Monday- We got a less active member who had not been attending church because of work, to cut our hair . It was really great because he had a pretty cool conversion story to tell. We were able to relay some pretty great news to him as well. Our bishop wanted him to know that he could go to a different ward that had a earlier sacrament meeting just so he could take the sacrament. The reaction on his face was great! He was thrilled to hear that he could do that. He then told us that the company that he was working for was changing management and that he should soon be getting Sunday off anyways. One joy that I do love experiencing is getting those lost sheep back into the Fold.
Tuesday- Zone conference was an exhilarating experience like always. One of my favorite parts of zone conference was Pres. Fenn's doctrinal exposition of the last week of Jesus Christ. I feel often that because I have focused so heavily on The Book of Mormon and Peach My Gospel on my mission, that I have not had the chance to learn much about Christ's earthly ministry thoroughly. I just want to thank Pres. Fenn for teaching us that. On top of that this was my first zone conference where I had to train. I was a little nervous of how it was going to go, but It worked out well in the end . I definately felt the spirit super strong during a majority of the training. I know I was edified and trained during the training. I just pray that the others were too. After the meeting Elder Dickerson and I stayed in the area on exchanges. I was glad that I was able to go on exchanges with him because he is a great listener and I needed to talk. He was able to help me clear my mind and motivate me on the work. That Tuesday night we called one of our investigators, Quentin, who was on date, who's mom was in the Hospital and we got some sad news. His Mother had just died, she was having a lot of seizures and she was in and out of a coma while in the Hospital and passed away that day. I was really glad that I just happened to be on exchanges because Elder Dickerson and I were able to find some scriptures in The Book of Mormon to help him handle going through this trial.
Wednesday- 3 of our appointments with our investigators fell through which was a bummer but we had 2 Miracles that related to those missed appointments. The first was after a potential investigator bailed out of our appointment we sat in our car and were looking through our planning for a back up plan and there was an investigator who we lost in contact with, due to his phone getting shut of. We normally met him at the library because we had contacted him while driving and he just happened to be on our side of the street, so we had never been to his house, even though we had his address. We pulled up his information and surprise! He lived on the very street we were on. Knowing that this was not by chance we rushed over to find and he was home! Had been keeping his commitments and the only thing stopping him from contacting us was that he couldn't call. We taught him the message of the restoration. It was great to see him again. MIRACLE NUMBER 2. Elder Hermansen had to really use the bathroom room so we hurried to McDonalds and while we were walking in we noticed these three kids coming out and we looked over at the table that they were sitting at and there was a smartphone left on the table. So we grabbed it and I rushed it out to them. After giving them the phone I contacted them gave them "He Lives" and walked back into the McDonalds. Elder Hermansen then told me to talk to the people at the cash register. I was stunned because it was just one thing after another. Elder Hermansen left to use the restroom and there I was alone. The people behind the cash register asked, who do you guys work for? So I replied, Jesus. but in real honesty I am serving my church as a full time missionary. Then some more questions were asked and one young lady in particular was interested. She said she was atheist but wasn't quite atheist. After more questions I told her that "if she wants to know and have evidence that God is real and that he loves you. All she needs to do is to figure out if the Book of Mormon is true. She didn't know what the Book of Mormon was so I started by recounting Joseph's experience and It was so cool because the spirit just flooded the place where we stood and it felt like no one else was even in the McDonalds. She was really connecting it. After teaching her the rest of the lesson of the restoration Elder Hermansen came in and we set a return appointment to the next night. It was so cool just how this all transpired.
Thursday- Besides weekly planning the only thing that was amazing was the lesson with Jenni, the cashier from McDonalds. Our ward mission leader came with us to the lesson and it went super well. We retaught her the restoration. It was interesting because she grew up catholic and stopped going to the catholic her freshman year and she couldn't tell us anything about the bible, anything about Jesus Christ or God. By the end of the lesson her understanding grew so much and the seed of faith was planted in her heart. Now all she needs to do is nourish it and let it grow.
Friday- I Finally got to teach one of our investigators on date. Every time I've tried to teach her, she either isn't home or Elder Hermansen just goes with another missionary and gets to teach her. But htis lesson went great. We started off with reading the Book of Mormon and she loved the first part of Nephi. It's just so much joy to watch others gain an appreciation of the Book of Mormon.
Saturday- The day was just going down the tubes all day. Canceled appointment after canceled appointment. But we caught our investigator Quentin at home. He got home the night before from takinig care of his mother's funeral. He told us he had read all of the scriptures that we suggested to him about the plan of salvation and they all really helped him. (We have a return appointment with him today). One event though changed it all up for the better. We went to a return appointment of a member referral at the members home and when we got there, we found an additional member referral waiting for us to teach. We were able to teach 2 new investigators the Restoration and put both of them on date.
All is well now!
Elder Herdt
