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