So, we will see how much I can get down in this email today. Tuesday alone occupied four pages in my journal, so I may just not have time to get it all down here.
But we will start with Monday! After the genealogy thing we helped out with, we went with the zone leaders and blitzed their area before our sleep over. Well, I had been talking a lot about "Fear No Man's" in district council (a "Fear No Man" is when you extend a baptismal invitation in your first contact), so we all said that we would extend one that night. Elder Gunderson and I went out, and finally someone listened to us, so I just straight up asked them if they would be baptized if they came to know it was true. My heart was a little in my chest, but it was worth it. We set a return appointment with that guy, and then moved on to his neighbor. When he opened the door, I asked him if he wanted to come closer to God. We talked about it a little bit, and then we read with him from the Book of Mormon, and I asked him if he would be baptized as a way to grow closer to God and he said yes! So we put him on date to be baptized on March 9th and set a return appointment. The spirit was so strong, though. It was really cool. Of course, we heard yesterday from the zone leaders that he dropped them :( but that he had seriously been thinking about it. So we at least planted one heck of a seed.
Okay, Tuesday. Tuesday was our big tri-zone conference with Elder Kopischke of the Quorum of the Seventy. It was a really fantastic conference, but I am just going to hit some highlights from it. First off, the "Fear No Man's" of the night before really prepared me for the conference, because he talked a lot about making our contacts more meaningful and effective, and the things he talked about where what we had done the night before, so I had an immediate testimony of them.
Let's see...so at the beginning of the conference I was surprise-called up as chorister. The first half of the conference happened without incident, I made some comments in the discussion, no problem, then we broke for lunch. As I was exiting the chapel, President Ross (one of President Hewlett's councilors, who I had never spoken to. His son lives in Cleveland) grabs a hold of my arm and literally starts to drag me off. I called after my companion, but President Ross responds "I'll be your companion for a minute" and keeps dragging me. So I was understandably concerned at this point, but he stops once we are a little ways away and tells me "you remind me of Neal A Maxwell, I'll be watching you". And then let me go. So, that was stressful, but kind of cool. And he kept his promise-whenever I was up front conducting, I couldn't look over at him because he would lock eyes with me and just grin. It is hard enough to know where to look while you conduct! But that was fun.
In the second half of the conference Elder Kopischke was demonstrating and teaching us about contacts. He had already gone down a row of Elders, having them do a mini-approach and then usually cutting them off with a "do better". So when he asked for a companionship to volunteer to practice some contacts...silence. but I had the urge, so I spoke up "we'd love to!". The look on Elder Gunderson's face said we wouldn't do any such thing, but up we went. Then Elder Kopischke pulls up President and Sister Hewlett to be the people we are contacting. So now I am in the situation where I am demonstrating a contact, to my Mission President and his wife, with a member of the Seventy looking on ready to critique. Eek. But I committed myself to it and went right in. Elder Kopischke gave us a couple of pointers, had us do it again. A sentence in, he stops us, has Elder Gunderson sit down, and says that he will be my companion. Phew. Raised the stakes a little bit did we? Now I'm demonstrating a contact with my Mission President and his wife, with a member of the Seventy as my companion! Mess this up and I'll be banished to Louisiana for the rest of my mission. It was an awesome experience, though. Elder Kopischke gave a few pointers and had me do the contact way too many times for comfort, but as I testified of the message of the restoration the Spirit was so strong. Sister Hewlett started to cry and asked if she could sit down ;) Once we were done with our demonstration, I felt a little faint from all the stress ;) but Elder Kopischke pulled me aside briefly and told me that of all the times he had done that demonstration I had done one of the best jobs. So that made me feel good. And then I could sit down and get my heart rate under control. Some of those really good contacts feel like you are surfing the edge of a tidal wave, you need a bit of a breather when you are done.
After the conference was over, we were starting to head out when I see President Hewlett beckoning me over...I think I've had quite enough stress for one day, but I head on over. He tells me that Elder Kopischke wanted to meet with me. So I closed the conference with a personal interview with a member of the Seventy. What an emotionally exhausting day, really. Felt like I needed a nap and a gallon of ice cream just to decompress. But all in all, it was a fantastic and spiritual conference.
Afterwards we drove the Livingston elders home and got back toCleveland. We only had a little bit of time before we needed to head home. But Elder Gunderson and I were committed to using the tools we had learned and getting a new person to teach, so we went out tracting. We didn't meet with a lot of success, and then this one woman answered the door. We asked her what she thought about Jesus Christ, she said she hadn't been to church in a long time. We testified that He loves her and that we had been sent at that time to extend the blessing of the gospel to her. We invited her to read with us from 3rd Nephi 27, we asked her what she thought of it and she said that it was true, and then the tidal wave took a hold of me and I invited her to be baptized March 9th and she accepted. The Spirit is so strong when we use the Book of Mormon and testify. So Tuesday, all in all, was a good day.
Wednesday I practiced "Shards of Glass" with Sister Van Duker for Sunday. That was the thing that stood out the most for that day.
Thursday...we had some really good lessons with K___ and a guy we found last week, D___ M___. It was really cool, we had members with us, and that really made the lessons more powerful.
Friday we had interviews with President, and district training, which went well. They are backing away from making us report so much stuff, which is good. President had been having us report our proselyting hours, which was stressful. That night we had a lesson with a brother that referred himself to us. We drove up and met with him, and he told us that he felt like God was calling him to our church, what did he need to do to join? So that was pretty cool, we talked about the restoration with him, but he had already looked up Joseph Smith. And when he found anti-Mormon information, he said it made him angry, so go J___! He came to church this Sunday too, and ended up bringing five of the kids from his neighborhood, so that was a lot of fun.
We also had a lesson with M___ P___. Starting out visiting M___, I was really uncertain about him. He has had a very troubled life, but I can see changes already taking place with him, which is really cool. I am starting to be able to love him more like Christ would.
On Sunday I sang Shards of Glass for Sacrament Meeting which went very well. People said it brought the spirit, which is my whole hope.
And here we are today! As always, any questions, comments, concerns can be addressed to me at adam.deford@mylds....actually, just kidding. Starting tomorrow, my email is adam.deford@missionary.org. But anything sent to Myldsmail will get forwarded, so don't worry too much about it.
Love,
Elder DeFord
All the missionaries took a picture with Elder Kopischke, I assume the mission will send it out later. Look closely at my tag for an Easter egg. (editor's note: I haven't seen this picture yet, but I will update the blog when I get it.)
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| He's going to miss the family reunion, but he's styling the hat :-) |
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