Week 11

Monday

We had freezing rain so we could not go to the appointment we had because it was unsafe. At some point I will do something interesting on P-Day, I just hope that it will be soon. I did get a haircut though, and I gave it to myself. I was going to get my hair cut at the nearby Wal-mart, but Elder Thomas suggested that I just buy some hair clippers and do it myself. I decided that I would try because if it were bad, I could go get a haircut. I think it turned out OK and no one has made a negative comment about it that I know of.

Selfie of haircut

Tuesday

We had three lessons that fell through. Sometimes it is disheartening when we make appointments and none of them happen. We do try to make the best of it by trying to talk to other people to make sure that we stay productive and also so we can find more people who might be ready to hear the gospel.

Wednesday

I had my first official zone conference. I wish we didn't have to go so far to get to Nazareth for the zone conference; it is about an hour drive one way. They prepared really great topics that they talked about. A saying that President Anderson wants us missionaries to focus our efforts on is: Teach to convert, strengthen members, and get them on the road to the temple. Zone conference ran longer than they were thinking it was going to, so we did have to have dinner before we had to get to the lesson with Diana. Tiffany and Reuben were not able to be there because Tiffany got really sick. Diana didn't remember who Joseph Smith was, so we again covered the restoration with a heavy focus on who he was and why he is important.

Thursday

I went on exchanges with Elder Hardy. I don't know why, but everyone we talked with was either not interested or didn't speak English. Luckily, Elder Hardy is a Spanish speaking elder, so we got four or so potential investigators for the zone leaders who are also Spanish speaking. Also we had a lesson with a friend of Sister Robinson. Her friend’s father in-law is in a rehab center, so we did go out of our area because she wanted to be able to see him after we finished talking with her.

Friday

The Sisters have a less active sister that they started to teach. She needed a priesthood blessing, so they asked us if we could come to give her one. We didn't have anything going that we needed to get to right then. We typically cannot go out of our area and that was out of our area. So, because it was a priesthood blessing, we told them that we would be able to do it.

Saturday

When we got to the church for coordination meeting, we discovered the cultural hall was all decorated for some event that no one knew about. That is what it is like when you have three wards sharing the building. We had a lesson with Diana again. Last time she mentioned that her mom passed way a couple of years ago, so we shared with her and Tiffany the plan of salvation. Reuben had to make dinner for the kids so he was not part of the lesson. I don't think we even got though half of it, but Diana didn't understand that she needs to pray to have the Holy Ghost witness to her that what we have been sharing with her is true. I feel bad because the Sisters wanted us to give Sister Nielson a blessing. We didn't answer because we were in the middle of the lesson with Diana, so they got the zone leaders to come and give her a blessing.

Sunday

We had ward conference. I would have liked to have been in Gospel Doctrine to hear what the person from the stake had prepared. However, we need to go to Gospel Principles in case a nonmember walks in. After lunch we went out looking for people. Every door we knocked on, no one answered. I know that people are out there who are ready to hear the gospel. I think the hardest part of missionary work is finding those people out of hundreds of people who are not interested or don't want to put in the effort to change.

Personal Message

One thing that stuck out to me during my personal study this week was Alma 12:32. Alma was speaking to Zeezrom about the fall and the plan of salvation. "Therefore God gave unto them commandments, after making known unto them the plan of redemption….” What I really like is that Heavenly Father didn't tell them what they had to do first. He told them how they can return to him, and then gave them the requirements that they need to meet in order to do so.


Elder Bjerregaard