Hey dad!
Things out here have been going great. Enjoying my new area in a new city. I've spent a lot of time up in Vancouver and I kind of miss it actually. Almost spent a year there.
Portland has its ups and downs though. This last Sunday was kind of interesting. Elder Russell and I were walking around contacting potential investigators and got a few lessons in with people in passing. People are willing to listen and that's all we need. Hopefully we will be able to spike some interest when we do so. But anyways we are walking back to our place and it was quite a walk so we ran into a lot of people. One lady and her daughter we talked to specifically. They were walking alone on one of the sketchy places of our area and we decided to talk to them. She is a single mother and wants to give what she can for her kid to have a great life and we happened to throw in some gospel topics in with that. It is just amazing to be able to share such a hopeful and inspiring message to as many will hear. And it's all worth it once that one person decides to meet with us and learn more. A lot of people here in Portland say " ya we'd love to" but are really sincere so we are working on sifting for gold as of now. Another funny story. After we finished talking to that woman and her kid we continued walking back and we talked to a marine that was a less active Lds member. He started telling us how he went less active and how he still believes everything and that its ok that he is where he is at. The confusion is real! Lots of interesting ideas. But while we were talking these two guys which I'm not sure were sober came up to us and asked if we could say a prayer with them and we accepted. We folded our arms and bowed our heads and he grabbed our hands for a circle prayer thing. He started saying the prayer and we just went with it and he started rubbing our hands with his thumb. It was interesting ahah. We ended up talking more afterward and gained some reinforcements when in time of need. The marine said that if we are ever getting messed with when he is around he will fix that and then followed by showing us his scars from road side bombs and others haha. I've gained a huge testimony in the white shirt and tie. We stick out and people can easily recognize us as representatives of Christ. And also Mormons which people aren't fond of sometimes. So continuing the story we continue back to our place and we run into this lady named Spring. She asks for 5 dollars in 1s and we start pulling out our change and we are short so we struck up conversation about our purpose and she answered with the desire to actually sit down with us and talk. As we concluded the conversation she attacked my companion with a hug. So I'm in the background with a look of horror. In the midst of this I'm thinking, " hey what are you doing?! We are missionaries!" And then just hugged me. The night ended on a weird note that's for sure. Random lady on the street hugged us and we couldn't do anything about it.
Portland has its ups and downs though. This last Sunday was kind of interesting. Elder Russell and I were walking around contacting potential investigators and got a few lessons in with people in passing. People are willing to listen and that's all we need. Hopefully we will be able to spike some interest when we do so. But anyways we are walking back to our place and it was quite a walk so we ran into a lot of people. One lady and her daughter we talked to specifically. They were walking alone on one of the sketchy places of our area and we decided to talk to them. She is a single mother and wants to give what she can for her kid to have a great life and we happened to throw in some gospel topics in with that. It is just amazing to be able to share such a hopeful and inspiring message to as many will hear. And it's all worth it once that one person decides to meet with us and learn more. A lot of people here in Portland say " ya we'd love to" but are really sincere so we are working on sifting for gold as of now. Another funny story. After we finished talking to that woman and her kid we continued walking back and we talked to a marine that was a less active Lds member. He started telling us how he went less active and how he still believes everything and that its ok that he is where he is at. The confusion is real! Lots of interesting ideas. But while we were talking these two guys which I'm not sure were sober came up to us and asked if we could say a prayer with them and we accepted. We folded our arms and bowed our heads and he grabbed our hands for a circle prayer thing. He started saying the prayer and we just went with it and he started rubbing our hands with his thumb. It was interesting ahah. We ended up talking more afterward and gained some reinforcements when in time of need. The marine said that if we are ever getting messed with when he is around he will fix that and then followed by showing us his scars from road side bombs and others haha. I've gained a huge testimony in the white shirt and tie. We stick out and people can easily recognize us as representatives of Christ. And also Mormons which people aren't fond of sometimes. So continuing the story we continue back to our place and we run into this lady named Spring. She asks for 5 dollars in 1s and we start pulling out our change and we are short so we struck up conversation about our purpose and she answered with the desire to actually sit down with us and talk. As we concluded the conversation she attacked my companion with a hug. So I'm in the background with a look of horror. In the midst of this I'm thinking, " hey what are you doing?! We are missionaries!" And then just hugged me. The night ended on a weird note that's for sure. Random lady on the street hugged us and we couldn't do anything about it.
I you have spoken a lot about mighty prayer and I always asked the question what does he mean? So I have now found out. I believe it's in alma where he labors in might prayer and fasting when he journeys from the city of ammonihah. So the conclusion I've come to is that you plead with your father in heaven truly humbling yourself and pleading with God in all things. Not wrote sayings. It's definitely a hard thing to do.
Right now I'm with Elder Russell. It's been good working with him so far. We are getting to know the ward a little bit and it's going pretty good. It's crazy to think that we are having an exchange student staying with us. It will be a little different coming home to that but exciting. You will have to sport another high school student. That's exciting. Time just continues to fly by and we will soon be talking on skype again. Crazy how that works.
I know that what I'm doing is the work of the lord. And that everything that we go through in this life happens for a reason. Learning from all of it and reacting positively is the key to really having his help throughout your life. It's hard trying to make decisions because you won't know if they were the good ones until after they are said and done. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God and the Joseph smith restored what was once lost. I'm learning everyday about how magnificent the gospel really is as I share it and study more and more. I'm grateful to be out here serving. My mission president had an interview session for the zone and when I went in he told me some interesting news. Our mission is splitting in a few months and he has a feeling that I will be heading that direction. As a zone leader he thinks that I will help start the new mission. It took me by surprise but I won't know for sure if that is happening until a month or so. I go wherever the lord wants me. It's what best! Good things are happening!
E. Archibald
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