So, this week has been a great week. Nothing absolutely huge happened. Katie and Chris are doing amazing. On monday last week, they talked to there minister from the other church. They were so nervous about that. Katie called us monday night and was freaking out. She was on the brink of tears. We said a prayer over the phone. It was different but it helped them. We then said a prayer when we got off the phone. Then we called members to pray for them right then and there. We had so many prayers going out for Katie and Chris. THe minister was pretty mad and that was their answer. They didn't think he should be mad and that he should let them make up there own way of happiness and when the minister expressed anger, they knew it was not the church they needed to be in. They told us the feel the spirit whenever we walk into the room (YES) and they could not feel it with the minister. So that was great. Throughout the week they have been awesome. They set up there own word of wisdom rules and are following that so closely. They are amazing. They set up there own diet plan before we even talked about the WOW. THey drink so much caffine it is crazy. Chris especially. He drinks two pots of coffee a day, a two litter of mountain dew a day, three energy drinks a day, some tea, and at least 2 packs of cigarettes a day. HOLY SMOKES!!!! that is alot. He told us he was going to take all of the caffine out. He did. I was nervous for him. I was expecting him to crash hard core but he has not done that. Maybe it is our prayers asking heavenly father to keep his energy up. :) He is jittery though sometimes. He also is now working on the cigarettes. He is doing great. He said he wanted to be done by last night and we forgot to followup on that so we will know tonight. :) Katie got hit with the spirit last night. We put togehter a visitor center at the church and Chris and Katie went and we watched the Testaments. Sister Moyes and I didn't stay for the movie and so Katie watched it. It got to the part of christ being crucified and when that scene was over, she came out of the room crying. Her face was so wet. She told us, "I don't have any doubts anymore." We didn't think she had any doubts but there is always that tiny voice in the back of your head. But she is converted. She has converted over and it was an amazing night. I loved it. I love their kids. There are the best ever. I really wish I could hug them and play with them and let little Paige sit on my lap but I can't let her do that. Bummer. We will be friends for life so I will be able to see them after my mission. :)
Sister Moyes and I are doing amazing. We keep finding things that we are interested in and we are pretty much twins with different personalites. It is crazy how much we like the same things. Do you know the Moyes' mom and dad? They have 10 children all togehter. A BIG family.
Well, time is going fast. I have to get going. That was pretty much the best new I had. Nothing stressful happened this week and I am glad of that. The RS Broadcast was amazing and I really hope that you all watched it. General conference is coming up and we finally get to participate in an activity together. :) I love you all. Have a great week. :) Amanda
Our Wonderful Life Together
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
September 20, 2010
This week has been an amazing week and I don't even know where to begin. I guess with my companion. I love my companion. Her name is Sister Moyes. It sounds like Noise but with an M. I have question for mom and dad. I found out that she lives in Magna Utah and has been their her whole life. So that means, we were in utah at the same time. Do you know her parents? Jim and Jill Moyes? I think her Dad has been part of the Stake Presidency. It would be totally awesome if you know them. They have lived in Magna for about thirty years. Sister Moyes is pretty much amazing. We are totally alike. She could be my twin I think. We like the same things and we just work well with each other. It feels like I have known her for my whole life but it has only been less than a week. It is fun.
Okay. Chris and Katie. This is the cause of so much excitement this week. I don't remember what i told you about them but they are amazing. Lets see...We first saw them a week from this past thursday. We had a real lesson with the a week from yesterday so that would be Sept 12th. This family is amazing. We taught them the first lesson on sunday. We left them with a Book of Mormon the thursday before and they said they started reading the book. The spirit was so so so so so strong in that lesson. They were accepting everything that we were teaching them. They read the pamphlet we gave them that past thursday as well and they pretty much knew everything. They would have been able to teach us. Well, near the end of the lesson we had a strong impression. President Glende is always telling us to ask people to be baptized the first lesson we teach them. SOOO we did. Sister Graham asked them if they wanted to be baptized. As soon as she was done with the saying, the BOTH immidiatly said, "YES!" Say what??? you want to be baptized? Okay. We set a date with them for the 16th of October. They are so very excited for it. They asked us, "What do we need to do to get ready for this baptism?" They asked us that question? Yes. We told them to read and pray.
Okay, the next visit Sister Moyes was here. We watched the Restoration movie with us. They accept it still and are very excited. Katie is very excited and Christ is very excited. I am very excited. Sister Moyes is very excited. There is just alot of excitement going one. Friday (17th) we were able to bring a member with us to the lesson. It was very good. Katie is just amazing. We handed her the Plan of Salvation pamphlet the lesson before and one of the first things she told us was that she answered the questions on the back of the pamhlet. There are about 7 questions on there. She told us her answeres and she was correct on every single one! Who just does that? Obviously people who are ready to hear the message we have to share. She also is looking in the book of mormon for question that she has. She looked up about children and baptism and how they don't need to be baptized til later in their life. Moroni chapter 8. It was amazing. They are both in the 2nd nephi already and they are loving reading the scriptures. I think everyone needs to have this excitement. They lesson went graet and they want a temple marriage. That night they went to a branch party and they loved it. I have lots of picutres of it. :)
Sunday, they wanted to go to church but they didn't make it because their alarm did not wake them up. They were so "depressed" as chris put it. They so wanted to go. I wish they could have. Next week they will for sure though. Something amazing happened in the lesson yesterday. We wanted to go over The Word of Wisdom (WOW) but we thought it might have been too soon. So we were planning on doing leson three. WE got there and the spirit told us otherwise. WE answered all their question. They had lots of them. We talked about the temple and eternal marriage. Then at the end of the lesson we talked a little about the WOW. Chris asked us why there was not a designated smoking spot at the church. He wanted to smoke and asked a member where he could smoke but the member told Chris that he could not smoke. Chris asked why. We were so so so nervous to answer that question. We thought that maybe he would have a hard time with this. I anwered and said, "Well... God has given us a law of health." Then I explained a little about the WOW. Then he surprised us and said, "Well, that just gives me a reason to quit. To allow me to get baptized." Did he just say that? Yes. I was surprised. THey are just amazing and wonderful. WE come out of those lessons with no words to describe out excitement. Amazing.
I have to get going. I love this gospel and am excited for it. Read your scriptures and try as hard as you can to do good. :) I love you all.
Sister Amanda Ralph
Okay. Chris and Katie. This is the cause of so much excitement this week. I don't remember what i told you about them but they are amazing. Lets see...We first saw them a week from this past thursday. We had a real lesson with the a week from yesterday so that would be Sept 12th. This family is amazing. We taught them the first lesson on sunday. We left them with a Book of Mormon the thursday before and they said they started reading the book. The spirit was so so so so so strong in that lesson. They were accepting everything that we were teaching them. They read the pamphlet we gave them that past thursday as well and they pretty much knew everything. They would have been able to teach us. Well, near the end of the lesson we had a strong impression. President Glende is always telling us to ask people to be baptized the first lesson we teach them. SOOO we did. Sister Graham asked them if they wanted to be baptized. As soon as she was done with the saying, the BOTH immidiatly said, "YES!" Say what??? you want to be baptized? Okay. We set a date with them for the 16th of October. They are so very excited for it. They asked us, "What do we need to do to get ready for this baptism?" They asked us that question? Yes. We told them to read and pray.
Okay, the next visit Sister Moyes was here. We watched the Restoration movie with us. They accept it still and are very excited. Katie is very excited and Christ is very excited. I am very excited. Sister Moyes is very excited. There is just alot of excitement going one. Friday (17th) we were able to bring a member with us to the lesson. It was very good. Katie is just amazing. We handed her the Plan of Salvation pamphlet the lesson before and one of the first things she told us was that she answered the questions on the back of the pamhlet. There are about 7 questions on there. She told us her answeres and she was correct on every single one! Who just does that? Obviously people who are ready to hear the message we have to share. She also is looking in the book of mormon for question that she has. She looked up about children and baptism and how they don't need to be baptized til later in their life. Moroni chapter 8. It was amazing. They are both in the 2nd nephi already and they are loving reading the scriptures. I think everyone needs to have this excitement. They lesson went graet and they want a temple marriage. That night they went to a branch party and they loved it. I have lots of picutres of it. :)
Sunday, they wanted to go to church but they didn't make it because their alarm did not wake them up. They were so "depressed" as chris put it. They so wanted to go. I wish they could have. Next week they will for sure though. Something amazing happened in the lesson yesterday. We wanted to go over The Word of Wisdom (WOW) but we thought it might have been too soon. So we were planning on doing leson three. WE got there and the spirit told us otherwise. WE answered all their question. They had lots of them. We talked about the temple and eternal marriage. Then at the end of the lesson we talked a little about the WOW. Chris asked us why there was not a designated smoking spot at the church. He wanted to smoke and asked a member where he could smoke but the member told Chris that he could not smoke. Chris asked why. We were so so so nervous to answer that question. We thought that maybe he would have a hard time with this. I anwered and said, "Well... God has given us a law of health." Then I explained a little about the WOW. Then he surprised us and said, "Well, that just gives me a reason to quit. To allow me to get baptized." Did he just say that? Yes. I was surprised. THey are just amazing and wonderful. WE come out of those lessons with no words to describe out excitement. Amazing.
I have to get going. I love this gospel and am excited for it. Read your scriptures and try as hard as you can to do good. :) I love you all.
Sister Amanda Ralph
Sunday, September 19, 2010
September 13, 2010
Hi, I just wanted to say that I am very busy today and I really have to get going. My companion is getting transfere and we have so much to do. I will tell you everything next week I promise. I will tell you that we have two awesome investigators named Katie and Chris. I get a new companion tomorrow and I am excited/nervous. It will be a good change. Now I have to go and do laundry and say goodbye to everyone. I will tell you everything next week. I promise.
Love Amanda
Love Amanda
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
September 7, 2010
Transfer calls area already happening this weekend. It has gone by so fast yet so slow. I believe that my companion is leaving. I prayed for it to happen. She needs a new area. I love her to death but she needs a new one. Do you know what is so exciting about this weekend though? We are going to the TEMPLE!!!! Woohoo. I am very excited about this. I can not wait for it. I have to tell you an experience I had this past weekend. It happened on Saturday.
Pretty much all of our appointments fell through except for 2 of them. We tracted a street for 2 hours (it was a long steet) and the street had houses on hills. I definately got my workout. There was this one house that was huge and it had a post with a hoop on the top and a figure of a horse. I was thinking that this house was built when they drove with horses and buggies(?). Anyway, we get to the door and a lady answers it but doesn't want to hear our message. I thought it would be funny if the door was answered by a person that wore a black dress and white apron. haha. It was very old styled. :) After the tracting we went for lunch then more tracting. Then had 2 lessons and then tracted another hour and the next hour 7:00 we went to an appoinment that fell through. at 7:05 we did not know what to do. We could not think of anyone to teach or visit and we didn't want to tract again. We drove around a little bit and found some paintings on the flood wall. We took pictures of it and the flood wall and paintings were huge! It was fun to take pictures of it. Well, then we decided to get back in the car and with some reluctance, went to tract again. The last time tracting that day, we went and knocked on a door and Jeri answered. Jeri is a girl. She is amazing. It was my turn to initiate the conversation and I gave her the book of mormon pass along card and she looks at it and almost immidiately tries to give it back to me. I was refusing to recieve it. In my head I said, "Oh no you don't I am not taking it back." :) We some how got on a conversation of how we need to appreciate the little things in life. Then she said, "Oh, where are my manners. Come in and sit." YES!!! We got in the door. Then we got to talking about temples and how she could not go in and she wondered why. We told her and then showed her the picture we had of the baptismal font and then she asked to look through all the pictures. She started in the bible pictures then it got to the book of mormon picutres and we were able to tell her about the book of mormon and then we got to share the story of JSmith. It was amazing. The spirit was so strong and she was askiing so many questions and listening to us. Then she picks of the BOM passalong card and says, I guess I will have to call this number for the book. *music to my ears* We then says there is no need. We have a boook of mormon for you right here. We had to leave shortly after and I could see a different light in her eyes. I really hope and pray that she reads the book of mormon. We are seeing her soon and I am very excited for it.
That was perhaps one of the hardest days so far on this mission. We tracted at least 6 hours and not one person let us in to hear our message except for the last person. That last person was so worth the wait though. It was amazing.
I am doing a challenge with the scriptures. You all should do it with me. Daily study in the scirptures is not optional. I am doing all the standard works in 6 months. So, 8 pages of the OT, 3 pages of the NT, 3 pages of the BOM, 1 page of D&C, 1 page of Pearl of Great Price. It is about 1 1/2 hours of reading but it is so worth it. :) You should try it. :)
I have to go now. This gospel is turely amazing and I can't wait to experience more while on my mission. :)
Love you all. Amanda
Pretty much all of our appointments fell through except for 2 of them. We tracted a street for 2 hours (it was a long steet) and the street had houses on hills. I definately got my workout. There was this one house that was huge and it had a post with a hoop on the top and a figure of a horse. I was thinking that this house was built when they drove with horses and buggies(?). Anyway, we get to the door and a lady answers it but doesn't want to hear our message. I thought it would be funny if the door was answered by a person that wore a black dress and white apron. haha. It was very old styled. :) After the tracting we went for lunch then more tracting. Then had 2 lessons and then tracted another hour and the next hour 7:00 we went to an appoinment that fell through. at 7:05 we did not know what to do. We could not think of anyone to teach or visit and we didn't want to tract again. We drove around a little bit and found some paintings on the flood wall. We took pictures of it and the flood wall and paintings were huge! It was fun to take pictures of it. Well, then we decided to get back in the car and with some reluctance, went to tract again. The last time tracting that day, we went and knocked on a door and Jeri answered. Jeri is a girl. She is amazing. It was my turn to initiate the conversation and I gave her the book of mormon pass along card and she looks at it and almost immidiately tries to give it back to me. I was refusing to recieve it. In my head I said, "Oh no you don't I am not taking it back." :) We some how got on a conversation of how we need to appreciate the little things in life. Then she said, "Oh, where are my manners. Come in and sit." YES!!! We got in the door. Then we got to talking about temples and how she could not go in and she wondered why. We told her and then showed her the picture we had of the baptismal font and then she asked to look through all the pictures. She started in the bible pictures then it got to the book of mormon picutres and we were able to tell her about the book of mormon and then we got to share the story of JSmith. It was amazing. The spirit was so strong and she was askiing so many questions and listening to us. Then she picks of the BOM passalong card and says, I guess I will have to call this number for the book. *music to my ears* We then says there is no need. We have a boook of mormon for you right here. We had to leave shortly after and I could see a different light in her eyes. I really hope and pray that she reads the book of mormon. We are seeing her soon and I am very excited for it.
That was perhaps one of the hardest days so far on this mission. We tracted at least 6 hours and not one person let us in to hear our message except for the last person. That last person was so worth the wait though. It was amazing.
I am doing a challenge with the scriptures. You all should do it with me. Daily study in the scirptures is not optional. I am doing all the standard works in 6 months. So, 8 pages of the OT, 3 pages of the NT, 3 pages of the BOM, 1 page of D&C, 1 page of Pearl of Great Price. It is about 1 1/2 hours of reading but it is so worth it. :) You should try it. :)
I have to go now. This gospel is turely amazing and I can't wait to experience more while on my mission. :)
Love you all. Amanda
Thursday, September 2, 2010
August 30, 2010
Good morning to everyone. I don' t really have that much to write today. It has been a great week though. We are pushing strong and are working hard. We got a new investigator and he has lots of mis-conceptions of this church. Lots and lots. We told him to make a list of things that he has questions about and I am a little nervous about how many questions there are going to be. What plays in my mind is seeing a scroll and having that scroll be 10 feet long and being full of questions. There are probably not that many questions but there are alot. Wish us luck in trying to clear up and answer questions. :)
We have a "golden" door approach. We go to the door and ask people this question. "Why do you think that Jesus Christ was baptized?" Then they think about it and give us either a really good answer or a bad answer. One guy was funny. We asked that question and another question after and the only response he would give is "to show us the way?" obviously he was not interested. With the door approach, we got maybe someone interested and that one investigator up above. It is pretty exciting.
I told you I would tell of the differences I see in a Branch and a Ward.
Branch:
Very very small
Hardly any children
The church is maybe the size of the chapel and gym.
The children stand out when they talk because the church is so small
There can be more judgemental people
Everyone has at least two or more callings
sometimes there is no one to play the piano so I get to do it.
Ward:
Very very big
Big building
Lots of children
There is always someone who can play the piano.
When the kids are noisy you can't really tell and noone turns around and looks at the children making the noise.
This is a cute story. We were going out of our house and we see this cute little 4 year old girl playing in the grass of our nieghbors house. We don't know where she came from. She took us by surprised and asked us, "where are you going?" We said, "To visit some friends." She said, "Oh that is cool. I am just smoothing out this person grass." I said, "That is fun." I get in the car and leave the door open and Sister Graham is about to get in the car and the girl starts talking again. This time she said, "Bye. I love you." I learned alot about love that day. You should always love unconditionally and it does not matter who the person is you still should love them no matter what they do. I got my answer to a prayer. I asked HF this..."Do you love Satan even though he has took away so many of your children and he is doing evil things?" I knew the answer I thought but now I know the answer.
Well, time is short and I have to get going. I love you all very very very very much. Stay strong and be steadfast in everything that you do.
Love Amanda
We have a "golden" door approach. We go to the door and ask people this question. "Why do you think that Jesus Christ was baptized?" Then they think about it and give us either a really good answer or a bad answer. One guy was funny. We asked that question and another question after and the only response he would give is "to show us the way?" obviously he was not interested. With the door approach, we got maybe someone interested and that one investigator up above. It is pretty exciting.
I told you I would tell of the differences I see in a Branch and a Ward.
Branch:
Very very small
Hardly any children
The church is maybe the size of the chapel and gym.
The children stand out when they talk because the church is so small
There can be more judgemental people
Everyone has at least two or more callings
sometimes there is no one to play the piano so I get to do it.
Ward:
Very very big
Big building
Lots of children
There is always someone who can play the piano.
When the kids are noisy you can't really tell and noone turns around and looks at the children making the noise.
This is a cute story. We were going out of our house and we see this cute little 4 year old girl playing in the grass of our nieghbors house. We don't know where she came from. She took us by surprised and asked us, "where are you going?" We said, "To visit some friends." She said, "Oh that is cool. I am just smoothing out this person grass." I said, "That is fun." I get in the car and leave the door open and Sister Graham is about to get in the car and the girl starts talking again. This time she said, "Bye. I love you." I learned alot about love that day. You should always love unconditionally and it does not matter who the person is you still should love them no matter what they do. I got my answer to a prayer. I asked HF this..."Do you love Satan even though he has took away so many of your children and he is doing evil things?" I knew the answer I thought but now I know the answer.
Well, time is short and I have to get going. I love you all very very very very much. Stay strong and be steadfast in everything that you do.
Love Amanda
August 23, 2010
Wow. What a great week it has been. I really just want to focus on freday and Saturday and sunday because those were the best days ever.
Friday: Friday was zone conference. It was such an amazing experience and I learned so much. In the past two week sister graham and I have been struggling with some investigators who were frustrating. But friday made it seem like it was all okay. :) We got up to go at 5:30 and got ready and did personal study. Then at 7:30 we drove to Evansville which was an hour and 10 min away from Tell City. Elder Foote drove and he is a scary driver sometime because he only has one eye that works. But we made it safely to the stake center. We had missionary olypics at 9:00. Just something fun to do and we will the "title of liberty" which is a beat up jacket. It is pretty fun. We just do activites and a person from each district does the activity to see who wins. Sis. Graham had to direct me to a different place blindfolded and we bumped into a lot of people. (She was a great Holy Ghost though and I followed. It was the others that had the bad Holy Ghost. haha. JK). Then we started the meeting at 10:00. We talked about safety and President Glende is so funny sometimes. He wanted us to know that water and dirt make mud. So now he will sign our papers on being a chemist in the future. He wanted us to know that because some elders drove their car through mud and got stuck and did not get home until 2:00 in the morning. Yikes. There was also an incidence when a car was being attacked by a ferocious dog and do you know what president glende's word of advice to fix the problem was? flatten the dog. (Run over the dog). Haha. Just make sure the bumper of the car is taken care of. :)
Then we had a talk from Brother Doctor Liljanquist. He was such a good person giving talks. I will have to send you the talk. it was amazing. But he talked about three groups of people. the first group of members had a testimony and were converted. the second group of members had a testimony but had no conversion. Which can mean they make poor dicisions, the pay tithing until it is too hard and they don't magnify their calling and much more. THe thrid group of people were one with no testimony and no conversion. Dr. L explained that all of start at group three in our lives and we work our way up. Most missionaries who come out on missions are group two but leave group one. Only a few came out in group one. What group are you? Hopefully group 1. If not, we should work our way up. (I will send the talk to you to make it more sense). But then he talked about the natural man and that was so good! Mosiah 3:19 has more meaning to now. He was relating it to the spiritual man and because he is a doctor he tied in with being healthy and not overweight. What does the natural man like when it comes to food? The natural man like food to taste good. The natural man does not care if it bad for your body just as long as it tastes good. The Natural man does not like the exercise, like to overeat, likes food, doesn't like to work, loves junk food. But what about the spiritual man? The spritual man loves the opposite of the natural man. We just need to exercise our spiritual side and overcome the natural man. So when you are faced with a dicision of, "Do I eat the apple of the candybar," our natural man wants the candy bar but really we should eat the apple.
I just learned alot about what the natural man is and I so want to overcome the natural man. I believe when we do, we will become more stronger and more better in this life than ever before. He also said somethign that interested me. WHen you are only 20 pounds overweight, your heart starts to build up plaque and it takes about 25 years to have that plaque build up to become a heart attack. So, if I were 20 punds overweight right now I would have a heart attack about 44 years old. I just thought is was interesting and I don't want that at all. So, he issued a challenge and I took it. He said to start climbing stairs as the form of exercise. He said to do 100 flights of stairs in thirty min. So, we found stairs saturday and today and their are 15 stairs and we did 100 flights in thirty min. It is not as hard as I thought it would be but man it works. I am so sore and my heartrate is up the whole time. I would challenge you all to do that. :) A flight is up and down.
Then the rest of that day was just learning and learning and learnign on how to become a better missionary.
Saturday was a miracle day. We found someone to start teaching in the morning. Then we found someone to start teaching in the afternoon by showing a movie to a member. It just so happened that this members friend was there and we got her. Her name is Jessica and she is a pretty bashful girl but we like her and can't wait to teach her. Then we saw Jenna who we met last saturday. She was with the girl that yelled that her dad was dead but her mom was here. So funny still. So we went to that house and the mother opened the door and said that she did not know why Jenna even agreed for us to come back. And then the mother said that she did not want us to come in and teach her (the mother). But we found out that Jenna lives in Troy city so we went and found her house and talked to her. This poor girl has gone through so much in her life. She desperatley needs the comfort of the gospel and the comfort of us and the comfort from Heavenly Father. We will show her the way. I believe that we can get her. She has two major problems that we need to fix and through hard work we will be able to do so. :)
Oh, while we were exercising Saturday morning, it was raining!!! It felt like I was sweating so much but it was the mixture of sweat and rain that made it feel like that. But truely that rain was manna from the heavens. haha. It just felt so good outside. It was 75 degrees that morning but unfortunatley it got a lot hotter later. WE also soft committed Trisha Saalman to baptism and she accepted. So Saturday was great.
Sunday was good. We set up a visitor center thing at the church and I have pictures of the displays we did. It took about 50 min to set up and 5 min to take it all down. Crazy how that works out. We didn't get very many people to come though. People just don't like to do things in this city. We will continue to do it though. The more we do it, the more people will come...hopefully. :) There are alot of difference between the branch and the big wards like Bridlegate. I will tell you about some differences next week. I have to get going now. My hands are frozen cold from typing so much. :)
I hope you all are enjoying your day and you better enjoy your week...or else.
:)
Love Amanda
Friday: Friday was zone conference. It was such an amazing experience and I learned so much. In the past two week sister graham and I have been struggling with some investigators who were frustrating. But friday made it seem like it was all okay. :) We got up to go at 5:30 and got ready and did personal study. Then at 7:30 we drove to Evansville which was an hour and 10 min away from Tell City. Elder Foote drove and he is a scary driver sometime because he only has one eye that works. But we made it safely to the stake center. We had missionary olypics at 9:00. Just something fun to do and we will the "title of liberty" which is a beat up jacket. It is pretty fun. We just do activites and a person from each district does the activity to see who wins. Sis. Graham had to direct me to a different place blindfolded and we bumped into a lot of people. (She was a great Holy Ghost though and I followed. It was the others that had the bad Holy Ghost. haha. JK). Then we started the meeting at 10:00. We talked about safety and President Glende is so funny sometimes. He wanted us to know that water and dirt make mud. So now he will sign our papers on being a chemist in the future. He wanted us to know that because some elders drove their car through mud and got stuck and did not get home until 2:00 in the morning. Yikes. There was also an incidence when a car was being attacked by a ferocious dog and do you know what president glende's word of advice to fix the problem was? flatten the dog. (Run over the dog). Haha. Just make sure the bumper of the car is taken care of. :)
Then we had a talk from Brother Doctor Liljanquist. He was such a good person giving talks. I will have to send you the talk. it was amazing. But he talked about three groups of people. the first group of members had a testimony and were converted. the second group of members had a testimony but had no conversion. Which can mean they make poor dicisions, the pay tithing until it is too hard and they don't magnify their calling and much more. THe thrid group of people were one with no testimony and no conversion. Dr. L explained that all of start at group three in our lives and we work our way up. Most missionaries who come out on missions are group two but leave group one. Only a few came out in group one. What group are you? Hopefully group 1. If not, we should work our way up. (I will send the talk to you to make it more sense). But then he talked about the natural man and that was so good! Mosiah 3:19 has more meaning to now. He was relating it to the spiritual man and because he is a doctor he tied in with being healthy and not overweight. What does the natural man like when it comes to food? The natural man like food to taste good. The natural man does not care if it bad for your body just as long as it tastes good. The Natural man does not like the exercise, like to overeat, likes food, doesn't like to work, loves junk food. But what about the spiritual man? The spritual man loves the opposite of the natural man. We just need to exercise our spiritual side and overcome the natural man. So when you are faced with a dicision of, "Do I eat the apple of the candybar," our natural man wants the candy bar but really we should eat the apple.
I just learned alot about what the natural man is and I so want to overcome the natural man. I believe when we do, we will become more stronger and more better in this life than ever before. He also said somethign that interested me. WHen you are only 20 pounds overweight, your heart starts to build up plaque and it takes about 25 years to have that plaque build up to become a heart attack. So, if I were 20 punds overweight right now I would have a heart attack about 44 years old. I just thought is was interesting and I don't want that at all. So, he issued a challenge and I took it. He said to start climbing stairs as the form of exercise. He said to do 100 flights of stairs in thirty min. So, we found stairs saturday and today and their are 15 stairs and we did 100 flights in thirty min. It is not as hard as I thought it would be but man it works. I am so sore and my heartrate is up the whole time. I would challenge you all to do that. :) A flight is up and down.
Then the rest of that day was just learning and learning and learnign on how to become a better missionary.
Saturday was a miracle day. We found someone to start teaching in the morning. Then we found someone to start teaching in the afternoon by showing a movie to a member. It just so happened that this members friend was there and we got her. Her name is Jessica and she is a pretty bashful girl but we like her and can't wait to teach her. Then we saw Jenna who we met last saturday. She was with the girl that yelled that her dad was dead but her mom was here. So funny still. So we went to that house and the mother opened the door and said that she did not know why Jenna even agreed for us to come back. And then the mother said that she did not want us to come in and teach her (the mother). But we found out that Jenna lives in Troy city so we went and found her house and talked to her. This poor girl has gone through so much in her life. She desperatley needs the comfort of the gospel and the comfort of us and the comfort from Heavenly Father. We will show her the way. I believe that we can get her. She has two major problems that we need to fix and through hard work we will be able to do so. :)
Oh, while we were exercising Saturday morning, it was raining!!! It felt like I was sweating so much but it was the mixture of sweat and rain that made it feel like that. But truely that rain was manna from the heavens. haha. It just felt so good outside. It was 75 degrees that morning but unfortunatley it got a lot hotter later. WE also soft committed Trisha Saalman to baptism and she accepted. So Saturday was great.
Sunday was good. We set up a visitor center thing at the church and I have pictures of the displays we did. It took about 50 min to set up and 5 min to take it all down. Crazy how that works out. We didn't get very many people to come though. People just don't like to do things in this city. We will continue to do it though. The more we do it, the more people will come...hopefully. :) There are alot of difference between the branch and the big wards like Bridlegate. I will tell you about some differences next week. I have to get going now. My hands are frozen cold from typing so much. :)
I hope you all are enjoying your day and you better enjoy your week...or else.
:)
Love Amanda
August 16, 2010
Okay. 22 minutes left. What a crazy long long long week it has been. I guess we shall start with bad news first. :) So Keith. He has been up and down up and down up and down all week. I can' t handle it anymore. We chewed tobacco again and we tried to build his confidence up again and it was only working a little bit. He chewed again a couple days later (wednesday). we went over to see what was wrong and got his confidence up a little bit again. Only this time it did not last long because we were over at their house again that night. We found out the reason why he chewed. He said that he could not handle the pressure of people being at his baptism. WHAT?!? He chewed because he didn't want people to be at his baptism. Totally fixable. So now he is trying to build himself up again after he did a whole week without chewing tobacco. Oi. But Friday he was kind of in the dumps again because Preident Glende said he sould wait til sept 4th to be baptized but he agreed with it. Then Saturday came along and it was amazing at first. We had a really good testimony meeting with them, the Emerson Family. The spirit was so strong and keith had a great testimony to share. He knows the gospel is true. They went with us a lesson and we talked about family history and baptisms for the dead. He did not agre with it apparently. He thinks that men can be baptized for men and women. Not just men for men. Well, we asked him to pray about it and he said he would not because he had to much on his plate. So, we were frustrated with him. That night I prayed that keith would go into the Lord's hands. We have done all that we could do for him and now it is up to the Lord. Sunday came and Keith did not come to church. We visited with them twice that day. And we did not address the situation about him not coming to church. We thought he needed space. They thought they offended us somehow when we left so we went back a couple hours later and then we discussed why we were so standoffish that day. We came up with a compromise with Keith. Keith does not do well with pressure. So, keith asked that he not have a baptism date and that he needed to tackle one problem at a time. That was tobacco. So now, keith does not have a baptism date and we are now going with the flow with him. However hard he wants to push himself, is how hard we will give him encouraging words. We hope we will do good.
That was pretty much the only bad thing this week. I don't look forward to answering the phone now when keith calls because it is always something negative but it is going to be a better week with him I believe. We went to the Douglas' house this week and their house is usually messy messy messy. But when we went over, it was imaculately clean. Really clean. It was amazing the difference. They are a less-active members. Christopher is mentally handicapped but has such a testimony of the gospel. He holds his scriptures carefully. It is almost like he is cradleing a baby. He is tackling chwing tobbaco too and he is down to one dip a day which is awesome! He strives to be clean enough to go to the temple and recieve those blessings there. He is amazing.
8 min. I will tell you a funny story about Marie next week. I hope I don't forget but it was a hilarious story at least to me. I will now tell you a funny story about Tracting. We had the best door approach ever!!! We knock on the door and a girl maybe 8 or 9 answers and we ask if her mom or dad was home. She immidately says, "My dad's dead but my mom is home. MOM!!!" Hahahaha. I was laughing so hard in my head. Not at the fact that her dad is dead but at the fact that she would say that. It just caught us totally of guard. We also said under our breath as the girl went to get her mom, "Thankyou for giving us our door approach." We talked about Families are forever. :) The mother did not answer but the daughter, who I think is 21, answered. Her name is Jenna. She explained why her mom couldn't come to the door. The mom has almost no nerve in her ankle so she can't flex her foot. But Jenna was so receptive to our message and we got a new investigator!!!! A new seeker for the truth. We are hoping that we can get her whole family now. :) Jenna is just a wonderful person and she sincerely thanked us for going out in hot weather and sharing such wonderful news. I am excited to go and teach her and her family. :)
Well, time to go now. I love you all very much. Have a very exciting fun filled week. :) Love you!!!!
Amanda
That was pretty much the only bad thing this week. I don't look forward to answering the phone now when keith calls because it is always something negative but it is going to be a better week with him I believe. We went to the Douglas' house this week and their house is usually messy messy messy. But when we went over, it was imaculately clean. Really clean. It was amazing the difference. They are a less-active members. Christopher is mentally handicapped but has such a testimony of the gospel. He holds his scriptures carefully. It is almost like he is cradleing a baby. He is tackling chwing tobbaco too and he is down to one dip a day which is awesome! He strives to be clean enough to go to the temple and recieve those blessings there. He is amazing.
8 min. I will tell you a funny story about Marie next week. I hope I don't forget but it was a hilarious story at least to me. I will now tell you a funny story about Tracting. We had the best door approach ever!!! We knock on the door and a girl maybe 8 or 9 answers and we ask if her mom or dad was home. She immidately says, "My dad's dead but my mom is home. MOM!!!" Hahahaha. I was laughing so hard in my head. Not at the fact that her dad is dead but at the fact that she would say that. It just caught us totally of guard. We also said under our breath as the girl went to get her mom, "Thankyou for giving us our door approach." We talked about Families are forever. :) The mother did not answer but the daughter, who I think is 21, answered. Her name is Jenna. She explained why her mom couldn't come to the door. The mom has almost no nerve in her ankle so she can't flex her foot. But Jenna was so receptive to our message and we got a new investigator!!!! A new seeker for the truth. We are hoping that we can get her whole family now. :) Jenna is just a wonderful person and she sincerely thanked us for going out in hot weather and sharing such wonderful news. I am excited to go and teach her and her family. :)
Well, time to go now. I love you all very much. Have a very exciting fun filled week. :) Love you!!!!
Amanda
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