Well, I am pretty shocked to hear that the Ward split! Actually I was thinking about Dad being in the Bishopric for whatever reason a couple days ago, but I had no idea that the ward was going to split, let alone Dad would be in the Bishopric! It will definitely be a change coming home.
This week has been very good for finding. We found and taught several investigators, and were even able to get a baptismal date out of one, but we havent been able to get in contact with her since we've met her. But our teaching pool is definitely picking up. We still dont have anyone to come to sacrament but I know that as out numbers continue to increase we will find the ones that are ready right now. We are continuing to see less actives make it to sacrament meeting which has been awesome.
We are continuing to progress here in Dallas. The investigators we've found are a lot better quality than those in the past, and though we are losing a lot we have been able to find even better people to teach, and I know that if this continues we will be able to baptize pretty soon. We also have a couple of 9 year olds in our area who are from less active families that want their children to be taught so I really think that working with them will be really effective. Last week the sister missionaries had a baptism like that who was a 9 year old that was part of a family that was less active, but just got to be baptized by her grandfather, and Elder Cooper and I were able to participate in the confirmation which was really cool as well.
I cant remeber if I told you or not but last wednesday on transfers we lost one of the sister missionaries in the ward and gained two more, sister Krall from L.A. and sister Roden from Jamaica. They are really good. It seems like the sisters get all of the refferals from the ward or something because all of the recent baptisms have been people they taught, so hopefully they dont take our refferals in this area. Its kind of hard working in the same ward because of the way our areas are divided and we started working with several members in their area before we realized it, so we'll se how things go this transfer.
I am glad to hear that everything is going good, you'll have to tell me what the new ward is like, it sounds like there are several activities coming up shortly and whatnot, and you'll have to let me know how everyone else is handling everything, but it sounds like its all good right now. Alright, well I will hear from y'all soon!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Stormin' Mormons
Well, there were a couple of big storms this past weekend, Elder Cooper and I were not affected by any of them however. But I guess on either Friday or Saturday or something there was a huge hail storm and people said that there were golf ball sized hail raining down and it sounded like the roof was going to give way, but we were at a members house when that happened and they live a ways a way from our neighborhood so we didnt even hear much. On Monday there was a lot of wind and a pretty big storm that came through and the power was out for a little while but again nothing serious. It did however blown down a coupletrees in the neighborhood and some landed on houses but not ours. You could tell because everyone who did get hit had tarps covering the holes, but we're still alive.
Well that is pretty insane what happened to T-Nut. I can't believe that one (other) guy was so stupid. It seems like there's always one person to ruin it for everyone.
Well the work has definitely been improving a lot, especially over this past weekend. We were definitely blessed with a lot of sucess in finding and teaching. I think we ended with double the amount of lessons taught for last week than in the previous ones. Saturday we taught six just from tracting, and it seemed like everyone was letting us in. We met one guy who invited us in
without a word, before we could even tell him who we were. So we taught him the first lesson and committed him to read and pray, and set up an appointment for thursday this week to see how he did on his committment. So on sunday we had an appointment with one of his neighbors and taught her, and pretty much the same thing. It was a good lesson but not quite that golden contact, and promised to read and pray which is always awesome. So after that appointment we
thought we would go downt the street and just say hello to the people we taught the day before because there was two other families we taught. So we get back to Chris' house , and again he just invites us right in to meet his wife and family. They were all super friendly, probably the nicest people we've met so far, just that real southern hospitality. So we get to talking and Chris' wife Karen said she watched the show "Big Love" about the fdls so Elder Cooper and I
kind of looked at each other and were like oh man, not the best start, but she said she knew Mormons weren't all like that and it was different from the tv show, so we set her straight on polygamy which was good, and then she asked about Joseph Smith. At that point I got pretty excited and was about to just jump right into the first vision but Elder Cooper in his infinite wisdom stopped me and started from the beginning of Lesson 1 and just set everything up
perfectly. It was kind of funny because at first the grandma was there and told us how she was raised Pentacostal and believed in tongues and whatnot and seemed to attempt to put up that sort of guard but definitely agreed with everything Elder Cooper was teaching. So finally we get to Joseph Smith, and I remember the overwhelming calm that came in the room at that time. And so I told them about the first vision and how Joseph Smith was called to be the next prophet, and I can't even begin to describe the spirit that was there, never have I felt it so strong. By the end of it both the grandma and the mom were just in tears. So I invited them to be baptized and they werent all too sure at first and said that they still liked their church, but we reminded them of the sprit they felt, and began teaching them about the book of Mormon. It had turned out that Chris had been laid off and that they hadn't been to church since because they felt like Heavenly Father took that away from them. We reminded them that sometimes we
have to be tested, and that if we put our trust in Him we will be blessed for our trials. Elder Cooper went on to talk about tithing and the blessings that come from it. They were so happy we stopped by and I knew it was no coincidence. In the car ride back I was trying to figure out why at that particular time the Spirit was so strong, because we didnt do anything different
than what we've been doing, and I realized that it was because Heavenly Father had prepared them to hear that message, and that they needed it without ever knowing it. We are going to visit them again tomorrow and they offered to feed us as well. I am so overcome with joy we were able to meet them. I am almost positive that they will be baptized by the power and authority of the priesthood in almost no time. That one experience was the best I have had yet since I've been in Georgia, and I know that as long as I am working hard I will have more
like it. I cant wait to continue to see them progress and enter into the covenant of baptism.
Thank you so much for all of your help and support and for writing to me, I appreciate it so much. I hope you have a wonderful week!
-Elder Alex Edwards
p.s. I sent a letter yesterday to everyone at home so hopefully you get it soon, I asked if it were possible if you could send me a couple of things but forgot to ask if there would be any way you could send my black leather fossil watch, and maybe a pair of shoes as well? the only ones I have that arent dress shoes are my basketball ones so if you could send me another one of my pairs perhaps my black and red osiris shoes I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks!
Well that is pretty insane what happened to T-Nut. I can't believe that one (other) guy was so stupid. It seems like there's always one person to ruin it for everyone.
Well the work has definitely been improving a lot, especially over this past weekend. We were definitely blessed with a lot of sucess in finding and teaching. I think we ended with double the amount of lessons taught for last week than in the previous ones. Saturday we taught six just from tracting, and it seemed like everyone was letting us in. We met one guy who invited us in
without a word, before we could even tell him who we were. So we taught him the first lesson and committed him to read and pray, and set up an appointment for thursday this week to see how he did on his committment. So on sunday we had an appointment with one of his neighbors and taught her, and pretty much the same thing. It was a good lesson but not quite that golden contact, and promised to read and pray which is always awesome. So after that appointment we
thought we would go downt the street and just say hello to the people we taught the day before because there was two other families we taught. So we get back to Chris' house , and again he just invites us right in to meet his wife and family. They were all super friendly, probably the nicest people we've met so far, just that real southern hospitality. So we get to talking and Chris' wife Karen said she watched the show "Big Love" about the fdls so Elder Cooper and I
kind of looked at each other and were like oh man, not the best start, but she said she knew Mormons weren't all like that and it was different from the tv show, so we set her straight on polygamy which was good, and then she asked about Joseph Smith. At that point I got pretty excited and was about to just jump right into the first vision but Elder Cooper in his infinite wisdom stopped me and started from the beginning of Lesson 1 and just set everything up
perfectly. It was kind of funny because at first the grandma was there and told us how she was raised Pentacostal and believed in tongues and whatnot and seemed to attempt to put up that sort of guard but definitely agreed with everything Elder Cooper was teaching. So finally we get to Joseph Smith, and I remember the overwhelming calm that came in the room at that time. And so I told them about the first vision and how Joseph Smith was called to be the next prophet, and I can't even begin to describe the spirit that was there, never have I felt it so strong. By the end of it both the grandma and the mom were just in tears. So I invited them to be baptized and they werent all too sure at first and said that they still liked their church, but we reminded them of the sprit they felt, and began teaching them about the book of Mormon. It had turned out that Chris had been laid off and that they hadn't been to church since because they felt like Heavenly Father took that away from them. We reminded them that sometimes we
have to be tested, and that if we put our trust in Him we will be blessed for our trials. Elder Cooper went on to talk about tithing and the blessings that come from it. They were so happy we stopped by and I knew it was no coincidence. In the car ride back I was trying to figure out why at that particular time the Spirit was so strong, because we didnt do anything different
than what we've been doing, and I realized that it was because Heavenly Father had prepared them to hear that message, and that they needed it without ever knowing it. We are going to visit them again tomorrow and they offered to feed us as well. I am so overcome with joy we were able to meet them. I am almost positive that they will be baptized by the power and authority of the priesthood in almost no time. That one experience was the best I have had yet since I've been in Georgia, and I know that as long as I am working hard I will have more
like it. I cant wait to continue to see them progress and enter into the covenant of baptism.
Thank you so much for all of your help and support and for writing to me, I appreciate it so much. I hope you have a wonderful week!
-Elder Alex Edwards
p.s. I sent a letter yesterday to everyone at home so hopefully you get it soon, I asked if it were possible if you could send me a couple of things but forgot to ask if there would be any way you could send my black leather fossil watch, and maybe a pair of shoes as well? the only ones I have that arent dress shoes are my basketball ones so if you could send me another one of my pairs perhaps my black and red osiris shoes I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks!
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Every Member a Missionary
Hey there, its really good to hear about how things are going back home, I miss all y'all. I hope everyone enjoyed conference, I know I did! This week we are kindof rethinking our strategy on how to do missionary work and starting to do a lot of work with the members and getting them excited for missionary work. I loved Elder L. Tom Perry's talk and how he said that is so much more effective when we teach investigators in the members homes. Tracting has definitely not been very effective here. We have dropped all of our investigators we've had in the almost 4 weeks we've been here and we haven't even been able to contact the one investigator that was golden for quite some time. But member work definitely seems to be the way to go right now. We just need to make sure that we follow up with the commitments we've given the members and I know we will see a lot of success.
Well, everything else has been really good so far, we haven't been able to teach a whole lot this last week but we're plowing the fiild so to say right now. Hopefully things really pick up before the transfers. Part of me would really like to stay here and work with Elder Cooper but the other half wants to see more of Georgia, and from the sounds of things its pretty much a 50/50 chance either way. But I will definitely do my best where ever I am needed and am just having a really good time. I cant wait to get your letters this week!
Well, everything else has been really good so far, we haven't been able to teach a whole lot this last week but we're plowing the fiild so to say right now. Hopefully things really pick up before the transfers. Part of me would really like to stay here and work with Elder Cooper but the other half wants to see more of Georgia, and from the sounds of things its pretty much a 50/50 chance either way. But I will definitely do my best where ever I am needed and am just having a really good time. I cant wait to get your letters this week!
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Smello!
Hey y'all!
Well it has been another really good week, we were able to teach quite a bit, nobody all too interested, but we're still looking for the 'elect'. I wrote you a letter today so you'll hear about how the work is going, but I just wanted to send a quick email and see how things were going.
Tomorrow we have interviews with President Mathusek which will be really good.
Last week we had a new missionary meeting for all of the new missionaries and their trainers, so it was good to see some of the other Elders that were in the MTC with me.
I am definitely looking forward to General Conference, its too bad I wont be able to go to Priesthood session with Ryan until he's a teacher! I still cant hardly imagine him passing sacrament and going for fast offerings! There's a family in our ward who is really nice and they have a son that is a sophomore right now and another that is also 12 and they both look so much older than they are its pretty ridiculous. The twelve year old is real close to being 6 feet tall (which I still cant believe he's 12 just because of how big he is), but its funny because his brother is a lot smaller and looks like he could be at least a junior. But they are a really great family, strong members in the church and are busy pretty much every day between the two boys and their baseball schedules. But anyways, all is going really good here and I should here from you soon!
-Elder Edwards
p.s. if you could send some of those reese's eggs I would most appreciate it, Oh and I sent my sd card in the letter I wrote just fyi because I wasted so much time trying to upload pictures through email and I probably couldn't even fit one picture on an email because its too big of a file, so we'll see how that works and maybe work something out later for how to do that.
Well it has been another really good week, we were able to teach quite a bit, nobody all too interested, but we're still looking for the 'elect'. I wrote you a letter today so you'll hear about how the work is going, but I just wanted to send a quick email and see how things were going.
Tomorrow we have interviews with President Mathusek which will be really good.
Last week we had a new missionary meeting for all of the new missionaries and their trainers, so it was good to see some of the other Elders that were in the MTC with me.
I am definitely looking forward to General Conference, its too bad I wont be able to go to Priesthood session with Ryan until he's a teacher! I still cant hardly imagine him passing sacrament and going for fast offerings! There's a family in our ward who is really nice and they have a son that is a sophomore right now and another that is also 12 and they both look so much older than they are its pretty ridiculous. The twelve year old is real close to being 6 feet tall (which I still cant believe he's 12 just because of how big he is), but its funny because his brother is a lot smaller and looks like he could be at least a junior. But they are a really great family, strong members in the church and are busy pretty much every day between the two boys and their baseball schedules. But anyways, all is going really good here and I should here from you soon!
-Elder Edwards
p.s. if you could send some of those reese's eggs I would most appreciate it, Oh and I sent my sd card in the letter I wrote just fyi because I wasted so much time trying to upload pictures through email and I probably couldn't even fit one picture on an email because its too big of a file, so we'll see how that works and maybe work something out later for how to do that.
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