Unexpected Events

October 10, 2016

Dear Family,

- Large Plates -

There were a couple unplanned, unexpected events this week. One of them was a surprise visit from the Zone Leaders. Another was an unexpected service to help some members move. This was another fun week. 

-Monday-

Normal P-Day again. We taught Mr V again. This time we went over the BoM and gave him a solid commitment to read. He still seems to be progressing but slowly. 

-Tuesday-

This was a pretty full day. We started off seeing Brother Str but we determined that his dementia is too far developed for him to progress. Later on, we briefly saw Mr Ch and discussed General Conference. He said he didn't see it so we invited him to watch it. Later on we were at Wendy's getting frosties when the Zone Leaders called asking us for our church key so we waited for them to pick up the church key. 

After that, we saw Mr V again. This time we found out he had some concerns/issues with the BoM. We addressed them and solved them. I'd say the language barrier is the most difficult thing about teaching him. His English is good enough to have a decent conversation but not good enough to understand gospel principles in English. We also taught Mr V a lot about church organization. He had his computer with him so we were able to show him how everything works very easily. 

Afterwards, the Zone Leaders wanted to meet with us. We're one of the few areas in the zone that don't have anyone with a baptismal date and they wanted to talk with us. They wanted to know how we're doing. They offered some ideas. They wanted to help us, etc. 

-Wednesday-

Service day. ReStore gave me one of their company shirts. It has their slogan on it which is "Just because it's used, doesn't mean it's useless." It's also my first tie-dye shirt :). We got some ugly couches in the store that we had to deal with. They were UGLY!

After Restore, we and the Spanish Elders went to a B-rated "Asian" buffet. That was a stupid idea. It sat like a rock in our insides for a day and a half. 

Later on we went to the Methodist church. We helped serve meatloaf this time. It was a unique meatloaf that had sausage in it. 

-Thursday-

Zone Meeting. There were 2 trainings and they were both on why we decided to serve missions and the Atonement. They were good trainings. They reminded me of the events and experiences I had that led me to serve a mission. It's always good to be reminded of things like that. After the Zone meeting the whole zone did some service at "Feeding America". It's a food donation company. We helped pack food on an assembly line that'll go to people who are struggling. We easily packed hundreds of boxes. It felt good to serve like that. The Feeding America people took a photo and posted it to their Facebook. 

We finished the night at our Baptist family. It's been a while since I've mentioned them. They're a family of baptists that love the missionaries. We visit them occasionally. Normally they're not interested to discuss doctrine but this time they were. We actually were able to have somewhat of a lesson with them. It was nice. They asked questions about man's inherent nature and if we believed in "once saved, always saved".

-Friday-

We felt prompted to try this less-active who lives forever away. Her name was Sister B. We've tried her before but not often because of the distance. However, when we tried her this time she actually answered. She said she could talk for "a little while" and proceeded to talk our ears off for an hour. I'm not sure Kentuckians understand what "a little while" means. She was a nice lady. She and her husband converted several years ago. She said she's been wanting to come back to church.

Later on we ate with the Hall family. They're another young couple in the Ward and surprisingly, Brother Hall isn't a dental student. He's a law student. They gave us Pizza Hut. We still don't get pizza often. 

Right after we finished with the Hall's we happened to run into some semi-less active members who were moving. They caught us as we were walking away and asked us to help move a bit. So we did. They also wanted us to come move some more in the morning. 

-Saturday-

We started off by helping the semi-less actives move. It was an average move. After the moving we visited Sister Sos and taught her about the Gift of the Holy Ghost. She said she's been wanting to come back to church. After her, we visited Charles and had a bit of an improvised lesson on life and how the gospel can help with life. It went well. I hope he acts on what we told him. 

After the day's activities, our sweet upstairs neighbors had us over for dinner. They've become friends of ours since we've been here. It shouldn't take much effort to make them investigators. They've had experiences with missionaries in the past where they used to live so they have positive opinions of us. And those opinions have become better since we've been here because we're bosses :). 

-Sunday-

It was a pretty relaxed Sunday for us. Church was great. After church I grilled some fish that some members gave us in our George Forman grill. It was fantastic :). I ate so healthy this week. I had broccoli, carrots, oranges, eggs, fish, and chocolate milk on the menu this week. I just need to start working out and I could put some muscle on :). 

- Small Plates -

Based off a certain General Conference talk, I don't remember which, I started reading the Book of Mormon and the New Testament like I've never read them before. I read at least a chapter a day out of both. It's been interesting reading the scriptures like this. I feel like I'm better able to imagine what's going on in the stories instead of focusing on the doctrine. It puts the gospel into a more human aspect. I feel like it's easy to separate the doctrine and how it applies to life but I've found that reading the scriptures like I've never read them helps me see how the doctrine applies in the stories they're in. It's been fun! I'd recommend doing this!

-Elder Benjamin Kohkonen Cox (GKLM)

ReStore gave me a shirt with their slogan on it.

This is usually what our apartment looks like. I promise we clean it once a week :)

Us