Okay, on to the mailer!
Our
weather has been on the fritz. On Tuesday we actually saw snowflakes!
And by Friday it was over 70 degrees outside during the day, which I
think is actually more normal for this area.
In
any case, we had the great opportunity to visit the Houston Temple on
Tuesday! It took most of the day, so our p-day today is actually
shortened to pay for it, but I'm so grateful that we have the
opportunity to go. When I found out that the temple was outside of my
mission I was disappointed because I figured we wouldn't be able to go
very often, but I am grateful we get to go quarterly. It's a big
blessing. Br. C__ drove us down, but I'll talk about him more in a
minute. The Houston temple is a beautiful building, and of course the
spirit within was delightful.
Also
on Tuesday, when we were out proselyting after 8, we got the cops
called on us. And we are being told by the ward council that our
nighttime work is getting lots of comments on Facebook, some good, some
bad, some people encouraging others to call the cops on us. Well, any
publicity is good publicity....right? But I know that President Hewlett
was inspired to give us the counsel to knock until 9, so knock we will.
A
little bit more about Jasper: since we drove out of the city limits
several times, I got to see the city population on the sign and all.
Jasper has a population of 7,714 people. Does anyone know how that compares to Tri-Cities/Kennewick? It only has one each of elementary, middle school,
and high school, and all of their mascots are the bulldog, so everyone
is a bulldog fan here. It's small, but a good place, and even though the
branch is small it is really wonderful, we have some great members. And
that brings me to Br. C__.
I
dont know if I said anything about Br. C__ last week, but we love
him. He has taken F__, our baptismal candidate, under his wing. He
takes us out for lunch with F__, and then teaches him a lesson and
gives us some time to teach, as well as helping get F__ the temporal
support and guidance he needs. Even after all that, he drove us to the
temple, taking up his whole day. He is a great guy, and a really good
teacher. His calling for the past 10 years has been to teach the gospel
in the prison every Sunday for two hours, so he has lots of experience.
We've been very grateful for his support, which is coming at a time when
his wife has been sick, as well. I aspire to be as charitable and
dependable as him. He also has given us just some really great life
advice. And to top it all off, he's hilarious. So we love Br. C__.
He's
not the only fantastic member of our branch, though. We have a lot of
people who were converts to the church but are now stalwarts of the
faith. It is a great area, country and small not-withstanding.
Also,
just kind of on a side note, have you ever noticed how posture can
affect your mood? One thing I try to be aware of is walking with my head
upright. When I walk I usually look down at my feet, which is fine and
all. But when I stand up straight and hold my head erect, I just feel
happier and more confident, I can hardly keep from grinning. Just from
better posture. Pretty weird, but I promise it works.
For
an investigator report, F__ is progressing well, and we put a young
kid named K__ on date as well! Our goal for this week is three on
date, so we are working with some more people we hope will accept the
invitation. More on that next week, if it works out.
Let's
see. On Thursday and Friday we did exchanges, so Elder Ure came up to
Jasper and I got to lead out for the days activities. It ended up being a
great day, with several good lessons (and at least one not great one-we
taught a drunk guy the restoration in about three minutes and gave him a
book of Mormon. At Elder Ure's insistence-I wouldn't have bothered
considering how far gone he looked. Well, he may not remember us, but
maybe the book will stir something inside of him). Because it was my
area, I got more of an opportunity to be the lead in teaching and stuff,
and it was a good experience for me. I felt good about where I was at.
For
a spiritual experience from this week, one night pretty late when we
were tracting we saw a guy going into a house, so we chatted with
him...he went in and sent another guy out, who went and pulled someone
else out for us to talk to...eventually I think we were talking to 4
20-ish year old men on the doorstep. We explained a little about the
restoration, and they kept asking really great questions. I really felt
the spirit bringing scriptures and answers to my mind, and Elder Lloyd
must have too, because we were able to answer everyone of their
questions, and reference a bible scripture almost every sentence.
Sometimes Elder Lloyd would be talking and I would think something like
"oh, Hebrews 12:9 would go great here" and then a second later he would
say "in Hebrews 12:9 it says...". So that was a powerful teaching
experience. After we left Elder Lloyd shared that he was pretty sure he
recognized one of them, and that they were part of a youth Baptist group
and had essentially been trained to trip us up and get us to contradict
ourselves our admit to being supremacists or whatever the case may be.
But instead the spirit led us to "confound" all of their attempts, and
hopefully they will remember the things we taught-from the bible- the
next time their pastor "teaches" them about the Church of Jesus Christ.
Just
to close, we did some service for an unbaptized daughter of a member of
our branch...and apparently it is a thing in Texas to just pile all of
your trash in your yard and have a bonfire. So we burned a whole bunch
of stuff.
Oh! I guess I
should mention that I spoke on Sunday. I talked about praying in faith,
and how if we pray for missionaries to find people to teach but don't try
and share with our friends and family, our prayers are in vain. I must
have had the right mix of fire and the spirit in my talk, because I had a
good fourth of the ward stop me to tell me how good my talk was, and we
already have one referral from someone who said that as I talked a name
came into her mind. See Elder Bednar's 2008 conference talk Ask In
Faith for where I got some of my material, it's a good talk.
With love,
Elder DeFord
P.S. any Christmas packages are supposed to be sent to
2815 West Lake Houston Parkway, #109, Kingwood, TX 773458 (with Christmas written on the package)
More about Christmas next week! Y'all better be excited to hear about Christmas in Jasper.
P.P.S.
the Boot Barn is the most Texas store ever, and I love it. Pictures
included. When I step off the plane in a couple years, I want to be
decked out in their merchandise, belt buckle and hat and all.
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