Week 36

It was a slower week then normal. We had a good number of lessons lined up, but most of them fell through. It is weeks like these that I need to remember to rely on the Savior the most.

We did find a new person this week, Walt. A couple of weeks ago, we were tracting in a tougher neighborhood when we passed a groupie love of people on the other side of the street. We were not having much luck, so we decided to try to talk to them. Most of them were trying to make a joke about what we were doing, but Walt recognized that we were missionaries and knew what we were doing shouldn't be taken lightly. He seems like he wants to know more, and we are going to see him this coming Tuesday.

I was studying about the natural man this morning. Something that I took from it is that the natural man will view things from God as foolishness. Also to learn then be able to teach about spiritual things, we need to have the Spirit with us. To understand spiritual things, we also need to have the Spirit with us. We might be able to learn what God wants for us without the Spirit. However, we need to have the Spirit for the spiritual things to be able to enter into our hearts in order to bring about a change in us. Only the Spirit will only bring knowledge and change unto the heart.

Elder Bjerregaard
#BecauseHeLives

Wilmington Zone taken June 23, 2015

Week 35

Happy (late) 4th of July.

This week was a slower week for us. It seemed like no matter what we did, we didn't see any fruit from our labors. If anyone told you that missionary work is easy, it is not. Most of last week consented of knocking on doors to find out no one lives there or they are not interested.

We did meet an interesting person though. We were on exchanges with the zone leaders and I stayed in my area. An appointment fell through, so we were knocking on some doors in the neighborhood. We were trying to find a new investigator while we waited for the next appointment that we were going to have in an hour. We passed a group of people on the other side of the street. We passed them because we wanted to finish knocking on doors on our side of the street. We weren’t having any success, so Elder Isseetell suggested that we go talk to the people we just passed. Only one was interested, Walt. Walt had briefly talked to missionaries before, but he never saw them again. He thinks they were afraid of him because of the way he looks. We have an appointment with him this coming Tuesday. Definitely a sign that hard works pays off in the end.

As part of a spiritual message that we shared this past week, I shared an analogy of a tree. The tree represents our testimony. We can watch a sapling all day every day for twenty years. We are not able to tell much difference in it from one day to the next, but we if compare a picture when it was first planted to a picture twenty years later, we will be able to see a big difference. So it is with our testimony. We often don't see any difference on a day by day basis, but that does not mean that it is not changing. It is continually changing (and hopefully growing). To help it grow, we need to pray and study the scriptures daily. We probably won’t see a big difference short term, but it is slowly making us better people from the inside out.

Elder Bjerregaard
#BecauseHeLives

Week 34

We had an awesome zone conference with Elder Kacher of the Seventy this past Tuesday. It was awesome having a general authority there. We largely talked about how we can work with the ward council more effectively. One thing that he suggested to do is to meet with the members of the ward council individually and ask what we can do to help them in their respective organizations.

For the past couple of days, I have been studying about faith. I have not gotten very far so as of yet, but knowledge is added line upon line, and precept upon precept. A little here and a little there. One thing I have learned is that faith is both a verb and a noun. Some people think of faith as only the noun. James taught that "faith without works is dead, being alone" (James 2:17). In other words, we need to put faith into action. We need to have and use faith in our everyday life if we want to draw closer to the Savior.

Mom here: I receive a picture and a video from a returned missionary’s mother (Elder Tyler from the PPM). The video is a little difficult to understand due to background noise. He mentioned that he is doing well, has food, and not to worry about him. It was a pleasant surprise to receive this video.


Elder Bjerregaard
#BecauseHeLives

Week 33

President Anderson called two elders as "training elders," and their main responsibility is to help train the younger missionaries on how to be the best missionaries they can be. They are to pass down the wisdom they learned from doing the work for almost two years. President Anderson wanted them to do a double in exchange with us last Monday, and they helped us find a few people who might be interested in learning more about the gospel.

I used to make fun of people when they said it is hot when it is over ninety, but now I understand that it is no joke because of the humidity. To help save on miles (we can only drive so far a month), we often park our car at a central location and then walk for at least a mile before we return. By that time we are normally sweaty and ready to spend time with A/C to cool down some before we go out and do some more walking. I am even starting to look forward to the winter when it is not as humid.

Elder Bjerregaard
#BecauseHeLives

Week 32

Transfers took place Wednesday and my new companion is Elder Foster. He is only six weeks ahead of me in his mission. He is from Tri-City, Washington. This is his fourth area, so he has been spending on average only three months in each area. Elder Allred got transferred to Bay View so he is still in my zone.

We had 17 new missionaries this time around (or something like that, I can't remember the exact number). We are going to receive 33 new missionaries at the end of July. I heard that about half of the current missionaries in the PPM (Pennsylvania Philadelphia Mission) have only been out for six months or less.

Things are slowly moving along in Wilmington. We are in finding a mode right now because our teaching pool is pretty low. We are trying to build that back up. We are trying a little bit of everything to find people who want to hear about the restored gospel.

I miss my dry heat!

Elder Bjerregaard

Week 31

This is the last week of the transfer, and Elder Allred is leaving. It was surprising to find out because he has only been here for three months, and the average is six. It is sad for him to leave because we got along really well, and we are going to miss each other. We thought for sure that we would have at least another one transfer together if not two.

We had a great lesson last week with Clay. We focused on faith and could really feel the spirit. He still doesn't feel like he is ready to be baptized, but he is getting closer to feeling ready and even gave the closing payer.

The District

Elder Bjerregaard and Elder Allred saw this picture at a church in Wilmington and had a good laugh.

Elder Bjerregaard

Week 30

Stake conference was this week and we got a new stake presidency. In one of the talks on Saturday, the speaker said that what we do on the Sabbath day should reflect what kind of sign that we want to send to Heavenly Father and The Lord.

I went on two exchanges this week. The first one was the normal district leader exchange which was fun. For some reason, the mission president wanted the district leaders at mission leadership council, so I was with Elder Jones, the companion for the other district leader in the zone.

The mission has been really been pushing for us to be more careful with our cars as of late. They already had to pull ten cars for one reason or the other. For most areas that have a car, the amount they can drive has been reduced. With the reduced driving though, the mission has a whole has been more successful at finding the honest seekers of the truth.

This is the last week for the transfer, but it has not felt like five weeks has already passed. For that matter it doesn’t seem like I have been out seven months. It stills feels like only a couple days ago that I was dropped off at the MTC to learn how to effectively teach the gospel. At the same time it seems like forever ago because of all the new experiences I have had. Anyway by this time next week, I will know if I will stay in Wilmington or if I am going to get transferred.

Elder Bjerregaard
#BecauseHeLives