Training a New Zone Leader, etc. by Scotter
Hey Mom,
I'm actually riding around dropping bikes, bags and supplies off today, so forgive me a bit if my email is a bit short. Obviously we talked on Sunday and you got to hear me chat so that should make up for it! You'll probably see kind of why I didn't get a chance to prepare one of my longer emails on my portable keyboard.
Well, another transfer come and gone, ridiculously super fast as always. The last week has been great, but also ridiculously crazy. I've been in a threesome the whole time and it's been good, bad and ugly sometimes. Definitely ugly while tracting. Three people at your door with black suits is ugly enough and definitely not ideal, but it's worked a bit. I've been out and about predominantly with Elder Chandler and Salmon, but once I found out I'd be taking over Elder Lavender and Elder Till's areas, I decided it was best to move over to being with them throughout the day.
What actually ended up happening was that the Sisters are taking over our flat in Coventry, the Zone Lords beautiful abode(which I painstakingly cleaned a lot over the past few weeks...President must have known I'd prepare it well for the sisters) and I've been moved to the city centre flat. We've been furiously cleaning this one and throwing away everything unneccessary. I've gotten good at not holding onto things that I and the flat doesn't need. While I've been in the threesome I've been either sleeping on the floor, on the couch, or on couch cushions. It felt kind of again like I'd been living like I did sometimes at the Calicchio's in their den. The couch was small, it was uncomfortable and I didn't sleep too well. But! It's over now, made it through and I've got a bed. I'm really really looking forward to tonight when I get a chance to actually sleep normal for once. I think over the past week or two I've been going on like 5 to 6 hours of sleep a night due to the crazy circumstances. Though I've been suprised how between being tired, and sleeping in a crazy position work out to my benefit.
This past week I've been really lucky and priviledged to teach a lot. I've been in and out of lots of different homes, situations, university basements, and door steps. So many different people.
As I mentioned I got to, along with Elder Chandler, commit a lady named Gloria Ibeh to baptism this next week. Just an additional bit of good news, her 10 year old daughter committed to be baptised just last night. I was really impressed and I think somewhat relieved(maybe my faith was lacking) when we went back to see her after she said she'd read and pray, and bingo bango, she got her answer, one that she said she couldn't deny which I thought was great.
After that night of getting Gloria, me and Elder Lavender we're talking about our District, the one in which I reside, and the potentials for baptism. We called up Nuneaton and told them we were planning to come down the next morning since they had a few good appointments. Come Monday morning I think it was, it was raining hardcore, but we got a call from Elder Bishop and Elder Jones telling us that they had an appointment with Keeley, Jack and Bill...three separate appointments that morning. We dropped everything, jumped in the car, and made our way out to Nuneaton. We left Elder Till, Elder Lavender's companion in the hands of the other two for the day so we wouldn't be too overpowering with like 5 Elders going around.
We showed up down to Nuneaton, Keeley was too sleepy and a bit angry(and now I found out, she's been justifyin all her little sins again sayin its no biggy...so the baptism for her is going to be a bit later). After she didn't want us to chat that morning, we went over to Bill Ford's home. An old guy in his 70s. The appointment with him was really good, despite the lack of real understanding and knowledge. I think what I realised and saw that day was something special, something that you don't see that often. It wasn't that Bill could really truly say that he understood what we were doing, or teaching. All he said was quite often "I don't know". But the most important thing he did say to us was that "I feel so good when..." going to church, reading the Book of Mormon, whenenver the Elders come around. We would ask him about repentence, and what the steps were...he didnt know. We asked him why he needed to be baptised, and he didnt quite get it. But I remember a lot of the people Peter was preaching to...in the New Testament. He had a massive crowd around him, and it said something to the effect of "The people when they had been pricked in their hearts, said together, What shall we do?" And Peter said "Be baptised". Once the heart is open, the spirit goes in and works its subtle magic. With Bill, his heart is totally open, he doesnt need all the knowledge, wisdom and logic to be the key. It was open, and he felt the spirit tell him what the Elders asked him to do was right. Really an awesome morning. Bill decided to be baptised, and he even allowed us to bring the day up a week to get it done(and give Satan less time to break in)
Right after leaving that I had 5 missed calls from President Munday. So as always, "WHAT THE". Elder Lavender was holdin the phone I guess and didnt really feel it. So anyways, I call him and he's like "Your not dead, great" in his funny way, and went on to tell me that I'd be needing to clean out my flat, move and prepare the old flat for the sisters. No problem President. He also basically told me I'd be training a Zone Leader, and asked "So are you ready?" "Absolutely", and he just told me to get to work. He asked for Elder Lavender, and to my big suprise(NOT) asked him to also be a Zone Leader. It was great, he was shaking and nervous for the next 2 hours. I had even told him the night before, and the whole previous week that he'd be a Zone Leader by transfers. Gift of prophecy for sure! We finished that morning by dropping by another appointment named Jack, and projecting him for baptism as well. Whoooo.
I've also been involved as well with teaching a guy named Martin the past few nights, who will actually be handed over to me as I switch areas and move into my new flat. He's a crazy Hungarian guy who lived in American, in the South for about 7 years. He's got a dark background in life, drugs, just doing stuff stupid, etc...but he's nearly married and has realised it's time to sort things out. We go over, or the Elders go over a few times a week, and talk, and teach him. He's got probably the craziest and funniest personality ever that I've met for a foreign guy. Elder Lavender and Till call him the "Hungarian Joey", like from Friends. He loves me too since I'm American. He's always goin on and on about Southern Racism, and how he saw tons of black people get shot by white hicks. Last night was actually a pretty tough situation, but one that was ultimately resolved. As we went in, he had read the wrong chapter...1 Nephi 2-4, and not 2 Nephi 2. Goofball. Anyway, he read about Nephi slaying Laban, which to him meant The Book of Mormon was wrong, and that he went against a direct commandment from God. It was almost the end for him, at least I thought, because he seemed totally closed to what we were telling him. Then Elder Till, the austrian guy that can't beat me at squash, asked him what he would do if there was a man that was trying to kill your family, to destroy your happiness, would you defend it? Martin said absolutely. Elder Till then went on to talk about the necessity of the situation, in which, for God's marvelous work and wonder to take place, and for the Book of Mormon and God's church to be restored, Nephi needed to kill Laban to fulfill what the Spirit asked him to do. Just like the scriptures say, it's better for one man to die, than an entire nation. After also talking about how Christ needed to die for mankind, Martin was like "So it was mandatory?" "Yes" "Ok, that makes sense". Phew!
We also taught a bunch of other people that I'll probably mention next week and tell you all about Elder Graham once I know a bit more about him.
Thus far I know he's a Member of the Church...!
Just kidding, he's from Provo, Utah, went to UVSC for a little, is a track giant, dad was a Mission President, familys super cool, and he likes long walks on the beach.
Hope everyones week has been going well, and I look forward to telling you about my new flat, my new roommates and life next Tuesday. It'll be a good one.
Love you all,
Elder Smith
I'm actually riding around dropping bikes, bags and supplies off today, so forgive me a bit if my email is a bit short. Obviously we talked on Sunday and you got to hear me chat so that should make up for it! You'll probably see kind of why I didn't get a chance to prepare one of my longer emails on my portable keyboard.
Well, another transfer come and gone, ridiculously super fast as always. The last week has been great, but also ridiculously crazy. I've been in a threesome the whole time and it's been good, bad and ugly sometimes. Definitely ugly while tracting. Three people at your door with black suits is ugly enough and definitely not ideal, but it's worked a bit. I've been out and about predominantly with Elder Chandler and Salmon, but once I found out I'd be taking over Elder Lavender and Elder Till's areas, I decided it was best to move over to being with them throughout the day.
What actually ended up happening was that the Sisters are taking over our flat in Coventry, the Zone Lords beautiful abode(which I painstakingly cleaned a lot over the past few weeks...President must have known I'd prepare it well for the sisters) and I've been moved to the city centre flat. We've been furiously cleaning this one and throwing away everything unneccessary. I've gotten good at not holding onto things that I and the flat doesn't need. While I've been in the threesome I've been either sleeping on the floor, on the couch, or on couch cushions. It felt kind of again like I'd been living like I did sometimes at the Calicchio's in their den. The couch was small, it was uncomfortable and I didn't sleep too well. But! It's over now, made it through and I've got a bed. I'm really really looking forward to tonight when I get a chance to actually sleep normal for once. I think over the past week or two I've been going on like 5 to 6 hours of sleep a night due to the crazy circumstances. Though I've been suprised how between being tired, and sleeping in a crazy position work out to my benefit.
This past week I've been really lucky and priviledged to teach a lot. I've been in and out of lots of different homes, situations, university basements, and door steps. So many different people.
As I mentioned I got to, along with Elder Chandler, commit a lady named Gloria Ibeh to baptism this next week. Just an additional bit of good news, her 10 year old daughter committed to be baptised just last night. I was really impressed and I think somewhat relieved(maybe my faith was lacking) when we went back to see her after she said she'd read and pray, and bingo bango, she got her answer, one that she said she couldn't deny which I thought was great.
After that night of getting Gloria, me and Elder Lavender we're talking about our District, the one in which I reside, and the potentials for baptism. We called up Nuneaton and told them we were planning to come down the next morning since they had a few good appointments. Come Monday morning I think it was, it was raining hardcore, but we got a call from Elder Bishop and Elder Jones telling us that they had an appointment with Keeley, Jack and Bill...three separate appointments that morning. We dropped everything, jumped in the car, and made our way out to Nuneaton. We left Elder Till, Elder Lavender's companion in the hands of the other two for the day so we wouldn't be too overpowering with like 5 Elders going around.
We showed up down to Nuneaton, Keeley was too sleepy and a bit angry(and now I found out, she's been justifyin all her little sins again sayin its no biggy...so the baptism for her is going to be a bit later). After she didn't want us to chat that morning, we went over to Bill Ford's home. An old guy in his 70s. The appointment with him was really good, despite the lack of real understanding and knowledge. I think what I realised and saw that day was something special, something that you don't see that often. It wasn't that Bill could really truly say that he understood what we were doing, or teaching. All he said was quite often "I don't know". But the most important thing he did say to us was that "I feel so good when..." going to church, reading the Book of Mormon, whenenver the Elders come around. We would ask him about repentence, and what the steps were...he didnt know. We asked him why he needed to be baptised, and he didnt quite get it. But I remember a lot of the people Peter was preaching to...in the New Testament. He had a massive crowd around him, and it said something to the effect of "The people when they had been pricked in their hearts, said together, What shall we do?" And Peter said "Be baptised". Once the heart is open, the spirit goes in and works its subtle magic. With Bill, his heart is totally open, he doesnt need all the knowledge, wisdom and logic to be the key. It was open, and he felt the spirit tell him what the Elders asked him to do was right. Really an awesome morning. Bill decided to be baptised, and he even allowed us to bring the day up a week to get it done(and give Satan less time to break in)
Right after leaving that I had 5 missed calls from President Munday. So as always, "WHAT THE". Elder Lavender was holdin the phone I guess and didnt really feel it. So anyways, I call him and he's like "Your not dead, great" in his funny way, and went on to tell me that I'd be needing to clean out my flat, move and prepare the old flat for the sisters. No problem President. He also basically told me I'd be training a Zone Leader, and asked "So are you ready?" "Absolutely", and he just told me to get to work. He asked for Elder Lavender, and to my big suprise(NOT) asked him to also be a Zone Leader. It was great, he was shaking and nervous for the next 2 hours. I had even told him the night before, and the whole previous week that he'd be a Zone Leader by transfers. Gift of prophecy for sure! We finished that morning by dropping by another appointment named Jack, and projecting him for baptism as well. Whoooo.
I've also been involved as well with teaching a guy named Martin the past few nights, who will actually be handed over to me as I switch areas and move into my new flat. He's a crazy Hungarian guy who lived in American, in the South for about 7 years. He's got a dark background in life, drugs, just doing stuff stupid, etc...but he's nearly married and has realised it's time to sort things out. We go over, or the Elders go over a few times a week, and talk, and teach him. He's got probably the craziest and funniest personality ever that I've met for a foreign guy. Elder Lavender and Till call him the "Hungarian Joey", like from Friends. He loves me too since I'm American. He's always goin on and on about Southern Racism, and how he saw tons of black people get shot by white hicks. Last night was actually a pretty tough situation, but one that was ultimately resolved. As we went in, he had read the wrong chapter...1 Nephi 2-4, and not 2 Nephi 2. Goofball. Anyway, he read about Nephi slaying Laban, which to him meant The Book of Mormon was wrong, and that he went against a direct commandment from God. It was almost the end for him, at least I thought, because he seemed totally closed to what we were telling him. Then Elder Till, the austrian guy that can't beat me at squash, asked him what he would do if there was a man that was trying to kill your family, to destroy your happiness, would you defend it? Martin said absolutely. Elder Till then went on to talk about the necessity of the situation, in which, for God's marvelous work and wonder to take place, and for the Book of Mormon and God's church to be restored, Nephi needed to kill Laban to fulfill what the Spirit asked him to do. Just like the scriptures say, it's better for one man to die, than an entire nation. After also talking about how Christ needed to die for mankind, Martin was like "So it was mandatory?" "Yes" "Ok, that makes sense". Phew!
We also taught a bunch of other people that I'll probably mention next week and tell you all about Elder Graham once I know a bit more about him.
Thus far I know he's a Member of the Church...!
Just kidding, he's from Provo, Utah, went to UVSC for a little, is a track giant, dad was a Mission President, familys super cool, and he likes long walks on the beach.
Hope everyones week has been going well, and I look forward to telling you about my new flat, my new roommates and life next Tuesday. It'll be a good one.
Love you all,
Elder Smith
posted by JerzyGrl | 7:25 AM
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