Putting God's Word to the Test

Hey family!! 

 

This Week has been outstanding! 

 

We started it off great finishing pday a little earlier than we were supposed to and went straight to work. Got two new investigators in one night and it just continued to get better throughout the week. 

 

It all kind of started when we had our zone meeting on Wednesday. There were some guys from the MTC that came and taught us about the principle of 'dropping' people and making ourselves known and finding out what the investigators are trying to get out of meeting with us. We had a lesson at 12 that day and so we put it to the test. We told the investigator why we were there and what our purpose was. We ended up 'putting' him on date for baptism on the 26th of July. Seriously I didn't think this week could get any better than this. But it literally was just starting. We met with Eric later that day and we ended up 'putting' him on date for baptism also. At the end of the week we had 6 people commit to being baptized. And 8 new people agreed to meet with us. This week has seriously broken some records and the whole time we were focused on talking and converting as many people as possible. At times we skip meals because there are teaching opportunities at those times. 

 

My testimony has truly grown on the principle of sacrifice and trusting in the Lord. Not only in the blessings of teaching opportunities but also in my teaching and social skills. The mission is the best place that I could be at this point. Elder Kelly and I will keep this fire going so that we can show that the Lord can trust us. The one thing that I have really noticed is the ward is starting to offer up a lot of their time to go out on exchanges. I can definitely feel all the prayers that are in my behalf. I can see that my teaching skills have dramatically increased. I love the work here and the field is ripe and ready to harvest!! I truly know that to be true. We ended up teaching 33 lessons throughout the week and it never gets boring sharing the same message. The beauty of it all is that every time we share a message it's different because of the person.

 

Love you guys and thanks also for the support. 

 

Love, 

E. Archibald

New Companion Elder Kelly and Tariq

Hey mom, 

This last week has been a great one! 

I will just start off with transfers. Wednesday morning I got a new companion named Elder Kelly. He is from South Carolina and loves rap music. He is missing music in other words. Haha we get along fairly well because I can beatbox somewhat as he freestyles as we tract. It's a lot of fun. 

This last week we taught a ton!! Pulled in about 20+ lessons and a few people attended church. This week we are moving in on those progressing and inviting them to be baptized. We have four that we will be meeting with. 

On Friday we had the opportunity to meet with a teenager named Tariq. He has autism but with that there is something so incredible about him, a photographic memory. He can read at an incredible speed and remember named and people like Alma and Helamen- stuff like that. The way he communicates with us is through writing on a dry erase board. But it gets even cooler because his dad holds his hand so he doesn't shake and then interprets the writing because it isn't actually letters. Tariq is a well educated kid but he just has autism which limits his ability to concentrate for very long. Luckily in the midst of all of this we were able to teach a lesson on Mosiah 18. We asked him to read two verses but instead he read the whole chapter. He is so incredible and he got it from his parents but from God. I believe that God has something huge in store for him because Tariq wants to be baptized. But he doesn't want to give up coffee. Those drinks! Haha hopefully we can help him to realize how much better it will be for him without coffee. 

We are also meeting with this single mom named Corianne. She is incredibly nice! I wasn't able to teach her the first lesson but we taught her the Plan of Salvation. I think the reason why I like visiting with her so much is because she communicates so well and is extremely spiritual but at the same time smart. A perfect mix of logic and faith. People like her have such a huge impact in others. It's incredible.

You were speaking about birthdays. Happy birthday to everyone!! I wish I could be there. I had an idea for my birthday. Since we rarely had parties for me I figured you could all get together and celebrate my birthday and then send all my presents from my friends to me haha. Just kidding. If you are planning on getting me some stuff I have some ideas of what I need haha. I feel bad for even saying something but I promise they are pequeno. Love everyone!

E. Archibald

P.S. Dad,Miss you so much! Hope you had a good Father's Day and birthday a while back sorry I didn't send you anything. I remembered but I forgot on the Monday prior. Stay cool so I can come back and do some cool father son bonding stuff. Love ya

Home teaching and Sheryl the Trekky

Hey dad,

Sorry I missed your birthday last week, it was the day after my four month birthday haha!

I am getting close to 6 months out crazy right? I knew when you told me you were in the bishopric that you would be really busy. I'm betting you have to be up to speed on your home teaching, which is another thing haha. We had a huge spill about home teaching in PEC this last Sunday and it was kind of boring but it is a good because if people don't really know how to home teach it gives us an opportunity to go out and interact with members while contacting less actives. I never thought I would be excited to do the home teaching stuff haha!. Back home it was a pain but then my priorities weren't what they should have been. 

I know Brynn will do her best because she seems to be the best when it comes to getting the job done with her siblings. I would encourage that the whole family listens to the belief window/ self worth talk done by Hyrum W. Smith. It's really good. Its about an hour so it may take some time but it is a really good thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YDPqfAHm-Y

It really helps people to narrow down what people are thinking or why they are acting a certain way. My companion and I use it sometimes when people are rude to us. Recently I have been learning a ton about the gospel. The amount of questions we can ask and the answers to every one of those questions is amazing. I have been learning about the apostasy, how Christ's church was built (through doctrine) and why certain things have become the way they are today e.g. the trinity. Its pretty amazing how much information is really there. Ive also noticed that the more that I learn,  the easier it is to express my take on things in ways that people can understand and then work into depth if they have questions. 

This last week we found four new people that are coming closer to the gospel: Roger, Teela, Sheryl, and Kent. They are all older and have completely different lifestyles. They all have one thing in common, they all are trying to increase their faith in Christ!  I would have to say Sheryl is my favorite because she is actually a Treky haha. She loves all the Star Trek movies and collects action figures and things from the movies haha. Its kinda funny but awesome. 

Last week was great!  Hopefully it continues on to the next. 

Hope everything at home is good also! 

Have a great week!

Love 

E. Archibald