It makes me happy!

Hey mom! 

This last week was great! Sorry took me so long to reply but this past week was pretty sweet. We went around and got three new investigators and some potentials with that. We are teaching a lot compared to what we used to do. We have been working on increasing our teaching pool. Elder Burk which is my new companion is a really good missionary and can teach whenever and is so knowledgeable. He is a great example to me and I hope I'm with him another transfer. 

Oh and I don't know if you got an email from me last week. I thought I emailed you but I don't remember exactly. We have been working with this woman named Brittany. She actually was a former investigator and we dropped by one night and when she opened her door we saw that she was crying and so we didn't know how to respond.  We started talking with her and found out what was wrong so we could find something that could possibly help her. Elder Burk shared the story of Joseph Smith when he was I Liberty Jail and asks 'why this is happening to the saints and him?'  Wondering why he was going through this hardship. Then he received an answer from the Lord telling hims that there was something to be learned from the trials he was going through. This helped her a ton. We stood in silence for a second and then invited her to church. We encouraged her to go to church where she can feel of the Spirit and love within the ward. The ward here is amazing I might add. She said she would think about it. 

We continue to work with a bunch of people but one that sticks out the most in my mind is the older woman names Sheryl. She is such a nice lady but has some health issues so we haven't been able to actually get in but she is so open to have us around. She even calls us to cancel appointments and set up new ones. It was pretty cool. We stopped by randomly and she happened to be sick with the flu. We offered her a 7up that we could run and get her and she was so excited haha. So we got her the. 7up and returned to receive another smile and many thanks. This little story is very simple but it could make a big difference when it comes time to listen to us. 

I like to make people happy. As a missionary when you make someone happy even when your making yourself look like a retard it is an amazing thing. That makes me think of Patch Adams when he would use the bed pans as slippers to make the kids with cancer laugh. Serving others is by far my favorite thing in the world to do. There are not many feelings that are better than the feeling of making ones life a little bit brighter. 

I would like to thank my mom for her goofy jokes and personality that I inherited. And my dad for all the things that he has taught me. 

Love you guys!

E. Archibald

Service projects and a serious tip

Ya I have definitely heard the song "Let it go." Its pretty popular. Its pretty crazy to think that I have been out of school for a year now. But I'm getting old too-- so don't worry! Its weird I'm going to 20 years old soon! I wonder how you feel about this... haha!

So this week we have done a few different service projects. We started out helping this woman name Robyn with her yard as a zone. We did a ton of work just pulling weeds, raking up branches and throwing everything in a pile. They consider a black berry bushes a bad thing, haha!  I would love to have one cuz black berries be delicious! 

 

The second service project was serving the homeless. Its was cool because I played waiter and Ihad almost 30 people to serve and so it was kinda scary at first but Igot it down. Throughout the feast the relationship between the elders and all the other people that volunteered got much better. I think the other volunteers have a better understanding about missionaries. I don't think they think we are weird anymore because we are just normal people. But that wasn't the highlight of the weekend. The night before, we were walking down to visit a member right before it was time to go in and we decided to bring his rope so he could rope some stuff and so I brought my guitar to have some music/ sound effects for the activity. Right before we got there we were stopped by someone that was stalking us. She looked at us funny and then drove off and then turned around. This was weird because people usually run from us. She rolled down the window and ask if she could donate some money towards our cause. Meanwhile I am plunking out Wonderwall and thinking what? Donate money. I asked her if she was sure. Because we don't get the "Can I donate money?" But she was serious and followed her to her house and to make a long story short we got 50 bucks! Which we put in as tithing!

 

This week has been good! We had a bunch of appointments and a lot of them canceled or forgot so we are continuing to try to go by and see what we can do to help them. We stopped by Charla this last Wednesday, she has trouble with smoking and some other family issues. She reads from the Bible at time and asks us questions about certain things. We answered all of her questions and have convinced her to read the Book of Mormon. She said she had trouble reading it but we are going to help her. 

 

We also have been working with this younger girl named Luca. We had a church tour on Wednesday and it went well. We took her through the church and described all the rooms and their purposes until we reached the chapel. She definitely could tell the difference between our church and theirs and I think it was the feeling inside aka the spirit. WE hope to continue working with them so we can help them reach the waters of baptism. 

 

Thanks for all of the support from the family! Love you guys!

E. Archibald

Elder Hamrick & Elder Burk

Transfers and plastic pools

Hey mom!

Mother's Day is coming up and sadly I got you nothing except a good
looking haircut for next Sunday around 3:00 p.m. Haha just search my
email on Skype and that way you can do it on PC or we can do FaceTime
also--whichever!

This last week was pretty cool. It was transfer week and so I actually
got a new companion named Elder Burk. He has been out about three times
longer than I have and it's been great so far. We have been working over
my first area, at least for now and it's been good. We actually have
some new potentials and contacted a ton of less active members.

For now we are working with Brittany. She has been a previous investigator
but we are going to get her this time. We recently met with her and
set up a church tour for Wednesday. This will be my first church tour
but from what I've heard the church tours really bring the
Spirit because we truly have amazing buildings. Sadly we have no
baptismal font in our building but we decided to bring a little
plastic pool as substitute. Haha kidding but hopefully she keeps that
commitment so that we can progress.

We are also  working with a man named Elione.
He actually contacted us and we will be heading
over Wednesday. I think as we continue to pray and be obedient, people
will continue to come into our paths.

Love this work and the people I share the gospel with.

E. Archibald