June 11, 2013

So these past two weeks have been awesome! The first two days of the transfer here in Kanesville we picked up 3 baptismal dates! And just yesterday we picked up another which, for those of you not so good at math, makes 4! It is so wonderful to see people that are willing to change.

The first person we taught in the area is a kid names Melvin, he is 17 years old. The day before I got to the area he met with the Elders here and told them that he went to church and seminary graduation and felt something that he has never experienced before and wants to get baptized! He is a super amazing kid. He goes to church every week and he loves it! He's already made tons of friends and I can tell that he can recognize the spirit. He is going to be baptized on the 22nd of this month.

The next two are a brother and sister in a pretty mixed family. Their step-siblings are members and so we scheduled an appointment to teach. We taught them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and focused on baptism and afterwards invited them to be baptized and the accepted for the 6th of July. They are pretty crazy but they have the desire to be baptized and follow Jesus Christ and it's awesome!

The last kid who we taught yesterday is 10 years old and his name is William. His dad is a member but isn't very active. We taught about the importance of Church, Prayer and Scripture reading and then taught about baptism. When we asked him if he wanted to be baptized he said, quite enthusiastically, "yes!"

It's incredible how often people feel the Spirit but don't know it's from God. When we first teach that is something we usually teach. We help them to recognize the Spirit and explain that when they get those warm, peaceful feeling it's God telling them that what they are learning is true and the steps they are taking are the correct ones. You'd be amazed to see the change in people once they recognize God's hand in their lives. It's what I love most about being a missionary. You are able to help change lives by showing them Christ's love and being that instrument of God to convey his message. I just love being out here and doing the Lord's work. There is nothing like it and time is already going by way to fast. I'm going to be home before I know it and I am not looking forward to that quite yet.

Love,

Elder Ervin

5-28-2013

So, the first thing that comes to mind is... Transfers! I am moving out of Syracuse! I am going to be serving in Kanesville, Utah! My new companion will be Elder Lima. I don't know anything about him but I hear he is a cool guy. I'm pretty excited to be in a new area but I'm also bummed about leaving all the cool people in Syracuse. It was bound to happen sometime anyway. I hear that we will be getting a car though so that will be pretty nice, but I'll probably get fat.

One of the elders we lived with went home this transfer! It was pretty awesome! His family came up from Georgia and we got to meet them. There was also a departing testimony meeting where all the missionaries who finished their missions got up and bore their testimonies to all the people who came, which included missionaries, investigators and recent converts. It was a super cool experience but it was sad to see him go. He didn't want to leave but he was also ready to go home and start his life. It must be a difficult feeling.

The other week we were chased down by a member who saw us walking down the street. He was visiting one of his non-member friends and they mentioned they'd like to ask us some questions. We ended up visiting with some for an hour or so and set up an appointment to come teach them. They are an interesting couple and like to ask some pretty off the wall questions. The wife says that she can hear spirits and that her daughter can see them. They are fairly interesting to talk with them. It's a bummer I'm not going to be able to teach them anymore. I just hope that they listen with an open heart and are able to get the most out of the message that the missionaries share with them.

Love,

Elder Ervin

May 7, 2013

So these past couple weeks have been pretty slow. We have had many cancelled appointments so we haven't been able to teach very much which really sucks. But there's nothing we can do about that, just keep doing our best. The Stake Presidency has been real passionate on getting the members to get us appointments rather than just tell us everyone in the neighborhood that is not a member. They are also really trying to get us some housing in the area since we live quite far outside of it.

Hopefully this next week we will have some good appointments and good lessons. We have quite a lot of people to visit and try to setup a lesson so we can only pray that those will work out. We are always trying to find new people to teach but as I've said before this area has a high majority of members so we mainly visit less actives. A lot of those who aren't members are people who just hate missionaries for reasons unknown.

On the positive side; Elder Ross and I have talked with the Stake Presidency and the High Councilman over missionary work and we've all decided that the stake needs a missionary 'reform'

We've talked a lot about how we can change things. The Stake President made an announcement in Stake Conference about how he wants us in every home in the stake! We are starting with members, teaching missionary lessons! It's awesome because you never know when someone might need the message we are sharing. Members also know their neighbors way more than we do. I am so excited for this new plan. The stake president said that he wants the wards to make 3 appointments per week for us, whether it is with non-members, less-active or members. That is 24 lessons per week! That added to the lessons we already have, we are going to be super busy. I can't wait for this next week. Hopefully by next Tuesday, I'll be able to have some really neat stories to share.

Love.

Elder Ervin

Can you believe that I have been away from home for almost two months now?  Time is just flying by!

Today we found out about transfers. I am still staying in Syracuse but I am moving. We are moving to an apartment even further out of our area so that the Spanish elders, who are moving into our apartment, can live in their area. I am also going to have a new companion, Elder Ross. I don't know anything about him yet as transfers are tomorrow.

Our mission is going to be split this July. Idaho and Star Valley, Wyoming will no longer be in our mission. The mission is going to be pretty small now and any missionaries that are in the cities that we are losing will be moving to the Idaho Pocatello mission. It's pretty crazy.

Nothing really miraculous has happened these past couple weeks. This area is filled with a high majority of members(there are 4 chapels in the small, less than 2 mile area). So we mostly teach inactive members. We do, however, have a baptism this Saturday which I am pretty excited for.

Hopefully in this next transfer we can make some progress with some of the people we have been working with. We have found some new investigators this week which we hope will turn out.

So, I'm running out of time. I didn't get to write about nearly as much as I wanted. Hopefully next week we will be able to stay longer so I can write more.

Love,
Elder Ervin

April 2, 2013

So things here have been pretty good. Not a lot has happened this week with Easter. Although a few interesting things did happen.

Last week we met a guy named Larry Scott. I don't know if you have ever heard of him but he's a famous bodybuilder. He was the first person to ever win Mr. America, Universe and Olympia. His wife said Mr. Olympia was started because the guy who started it wanted to see him compete again. He was a pretty cool guy, and even though he was old he was still super ripped! Apparently he was the first person in body builder history to have 20 inch biceps. His handshake was crazy strong. The coolest part though was when he said that all that(his awards, winning and titles) were nothing compared to being a member of the Church. It was one of the most amazing things I've heard. I mean this guy was Arnold before Arnold was Arnold and he said it was worthless compared to being LDS. Quite an eye opener.

At church on Sunday we were told by a Ward Mission Leader of a house that we should go visit. He said the he was a Fundamentalist and former polygamist from Colorado City. When we went over there yesterday we found out that the former part wasn't so former. One of the women was pretty nice and actually conversed with us but the other one was pretty rude. She wouldn't respond to our questions and kept telling us she wasn't interested even though we were just trying to make conversation. I thought it was a pretty funny experience. Polygamists living in my area. It's pretty exciting compared to what else goes on around here.

Other than those couple things, the work here has been pretty much the same as always. Giving lessons to people and what not. We have a couple baptisms scheduled for a few weeks from now. They are next transfer though so I may not be here. We will see when the time comes I guess. We have a few new investigators that we are going to start teaching so I'm excited for that.

That's about all I have to write about or at least all that I can remember. I didn't bring my journal with me today so I can't take stuff out of that.

Love,
Elder Ervin