weeks 86-89

Week 89

Has It really been eighty-nine weeks? Where has the time gone? It is strange to be so close to the end of my mission, and I definitely have mixed feelings about it. I am excited to be able to go home soon, but I also don't want to leave. I am not going to miss the heat we have been having the past couple of weeks. If I learned only one thing from my mission, humidity makes whatever the temperature is feel like it hotter then it is.

The Kutztown Ward just had a missionary finish his mission this past week, and sent off another Wednesday. I can totally see how people who are not used to the idea of LDS missions be a little confused about them. It takes a special person who would be willing to put everything on hold for eighteen or twenty-four months. He/She will go to go to a place where he/she probably doesn’t know much about with the purpose of teaching people about Jesus Christ, how His church was restored to the Earth, and that prophets still speak to God on the behalf of the whole Earth.

With any hope, Elder Thielen and I will be able to go to the temple in the coming weeks with a recent convert. We are not sure if we can because we are close to the limited travel time to be able to go. I hope I will be able to go because it been over twenty months since the last time I was able to go to a temple.

One way Elder Thielen and I started to try to get the work moving faster is to have families make a family mission plan. The idea is that the family would come up with people they know with whom they want to share the gospel. Then they would plan ways how they can help them and do something for them to help them increase their faith in Christ.

Elder Bjerregaard

Week 88

I had my first interview with President Randall this past week. He is a very kind man and is doing his best to learn about all the missionaries in the mission. From what I heard, he is going to try to get to every missionary within two weeks. It is amazing how quickly he is learning. I do pray that he will be able to fulfill his calling as a mission president as best has he can.

It was a hard week for us teaching wise. We don't have many investigators right now so we spend most of our day going door to door. It is hard work and we don't see much fruit from doing it, but we don't have much else we can do right now. We were also out of our area for two and a half days this week helping the zone leaders because they overscheduled themselves. That hurt our area this week.

Missionary work is definitely hard work. I personally think it is a miracle that I have the energy everyday to get out of bed. One nice thing about missionary work in the middle of summer is that the sun goes up before we wake up, and then it doesn't get dark before it is time for us to go in for the night. The days do get long and hard, but in the end I know I will be able to look back and know that it was worth all the effort I put into being a missionary.

Elder Bjerregaard
  

Week 87

Happy Fourth of July. What a wonderful day to remember the birth of the country whose religious freedom allowed the restoration to happen. Also is a wonderful time to remember all those who fought to retain this freedom. For all those who are or who did serve in this country's freedom we all enjoy, I thank you.

It was a fun week. I meet my new mission president on Wednesday. He and his wife brought three of their kids along. They have three older kids that are out on their own. I really like them already and I am looking forward to being able to get to know them better over the course of the next four months.

We have been having a hard time finding investigators lately, but we are definitely working hard to find some more. From what I have seen we also have a lot of missionary minded members so we can be looking forward to some referrals.

The Philadelphia temple is also finished. It is real exciting to know that all they have to do now is finish the preparations for the open house and then the people will be able to see what it like inside a Mormon temple. I know that a lot of people will become interested in the church because of it, and they will start seeking the truth.

Elder Bjerregaard

Week 86

I got transferred to Kutztown, PA and I have Elder Thielen as my companion right now. This is probably going to be the closest to my first area as I will be able to get on my mission. My district leader is in the companionship that is over my old area so I might be able to go back there for exchanges.

President Anderson's term as the mission president over the Pennsylvania Philadelphia Mission is over and President Randall is now my mission president. We are going to have a zone conference this coming Wednesday so I will be able to meet him and his wife then. It is going to be interesting to have new mission president, and I am excited to see how this will be.

We had an interesting encounter this past week. We were out tracting and we came across this guy who did not want us there at all. He accused us of trespassing and demanded us to leave or he will call the cops. We left. When we were at his neighbor's door, he left, but made it clear that if we go back and knock on his door he will call the cops. I thought the whole thing was funny but it is sad how some people are so rude to complete strangers. I hope he will soften his heart at some point and be willing to hear the gospel, until then we are not going back because he will probably call the cops on us, but I am unsure what they will do.

I had a first this week. We went to another church's service. It was Faith Church. We had a deal with an investigator that if we went to his services then he would go to ours. To be honest, I felt like I was at a Christian rock concert instead of a worship service. The service that I went to was geared toward young adults and I can see why they would like it, but I much prefer the quieter services that we have on Sunday. Another major difference is that they didn't offer the sacrament (communion) which I thought was strange. I am definitely going to put it up on my cultural experiences board, but I think I will stick to what I feel is the proper way to worship.

Elder Bjerregaard