesson with him in the back yard, and before they left they were invited into his house briefly. The next day he came to church, and Sam didn't realize that it was the first time he had come to church in 20 years! Elder Bowser says he can see something changing in him, so they're going to keep working with him and help him unburden himself of all the stuff that's happened in his past.

 

They also got asked to speak last minute at church, they got told about 24 hours beforehand so it wasn't too bad, a lot of people enjoyed their talks, they were on looking at others as Christ would.

 

They also had the opportunity to talk to some people who were trying to mock them, they responded with love and they didn't know what to do and just ended up walking away.

 

They heard there was a lady who jumped out of her car near their area and killed herself, there's also a ton of police cars here. This area is anything but "quiet" or "boring"!

 

There's so much work to do in this area, they're actually considering assigning another set of missionaries to their area to help out. It's only 2 square miles but there's a ton of people here, there's no shortage of people to teach, the ward directory is also 25 pages long!

Hulk Gone Wrong

Monday 10th March, 2014

So Sam got his transfer call on Thursday (they started them early this transfer!). He is going to the Evergreen ward in the Las Vegas Stake, with Elder Bowser. He will be staying in a four man apartment with Elder Blanco! It will be great for them to see each other again, Sam will also get to see him go home as he's only got 3 months left! It's a pretty big area, and yes he is still on his bike!

Sam is nearly all packed, he just has a bit of clothing left to pack, but he should be ready in time for the transfer meeting at 5pm. He has said all his goodbyes, he is pretty happy to leave though, he was really losing motivation in that area as he has just been in it too long. They've been seeing some success though, Samantha Norman told them that she has prayed and received an answer about the Book of Mormon, unfortunately she couldn't go too into detail since her husband was there.

Sam is glad all is going well with Amorie and that Maghan is making a good recovery, he said it's great to hear how much support she's getting from the ward.

He is excited and nervous to go to his next area, but he needs to be pushed out of his comfort zone, that's where the real growth comes.

He will be burning a shirt soon to mark his 1 year mark. He heard a story of an Elder a while back (not in this mission) that had the idea of setting his shirt on fire while he was wearing it, and then tearing it off hulk style. He lit the shirt on fire, but he didn't have the strength to tear it, he ended up getting 3rd degree burns and sent home, so Sam wont be doing anything stupid like that!

Sam has been studying the book of Romans, it's a great source of false doctrine, if it isn't understood by the spirit, or taken out of the context it was written in. They met with Jason for an hour or so, they didn't really bash, just explained (as politely as they could) that he needs to do a bit more study. He says the Bible and Book of Mormon contradict each other, but it's because he doesn't understand either book. He seems to contradict himself a lot: "It's by grace we are saved, not works, but that doesn't mean we don't have to do anything, we still have our part to do" (isn't that 'works'? just not the works of the Mosaic Law, which is the context of that chapter)

Exciting News

Monday, 3rd of March 2014

Sam thought it was such great to hear the news of Amorie Florence Mea Atkinson being born! He loved the photos, and he is so glad to hear everything went well despite the low iron that his sister had after delivery. She was 10lbs 5oz which is huge! He thought she might be a little more than average, but that was totally unexpected! Sam is so happy for Maghan and Chris! It's crazy thinking she will be just over 1 when he gets back, even crazier is that he hits his 1 year mark in just a few weeks, time has been flying!

This week they talked to the Normans about baptism, they didn't accept a date, but they are both thinking about it, they think it's her husband which is making her a bit unsure, she is loving church, and the one week she missed church (her 18 month old was sick), she read the lessons at home which were taught that week. They will keep working with them, but he is guessing he will be getting transferred next week. Sam has been in the Tule Springs zone four transfers now (by the way, it's pronounce too-lee), it's really unlikely that he will stay. He will find out if he is getting transferred on Wednesday if he gets a leadership call, otherwise he will know for sure on Saturday.

On Wednesday they had their temple visit, Sam said it was uplifting and the Spirit was strong, and he got a lot out of the session.

The zone leaders were talking about how they need to be unique to be remembered and earn member trust, so they've started doing a two part spiritual thought, and likened solving a rubiks cube to the Atonement. The members seem to love it, they'll have to keep thinking of new ideas.

They nearly had the police called on them the other night as well, it was just some over-enthusiastic neighbourhood watch guy, luckily the people's house they were visiting just happened to drive home at that moment, so it was obvious to him that they knew each other. Apparently some kids on bikes had been trying to steal cars. That makes total sense, bring a bike with you to steal a car, that way when you get in the car, you can leave your bike behind!

Today they started P-day at 5am, there's a game they started playing called Dominion, Sam thinks its great, super easy to learn and really fun. He is probably going to have to have a nap today some time to catch up on sleep though.

They've been doing a lot of less active visits, but in terms of finding new investigators they haven't had much success. They finally started co-ordinating with the ward mission leader how they can more effectively work with the members, Sam did bring up the subject about 20 weeks ago, but it was dismissed. Oh well, hopefully things will pick up after he gets transferred, the Deer Springs ward is a really low baptizing ward, the last baptism was in 2012. Luckily they have a great Bishopric and great members, so it can really get turned around if everybody gets on board with member missionary work.

Progression

Monday, 24th of February 2014

This week has been a good week, the Normans have been progressing well, her husband who was totally against the church has started listening in on the lessons, and he grilled some burgers for them when they went over for lunch. He is a really nice person, and he's really into gaming, so Sam just guesses he just gets touchy when religion comes up.

After Church yesterday, Samantha Norman asked them what she has to do to join the church, and wants them to talk about it tomorrow, so hopefully they can set her with a baptismal date tomorrow! She has two children, Krystina who has taken the lessons who they will invite as well, and Jessica who hasn't taken the lessons, but is coming to church and loving it. So things are going really well there.

They also met Jason this week, he goes to Canyon Ridge (which they refer to as the Great and Spacious building, or the whore of all the earth haha) and they spent almost two hours talking with him in his garage, he's obviously researched a lot about our religion, and he knows his bible really well, but they have disagreements on the interpretation of certain verses. He seems somewhat open minded, but Sam doesn't think he's going to listen to them. They will probably try a visit just to explain how everything comes down to whether the Book of Mormon is true or not (which they've already explained several times), but he seems pretty set in his ways.

Sam has been studying the bible more as a result, he is thinking of asking him what Ephesians 4 is all about, since he already agrees that there's been an apostasy, so that being the case, what are we to do? Just get thrown around by every wind of doctrine like it says? Sam isn't going to bash, but it's helpful for him to understand someone else's point of view.

There's also another family in their ward, there is a boy named Adriel who wants to be baptised. His mother is taking the lessons, but she is being taught by the Spanish Elders from the wrong zone, and the situation is a bit of a mess, so he will probably get transferred before they start teaching them.

Sam is surprise his sisters baby hasn't come yet as its overdue! He was impressed how he got to see a 3D scan, she has grown a lot more since he seen the last scan at 20 weeks! He is looking forward to seeing the real photo!

Transfers are on 10th March, he thinks he will probably be leaving, but he is getting ready for a new area. They've nearly visited everyone on the ward directory, there were 85 less active families when he got there, they only have about 5 - 7 left to contact, some people are a bit touchy and they need to work with members first before contacting them.

Sam keeps getting emails from random people as well, there must be another Elder Samuel Kennedy serving somewhere! 

All About Change

Monday 18th of February, 2014

So this week has been busy, they had their zone conference, it was the Tule Springs, Elkhorn Springs and Lone Mountain zones combined. The focus for this conference was on developing Christ-like attributes. They all had to prepare 3 minute talks, and then they just call random people up, luckily Sam wasn't chosen as 3 minutes isn't long enough to really say anything meaningful!

 

At the end of the conference, President Ahlander interviewed Sam and Elder Calderwood again, since their last interviews were only 3 minutes long. Sam had a good discussion with him, they just talked about some of the challenges of the work and what to do to overcome them. By far the biggest challenge is that people don't want to change, because it's hard - Sam said he wouldn't change if he didn't have to! haha. But that's what he is there to do, invite people to make changes in their lives to bring them closer to Christ, but not everyone is willing to do that.

 

Sam had a good experience about it. He was studying for a less active family in the ward, and he was pondering what they could ask and what they could teach. He decided to focus on remembering Christ daily. They visited them on exchanges, (Sam was with Elder Loertcher), and he asked brother Laub what he did to remember Jesus Christ, and that was like the magic question, he just told them his story of why he was less active and why he wasn't coming to church, which will make it a lot easier for them to work with him now that they know what his concerns are.

 

While on exchanges they ate at a members house, it turned out her husband forgot about valentines day and she was upset, so she prepared them both a plate of food then just left to go and babysit, so Sam and Elder Loertcher were left by themselves in the house. Sam thought it was pretty funny, they just ate, loaded the dish washer, and then her nephew came home and was surprised to see them!

 

Also the Normans, Samantha is really enthusiastic and is loving coming to church, she didn't this week because a couple of her children were sick. They also found out that her husband (who was totally against her taking the lessons, and didn't even want a Book of Mormon in the house) is now getting curious and wants to sit in on their lessons. So hopefully they will get the opportunity to teach him tonight!

 

Today was busy, they were going through their regular morning routine and they got asked to help move some more hay, so they had to bike to the place where they were loading it, but they also had their District Meeting right after, so Sam had to put his whites in his back-pack, dress in service clothes with his suit coat, then carry a football since one of the district leaders needed it, they then got a phone call so Sam was riding down the street talking on the phone, carrying a football and wearing a suit coat and shorts, it must have looked pretty funny! Those bales were heavy, it was hard work for him but it felt good.

Ward Update

Monday 10th of February, 2014

 

This week Ryan was baptized in the Waterfall ward in the Highland Hills stake, he is the 14 year old they taught the first couple of discussions to a while back. After he was baptized he bore his testimony to everyone there, Sam said it was amazing to see how much he had grown in the few months since they last saw him.

 

Samantha and Krystina Norman came to church again this week, and Samantha's older daughter came for the first time as well. They are getting a lot of support from the ward and they seem really happy.

 

There's not a whole lot else to report for this week, a lot of appointments fell through, and they found a lot of families who moved and never updated their records. 

The fighter jets at the air force base were flying really low doing some practice drills, they're really loud, and a lot bigger than you would think!

 

When Sam was a young boy he used to have a toy rabbit which he took EVERYWHERE, so he has chose a Jellycat Rabbit for Maghan's baby when she comes along.

 

Today it's 19°C and it's going to warm up to about 25°C later in the week! That's summer temperature during winter! People keep saying that they're in for a brutal summer, since there's been barely any rain or snow on the mountains, it's going to be really dry.

 

The ward is really good at feeding them dinners each evening, they occasionally have an empty spot if something's happening like a conference or something but the Normans have also started feeding them dinner each week, it's a good sign when investigators start offering you dinner!

 

Sam has to wait a week each time to hear any news if his sister Maghans baby is born as she is due on 15th of February, so it's especially exciting for him to check  his emails now!

 

Transfers are on March 10th, and he will really likely be getting transferred, he is kind of ready for it as he has been in the same place for a while and he is starting to have a bit less enthusiasm for the work. Sam feels bad for Elder Calderwood, there's probably not going to be a whole lot to do after this next month as they've contacted nearly everyone on the ward directory and most of the area has been tracted now. They might be starting to work with a less active family (the Jenkins), they're really friendly so hopefully that will start to go somewhere. Sam has been in the same ward since about September 22nd, so he's been there about 4.5 months and has about 1 month left.

Service, Service and More Service!

Monday 3rd of February, 2014

This week has been a fun (and a tiring) one for Sam. They've had a lot of service, on Tuesday they helped someone move, and they hadn't packed anything, the garage was just littered with rubbish, and Sam couldn't tell what should be kept or not, so he just threw random stuff away that looked useless. As they were helping them move, somebody else up the street needed help moving, so they helped them, then as they were getting ready to leave, they got a text from the Zerkles asking if they could help move 100 bales of hay, so they went and helped with that as well.

 

Then on Friday the Zerkles needed help moving 250 bales of hay, they helped and it was really fun. Each one weighs 100lbs, but Sam learned the trick of picking them up so it was a lot easier the second time. His shins are all scratched up now, but it was great for him to be able to do some physical labour! Their son (Vernon) is coming back from his mission on Thursday which Sam is looking forward to meeting him!

 

They haven't had a lesson with Martha yet, a couple of things kept coming up but they are scheduled for Tuesday at 2pm. She has some huge Egyptian statues with Egyptian writing on the bottom, Sam thinks they're really impressive! When she had to reschedule she asked them to promise to come back, they told her she didn't have to worry about them showing up!

 

Also, Samantha Norman (the mother of Krystina Norman who they've been teaching) came to church for the first time yesterday, she was really nervous, but the ward welcomed her really well, and she sent Sam & his companion a text later that day telling them she really enjoyed it and can't wait for next week. Their lesson was lesson 3 in Gospel Principles, about how you chose Jesus Christ to be our Saviour in the pre-Earth life, and they read from the Book of Abraham and Moses, so Sam was a bit nervous to what she would think, talking about "the intelligences" and seeing the facsimiles in Abraham, but she was answering the questions that were asked under her breath (she's a bit shy) but understood the lesson really well.

 

Also, Ryan who they started teaching, but had to pass off to the elders in a different ward, is getting baptized on Saturday, so they're looking forward to that!

 

There's also Todd Johnson and his wife who they tracted into a while back, something has come up each week, but he wants to sit down and talk with them next Monday, so hopefully they will finally have a lesson with him!

 

Sister Sams also came to church again this week, they will be visiting her again this week and help her along the way of reactivation. She's a great person and will be solid as long as they can help her feel comfortable and welcome at church.

 

Sam got the new Seminary Book of Mormon manual, it really helped with the Isaiah quotations in 1st Nephi 20 + 21, he feels like he got a much better understanding of the role of Jesus Christ as our Saviour and got a feel for His characteristics. The frustrating thing is he really can't explain it to someone unless it's by the same spirit he understood it, he guesses that's how Isaiah's prophecies work!