January 20, 2015

"6 Months To Go..."

Hey Y'all!

I cannot believe that I only have 6 months left...It has really gone by too fast and from what I've heard, the last 6 months feel only like one transfer. Monday I wasn't able to email for a couple reasons. The first one was because it was Martin Luther King Day so the library was closed. But the second is that we weren't going to be having P Day on Monday this week. Yesterday, an organization in Fort Worth put on a day of service, so all the missionaries in the Fort Worth area got to go participate in that. We met at an African Methodist church! It was built in like the 40's and it was so cool on the inside. The service started off with a worship service and it was really cool to see another service for another church. But they had asked for a youth choir to come up and sing some songs during the worship service. So some one had asked how old the "youth choir" would be. They said anyone 20 years and younger...so close for dodging that bullet. But it was different to sing different hymns. I enjoyed going to the church and listening to the service, but I also realized how in our worship service, we are more reverent and we are able to feel the spirit a lot more too. But I was really happy to get the experience. After the service, we went and helped clean a children's center. This place helped teach literacy and also focuses on reading. So we helped clean and disinfect the whole place. We were able to meet a lot of really cool people. After that, we went to the lunch that was provided and listened to the mayor of Fort Worth speak to us. We also got a picture with her, but only on the camera of one of President Ames's counselors. But it was still cool. We were all happy that we went to the service yesterday. 

So now for the rest of the week. We were able to have Zone Conference and there was a really big focus on helping the members do missionary work. We have been trying to get something going, and what we were able to talk about on Thursday is going to help us not only get to know members, but also help us get into their homes a lot more. After Zone Conference though, we went to go see the 16 year old that wants to go on a mission. He wanted us to stop by and help him figure out what to say to his mom and let her know that he wants to be baptized. So we did a couple role plays with him and he was able to tell him mom that night. It was really awesome! We were able to set a baptism date with him for February 14th, so it should really be a special day considering it's Valentines day. Haha! We later on in the week went to see him and teach him the Plan of Salvation and it didn't go too well. His house was crazy and the Spirit wasn't there. So we are going to have to re-teach it just to make sure that he understands it and has a testimony of it. But he came to church this week and the young men in our ward became really good friends with him. They were talking and laughing with each other by the end of church. So it was really cool to see that fellowship with they young men in our ward. We were also able to pick up a new investigator this week and she seems pretty awesome! She is all about families and wants what is best for her daughters. I think she is an only mom, but I'm not 100% sure. But we talked about the Plan of Salvation with her and she really enjoyed it and wants us to come back and teach her whole family. So we are really excited to go back Friday and share that with her.

We were also able to have another really good lesson with another one of our investigators. She lives alone and has had missionaries coming over for about 5 years. Her son is a member and lives down in Corpus Christi. We were able to share the Restoration Video with her and it started up a great conversation. She talked about how she wants to get back to church and that she wants to be more happy in her life. She really opened up and we are really excited to see her come to church and to be able to feel the Spirit even more. 

Today we are going to the Fort Worth Stock Yards! We are pretty excited to get up there. Today is our P Day because of the service yesterday so we are going up to that today. Thanks for sending emails to me this week! I really appreciate it! Love all yall so much and have a great week!

Love,

Elder O'Brien