October 27, 2014

"HAPPY HALLOWEEN"

Hey Y'all!

This week was a pretty good week for us. We went on an exchange with our Zone Leaders this week and they are Spanish missionaries. I went with Elder Pierce and it was awesome because we came out together and we both served in Killeen together for 6 months. We did a lot of service with him. I don't know if y'all remember but we did a weekly service with a family for the longest time in Killeen and we did that together with the Spanish Elders. So it was fun talking and catching up with him. I went to the Spanish area and it reminded me a lot of the Tongan wards. Everyone is talking and you can't understand them. I thought it was great though. But the really cool thing that happened was this. So we had an appointment with a less active family and we were going to be teaching the Plan of Salvation. They spoke both Spanish and English. So we decided to teach a lesson in Spanglish. So I taught one principle and then my companion taught another principle. It was different but a cool experience. He had never done a lesson like that before so it was for sure journal worthy. And the lesson went really well. I was able to understand a little bit. Like pick out a word here and there to know when he was getting ready to stop talking. But yeah it was great! 

We were able to visit out investigator at the nursing home again this week. She really is so solid. We had just read a chapter in the Book of Mormon and it talked a lot about Faith and we asked her a way to show Faith to our Heavenly Father and she said with no hesitation, baptism. She wants to get baptized and we both know it. She can't read very well so these past couple weeks we were able to get a tape player and the Book of Mormon on tape from members to give to her so she can listen to it. We are going to be getting that to her tomorrow and she is going to be so happy. She had it on tape before but someone came in and stole it. She was really upset about it and has been wanting to listen to it for a long time now. So we are looking forward to that. We were also able to go to the Ward Trunk or Treat this week. We had to be there because we were the judges for the Chili cook off. It was really tough this year because there was a lot of Chili. So by the last 4-5 pots, they just tasted the same. But it was some dang good chili this year. It ended up being a lot more productive though that I thought it would be. We were able to invite some part-member families to the party and they all came and were able to socialize with everyone. We were actually able to get to know one family really well. We are planning on stopping by again her in the next week or so. This guy has been interested in the past, but he likes his football and 1 o'clock church interferes with some games. So we will see how his interest level is when we stop by. 

Man this week we had so much pizza too. I think out of the 7 days we had pizza 4. It was super good though. We had one family sign up to feed us and they had brought over a friend to eat as well. It was some really good home made pizza and we were able to share a message about how the Gospel blesses families. She seemed really interested in the message, but once the message was over, she wasn't too interested in us anymore. So we'll see if it goes anywhere. On Saturday we didn't have a dinner so we ordered pizza anyway. You would think we would be sick of it, but it tasted so good! We were pretty hungry. Today for P Day we are going to the Fort Worth Zoo. They are all decorated up for Halloween supposedly, so it should be some good fun. Speaking of Halloween we are going to be trick or treating! I'm going to be Elder Reas for Halloween....Not really. We are going to be spending 3 hours planning inside. Super fun...but oh well. Thanks for all y'alls emails this week and have a blessed week!

Love,

Elder O'Brien

October 20,2014

"Gathering of Israel, to Almost having a Quad"

Hey Y'all!

Man this week was awesome! So to start off, we had Elder Cardon of the Seventy come and we had a mission conference with him. He talked to us a lot but 2 things that he really focused on that stood out to me was the Gathering of Israel and how important it is to have the Head of the Household say the closing prayer at the end of the first lesson. So the reason why the Gathering of Israel stood out to me was because he read a series of scriptures in 1 Nephi 22 about how there will be a scattering and then there will be a gathering. And in verse 10 he told us we are the arm of God and that we are helping to gather the people back. I thought that was really neat. I also thought that is was really cool how Elder Cardon focused on the closing prayer as well. He did a roleplay on how it should be like and it was really bold too. He asked the family to re-arrange the furniture into a circle and sat next to the parents. I've never done that before on my mission. But he did it so that they were right next to the parents so that when the head of the household was going to give the closing prayer, they were right next to them the whole time and were able to help them. I thought that was really cool how all that worked out. It's like Elder Cardon knows a few things about missionary work. I was able to see a lot of missionaries I've served around in the past! I also left my bike pump down in Hewitt, so I was glad that I was able to get that back! 

So for this week we were able to have a really successful week. We ran into a part member family this week and it was so inspired that we went over there! We were biking that day and our dinner had just cancelled at like 4:30 and we were pretty bummed about that. So we decided to still go see this family and we went over and they let us right it. They are really awesome! The wife is a member and the husband isn't. She just got back into church a couple years ago and is a strong member already! He is really a cool guy and I think that the only hold up for he is that he hasn't had anyone or anything spark an interest in him yet. But the potential is there for him. They have family home evening, family prayer, and he leads it! It's really cool to see that! He recently quit smoking and that is a really cool story that he told us! So we are planning on talking to the Elders Quorum president about getting some really solid home teachers for them, ones that actually go visit. Because if we can spark an interest in him, I know he'll get baptized. He's been to church and everything. Just a spark of interest is what we are going to be trying to do these next couple weeks with him. We were also able to meet with another family for dinner last night. They are kinda hard to eat with because they usually eat dinner at 7, and we need to be done eating by 6 o'clock. So that doesn't work out with us really well. However, we were talking with them and said that if they were to bring a non-member into their home for dinner, we can eat at 7 with them and share a message with him after. So they said that they would do that and to plan on 7 in 2 weeks. We are excited to start going over there and teach him.

One other thing that I thought was funny happened as well. So we went on an exchange with our District Leader and I went down into Joshua, which is right below Burleson. So we were tracting a street and we got inside a house and these people were really friendly with us, but just weren't interested at all. They had a Quad that was given to them. (A Quad is the Bible, Book of Mormon, and other Scripture all in one book instead of 4 different ones.) So they told us to take because they don't want it and that "someone else could use it." So we left with the Quad and I was like sweet! I've never had a Quad before so I was planning on keeping because I looked in Isaiah and Revelation, and it was marked up with cross references and everything. So I wanted to go study that. However, there's that saying don't could the chickens before the eggs hatch or something like that. So we knock on a house a few doors down and we start to teach a lesson with this family. Then the mom said that they had just moved in to the house and that all their stuff was in a storage unit down in Houston and they didn't have the money to go get it. The reason why she brought this up was because her Bible was in that storage unit and we were talking about prophets. So as soon as she said that, I looked at the Quad and said to myself, I already have the scriptures and they need it. So I gave it to them to have. I thought that it was really cool though how that lady who gave it to us said that someone else needed it, and that someone else lived right down the road. It was really cool.

Last week for P Day we decided to go bowling and it was really fun. I bowled 227...in 2 games. However, the second game was the better of the 2, as usual. This week we don't know what we are going to do. We might stop by JCPenny's and look at the clearance rack for ties. Always on the lookout for some good looking ties. Thanks for all you emails this week! I hope everyone has a blessed week!

Love,

Elder O'Brien

October 13, 2014

Hey Y'all!

Man this week was pretty great! We had Zone Conference this week and it was a little bit different than usual. there are usually training and President usually presents something that we need to start doing for the up coming months to find people to teach or to help us teach. Instead we watched a MOVIE!!! The only movie that I'll be able to watch on my mission! It was Meet the Mormons and I recommend everyone to go see it! It gives stories on 6 different families and basically shows them in their daily lives and it also talks about how their religion fits into their lives. I thought that it was really great! It's only going to be in theaters for a couple weeks, so go see it if you haven't already. We also had Stake Conference this weekend and we had a member of the Seventy come down and speak to us. He did a great job in making sure that he wasn't boring to listen to and he made if fun for the youth as well.

This week I was able to meet one of out investigators who is SOO solid! She knows that the church is true and I asked her what the next step was for her with us coming over and she said that she is going to get baptized! So she knows it's true and has that desire to join. However, her only hold up is that she had to have her toes amputated because of an infection that happened on one of her feet. So she had the surgery and she has to wait for the doctors approval before she can get it wet. So we are just in the process of waiting for her foot to heal and have the skin grow back fully so she can go to church and then get baptized. We are right now just reading the Book of Mormon with her and helping her understand what is going on and how we can apply it into our lives. She loves to read is and is going to make an awesome member someday! 

This week we have Elder Cardon from the Seventy coming down to speak with us. We are really looking forward to what he has to say to us. I'm also looking forward to seeing a lot of other missionaries that I haven't seen in a long time as well. It should be quite the reunion. I also found my apartment key this week from my old Hewitt apartment. Ha I wonder how they have been getting inside this whole time. Hopefully Elder Smith has his spare somewhere. But Thank you for you emails this week! The car is awesome! :) I freaking love it! Best way to get around and do missionary work by far! But thanks again and have a blessed week!

Love,

Elder O'Brien

October 6, 2014

"Burleson!

Hey Y'all!

First week in Burleson was really good! I spelled Elder Reas's name wrong last week but that's how you spell it. Haha! He is from San Diego, California and he is excited to get to work! Our area now is really big. It's about the same size as the ward down in Killeen, but the only difference is that we now have a car to get around, which makes a really big difference. However, without all the daily exercise and the way I've been eating, the weight might just start to come on. Haha! But I'll live with that. We have 850 miles for the month that we need to manage and in 3 days, we went 115 miles. So for you math people out there, we are on pace for going way over what we were given. Haha! The work here is pretty good as well. We are in the stage of finding people to teach. We have a few investigators right now, but we are looking to get a lot more people to teach. The ward just adjusted their ward boundaries and we have a lot of new members to go see. This is really good for us because we can meet them and immediately start working with them and their missionary efforts. Plus with General Conference just happening, we have a lot of talks that we can refer to to help us teach.

Speaking of Conference, it was so great this year! Man, it seems like I get more and more out of it each time I watch it. We watched one of the sessions at a members house and we also were able to have lunch there as well. We watched all the other sessions at the church building. Which was pretty good. It was kinda lonely because there was only like 10 people there total and they were from the other ward here. But I really enjoyed the Priesthood session this year. There was a lot of great messages this year that I will be thinking about and also printing out and reading again. 

Even though I'm excited to be here, there isn't much to report on this week. We didn't teach anyone except those that were recently baptized. However, they are some of the most solid converts I've met so far on my mission! One of them I met, she just got her Temple recommend and she is going to be going to the Temple this week. She is so excited about it! So that's really great for her! This week we have Zone Conference as well. I'm going to be seeing Elder Hyde there as well so I'm excited to see him. There's a lot of people that I know in our zone and the other zone that's next to us. So missionary wise, it's going to be a great area, and work wise, I know it's going to be fantastic! I love all y'all and thanks for the emails this week! 

Love,

Elder O'Brien