Serving in Kentucky: Apostle

Oct 17, 2016

Dear Family,

I met an Apostle this week! That was probably the highlight of the week. The whole mission gathered so I got to see everyone I know. It was a great experience to catch up with my friends and to also hear instructions from an Apostle. Elder Gary E. Stevenson gave a great training and so did Elder Juan A. Uceda. Their trainings will greatly influence how I finish my mission.

-> Large Plates <-

-Monday-

We went to the Nike store to get some clothes. There was a huge Guitar Center right next door that I wanted to go into. Unfortunately we didn't. That's probably a good thing because I would have bought something there :).

Later on we saw Mr V. He said he didn't come to church this week because he was "tired". His progression isn't looking so good.

-Tuesday-

We started off seeing Brother Stra. His dementia wasn't as bad this day so we had a good visit. We just followed up on things and asked how he was doing.

Later on we had dinner with the Crandalls. They're awesome. They're a young couple that want to help with missionary work. We had sloppy-joes at their house :). Like everyone else, Brother Crandall is a dental student.

-Wednesday-

Service day. We went to ReStore and moved a bunch of stuff around. Someone donated this huge kitchen cabinet set and we spent about 3 hours cleaning and moving that thing.

Later, we went to the Methodist church to help them serve breakfast for dinner again. It's always nice to serve with other churches. Even though the apostasy messed Christianity up it's still surprising to see how much of the gospel survived.

After the Methodist church we biked around and talked to a few people. Not much else happened for the rest of the night.

-Thursday-

Thursday had some surprises to it. We thought we were going to exchange with Indian Trails on Friday, but Elder Patten switched it at the last minute to Thursday. After lunch, I went to Indian Trails with Elder Patten. When I got there, I had another surprise. President Brough came to pick us up for the baptismal interview of Mr S, one of Indian Trails investigators. He picked us up and took us to the interview. Mr S passed. After the interview I saw President TWE a few people. He is probably the most perfect contacter (TWEer) I've ever seen. I learned a lot from him.

After our adventure with Mr S and President Brough, Elder Patten and I got on the bikes and started working normally. We tried a few people but nothing special happened. We finished the night with Little Caesars.

-Friday-

We had another baptismal interview to attend. This time with the Zone Leaders. They interviewed someone named Mr Is and they passed. After that interview, I exchanged back with Elder Williams.

Later that night, we met with a man named Mr L. He's a referral from the Shelbyville Elders. We met him at the church, had a half church tour, and briefly reviewed the restoration. He was a bit of an awkward guy with interesting beliefs. He was nice though. I have him a Book of Mormon with Dad's little testimony in it. I hope he reads it. We'll be meeting with him soon to follow up and help him read.

-Saturday-

This was a special day. We had a conference with Elder Gary E. Stevenson and Elder Juan A. Uceda. It was a short 2.5 hour conference. The first hour was Elders Stevenson and Uceda shaking hands with all the missionaries. Then Elder Uceda gave some training and then Elder Stevenson gave some training. They taught some very basic things about missionary work that'll help me through the rest of the mission.

One thing they taught was to not go on with the lessons until the investigator is ready to move on. A lot of missionaries, including me, often continue teaching the lessons when the investigator hasn't even read the BoM. They pointed out how missionaries should teach at a pace appropriate to the particular investigator. And also to focus more on commitments than lessons.

Later that day we saw Mr C for the first time in a while. We had a good lesson about scripture study. We successfully persuaded him to study the BoM each morning. It was an interesting lesson that was definitely led by the Spirit.

We got transfer news. Elder Williams is going to Madison, Indiana and I'm getting Elder Hoole. Hoole has been out for about 6 months. He was trained by Elder Davidson in Sulphur Well. Hurstbourne is going to be his 2nd area. It's going to be very different for him.

-Sunday-

We had the Primary Program for sacrament this week. It was good. It was easier to pay attention to all the kids singing. It was a great sacrament meeting. Unfortunately Mr V wasn't there this time.

We met with Mr V later on. He had a lot of concerns with the church in general. We clarified them and somehow, probably with the guidance of the Spirit, convinced him to give the church another shot. In a couple weeks we'll know if we're baptizing or dropping him and his family.

-> Small Plates <-

I read Dieter F. Uctdorf's "A Summer with Great-Aunt Rose" for the first time this week. It helped give me an even better perspective on my mission. I would like to quote one of my favorite parts from that talk.

“But surely being busy isn’t what made you happy. There are a lot of busy people who aren’t happy.”

“How can you be so wise for someone so young?” Aunt Rose asked. “You’re absolutely right. And most of those busy, unhappy people have forgotten the one thing that matters most in all the world--the thing Jesus said is the heart of His gospel.”

“And what is that?” Eva asked.

“It is love--the pure love of Christ,” Rose said. “You see, everything else in the gospel--all the shoulds and the musts and the thou shalts --lead to love. When we love God, we want to serve Him. We want to be like Him. When we love our neighbors, we stop thinking so much about our own problems and help others to solve theirs.”

“And that is what makes us happy?” Eva asked.

Great-Aunt Rose nodded and smiled, her eyes filling with tears. “Yes, my dear. That is what makes us happy.”

-Elder Benjamin Kohkonen Cox (GKLM)