November
11th, 2013
Dear
family,
This
was a solid week. We had a couple exchanges this week and some
exciting news in the mission/zone. I had a feeling the last few weeks
that the stake was getting close to splitting since the office couple
for some reason can't order a ward map, so I was pretty sure that
something was going on, and we found out yesterday that the stake is
splitting! We don't know how much it will affect our area, and it's
possible I will be out of here, but hopefully I stay since I
absolutely love this area. The rumor also is that we would have
enough areas and stakes for the mission to split and to get a temple
in Austin. Crazy stuff although that is mostly speculation. More
crazy news: Elder G and Elder W both in the zone are
related to BF Johnson. It is pretty crazy! Quick funny story from
last week that I forgot to tell you all. So no one told us that it
was daylight savings last Sunday and I'm not sure how we were suppose
to know, so we got up at 6:20 and got ready for our
meetings in the morning and then at 7:20 our alarm goes off
and we thought the phone was being dumb since we have the same phone
I did back home so I thought it was just being stupid like it usually
is, and didn't think much of it. We headed off to our meetings and
pulled into an empty parking lot. We were super confused because
another ward should have been just starting and hardly anyone was
there. We got out and saw other missionaries getting out of a
member's car and we asked them what was happening and they told us it
was daylight savings! We blew our one day to sleep in an extra hour
so we were pretty ticked and went back to the apartment and slept in
our church clothes until it was actually time to go to the meetings.
It stunk but was pretty funny. Dang oblivious missionaries.
Monday
we didn't do a whole lot except we had a really fun P-Day where we
played pool in our apartment office and played Monopoly deal and
wrote letters, ate candy, etc. Our district is pretty sweet.
Tuesday
was a great day. We had a lesson with a cool guy me and Elder V met awhile back that we haven't been able to make contact with,
and I felt like we should go by and he was home and we taught him the
Plan of Salvation. He is semi-interested and had some good questions.
He didn't come to church and we weren't able to set-up a return
appointment so hopefully we see him this week. We taught a lady
named N and really tried emphasizing how church, praying, and
reading the Book of Mormon will bless her family because she has had
tons of missionaries teach her and she always says she is
semi-interested but will never go to church and doesn't really
progress. Sure enough she didn't come to church again.
We had a lesson with J and it went well. A got after him I
guess and told him he was doing things the wrong way and needed to
forget everything else and focus only on the Book of Mormon and
whether it's true or not. He says that has gone well so far which is
sweet to hear.
Wednesday
we had Zone Meeting and it was awesome. Our Zone Leaders are really
sweet and gave great training. The sisters from R (sis.
J from my MTC district) gave an awesome training on charity and
missionary work. It was inspiring and the Zone is sweet. It was cool
to talk with Elder S, Elder V, and Elder D again, my
former companions. Other than that we just stopped by a lot of former
investigators and less actives. We have almost completely knocked-out
the names from the area book, so we are having to come up with other
things to do.
Thursday
we had another lesson with M and she is awesome. She read a
little bit from the Book of Mormon. She continues to want to learn and we are going to try and get her husband more involved
too. We taught about the first half of the Plan of Salvation and she
was eager to learn about the rest of it. She couldn't come to church
because of her husband doesn't want her to but she is really cool. We had weekly planning
and our Bible Study which was still a poor showing of only two
members. It's too bad because the lessons are usually really powerful
and awesome and if we could get nonmembers there it would be great.
That night we started our double header of exchanges. I took Elder
L to our area and Elder T went to Round Rock. Elder L is the
one from Saratoga Springs and has been out for 2 transfers. we had a fun day and it was a great experience to lead the area for
the day too.
Friday
we had a lesson with M and we brought Sister W She was
super awesome and even brought jam for Marilyn. We resolved every concern she had but in the end
she wasn't willing to commit. We set up a bunch of lessons with
less-active and part member families that the ward council gave to us
so we have a pretty stacked week so far. We had dinner with the
S and again I can't emphasize enough how awesome they are. I
straight up told them that they are an amazing example to the ward
and their families and all they are going through and a great example
to me of faith and obedience, because really they do so much for us. We also had a lesson with a member
family on member-missionary work. We exchanged back and hustled to
get to our next exchange. I thought I was spending the day in the
Spanish branch, but Elder G our Zone Leader just came here.
Saturday
was filled with appointments that fell through which was too bad for
the exchange. We helped V move out which was a little sad to see
since I consider her like basically one of my baptisms since she
moved in the week after she was baptized and I've done the teaching
since then, but she is in a better situation now. She is so cool and
nice and hopefully the ward treats her well. We also talked to
some great people and set up a few lessons for this week. Elder G is a
super good missionary and is really bold. Overall it was a fun
exchange and I learned a lot. Also, we had dinner with the K family who moved here from Cedar Hills a few months ago. Weird huh?!
They only lived there for two months and they were in the other
stake. Sister K actually grew up in Cedar Hills back when it was
a rock field so she didn't know anyone that we know.
Sunday
was sweet! It was the Primary Program featuring the children of
Brushy Creek. They did awesome! It was all
focused on being a child of God and the restoration which was sweet!
One girl I don't know very well got up and talked about how she gave
a Book of Mormon to her teacher and talked with them about it and now
is going to invite her to be taught by missionaries. We had no idea
and it was awesome! Oh, we also had to sing a reverence hymn before
church so we sang "Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy" with
a few men in the ward. I sang the baritone part which was easy. Elder
T was a little nervous since there were like 300 people there and
he has no choir experience, but we did well. It was combined with the
Spanish branch, tons of people invited friends, and it was a Linger
Longer. We met a bunch of nonmembers and unfortunately no lessons set
up yet, but several ward members are going to work with those they
brought to have a FHE or something with us. Bro F and the
youngest four came, so E was there and they liked church and the
Linger Longer. The F really love us, we just need to get the
older sisters interested and the mom active again. Elder's Quorum was
really fun because we played Jeopardy and my team picked me to be the
spokesperson and it was a fun environment. The men were joking with
each other and me and they seem to really like us missionaries which
is a cool feeling. Especially Bro A, Bro S, and Bro
B (C3PO). Overall it was a fun day.
Well
I'm learning so much and trying to get better everyday. The Book of
Mormon is so awesome and I am getting so much out of it. I also
started reading it again in a small copy and marking everytime it
testifies of Christ and I can firmly say that the Book of Mormon
testifies of Christ. It explains better than any other book why He
did what He did and why it was needed. It was written for our day and
contains the fulness of the gospel. The Book of Mormon along with the
restored church has everything we need to know. I've gained a greater
awareness of why we need to share the gospel. People are missing 531
pages of scripture that draw us closer to God than any other book,
testifies of Christ, was written for our day, is the convincing
evidence that Joseph Smith is a prophet, that this is Christ's church
on the earth, and that the priesthood has been restored to the earth,
and that is just a portion of its divine origin and purpose. It means
so much to me and my testimony of this church. I know it is true.
Thanks for all the love and support!
Love,
Elder
Pew
p.s.
Here is a sweet quote about the Book of Mormon:
"Few
men on earth, either in or out of the Church, have caught the vision
of what the Book of Mormon is all about. Few are they among men who
know the part it has played and will yet play in preparing the way
for the coming of Him of whom it is a new witness.... The Book of
Mormon shall so affect men that the whole earth and all its people
will have been influenced and governed by it.... There is no greater
issue ever to confront mankind in modern times than this: Is the Book
of Mormon the mind and will and voice of God to all men?" -Bruce
R. McConkie
November
18th, 2013
Dear
family,
This
was another week full of exchanges. Okay, only two, but I was out
of our area for both of them. I'll talk about those later, we had a
SUPER funny experience on one of them that I'll explain a little
bit of, but you should ask for the whole story at Christmas. First,
I want to thank all of those who have already sent birthday letters
and packages! I've received so many and it's great to feel all the
love and support. It's actually pretty funny since the ward loves us, but we don't actually have a dinner appointment on my birthday, but
it's okay because we have a lot of lessons which is all that I
really want for my birthday, and I think Elder T plotted
something with the S on exchanges for this Tuesday since we
are teaching A, so we will see what happens. Also, Elder
Golden, from South Africa is in the mission right now and he will
be training us on Wednesday, so I'm pretty pumped for that. It has
been confirmed that the Stake is splitting and there is a new ward
being created and we are pretty sure that it will involve some of
Brushy Creek. We also know (through some reliable sources) that
there will be 4 sisters moving into the same apartment as us, so we
think that the new ward will have sisters and we might be doubled
out (both of us leave), but we will see. Interesting stuff.
Monday was
pretty fun. We played soccer again as a Zone. That night we were
planning to stop by a potential investigator who lives in a big
apartment complex and while we were talking with him, another guy
walked up to us and was like, "hey Elders." He was
wearing a Utah Utes hat and he just barely moved in and is inactive
but wants to come back so he figured he should come and talk to us.
It was sweet. We set up a lesson with him and his sister-in-law and
friend that he lives with. His wife will be moving out here soon.
All of them are struggling right now, but all of them want to come
back.
Tuesday
I was on exchanges with Elder S in M. He is 6'9 . He is super nice and he has been out like 20 months. I
was a little worried at the beginning that he would think that
since I've only been out a few months that I wouldn't contribute
anything, so the first house I made sure to be very involved and he
ended up sitting back and watching me do everything. As we
continued throughout the day, he just sat there and just had me do
most of the work. I pretty much led everything so then I felt bad
and tried to let him do a lot more but he would just sit there, so
I continued to lead the whole day which was fun and I learned a
lot. (FYI I know this elder's mom on facebook and she said that this elder never got to teach as a newbie in the mission so that's why he let Timo teach so much when they were together). I like exchanges since I can be a little more bold. When we
are only able to set up a lesson for another day, I just say
something like, "well I likely won't be there for the lesson
but I want you to know..." and just bear sincere testimony
that the gospel will bless their life. We had a lesson with a
part-member family and again I tried to let Elder S lead the
lesson but it was like 20 minutes in and we still hadn't started
teaching, so I just took lead again and we taught about the Book of
Mormon, so of course I loved it. It was a fun exchange and I
learned a lot.
Wednesday
was freezing! It was like 40 degrees which feels like 15 degrees
when you are used to 55-60 degrees. We were dying and wore our
sweaters so that was awesome that I had that. Pretty much
everything fell through except a lesson with A, the less
active 21 year old guy who is super nice and wants to come to
church. He is really nice.
Thursday
was a great day. We taught N about how the gospel and Jesus
Christ can fill the gaps in our lives that are missing. It was a
pretty good lesson but yet again she didn't come to church. We had Bible Study again and again it was us,
Z, and J. I'm not too bummed though since they go really
well. The Spirit is always really strong, so all we need is some
other people to start coming and they will be astounded at how
awesome it is. One other note I just thought of. It is crazy how
many gems I have found in the scriptures studying and what not. In
Matthew 21 with the story of the wicked husbandman it is totally
talking about the Jews rejecting the gospel and how it would come
forth to the Gentiles, thus the restoration. Never saw that before.
I have picked up so many little gems from the scriptures and it is
really sweet. We had our lesson with C, the dude we found on
Monday and his sister-in-law and friend that they live with.
We had an AMAZING lesson with them about the parable of the
laborers in the vineyard and it was a really inspired lesson. They
were all near tears and the Spirit was super strong. I felt it give
me so many promptings and our testimonies were really powerful.
Friday
was another exchange. This time I was in Round Rock with Elder
W. He has been out for 7 months and he came into his area the
same time I came into the field so we have become great friends. He
loves sports and is a great missionary. We had an awesome day! We
found a bunch of people who are interested and it sounds like one
of them turned out to be really solid. We had dinner and a lesson
at their ward mission leader. His name is J and he
went to Lone Peak! He is only like 24 and he is awesome. He has
been working with a co-worker named J who is super
cool and nice. He totally has a testimony of the church. Brother
B brought another friend from the ward so there were 4 members
and us to teach him. I was a little nervous since there were so
many people and they all knew I was "new" in the mission.
We taught the Plan of Salvation to J and he understood it
really well for not having any Christian background. He has read
through all of Mosiah in Chinese and he says he feels something he
feels no where else when he reads. Sweet! He is going to get
baptized in December and unfortunately he has to move back to China
in February so hopefully he stays strong. Also we were on bikes so
that was really fun to get on a bike again. It was fun. Right
before we were going to go home, Elder W was sending a text
and I saw a couple walking toward there apartment like 200
feet away, but I felt like I should talk to them, so I zoomed off
on my bike and caught them and started talking with them. They said
they were just heading back to their apartment and they were moving
out. Elder W arrived and we offered to help them. They said
they actually could use a hand, so we dropped our bikes and
followed them. They asked us who we were and what we were doing, so
we said we were missionaries sharing a message about the Book of
Mormon. We explained it a little to them and they were really
curious. That caught us off guard and we didn't have time to teach
after we were moving them since it was already 8:25 and
we just met them, so we told them we'd talk after we helped them
move. A bunch of their family and friends showed up to help and we
met them all. They are moving to Georgetown but when we had to
leave they wanted to know more about the Book of Mormon so we got
their new address and sent the missionaries out there to meet them.
Who knows what will happen, but that was sweet! This is also when
we played a huge prank on Elder L. About him getting transferred but he wasn't. Elder L is a good sport and it
was so funny. He totally believed us!
Saturday
we had a sweet lesson with E and he is doing great although he
didn't come to church either. We also gave J a blessing which
was sweet since he was really sick. We also had dinner and a lesson
with the F Family. It was such good food! Also, they "Highs and
lows of the day" and Sister F's high was that we came for
dinner. Sweet! They like us! We had fried chicken and mashed
potatoes, creamed corn, lemonade, garlic bread, and cake. It was
delicious.We had a lesson on the Plan of Salvation and made
cardboard cut-outs that were sweet and took a lot of time.It was awesome and E wants to be baptized
and the other two are still hesitant.
Church
was sweet on Sunday even though all of our investigators
didn't come to church. We found R again which is good and he
said he is going to try and get N to come to church with him
which is awesome. That is all that really happened Sunday.
Things are really picking up here and it is sweet to see! We are
staying busy!
I
know that this church is true and the Book of Mormon is the word of
God. It gets me excited just talking about the Book of Mormon,
because it makes me happy. Thanks for the love and support!
 |
| Elder Pew with a birthday package |
Love,
Elder
Pew
