Week 8--Happy New Year!

I want to thank everyone who sent Christmas cards and gifts! I really appreciated them!

It looks like they are having fun at the Christmas party.

The stocking my mom and grandma made for me.

Monday

Someday we will do something fun for P-day, but last week was not it. Elder Thomas and the other Sisters in Reading 1st practiced the song they were going to do at the Christmas zone conference/devotional. I was supposed to sing with them, but I don't have enough experience to do it.

Tuesday

We spent a good part of the day calling people. We found out that one of our investigators, Scott, was in rehab because of a heart problem and he would be there until after the new year. We visited him later in the day to find out how he was doing. He has not received many visitors, so he was happy to see us.

Wednesday

We had the long awaited Christmas Conference. President Anderson and Sister Anderson shared brief Christmas messages. President Anderson also told us how much of a blessing that it was to be able to call home. When he was on his mission to Japan, the first time he was able to call home was when he was 19 months out. Afterwards, we played a game of Jeopardy using questions from "Preach my Gospel" and my zone won. We had a short break and then we watched "17 Miracles." It is a really good movie about what the Willie Handcart company had to go though and what miracles happened along the way.

Thursday

Christmas, what more do I have to say? We had a meal appointment with members for all three meals, so we had more than enough food. We visited Scott again and showed him the "He is the Gift” video. I was able to Skype home and see my family! I wished I had more time to talk with them, but President Anderson told us to limit our time to only an hour because we needed to keep our hearts and minds in the mission field and on missionary work. Limited as it might have been, I really enjoyed the time I was able to spend with my family. I am looking forward to May when I can do it again.

Screen shot of Skype call.

Friday

We had a lesson with Diana, Tiffany and Reuben. We shared scriptures pertaining to repentance and resurrection. I don't remember what we were talking about, but Reuben said that he looks forward to meeting with us because it makes his day. He also has been able to control his temper better with his kids. He looks up to us and respects us. I am not sure what he specifically respects about us, but it is a nice feeling knowing that we are making a positive impact on somebody's life. We had dinner at the Robinson’s home. We also were able to decorate gingerbread men and houses. Sister Robinson sent pictures and sent them to mom. Mom here—Sister Robinson sent me the following email: We had the opportunity to have your son over tonight for dinner and gingerbread decorating (never got it done before Christmas)! Your son is a great pleasure! He is working very hard to learn the lessons and be a good missionary. Thank you so much for sharing him with us. As a missionary mom myself, I know how nice it is to get pics of my boy. Hope you enjoy!

Decorating gingerbread

That's my boy!

Saturday

We had weekly planning on Saturday because the district meeting was moved to Friday due to Christmas being on Thursday. I don't know what it is about weekly planning, but I still don't like it. The Sisters wanted to talk with us about the revelation they received during weekly planning so we met them at the church. They were trying to find ways how to improve the ward mission plan. They came up with some really good ideas, however we will need to talk about them with Brother Lamb, the ward mission leader.

Sunday

We had a really good day planned out, but nothing happened like we wanted it to. Almost everyone we wanted to see was not home or didn't want to answer the door. We were able to talk to Donna though and set up an appointment with her later in the week. She has a son who lives with her. From the sounds of it, he is very against the church which saddens me deeply, but I can't control what other people believe about the church. I just hope we can talk with him at some point and answer any questions he might have and try to soften his heart.


I would like to wish everyone a safe and happy new year!

Elder Bjerregaard

Week 7--Merry Christmas

Have a safe Christmas everyone. Have a Merry Christmas and a joyful holiday and enjoy the time you have with your family. By the way, I’m dreaming of a white Christmas, but I don’t think I will get one, and I am fine with that :-).

Monday

Another P-Day, and another day we didn't do anything interesting/fun. I think part of the problem is not that there are not anything that interesting to do in my area. We did have a lesson later in the day with Donna. She was really receptive to the plan of salvation. We have not have a chance to have a lesson with her since, but I feel like if we can teach her more, she can become a strong member of the Church.

Tuesday

We had a lesson with another family. We showed them the "He is the Gift" video and they responded well. We didn't set a return appointment, but they seem really interested in learning more.

Wednesday

We had a lesson with Rafael. He says he is a member of the church, but when they have searched for his records in the past, they have not been able to find them. We explained to him that because we cannot find his record, he needs to be baptized again. He didn't sound too happy that he needs to be baptized again, but he was willing to be re-baptized if necessary. I'm not sure if he will follow through because he didn't seem really into it and I don't think he recognizes that it is a way of life.

Thursday

There is nothing of significance to report about today.

Friday

We had to go all the way to Topton for an interview for the Kutztown sister missionaries. Also it was weekly planning so we didn't get much teaching done. We did go on splits with Brother Lamb and Brother Farlow to help them with home teaching. One person we met with was a less active member, so we felt like it was a really good thing to do.

Saturday

We had a short lesson with a different Rafael. He had met with the missionaries around fourteen years ago but doesn't remember much. That is fine because I don't think they were using "Preach my Gospel" at that point (Preach my Gospel was introduced ten years ago). We also tried to meet with some less active members but for some reason they busy. They did say that they will be in Church the Sunday after Christmas.

Sunday


We had a lesson with Reuben and Tiffany. They have not been reading the Book of Mormon so we read the first Chapter in 1 Nephi with them. They had a hard time understanding what it said, but we read it slowly and explained it was saying.

Elder Bjerregaard

Week 6

Monday

Still nothing interesting happened on P-Day. We never seem to have time to go anywhere that would be interesting, but I did find out that there is an avionics museum in my area. I will like to get there before I get transferred. We had dinner at the Robinson's and they just got their Christmas tree. It is over eleven feet tall, but luckily they have a spot that they could stand it up.

Tuesday

We went on exchanges with Elder Bunker and Elder Leavitt. I was with Elder Bunker this time and I was in his area. Neither one of us are certified to drive a mission car, so we had to walk every place. For lunch, Elder Bunker took me to a Dominican place for a sandwich. It was good but I cannot remember what it is called. Elder Bunker is going home. He is on his way to the mission home as I write this, and going to fly out on Tuesday December 16th. It was nice that I had some time to be able to talk with him. I don't know why, but it will take him all day to get back to St. George, Utah.

Wednesday

We had another lesson with Diana and Tiffany. Diana's son was there this time, and that was perfect. We were planning to reteach them the restoration because we felt that they were having a hard time understanding what we were trying to teach them. They got really interested when we started to use pictures and Reuben committed to be baptized on January 10th. We also had dinner at Bishop Staus's. We talked about the mission plan and how we thought it could be improved.

Thursday

We had a couple of lessons that fell though. I wondered if people forget that they had made an appointment with us, or they thought that we wouldn't come. When we do, they don't want to answer the door. We ended up not being able to meet with anyone that we were planning on meeting with that day. So, we decided to go to Dairy Swirl. When we were there an older woman approached to us and asked about our name tags. We told her that we are missionaries from the church. She made a comment about the big family history library we have in Salt Lake City, so we invited her to meet us at the local family history center.

Back row: Sister Pike, Sister Neilson, Elder Thomas, Sister, McCuin, Sister Semmons, Elder Newbold, Elder Leavett
Front row: Elder Bjerregaard, Elder Bunker, Elder Hardy

Friday

The zone leaders sat in on part of the weekly planning. We managed to get it done in a more timely matter, but it still is taking longer then what "Preach My Gospel" says it should take. When we were going to the only appointment we had, they cancelled and rescheduled for the next day. Luckily, we planned backups for that time in the same area so it was not a wasted trip.

Saturday

We had a lesson with Scott. We ended up being a little late but we still managed to catch him before he left for the store. He is slow progressing, but he is learning for himself that what we have been teaching him is true. We tried to set up an appointment with him at the church but he gave no promises that he would be able to make it. We also had a lesson with Tiffany and Reuben. We shared with them the plan of salvation and talked about the temple. They are really excited about temples and want to go to one someday. We also whet caroling with Sister Pike and Sister Neilson. We were planning on having a big group, but only the missionaries made it.

Sunday

We had to get up early to make it to priesthood executive council. We don't talk much, but it is good that the bishop invites us because that means that he trusts us. We had lunch at the Smith's and then whet caroling. I don't know how they selected the people to go see and I don't really care. The important thing is we went. We did have to leave the group way through because we had a dinner appointment. After dinner, we finally managed to have a lesson with the Dillon’s. They want to be able to go to the temple before Elder Thomas goes home.

Q&A

How has your mission been? So far it has been going great.

How did you like the MTC? I loved the MTC, but it seems like forever ago since I was there.

Is it snowy and cold in Pennsylvania? Cold, yes. Snowy, not so much. Right now, we don't have any snow.

How is Philadelphia different than Wickenburg? I don't know. I have not been to Philadelphia, but Reading has a lot of row homes when you get closer to the center.

Have you had any cool spiritual experiences teaching people yet? I will say that the one when we showed Tiffany and Reuben the temple video counts.

Do you like your companion? We get along, but we do have our differences like anyone else.
Elder Bjerrgaard

Week 5

I really wish I was having the weather you are having back home. I wish the winter will go by quickly so I can get the warmer days of spring and summer. I believe people are more open to the gospel here because of the Christmas season. However, I don’t have much to compare because I have only been in the field for a month.

Monday

We helped a family move into their house that is new to the ward. To thank us, they treated us to a local Chinese buffet. We still did nothing special for P-day. I don't think there is much to do in my area but I can be wrong.

Tuesday

We got a letter from President Anderson telling us that weekly planning was being moved to Friday. This is because it was hard to do it on Tuesdays since we were really planning for two weeks.

Wednesday

We went on exchanges with the zone leaders because Elder Thomas is a district leader. I went with Elder Newbold into his area and Elder Hardy stayed in mine. I learned a lot from Elder Newbold. I think I am becoming more confident in my ability to teach people, at least bearing my testimony. We found out that one person who we were teaching has a warrant out for his, so we are not sure how to continue to teach him.

Thursday

My first zone training was on Thursday. To help new converts remain active in the church, the mission has been getting the missionaries certified as family history specialists. I don't think I needed it because of my calling as a ward family history consultant. After we had training, we went with Brother Waldbiesser to teach Chris. He understands that there is only one church that can bring us closer to God, but he doesn't know how to find out the answer.

Friday

We taught Diana a lesson. However, I am not sure how much she understood because there were distractions. Her daughter-in-law had little kids there and they were making a lot of noise. I think that she is really open to the gospel. We just need to find a way to teach her so she is able to understand and not have any distractions. We spend most of the day helping with the ward Christmas party. We set up all the tables and helped move the extra chairs from the cultural hall. I didn't see anyone who was not a member of the church, but it was a good time to spend getting to know the people in the ward and having some good food.

At the Christmas Party

Saturday

The sisters in the ward had a baptism. His family is not very supportive of his decision, but he is doing what he believes is right for him. That is really what it matters! Since we didn't have time to do weekly planning on Friday because we were setting up for the Christmas party, we did weekly planning. We got most of the way through, but we had to stop midway through because we had an appointment. Sadly that appointment didn't happen.

Sunday


We were hoping that we would have three investigators at church but none came. After, we tried to visit with them in their houses, but they weren’t home. That made me sad because they told us that they would be there, and they had found rides to get there.

We learned the church took over all the advertising on YouTube and I wonder how that went. I should find out in the coming weeks.

What made the day better was the First Presidency Christmas devotional. It was interesting how the General Authorities view the Christmas season and the stories they had to uplift us and to show us the true spirit of Christmas.


Elder Bjerregaard

Week 4--I'm Dreaming of a White Thanksgiving

Monday

We stayed home all day because we didn't know what to do during the day.

Tuesday

Weekly planning, one of the things I have not liked to do during my mission took up all the morning. Elder Thomas is the district leader, so we went on exchanges with Elder Leavitt and Elder Bunker. I went with Elder Leavitt because Elder Bunker is not certified to drive a mission car, and neither am I for that matter. They are Spanish speaking so I didn't understand any of the lessons he taught.

Wednesday

For a while, I didn't know if I would be able to exchange back with Elder Thomas because it started to snow in the morning. The zone leaders live next door to the Spanish elders, so they spend the morning after study with Elder Leavitt and me. On Wednesdays, we have a conference call that the mission presidency uses to teach/share a gospel message. After the call, Elder Hardy called the assistants to find out if the cars were grounded. We found out that they were. During a time when the snow fall was light, I was brought back to end the exchange because we don't live that far away from each other. We ended up getting 2-3 inches of snow.

Thursday

A little late, but happy Thanksgiving everyone! I don't know if I was dreaming of a white Thanksgiving, but I got one. We had lunch with a member from another ward because their granddaughter lives in my ward and she invited us over for their main Thanksgiving meal. We shared a Thanksgiving video and asked them what they are thankful for. We were not able to meet with anyone that we hoped we could see, but we finished the evening at the Bishop's house. We meet some of his family and friends and the bishop made sure that they can talk to us any time.

Friday

It was a really good day on Friday. We were able to start showing the "He is the Gift" video with people. We gave a Book of Mormon to the brother-in-law of a member, and the member was surprised that he took it. We also meant with a guy from a part member family who Elder Thomas was trying to see for a while. He knows that the church is true and wants to be baptized. We set a date for him to try to be ready to be baptized. We also found out that a person who we were teaching was not a member of the church. He found his baptismal certificate and it was not from our church.

Saturday

We had lunch at the Dillon’s. His sister came to get some things from him that he was keeping for her. After some drama, we invited her to watch the Christmas video about Christ. She said that she is very opened minded and we got an appointment to meet with her on Wednesday. Elder Thomas did his first two baptismal interviews for the zone leaders.

Sunday

I don't know if I have already stated this, but for the moment, Reading 1st has a different meeting schedule then I have back home. The Priesthood, Relief Society, and young women meet first, then Sunday school, and then sacrament meeting. One of the stake employment specialists came and talked about what the employment specialists do, and the resources the church has to help people to find a job. I need to remember what he talked about because it could become handy when talking to people and then after my mission.

Elder Bjerregaard