We taught an awesome lesson last Monday to the point that we might actually have a baptism! That would be so cool since, on average, a missionary only gets one baptism per mission. Missions are so cool but also are pretty hard. We tract an hour and a half a day then for another hour we do finding. Finding is when you either use the car or bike to find formers. Formers are people who have been taught before so we go and see if they are interested again. I am actually surprised on how much time we don't actually walk around and find people. About 4 hours are spent finding and tracting, but the rest of the day is studying, eating, meetings and whatever else. The other day we did some service by playing bingo at the old folks home. Another thing we did for service was help take down a wedding reception. I might sound like a girl but I just love weddings! It is so cool to see two people very much in love!! Awe.... it makes me happy.
I am also surprised about how may members and non members want blessings!! I have given a lot of blessing this week!!! Every time it is so awesome! Another great thing I love about this place is how people say their prayers. I try and not laugh the whole time they are saying them. Sometimes it gets distracting when I am saying the prayer and they chime in little "ahuh's" and "Amens." The people have really interesting long titles for Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. It reminds me of the movie Taladega Knights.
Elder Ihler loves to tell me lies about things and just mess with me. This week it backfired on him. He was driving so I couldn't get into the car but once I go in there was a grasshopper inside the car next to the radio. While I was trying to get it out, It jumped up and hit Elder Ihler in the face! Hahaha!!! I was dying of laughter and he screamed like a little girl. It made like my whole day!!!
The scripture I have really liked this week is 2 Nephi 33:10. It has helped some of our investigations notice that we believe in Christ and to show that the Book of Mormon testifies of Jesus Christ. A lot of people are told by their ministers that the Mormons are bad people. This scripture helps them realize we really do believe in Christ. Did you know that the ministers call us the "The Church of Latter Day Saints?" They leave out the Jesus Christ part so people think we don't believe in him.
That's it for this week. Till next time! Have a blessed day!
Elder Quiring
This is the Burrito Shack Challenge. You have to eat at least 3 large burritos under 30 minutes to make the wall. I will do this challenge soon, I never back down from a fight. Plus, half the pictures on this wall are of missionaries. If you fail then you feel crappy and have to pay $20
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Elder Ihler's weekly note:
Hey Everyone!!!! Can you believe that I already hit my hump day!?! I can't believe that I have already been out over a year now. Time sure does fly by. It makes me think about what Elder Bednar told us missionaries in his last visit here. We had a few hour meeting with him and it seemed like we were only there for about a half hour. He told us that the more spiritual we are and the closer we are to eternity, the faster time goes by. He explained that there is no time in eternity, so when you are spiritual and take part in eternity, time passes by unnoticed. I am glad that this past year has flown by
because that must mean that I have been enjoying my mission and having fun doing what I am supposed to :) I am so looking forward to this next year. I want it to go by slower, but I know that if I am doing what I am supposed to and loving the people, it will go by even faster :) I will go ahead and share with y'all what has happened here in Paducah, Kentucky this past week with missionary work. I hope you enjoy.
Monday
We just emailed and stuff like that for P-day and then had dinner with the Hayes family. Brother Hayes gave us a referral to go see someone!!! It was Brother Matthews kids. Brother Matthews just moved to Salt Lake and his children which are in their 20's stayed here. After dinner we went to go see Van. We extended to him a baptismal date and he accepted!!! We set it for August 13. We showed him the 4 minute restoration video while we were sitting at the table on his porch. There were cars driving by and making noise before the video and for the first 30 seconds or so. Then I started praying hard core for the cars to stop coming down that street. For the next 4 minutes there were no cars at all! He was able to enjoy the video we had to share and watch Joseph Smith's experience. I can testify that God prepares people. Van shared with us some amazing spiritual experiences that proves that God has been with him recently preparing him to hear our message. He said that hid mother who passed away, spoke to him through a mirror while he was in bed. He said that he could see her face and she told him to do what makes him happy. We then told him that the message that we have to share with him is what would bring that perfect happiness that he is searching for. I hope that all goes well with Van :) We had Family Home Evening with Sister Natasha Mounday and her two boys at the church. Her husband is in jail right now, her and her boys have just recently been baptized. She was so grateful that we met with her family. I could tell that she misses having that father figure in the home. It was a wonderful lesson about the Plan of Salvation.
Tuesday
We helped out with BINGO at the nursing home. We had a good teaching opportunity with the lady that is in charge of the activities. We hope that she becomes more interested. We scheduled with her times for us to come to Book of Mormon study with the residents. The sisters and us will be going to share messages from the Book of Mormon every other week. Today we taught them at the beginning or our P-day about Ether 12 and having faith. They loved it. On Tuesday we were able to teach quite a few people. One of my favorite lessons was with the referral we got from Brother Hayes. We visited Victoria and JP Matthews. They seem fairly interested and have opened up a lot since their dad is
gone and they don't feel pressured.
Wednesday
We had a fun District Meeting and we had a fun get to know you game. This district is awesome and we all have fun together. Foxcroft and Eldorado are in a trio right now because one of the Elders while hiking last P-day fell off a 20 foot cliff and broke his leg and busted some of his teeth out. He had to go home and will hopefully be returning in a couple of months. So after District Meeting the other three Elders and us came back to our apartment and I cooked up some lunch. We had leftover steaks, it was fun getting to spend some time with the other Elders in the District. For Book of Mormon Study at the church Elder Quiring and I taught about 2 Nephi 31. I felt the Holy Ghost so strong at the end of that meeting. I know that this is the true gospel and I felt God's love very much for me and everyone I meet. I can not imagine what my life would be like without this gospel. I am very blessed and grateful to God that I was sent to amazing, perfect in my opinion, parents who raised me in the gospel. I don't know what I did to deserve it.
Thursday
We drove all around Paducah and tried visiting a lot of people, I will just share one experience from Thursday though. We met a man who was in his 30's and he said that only 3 days before that he was planning on going out to the woods, he is homeless, to hang himself. He was on his way to end his life and a random lady walked up to him and started talking about God. His heart was touched and opened. He was aware that God is real and that he loved him. He was very happy while we were talking to him and said that he has a Book of Mormon and we described what it is and he said that he will go and read it more. I am so grateful for the knowledge that God loves US, Each of US, Individually!!!
Friday
On Thursday I received a package from home. Part of that package was sugar cookie mix and cookie cutters the shape of a camel! Haha So on Friday morning I made camel cookies and shared them with the Sisters here in Paducah. I also receive letters from family members, cousins, aunts and uncles, it was a tender mercy :) We ate at the Burrito Shack for my year mark celebration and on the wall 22 out of the 46 people who have completed the Burrito challenge have been Elders!!!! We feel like we are obligated to try it. Elder Quiring thinks that he can do it, but I don't that I could. It is 3 big burritos in 30 minutes! They said that about half of the people that try puke. They also said that only 1 girl has ever completed it!!! So we went and looked at the wall and it was Jessica Coakley, a young woman in our ward who just turned 18. Haha so now that we know that a girl in our ward and 22 Elders have done it, we feel like we definitely have to try.
Saturday
We tracted quite a bit and found 2 new investigators. We had dinner with an inactive member. He opened up so much to us because we are missionaries. He used to be the Ward Mission Leader after he was baptized a few years ago. Because of some things that happened he had his calling taken away and he couldn't take the sacrament for a while. That was his biggest reason for not coming is that he would be embarrassed if people saw him not take it. So we talked to him and helped him realize that only his relationship between God and him is what matters. If others judge, which they wouldn't in this ward, then that is their sin. He was a lot more open to coming back to church by the time we left. We committed him to pray and text us letting us know when we could expect seeing him at church.
Sunday
Then man we had dinner with texted us and said that he would be returning to church soon!!! Not this Sunday, but soon. We were so happy to hear that. We taught the Gospel Principles class because Sister Mounday felt sick. After church we went out with Brother Henson to give a blessing to Sister Bray and then went out with Brother Ravenberg to do home teaching at the Kidd family's home. It was a great week!
I would just like to bear testimony that we are not alone in the work. There are seen and unseen angels that help us with missionary work and our day to day efforts. Continue to pray and have faith and you will never feel alone. God Bless Y'all!!
because that must mean that I have been enjoying my mission and having fun doing what I am supposed to :) I am so looking forward to this next year. I want it to go by slower, but I know that if I am doing what I am supposed to and loving the people, it will go by even faster :) I will go ahead and share with y'all what has happened here in Paducah, Kentucky this past week with missionary work. I hope you enjoy.
Monday
We just emailed and stuff like that for P-day and then had dinner with the Hayes family. Brother Hayes gave us a referral to go see someone!!! It was Brother Matthews kids. Brother Matthews just moved to Salt Lake and his children which are in their 20's stayed here. After dinner we went to go see Van. We extended to him a baptismal date and he accepted!!! We set it for August 13. We showed him the 4 minute restoration video while we were sitting at the table on his porch. There were cars driving by and making noise before the video and for the first 30 seconds or so. Then I started praying hard core for the cars to stop coming down that street. For the next 4 minutes there were no cars at all! He was able to enjoy the video we had to share and watch Joseph Smith's experience. I can testify that God prepares people. Van shared with us some amazing spiritual experiences that proves that God has been with him recently preparing him to hear our message. He said that hid mother who passed away, spoke to him through a mirror while he was in bed. He said that he could see her face and she told him to do what makes him happy. We then told him that the message that we have to share with him is what would bring that perfect happiness that he is searching for. I hope that all goes well with Van :) We had Family Home Evening with Sister Natasha Mounday and her two boys at the church. Her husband is in jail right now, her and her boys have just recently been baptized. She was so grateful that we met with her family. I could tell that she misses having that father figure in the home. It was a wonderful lesson about the Plan of Salvation.
Tuesday
We helped out with BINGO at the nursing home. We had a good teaching opportunity with the lady that is in charge of the activities. We hope that she becomes more interested. We scheduled with her times for us to come to Book of Mormon study with the residents. The sisters and us will be going to share messages from the Book of Mormon every other week. Today we taught them at the beginning or our P-day about Ether 12 and having faith. They loved it. On Tuesday we were able to teach quite a few people. One of my favorite lessons was with the referral we got from Brother Hayes. We visited Victoria and JP Matthews. They seem fairly interested and have opened up a lot since their dad is
gone and they don't feel pressured.
Wednesday
We had a fun District Meeting and we had a fun get to know you game. This district is awesome and we all have fun together. Foxcroft and Eldorado are in a trio right now because one of the Elders while hiking last P-day fell off a 20 foot cliff and broke his leg and busted some of his teeth out. He had to go home and will hopefully be returning in a couple of months. So after District Meeting the other three Elders and us came back to our apartment and I cooked up some lunch. We had leftover steaks, it was fun getting to spend some time with the other Elders in the District. For Book of Mormon Study at the church Elder Quiring and I taught about 2 Nephi 31. I felt the Holy Ghost so strong at the end of that meeting. I know that this is the true gospel and I felt God's love very much for me and everyone I meet. I can not imagine what my life would be like without this gospel. I am very blessed and grateful to God that I was sent to amazing, perfect in my opinion, parents who raised me in the gospel. I don't know what I did to deserve it.
Thursday
We drove all around Paducah and tried visiting a lot of people, I will just share one experience from Thursday though. We met a man who was in his 30's and he said that only 3 days before that he was planning on going out to the woods, he is homeless, to hang himself. He was on his way to end his life and a random lady walked up to him and started talking about God. His heart was touched and opened. He was aware that God is real and that he loved him. He was very happy while we were talking to him and said that he has a Book of Mormon and we described what it is and he said that he will go and read it more. I am so grateful for the knowledge that God loves US, Each of US, Individually!!!
Friday
On Thursday I received a package from home. Part of that package was sugar cookie mix and cookie cutters the shape of a camel! Haha So on Friday morning I made camel cookies and shared them with the Sisters here in Paducah. I also receive letters from family members, cousins, aunts and uncles, it was a tender mercy :) We ate at the Burrito Shack for my year mark celebration and on the wall 22 out of the 46 people who have completed the Burrito challenge have been Elders!!!! We feel like we are obligated to try it. Elder Quiring thinks that he can do it, but I don't that I could. It is 3 big burritos in 30 minutes! They said that about half of the people that try puke. They also said that only 1 girl has ever completed it!!! So we went and looked at the wall and it was Jessica Coakley, a young woman in our ward who just turned 18. Haha so now that we know that a girl in our ward and 22 Elders have done it, we feel like we definitely have to try.
Saturday
We tracted quite a bit and found 2 new investigators. We had dinner with an inactive member. He opened up so much to us because we are missionaries. He used to be the Ward Mission Leader after he was baptized a few years ago. Because of some things that happened he had his calling taken away and he couldn't take the sacrament for a while. That was his biggest reason for not coming is that he would be embarrassed if people saw him not take it. So we talked to him and helped him realize that only his relationship between God and him is what matters. If others judge, which they wouldn't in this ward, then that is their sin. He was a lot more open to coming back to church by the time we left. We committed him to pray and text us letting us know when we could expect seeing him at church.
Sunday
Then man we had dinner with texted us and said that he would be returning to church soon!!! Not this Sunday, but soon. We were so happy to hear that. We taught the Gospel Principles class because Sister Mounday felt sick. After church we went out with Brother Henson to give a blessing to Sister Bray and then went out with Brother Ravenberg to do home teaching at the Kidd family's home. It was a great week!
I would just like to bear testimony that we are not alone in the work. There are seen and unseen angels that help us with missionary work and our day to day efforts. Continue to pray and have faith and you will never feel alone. God Bless Y'all!!
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