Week 12

Before I recount what happened this week, I will share something I learned. The Savior said that we need to ask, seek, and knock. We can assign three other words faith, work, and desire (following the same order). Before we can begin to grow, we first need to have the desire to know more and to have a clear objective in mind. It can be something about the gospel we want to know more about or want guidance in something that is happening in our lives. Then we need to exercise our faith by asking Heavenly Father for help in reaching our objective in prayer. Then we need to work, meaning that need to do everything in our power to reach the objective. After we believe we achieve our objective, we then need to turn to our Heavenly Father and ask if we reached the correct ending. If we didn't we need to go back and work some more. If we get the confirmation that we did all that we could, and we did reach the right conclusion we need to set a new objective. Using what we learned, start the process all over again with a new objective or goal.

Monday

Why does P-Day seem so short? There seems so much that we need to get done, but we never have the time to do it. We tried to talk to some people, but I don't remember being able to talk to anyone.

Tuesday

We started to invite people like crazy to the Family Night we planned for the ward for Saturday. Over the next couple of days, I feel like we handed out around 60 flyers about it to everyone we met on the street. We also found out that Scott was out of rehab and home. We stopped by to see how he was doing, and if he needed any help. We have not been able to see him much, but he does seems to enjoy the time that we are over and talking about the gospel. When the missionaries started to teach him, he said that he would not leave the church that he goes to, but when he gains a testimony that the church is true, I think that he would be more than happy to leave that church.

Wednesday

We handed out a lot more flyers again. We also had a lesson planned for Diana and her family but couldn't stay because Reuben was not there. The plan was for him to be there.

Thursday

We went to the town of Blandon to invite people. We met with a lot of people. We went on splits, and I was with Brother Robinson. I taught Diana and Tiffany the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I think it went pretty well considering that Brother Robinson doesn't know much about the missionary lessons. Elder Thomas was with another member helping him with his home teaching. Diana and Tiffany passed their first baptismal date, so we set a new date for March 14. I think the main thing that is preventing them from progressing is that we have not been able to get them to church. What makes it hard is that they would need four seats available in a car, and the people who have vehicles that can comfortably hold them normally need the seats to get their families to church.

Friday

We had a meeting with Sister Kohrman about the Family Night. We ironed out the final details and figured out what we need to do on Saturday to make sure everything is ready. During the night we got 4-6 inches of snow. One thing I learned is that I don’t like snow!

Saturday

We had the Family Night that we, the Reading 1st ward missionaries, were planning for about four weeks. We had snow the night before, so we came to the church early to shovel out the church parking lot. We gave up after about two and a half hours, but we did move enough snow that everyone could park and the snow plow was able to get the rest. We spent most of the day setting up for it, and it ended up looking great I think. We didn't have non-members or in-actives from Reading 1st, but other missionaries from the other wards (we invited every ward that shares the same building) had people come. I know that the zone leaders had someone that came who has not stepped into the church for about eight years. We also had the Carr’s from the Philadelphia temple to talk about temples and about the progress of the Philadelphia Temple. (Brother Carr is the LDS Church project manager over the Philadelphia Temple, and Sister Carr is serving as a full-time service missionary.) The church doesn't have a firm date, but it sounds like the temple will be done around July or August of next year.

Sunday

There's not much to report on. We were not able to talk to anyone so nothing really happened.


Elder Bjerregaard

Reading Zone

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

week 10

Monday

We tried to talk to one of our potential investigators. He asked us what we had to do to get into Heaven. We turned the question around on him and asked what he thought. He thinks that grace alone saves us as long as we have faith, and necessarily not works. We tried to teach him that faith without works is dead and that we are saved after all we can do. He also gave us some really funny tracts that I am going to save because they are going to be a nice keep sake I think.

Tuesday

We had a couple of lessons that fell through which always makes me sad, because we set up a time to meet them, and usually, they are not home when we come for the appointment. We also had to move some appointments because we couldn't keep them. So we spent the day trying to find people, but I don't remember finding anyone. We had a snow storm, and just like the post office, missionaries are out in rain, sleet and snow. :-)

Wednesday

Another day that was filled with tracting. If I remember right, I don't think we were able to talk to anyone we were planning to see.

Thursday

There was an awesome district meeting. Elder Thomas (district leader and my companion) taught about how we should conform our lessons to the people we are teaching. We also had two lessons. I think they went pretty well. We set another appointment with the people, but I don't know if we will be able to make one of them.

Friday

It was time for another lesson with Diana and Tiffany. Reuben was out of town because of a training he had to go for his work. They mixed up 1 Nephi 2 with 2 Nephi 1 and they were confused with what was going on. We read with them out of the Book of Mormon, and they are starting to understand the language better. They said that Reuben would be able to bring them to church on Sunday, but we later found out that he has to work that day, and it was too late for us to be able to find anyone to take them.

Saturday

We had a coordination meeting with Brother Lamb, the ward mission leader. We told him what he needed to be able to help people to progress. He also said that he didn't know why the Sisters were not teaching the single women we find in my area and why we are not teaching the single men they find. Sister Reed had this same problem in one of her areas and asked President Anderson if they are allowed to do that. President Anderson responded that we need to stay in our area when we are teaching people. We had a lesson planned for a person named Lester. When we got there, we found out that he just left to do grocery shopping.

Sunday

Sacrament meeting was a good meeting. One thing I learned is that when they give people an assignment to speak, they give them an envelope with the assignment. The two talks given were on Hold to the Rod and something about following Christ. We had an investigator/inactive member (he says that he was baptized but we can't find his records) at church for about 5 minutes because his girlfriend had to go to work. I think they were planning on staying for the whole time but she was called in.


Thank you everyone who sending me letters I really like getting them.


How is it that you get snow after I leave? Snow is nothing really new for me anymore. We got the third or so snow storm this past week.

Week 9

Monday

Same old P-day, nothing really happened that is very exciting.

Tuesday

We had a lesson with Lekesha that we were trying to have one for over a month. She wants to go to a church and found one that she wanted to go to, but because we keep on trying to teach her (she was not home or there at not another adult male home), she let us come in and shared what we had. I think she has a lot of potential, but when we tried calling her later on in the week, she was not sure why we wanted to meet with her again. She does not want to choose between two churches.

Elder Thomas had to make a stop, so we stopped at a Turkey Hill Dairy. When we walked in, one of the people who was working asked us why we were dressed up. We told him that we were missionaries and that we share the gospel. We talked to him a little about the Book of Mormon, and he asked if he could have one to read. We left our bags outside in the car because we were only planning on using the restroom, so we had to go back outside to get a Book of Mormon. As we walked out to grab one, the other person that was working asked if she could also have one. We think that one of them is really interested in learning more, but we have not had a chance to meet with them after that. Also I had the first experience with having dedicated time for tracting. So far, it looks like we are going to get some new investigators from the tracting.

Wednesday

This was a really good day. We went over the baptismal interview questions with Tiffany, Reuben, and Diana so they know what they could expect in the baptismal interview. It also helps us to know what we need to still cover or what we need to go back to and review so they have a better understanding. We invited them to the ward game night, but they already had plans. To bring in the New Year, I went to bed around 10:30 and then got up at 6:30 the next day just like I normally do.

Thursday

We had zone training where the zone leaders talked how to give out commitment invitations. We then gave a blessing to a person we don't know. When tracking on Tuesday we visited with his wife and found out that he had to have his left leg amputated because it got badly infected. He didn't know that we were coming, but he still accepted the blessing. I don't think we are going to teach him, but we did plant seeds that I hope will grow and some other missionaries can find them and teach them.

Friday

Friday was golden (greenie) follow-up training in Nazareth (about an hour northeast), so we had to get up early to make it in time. President Anderson, Sister Anderson, Elder Watt and Elder Pitt (they are the current assistants to the president) instructed to us and inspired us to be the best missionaries we can be. We got back just in time to go on exchanges with the zone leaders. This time, I stayed in my area and Elder Thomas left. I was super nervous, but I was able to go through everything with confidence. I had Elder Morgan with me, and he was able to teach me how to talk to people on the streets better.

Saturday

Elder Thomas and I tried to talk to some people, but he was not feeling well, so we relaxed most of the afternoon and the evening. I cleaned up the house some more and read some conference talks.

Sunday

Elder Morgan and I talked a little to a man named Angel on Friday. He sounded a little interested, so we set up a time on Sunday to meet with him. When we stopped by, his son answered the door. It turned out he was asleep, but he got up, put on a jacket, and we talked to him on the porch.

Elder Bjerregaard

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