December
2nd, 2013
Dear
family,
This
was yet another very exciting and eventful week! It feels like it's
been a month since I wrote, so much has happened.
Monday
was a pretty normal P-Day. Since it was the last one of the transfer
we all got together to play basketball which was fun. We also taught
a guy who just moved into the ward boundaries who was just barely
baptized. We met him Sunday night and we taught him Monday.
Tuesday
was interesting/freaky. Our car was fixed so we now had two cars but
some sisters in Austin needed the replacement one, so me and Elder T
had to drive separately to Austin. It felt super disobedient to drive
alone, but that's what the Office couple told us to do. It was just
scary since I didn't know the area and didn't have a GPS or a phone,
so I really had to follow Elder T. Turns out it was a good thing he
had a phone (you'll see). We got just past downtown Austin and got
off at our exit and we made it to the place we were going to meet the
sisters, but we had like 40 minutes so we decided to get lunch. Elder
T thought he knew a place, so I followed him. We ended up going
through part of downtown Austin which is beautiful! I LOVE the big
cities. It made me both super happy and also gave me the butterflies
since it reminded me of my trips to New York. I was also blasting
"What Child is This" by MoTab so that added to the affect
too. Anyways, we were driving straight in front of the Capitol
building when (I later found out) Elder T realized we went too far,
so he pulled into the turn lane to do a U-turn (I didn't know this
since there's no U-turn blinker) as the light was yellow so I had to
fly into the intersection, but as I got into the intersection Elder T
U-turned and I was already committed to turn left and I could back
out since the light was now red, so he was headed south and I was
headed west. Yup. I had no idea where I was and we were in the thick
of downtown so I couldn't pull over anywhere and all the parking lots
were full and you had to pay, so I had to just keep driving. I
was praying my heart out as to what to do. I didn't have the phone or
know where I was so I knew it was all in my hands and not Elder T's,
so after praying I decided that I would get back on the road I knew
he turned down and just follow it until I hopefully saw him. I was
praying that he would know what I was doing and that he wouldn't
panic or do anything dumb. I was kinda thinking, "well we might
never see each other again" but then I realized that he still
had the phone and I had the number memorized, so we were going to be
fine. I followed the road south until I was out of downtown
Austin and could park at a gas station. I actually was turning left
to park at a gas station and I saw Elder T flying by doing a U-turn
and heading back into downtown Austin and he looked panicked. Oh man,
looking back it was hilarious. In the moment it was kinda scary. I
was waving like crazy to get his attention but he zoomed off. I
pulled into the gas station and went inside and asked someone for
there to borrow a phone and they gave me the shaft, but then the
cashier said I could use their land-line, so called Elder T and gave
him the street I was on and he came a minute later. He was freaking
out and I thought it was pretty funny once I realized we were going
to be okay. I will definitely find a way to never drive separately
again though. Crazy stuff. We dropped off the car and grabbed a bite
to eat and headed back to Round Rock. J had to pick up his kid so we
didn't actually teach him which was sad to break the 17 week stretch,
but I had a feeling there was a good reason. We ended up getting a
call from the McNeil missionaries and they told us they have an
investigator who moved into our ward boundaries, and they were
teaching him at 8 and they wanted us to be there so they could pass
him off to us. Him name is B and he is super sweet! He is like 29 and
works for Blizzard entertainment. I guess that's a big deal from what
I hear. He is super smart and super sincere and he really wants to
get closer to God. He referred to the church as "his"
church and our beliefs as "his" beliefs. It was awesome!
They taught him the law of Chastity and that was the last thing he
needed to be taught. He wants to get baptized but he hasn't been to
church, so he said he has been saving up vacation hours so he could
make it this week and he came to Sacrament! He is awesome! We set a
return appointment at his new place for Saturday. We are SUPER
blessed to have him fall into our laps. Tuesday night I was feeling
better than ever before in my life. Maybe he wasn't a direct result
of our hard work, but we were blessed to have a super ready, cool
investigator drop into our laps because we have been obedient and
working hard. It's the best thing ever.
Wednesday
was a blast. So fun! I had to go to San Antonio for a training
meeting and so I got to drive down with Elder W and a few other
missionaries to San Antonio which was really fun. The training
meeting was interesting. President Slaugther threw away the old
trainer packets and held up his scriptures and told us that these and
the Holy Ghost are our packets and instructions on what to do. It was
sweet. He is such a good president. Oh yeah, I walked in and he was
already talking with some of the other missionaries that were already
there and he said, "Elder Pew, I've been waiting for you. Come
sit by me." So we were at the head of the tables in the High
Council room and everyone else was facing us. I don't know why he had
me sit right there next to him, but he did. He basically just told us
to make our best judgment and follow the Spirit. When the
missionaries asked questions he would usually just say, "What do
you think?" or "It's up to you. I trust you." So that
was cool. After we all went out to eat and then we headed back to
Round Rock. Elder V's companion went to San Antonio with us and
stayed there because he was on a trial mission, so Elder V didn't
have a companion, so he was with Elder T and Elder L until we got
back. When we got back we went in his truck out to T with Sister J
and Sister B and it was quite the drive. It was super fun. Then we
came back to B and so I got to be with Elder T and Elder V. It was
sweet! We went to the As since Elder V loves them and we didn't have
a dinner and it was super fun. We also had a lesson with the Fs that
went really well. E (the 9 year old) wants to get baptized and so
bishop is going to work with Bro F so that he can do it. It was an
awesome night.
Thursday
was turkey day, and I got to spend it with some of my favorite
missionaries. Elder L and W came over and us five cooked ribs that E
gave Elder T as a parting gift so we ate that for lunch and then
skipped some rocks before transfer meeting. Transfer meeting was
sweet. Sister Slaughter gave a great training on charity towards your
companion which was helpful. The new missionaries walked in and it
was weird to see Elder W for the first time. When he introduced
himself in front of everyone he said that he likes to wrestle,
but not with sisters. Our zone is different since it split, but a lot
of people stayed in the same zone. Elder S moved to a different area
with Elder D but I will still see them on P-day so that's awesome.
Elder V stayed in T. Elder T headed off to the UT campus. It was a
little sad seeing him leave. I loved serving with him and I learned a
lot. I think my faith grew a lot with him and I learned how to talk
with people and teach to their needs better. I've been blessed with
really solid companions. We got sisters in our district to cover the
Spanish branch in our zone and new sisters for the new ward as well.
Elder W is cool. He is 18 and right out of High School. He is from
Las Vegas and I don't really know what he likes. We didn't have time
to take pictures or anything since we had to run back with Elder W
with something Elder L forgot to bring, so no picture yet. Sorry! We
went to dinner at the K's house and since it was a big family thing,
we just kinda sat there and listened to their conversation, but it
was good. We came in before 8 and got ready for bed.
Friday we
stopped by bishop and talked over some of the concerns of the
new changes to the ward. It was a great meeting. I honestly
think that was the only thing that really happened on Friday.
Saturday
we got on the bikes. It was crazy how big our area is on a bike!
We had a sweet lesson with E and they said they would be at
church but then they didn't show up. We biked all the way to the
middle of our area and met with the Fs. It was H's birthday so that
was good timing and we wished her a happy birthday.They are such
a sweet family! We were suppose to have a lesson with J, but she
cancelled on us. We had our lesson with B which was sweet! We brought
Brother A and he was great. We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The
Spirit was really strong and we focused on the importance of baptism.
He really wants to be baptized and he accepted a baptismal date
of December 21st which should be sweet! We had to bike all
the way back to our apartment which was a 35 minute bike ride and I
was pedaling the ENTIRE time. Luckily I wasn't sore or tired, but
Elder W didn't like it. It was a great day.
Sunday
was awesome. Church was sweet and the ward is so nice. Ward council
was exciting with all the changes that are going on. J was sick so he
couldn't come to church, but B and E were there so that was good. We
had dinner with J and he gave us a pie, but that was pretty hard to
bike with. It was sweet though and he is my favorite. We stopped by J
and A and showed them the new ward boundaries. We also stopped by H
and she gave us a big bag of Muddy-Buddies. It was awesome! Overall
it was a great week.
I
know that the Lord supports us in our trials. I know that he knows
and loves each of us. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of
God and we can learn from it and feel the Spirit every time we read
it. Thanks for all the love and support!
Love,
Love,
Elder
Pew
December
9th, 2013
Dear
Family,
This
was a fantastic week. Lots going on up here in the B. It was SUPER
cold this week. Not just like Texas cold, but like cold cold. The
lowest we saw was 25 degrees, but it didn't get above freezing until
yesterday. For some reason we were able to get into a ton of less
active member's houses this week and so we racked up the less-active
lessons which I guess is pretty sweet.
Monday was
pretty sweet. P-day was fun and we played basketball and volleyball
as a zone. Sister C is amazing at basketball which is shocking but
pretty cool. That night not a lot was happening and Elder W was
really pushing to get a McRib, but I told him that we had to work
really hard for 2.5 hours before we could get one. I think he loves
them mostly as a joke, but it was funny so finally we got one. Right
after that R called us and asked if we could come by so we did and
answered a few of his questions. He also sang "Thank you" a
random song about thanking those who serve the Lord and so he sang it
for Elder W since he is just starting his mission. Luckily I had the
genius idea to record it on the phone so now we have a very coveted
recording of R singing his famous song to missionaries. It is sweet!
Tuesday
was cool. We found out that we had interviews with President the day
before so we had to go those and it went pretty well. We showed up a
bit early and there were still like 12 missionaries waiting to be
interviewed so we told them we were going to go back out and work
some more. We stopped by A, J's ex-wife, and asked her how things
were going and she was really glad we came by. I didn't know that we
were suppose to have a scripture to share with President, so that
made it obvious that I didn't read his weekly email which of course
was the first time on my mission, so that caught me by surprise but
obviously I have a huge bank of scriptures to choose from so I picked
Mosiah 2:41 since it has been on my mind a lot lately and
he had me read and explain it. He was impressed with the way I
explained it but then he re-read it really slow with emphasis added
on certain parts and then talked about how we can explain verses
simply how we read them to people. That was really cool. We stopped
by E and L came out and was really happy to see us as always and he
actually read the Book of Mormon! We were super excited because we
thought we were going to have to sit down with him and explain that
we couldn't come over if he didn't read the Book of Mormon. We read 1
Nephi 8 with him and explained it to him. He understood it and it was
sweet. Our lesson with J went really well. We were teaching the Word
of Wisdom and so we got J (just quit smoking) and Bro M (who we also
found out had to quit smoking to go on a mission) to come with us to
the lesson. He obviously knew about it already so we wanted to
emphasize the blessings of keeping the Word of Wisdom. We talked
about a bunch of blessings from D&C 89, the Word of Wisdom
pamphlet, and talks. Bro M asked an awesome question, "do any of
those blessings stand out to you?" and J responded with how he
liked the part about receiving answers to prayers as the one that
stuck out the most. Perfect! It was exactly what we wanted to talk
about and so I pulled out the Obedience Brings Blessings talk by
President Monson where his main emphasis is that we can only receive
revelation when we are keeping all the commandments. Then Bro M and J
shared how they quit and gave J and A advice. Then we bore testimony
about how we don't know what it's like but the Savior does so he can
always rely on prayer to help him. It was powerful. Unfortunately
they still need to move, so I'm really praying they will stay in the
area. It was a great lesson.
Wednesday was
our less-active and recent convert day. We taught A the Plan of
Salvation and it went well. She is continuing to progress in the
church which is cool. She understands things well for a nine year
old. We also had a lesson with C and his family and it went well too.
We had a lesson with Sister S and she came to church for the first
time in 26 years this week. Sweet! For some reason we have been
really successful at reactivation even though that's not really our
purpose.
Thursday another
great day. We had a lesson with the S family, another less-active
family in the ward and they straight up told us they don't believe in
the church anymore. The dad said he wants to but has a hard time
after some stuff he's seen (anti Mormon material). I honestly had no
idea how to react since they seemed pretty set on that, but we went
ahead I felt like we should share a Christmas mormon message and then
discuss how we can remember Christ during this season. It went well
and the Spirit was strong as we discussed how they can rekindle the
testimonies they once had. We will see if anything comes of it. We
had our Bible Study class and that went pretty well. Only J came but
we also got to meet Sister R's friend who came to a Relief Society
thing so that was awesome. We had a lesson with B that night. For
some reason no members could come, but we had an incredible lesson.
We went over the baptismal interview questions and he is way ready
for baptism. As I read the final question which asks if you are
willing to take the name of Christ upon yourself and always serve
Him, the Spirit hit me like a ton of bricks confirming that this is
all very real and how important and how big of a deal baptism is. It
was really cool. I really like B. He's the best!
Friday was
fun. We had Elder W with us so I had two newbies with me but it went
really well. We had a lesson with a lady in the morning who isn't
really interested but was really nice and let us teach her a lesson
about the Book of Mormon. We baked a cake for E because it was his
birthday and we wanted to say bye before he left on his
cruise Saturday. We baked a cake that was really interesting. We
didn't have any measuring utensils so we guessed on water and oil,
and they ended up with a dense, sponge-like texture. We boiled some
caramel and toffee we had and spread it over the top. The topping was
really interesting. It tasted good but the more you chewed it the
harder it got until it was basically toffee again. Anyways, we took
it to his house. Eric wanted us to pray with them, so we said a
prayer to bless them on their trip and they were kinda in a hurry so
I asked if we could share a quick message with them. I just shared
Alma 37:37 about prayer and it was cool and they responded really
well. Then E was like, "I just want to tell you I have a
testimony..." and so I thought he was going to say prayer
because he says he is always praying, but he finished "...of the
Book of Mormon. I read it the other day after you guys came by and it
hit me harder than anything else I've ever read. I didn't think it
could have such a huge impact on me." It was AMAZING! We had no
idea how to respond so we just told him how great that was and how it
would continue to bless him as he reads it. He said he will
definitely set aside some time to read on the cruise and we didn't
even ask him to. He is sweet! We walked out of there on a spiritual
high since no one else has been able to get him to read the Book of
Mormon and now in just a week he has read it and knows it's true! The
power of the Book of Mormon is real folks. We had a fun lesson with
A's family and we played the flour game with them and talked about
having a foundation of faith. It was a great day.
Saturday was
a pretty slow day. Not much happened until the evening. We taught J
and his girlfriend was there. We taught the Plan of Salvation and she
was actually pretty receptive and believed it all. Unfortunately she
got really tired and left to go to bed before we finished. Me and
Elder White get along really well. We have had a ton of fun together
and he is a happy guy. We have a great relationship. The other
missionaries are always talking about us because of the dynamics of
our companionship, it's pretty fun. Anyways, we had dinner with J and
B was suppose to come since him and J would be best friends but he
had to work late unfortunately. We ended up staying there more than
an hour which I felt bad about but we didn't really have much of a
choice and Elder W really wanted to stay. I was able to justify it
though since it was below 25 degrees.
Sunday was
pretty good. Church was pretty sweet. The children continue to
absolutely rock and we sat next to the Ls so T and B were trying to
talk to me the entire time. It was fun. Ward Council was also sweet.
We picked the five focus families for the year. One member also
suggested that anytime we have a lesson with one of them to let Bro.
J know so he can email the ward council so they can come. It is
awesome! That would help a ton. We had dinner with a family after
church. Then it was up to us to go to the Christmas Devotional, and
we decided to try by the Fs first and right as we got there Sister F
pulled up with H and E. I love it when the Spirit directs us to
perfect timing. They let us in and we talked with them for awhile.
They are doing pretty well. They didn't come to church and we weren't
able to set anything up earlier in the week, but we had a great
lesson on the true identity of us all being children of our Heavenly
Father. H, E, E, and Sis F have opened up so much. I love that
family. E still wants to get baptized so that is great too.
Well
it was a great week and the work is really hastening here. You can
feel it in the air with all the changes to missionary work, the
stake, the ward, ward council, people are being prepared to come back
or to start learning about the restored gospel. It is great to be
apart of and I know the work is real and true. I know the Book of
Mormon is the word of God and I was beyond happy to see it change E
the way I know it can. Thanks for the love and support!
Love,
Elder Pew
Elder Pew
