November 4, 2010
Dear Fam,
This week had its fair share of slow but sure successes, signs that the work here in Unna is on the up and up. I'm really looking forward to the next seven weeks here and feel like we've got a good basis for me to end my mission with some real solid work.
We've been doing a lot of work with less actives this transfer, and saw a real fruit of our labors this Sunday. All of the less actives we had met with and invited to church this Sunday ended up coming. While the investigators we were hoping for didn't show up, it was great to see so many people we have been working with at church. Another success on Sunday was the unveiling of the new Ward Mission Plan from Daniel and along with that a new program that we are doing with the members. It's something I've done with the members in two other areas in order to build a better relationship with the members that is focused on missionary work. Our presentation on Sunday seemed to go over very well and we seemed to have started something that will really help this ward get back on its feet.
On Thursday we decided to go by a referral that hadn't been successfully contacted in over three months. Apparently they had been on vacation in America for an extended period of time. We arrived at their apartment in the late afternoon, not really expecting anyone to be home, but to our surprise caught them home days after returning form America. We had a great first lesson with Thomas Verhagen (his wife was asleep to due the lingering jet lag), and made another appointment out for next week. He's very skeptical of organized religion, but is at the same time very open and still searching for the truth. When we first were let in to his apartment and I saw all of his America paraphernalia, my first thought was "great, another guy who just wants to talk with us about America with no real interest of hearing our message," but as soon as we started talking I could tell he had a sincere desire to hear our message to see if it is something that could help him come closer to the truth, which is all one really needs at the beginning to embrace the message of the restored gospel. I'm really looking forward to meeting with he and his wife next Tuesday and feel that this man has a good a chance as any of making the steps to Baptism.
Hope this next week proves to be a great one. Take care!
-Andy
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Monday, November 1, 2010
The field is still white and ready to harvest
It`s very strange to think that in two months from now I`ll be celebrating New Years with you all back home. I`ve learned so much on my mission but feel like there`s still so much I need to learn that couldn`t possibly be crammed into two months. In the past couple months I`ve learned a lot about righteous desires and where a good missionary`s desires should be. My desire at this point is to serve the Lord and fulfill what he has called me to do for these next two months, whatever that may be.
The work here in Unna is picking up, granted not as quickly as I would like, but picking up nonetheless. We were able to make contact with some less active families that hadn`t had contact with the missionaries for awhile and made followup appointments with them. Something I feel this ward really needs is some solid reactivation of less active members. I think once the already active members see less actives coming back to church, they`ll be more excited about the gospel and missionary work. We also had a lesson with a former investigator who had one time was very close to baptism, which is a great story in and of itself...
Judith Höhn was a very promising investigator about a year ago. She had been to church several times, made many friends in the ward, and had on at least one occasion a baptismal date. For whatever reason, however, she sort of fell off the map and broke contact with the missionaries and the members. After trying to get a hold of her for quite awhile, we were finally able to make an appointment out with her and brought our Bishop and his wife along, both good friends of hers from the ward. The lesson started off well, we asked her what she remembered from what she had learned previously, and she, to our surprise, proceeded to bear us her testimony of the Restoration and of Joseph Smith. Just as the lesson seemed to be heading in a good direction for at least a new soft baptismal commitment, we received a very skeptical and critical visitor in the form of Judith's cousin. As soon as this lady entered the room, you could feel a very different spirit, and not a good one. As we tried to involve her in the lesson as well, her skepticism and criticism came out fairly quickly. We soon realized that we had been thrown a huge curve ball and had to completely rely on the spirit. For awhile things were somewhat shaky, but the strong testimonies of our Bishop and his wife, combined with the spirit of the Lord being very strong in the room made it a very powerful lesson that softened the heart of this woman who had come to tare us and our beliefs down. We were able to get her to accept a commitment to take a Book of Mormon and read Alma 32. Our Bishops wife thinks that this woman has a very strong influence on Judith, and that if we can get her to let us teach her, than we will be able to help Judith come back with very little problems. This experience was a great reminder for me that when we do everything in our power, the Lord will take care of the rest when situations are out of our power.
I hope you all know how much I love you, and how I always pray for you. I hope you all know how grateful I am for all the support and love I have received from you over the past 22 months. I could never repay you all for that but look forward to at least trying in a couple months. 'till then, the field is still white and ready to harvest, and for the next two months I'll be getting my last bit of hardcore sickle-thrusting in. Chao!
-Andy
The work here in Unna is picking up, granted not as quickly as I would like, but picking up nonetheless. We were able to make contact with some less active families that hadn`t had contact with the missionaries for awhile and made followup appointments with them. Something I feel this ward really needs is some solid reactivation of less active members. I think once the already active members see less actives coming back to church, they`ll be more excited about the gospel and missionary work. We also had a lesson with a former investigator who had one time was very close to baptism, which is a great story in and of itself...
Judith Höhn was a very promising investigator about a year ago. She had been to church several times, made many friends in the ward, and had on at least one occasion a baptismal date. For whatever reason, however, she sort of fell off the map and broke contact with the missionaries and the members. After trying to get a hold of her for quite awhile, we were finally able to make an appointment out with her and brought our Bishop and his wife along, both good friends of hers from the ward. The lesson started off well, we asked her what she remembered from what she had learned previously, and she, to our surprise, proceeded to bear us her testimony of the Restoration and of Joseph Smith. Just as the lesson seemed to be heading in a good direction for at least a new soft baptismal commitment, we received a very skeptical and critical visitor in the form of Judith's cousin. As soon as this lady entered the room, you could feel a very different spirit, and not a good one. As we tried to involve her in the lesson as well, her skepticism and criticism came out fairly quickly. We soon realized that we had been thrown a huge curve ball and had to completely rely on the spirit. For awhile things were somewhat shaky, but the strong testimonies of our Bishop and his wife, combined with the spirit of the Lord being very strong in the room made it a very powerful lesson that softened the heart of this woman who had come to tare us and our beliefs down. We were able to get her to accept a commitment to take a Book of Mormon and read Alma 32. Our Bishops wife thinks that this woman has a very strong influence on Judith, and that if we can get her to let us teach her, than we will be able to help Judith come back with very little problems. This experience was a great reminder for me that when we do everything in our power, the Lord will take care of the rest when situations are out of our power.
I hope you all know how much I love you, and how I always pray for you. I hope you all know how grateful I am for all the support and love I have received from you over the past 22 months. I could never repay you all for that but look forward to at least trying in a couple months. 'till then, the field is still white and ready to harvest, and for the next two months I'll be getting my last bit of hardcore sickle-thrusting in. Chao!
-Andy
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