Eric Christensen and a change of heart

Hey family!

This week has been incredible! 

Elder Kelly and I have been pushing as hard as we can to bring as many people closer to Christ through baptism. The one thing I've noticed in the midst of all this is that my love for each investigator is amazing. One investigator named Eric Christensen showed up to church for his first time two weeks ago and again this last Sunday. Right when I saw Eric I was so excited because this man is changing his life. When people progress and start changing I see how much the gospel really will change their lives and it's incredible. There are few things that are better than sharing the gospel with someone and helping them to become the best person that God wants them to be.  

On Sunday we had the opportunity to introduce 7 investigators to the ward and I've never been so happy in my life. This following week is gonna be a doozy but we will keep you posted next week.

That's pretty cool that you get to be the usher for the temple! Maybe in the future you could move to Utah when your retired and work there! That would be something. It's incredible to see the amount of organization and work that goes into running this church. Think about it; missionary work which is a huge matter,  temple work which is also another huge thing. I could go on but that's a huge subject.  

Hope Fossilfest was fun and stuff. I forgot it was happening this weekend until it was Sunday morning. 

Love you guys!

-Elder Archibald

Eric makes it to church

Happy late birthday to my mother!

 

I think I know how old you are but I don't want to shoot myself in the foot if I'm wrong. Your birthday was a very special day. We had 4 out of 6 of our investigators that are on date and at church this Sunday. It's been amazing to see them progress. I've never been so happy when I see someone striving to get to church no matter what. I guess I will explain. So we have been teaching this guy named Eric and he is a very busy guy. He drives trucks everyday and we have been teaching him for a few months now. He desires to be baptized and read the Book of Mormon but when he reads he gets dizzy and he has trouble making it to church because of work. So we focused on how we could help him. We got him a CD copy of the Book of Mormon and planned a way that he could make if to the last hour of church. It's music to our ears when investigators are making progress! So we are sitting in elders quorum and we look back and see Eric. He is out of breath and still has grease on his arms and camo pants on. It was pretty funny but that wasn't my concern. He made church a priority and came just to catch a little of church. Maybe all of this was because we gave their kids a snickers bar the day before haha. 

Hmm mom. I want to share the first memory of you in my head. I just remember laying on your lap while you held a bath towel over my head that was gushing blood. Haha random thought but here is a better one. Remember the photo shoot when I was like 6 or something? Because i do. I remember you made me wear my shorts up to my hips and us Archibald kids have high hips! I looked ridiculous! At least that's what I thought back then.

I would like to thank you for the example that you have been to me and helping me with my mission. This is the best thing that has happened to me and the hardest so far. I hope you had a great birthday!

 

Love, 

Elder Archibald

Happy Birthday! I'm Twenty

Hey Brother & Sister Archibald,

Just wanted you to see your missionary son celebrating his 20th birthday!!

Elder Archibald and Elder Kelly live with us.  (Thank you so much for sending a box with "Happy Birthday" on the outside!  It put us on alert to ask just when that birthday was coming up and bake a cake.)  The ward mission leader, Brother Allen Rhyasen, lives three doors up the street from us and he dropped in during dinner to bring Elder Archibald a birthday present - candy treats, Mountain Dew, and Book of Mormon CDs they could give out to investigators.  The elders left quickly after birthday cake and ice cream to get on to their next appointment for the evening.  They are working super hard and currently have 7 investigators on date for baptism, I think.

Just a birthday update for you,

Sue Lowe

Brian, Josh and Jordan--following the Spirit

Hello family! 

It is my birthday and I'm going to be twenty. That is pretty weird and it's even more weird that I've almost been out here for six months. Time flies when your busy. 

The miracles are amazing on this end also! We have been working really hard to find people to  teach and this week we have really focused on bringing them closer to Christ and God more than just teaching them about our church. That's our whole purpose, because with that knowledge or relationship it will lead to action-which leads to accepting the church. This week we found these two teenagers when we were tracting and at first they didn't let us in. They said, "Thanks for stopping by but we aren't really interested." Then we asked to just come in and have a prayer and blessing upon the home and it worked! When we got in we had a small talk to break the ice then taught them some of the plan of salvation. Brian and Josh, the two teenagers, are so humble and open to hear a message they want us to come back. This week has been another incredible one that's for sure. 

I would have to say the highlight of the week was Thursday. That day we took the traveling assistants to the president out for a day and show them what we were working on. We loaded the day with teaching appointments and less active visits and it was going to be an amazing day. So when the plans actually started working out it really showed me what kind of missionary I could become. The assistants are pretty inspired and know what questions to ask. With that said, we ended up running into a kid named Jordan--actually the first door that we had knocked on and it was coincidence that Jordan had been praying to find something that would help or that could bring him closer to his Heavenly Father and we knocked on the door just after that prayer. First we become their friend and just share from the heart, nothing written down or why we were there, addressing concerns and inserting principles into an average conversation. Jordan is the definition of solid and we ended up leaving him with a Book of Mormon and a commitment to read. 

The Lord continues to bless us missionaries with people to teach. It is amazing! It helps to realize how a lot of the time you have to really be in tune to the Spirit so that you can ask inspiring questions instead of something you said before because it gets robotic and boring. I would like to thank you so much for those of you that are praying for me and my investigators. I can definitely feel those prayers.
That's awesome that your helping the missionaries out with proselyting and teaching. And yes I do agree with you on the blunt question of 'will you follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized' on the first lesson but it sets the expectation and no one is confused or beating around the bush. It's really amazing when you do go though because they see how important it is right off the bat instead of three lessons down the road. 

You are doing a crazy amount of missionary work now! That's exciting! Idk if I am just noticing it more around or what but the work has been increasing everywhere dramatically. It's definitely the sign of the times. Thank you for the package also! It was awesome and fun to follow. Everything was needed and is awesome. Could you thank the young women for sending me a box with a bunch of letters and candy. That was also awesome. Love the support ! 

I gotta go so happy Fourth of July and birthday mother! It's crazy how old we are getting. I will send you pictures every week. It's probably the best thing to do so.

Love ya,

E. Archibald

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