June 20, 2016

Hey Mom!

This week:
The Andersen connection, getting Members out, half-decent talking, The first district council,  and the combine parade!

In terms of our P-day schedule, today we are going to a member in Quincy's home. I...don't know what he does, but evidently it involves orchards, and evidently he's very successful at it. The Yaetes, that was their name. They're super nice, and they invite us over sometimes for fun and food!

But before I forget, you gotta tell Paul this: So there's an Elder named Andersen in our district. He's one of the Zone leaders, and his brother served in the Macon Georgia mission from 02 to 04. And...you guessed it, sorta, they served together in a tri-panionship for a very brief time. He tells me his brother and Paul were with this one odd-ball of an elder who asked them "what is your favorite water type?" Paul's answer; "tap?"

To double-tap the question of whether or not that was Paul, Elder Andersen mentioned that after his brother left he looked up Paul on Facebook and made the comment that he must've thrown all his shirts away because most of Paul's pictures are him...with his shirt off! Yep, that's him alright.

But on a more current field of view, we spent a concentrated effort of scheduling member-present lessons beforehand. And, man, it worked like clockwork doing it that way! We got 7 of them this past week, out of a goal of 6. Go Humanity! And all of those (well, minus one I suppose), went incredible. Zuamy is still being just a little apprehensive, but she's opening up the more we get to talk to her. And of course, Alva and Bev are doing outstanding. We got to take them to the baptism of Saul Gamboa for the Hermanas this past week, and although it was in Spanish, they really enjoyed it.  Heh, Alva asked me if the jump-suits come in larger sizes than the one Saul was wearing even.

After that we pulled them aside and discussed their date with them. We have them now for the 2nd, that way they can both be keeping the Word of Wisdom and therefore be baptized together. It broke our heart to move the date, and Alva looked a little bummed as well, but they understood. They came to church the next day too! And John and Ashley came there too. Yay! The spirit is changing them so much! 

We've also been improving our Street-contact approaches. Simply talking to people is doing the trick. Matter of fact that was one of the thing Elder Holland suggested in Preach My Gospel, eventually something in conversation gets turned to the Gospel. And it does! It really does! Usually when a good conversation ensure just about anything can be tied back to the word. A lot of good experiences have come from it. One this week came when we talked to one of our neighbors. We were able to talk to her for a good time and in the end, she was alright with the sisters coming to teach her (ironically, we live in another ward's area). Sister Holmes and Enman reported back to us that they seemed solid when they went by to visit them!

I also, got to conduct my first district council this past week, and it went well too! Kind of like a briefing for an hour-and-a-half. Talked a lot about lesson fluency, what we could do to be better, role-playing, etc. Got a good amount of positive feedback from it. 

In short, the district did incredibly well this past week. We're really seeing the work pick up in the area here. Pray it all holds together, which it will! 

And to top it all off, a member who lives at the most bottom end of our area had us over for dinner, and while pulling into his driveway, we saw a line of combines starting down the highway. I don't know why this stuck out to me, but it did. I guess it was kind of funny-looking, Grant County for you. Anyhow, thanks for all the love and support. We need it, if it wasn't for the spirit that comes from Christ and the prayers, I don't know how'd we be effective. Still, the mean green tag & tie machine rolls on!

Love you!

Michael

You know, I don't really know why, but I felt like I should've sent a brief testimony to you,

But I can safely say that I know that this is Christ's church on the Earth. There's just so much beauty behind the history of the Gospel and so much divinity behind the priesthood and all things that Christ does for us. He's provided a way for us to return to a Celestial level of glory, and we can attain that by living his Gospel, which we now have the awesome opportunity to teach to the folks of the world!

Anyhoo, love you!

Elder Michael Camit