Tuesday, October 16, 2012

WE DID IT! WE DID IT!

MONDAY - Another good preparation day today. We did the usual, emailed, laundry and studies. We decided we would take a break from bball today so we could write some letters. We went shopping and I happened to find the best shirt in the world for 7 dollars so I got it. You will see in future pics sent home :) We got back and I wrote 4 letters and we went to Genghis grill with the Elders from Marshall yummmmmmm. We finished and it was time to get back to work. This week were going for something called the Standards of Excellence. Its something thats hard to get! But we have a chance this week. You have to reach a certain number of each key indicators such as baptisms, dates, investigators at church, etc. We had 2 lessons planned but they both canceled on us! So we taught the Grizzles and then we also taught the Ramirez family as well. We planned super well afterwards for the next day. That was our Monday.

 
TUESDAY - We got up and did our exercise and all that good stuff and had some wonderful studies and then we went to district meeting. Elder Richardson did a wonderful job again and had us all laughing. We went to Panda afterwards and a member paid for us there. I love members! We had a very successful day today as well. We taught 6 lessons. We started off our day with a visit to a less active, bro prince, and his non-member daughter was there so we shared a scripture and talked about conference with them. Then we went down to Kilgore and visited a less active member, Sister Willson, we shared a scripture with her and then headed to a Spanish family that we had tracted our a while back and had a short lesson with them and so we were just on fire! 2 new investigators and 3 lessons already. We then taught English classes with the the Garcias and that counts as another lesson because we talked about the Gospel and we read in the Book of Mormon. We ran back to Longview to have dinner and a lesson with a part-member family, the eastwoods before heading over to meet with the Stake President and talk with President Durrant and all them about the Stake. I love this area and the members down here! They are so cool! The mission is great! We love being busy just running from place to place. We then were driving around and we decided to stop and pray and it was really cool. So we prayed and after Elder Chappell asked me who we should visit and I said "Well the Aleman family came to mind" (which didnt make sense because we had just visited them a day ago) But we trusted the Spirit and went with it. We went over there and it turns out one of their neighbors had their house burn down and lost a child in the fire and was wanting us to come pray with them... I testify that God answers prayers. Listen to the still small voice! We had a lesson with the Rieds to cap off a 6 lesson day before heading home super tired and happy we did it. 
 
WEDNESDAY - Another amazing day! We got up and did our studies and then we went right to work. We headed down to Kilgore and did some knocking and found a new family of 3 and also a guy named Roberto so 2 lessons already. We then went and visited Josh and watched the talk by Jeffrey R Hollands talk again and it was powerful. Again. We met with Andy at our next appointment with a girl we found last week, Shiela. We had a really good lesson with her too and she said she was coming to church. We had dinner back at the apartment and then headed to do some contacting at the Monterrey before heading to do our visits with the English ward. Andy and I had an awesome lesson with Sister Cline and she looks as if she is well on her way back to church! Brother Sellers and Elder Chappell went and had a lesson with sister Pittman. Another 6 lesson day! We are on fire!
 
THURSDAY - This is where it gets tough. We havent planned in 2 weeks due to driving up to Oklahoma last Thursday, and the Thursday before having meetings all day. So... we have gotten out of it 2 weeks and we dont like it anyway but after 2 weeks of not doing it. It was hard! We wanted to get out! We have standards to reach, people to teach, and the Gospel to preach! We ate dinner after so we could just go out the rest of the night. We did some contacting, not a whole lot. Then we went to the church to have our lesson with good old Brent! Love the guy haha, he is very very strange but a good guy. We finally got him to agree somewhat to a date. We had a lesson with Marleny after and just went over the baptismal service and showed her the font and read some out of Mosiah 18. It was great! We had a lesson with Charles after and talked about conference and his baptism. We went over the Sabbath day as well. We have some awesome investigators! We already almost have standards.
 
FRIDAY - We needed to contact so we went straight to the Michoacana and started talking to people and then at 1 down to Kilgore. Today was hard. We didnt have as many lessons as we wanted. We did teach the new family we found and that was about it in Kilgore. Tracting didnt work very well. We were super tired but kept working. We have to get the standards. We tracted into some baptist lady who lived in Utah for 8 years and she was super sweet but never accepted the Gospel. We went to dinner at 4 with the Albas and it was good. After we went to start our exchanges with the other elders. I stayed with Elder Byington and Elder Richardson came to my area. I asked "So what do we got next Elder Byington?" he replied "Dinner" UGH... I had to scarf down another dinner. I was full after. We visited a few people and then we went to the church so that I could help elder Chappell with English classes. It went well. La familia Flores was there. Love hno Flores! We finished that and went back. We hit the sack at 10:30, Elder Byington and I talked for a bit before tiredness took over me.
 
SATURDAY - These are the Saturdays you dream of as a missionary! You pretty much have standards, you have a baptism, elder Byington locks the keys in the other elders car and it takes us 6 hours (our whole day) to drive around looking for lock smiths and calling the mission office to finally get it fixed RIGHT before your baptism... those are the days... UGH! It was nuts! We did get to our baptism on time though. We got some pictures of little Marleny, Elder Chappell and I next to a wonderful picture of Jesus Christ. What an amazing service. 30 minutes long and something you will never forget! She finally got baptized. Elder Chappell sat there afterwards just watching her sit amongst the wonderful members and happy as could be. We were just so full of joy. She finally did it. After 2 years of investigating. We were the missionaries privleged enough to be here when she finally took the step, we were the ones lucky enough to be used as instruments in the hands of the Lord to teach her what she needed to hear at the right time. I love this work. We brought someone unto Christ and to the path that leads to Eternal Life. We are so tired haha, we went back and prayed and thanked till our knees were sore. We also begged for 3 investgators in church Sunday for it would give us standards as well. 
 
 
SUNDAY - What an amazing day it was today! Spanish branch was great, Marleny was confirmed by Elder Chappell and then we both spoke about the age change and also our preparation to serve a mission. We didnt have any investigators though! So we are banking on English today... We got there and paced back and forth waiting for 3 to show up. Brent shows up ok ok... 2 more! Another one comes and the meeting starts and we are one short... OH NO! But at the last moment Rylie walks in. We did it! I smiled the whole meeting not only for that but also because it was the primary program today and I loved it! Seeing all the kids getting up there and how awesome they really are. We had wonderful classes and a short missionary meeting after before heading to the Muses to break our fast. We had some good beans and corn bread. We then did some major contacting to reach our weekly goal of 140. We got 162 and headed to do numbers. What a week! I came back and layed on the floor repeating to my companion with a huge smile on my face. WE DID IT!
 
Elder Aaron Jackson

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