January 25, 2015

"A Test Of Faith "

Hey Y'all!

Man this week was a week of testing for me and Elder Smith. We had quite a few things not go our way when it came to appointments, but we ended up having a really great week in the end! But to start off the week we went to the Stock Yards and they were really cool! There are actually some members that own a gift shop there and they have a wall in the back room that has all the missionaries that serve in Fort Worth names on it. So we got to go sign the wall and also got some stuff because we got a discount from the members. So that was really great! We then walked around and saw the cattle drive down the middle of the road. It was pretty cool to see all the cattle go down the road. All the cattle were long horns and there were some pretty cool horns that we saw. We actually walked into a shop and it was just full of horns that you could buy. If they weren't so expensive, I probably would've gotten some. Haha! But some of the building that were there were really old and were in good condition. The Coliseum there is huge as well. It was built in 1908 or something like that and it was the host of the first indoor rodeo in the country. They still have rodeo's there and still use it for other activities as well. But it was for sure a great P Day activity. 

So now for the weekly report of those that we are teaching. We were able to go on exchanges this week with our Zone Leaders and I got to teach a Spanglish lesson in the Spanish ward area. It was really cool! I got to do it a couple months ago with another Spanish missionary and it was cool how I was able to sorta figure out what they were talking about and add comments. All the Hispanic people here speak Spanish, but if they see missionaries or people that speak Spanish, that is all they will ever speak to them. So we taught a Recent Convert of the church Faith, Repentance, Baptism, The Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End. It was really cool to see how awesome he really is and how prepared he was to get baptized. So the Zone Leader that I was with is going home next week and let me tell you, he is super truncky, or is ready to go home. All he was talking about was going home and waiting for his girl to get home from her mission. It was kinda funny, but it was really annoying by the end of the exchange. But he is a really good teacher from what I saw, or understood. Haha!

This weekend had a really rough start though. On Friday, we had 3 appointments cancel within 30 minutes, and then we had Elder Smith get sick in the evening. So we then wake up on Saturday morning and Elder Smith is still somewhat sick, he slept in because he really needed. But while he was sleeping in, we got a text from our investigators mom, the kid who is 16 and has a baptism date for February 14. He had run away because he got in a fight with his mom and she didn't know where he went. So we ended up going over and seeing what we could do to help. We ended up sharing a message of uplifting and how to rely on the Lord for help. We then went to an appointment with a member and her Sister who wasn't a member and had a great lesson with them. We talked about Faith and how Faith in Jesus Christ is the key to a Testimony. She loved it and told us to come back. After the lesson, we got a text from our investigators mom saying the he came back home and wanted to talk with us. So we went back over to his house and we talked with him for a little bit. We felt like we should talk about enduring to the end and how part of that enduring is to enjoy life. Things may not go our way, but we need to accept it and move on and not worry about it. He really enjoyed it and it helped him out. He ended up coming to Church yesterday which is really good and we could tell that he was much happier now that things are better with him mom and that he was able to feel the Spirit. So lots of drama happened with that family and we are happy that it's over. We are still trying to work with his mom in helping her become more interested in the Gospel, and she was asking about when the Relief Society was having activities. So we told her that the President will be in touch with her this week. We are happy that things have settled down and we are now going over tonight and teaching about the Gospel of Jesus Chirst. We are also going to be talking about the 16 year olds baptism and try to invite the mom to.

This week we are going to be focusing on Finding people to teach. We want to be teaching more people and helping more people come unto Christ. We are also going to be getting a new car this week so we are happy about getting rid of our Corolla. Hopefully we get something better. Like the new Corvette Stingray. That would be awesome! Haha! But thanks y'all for emailing this week and have a good one! 

Love,

Elder O'Brien