We worship Jesus Christ, not success.

Howdy! (that's an American word. haha.)

This week was pretty good. Except for our investigator, .... said that she didn't want to be baptized on the first anymore in church yesterday. If you ever happen to meet an investigator, or go teaching one with the missionaries (yes, I am aware that most of you who are reading this live in Utah and think that you don't need to do missionary work, but just in case  C ), please do me a favor and never EVER tell someone that they are being baptized to soon, or ask them if they're sure they want to do it that soon, or question the missionaries anywhere near the investigator. The missionaries know what they're doing.  Anyways, she still wants to be baptized, she just wants to put it off a little. No big deal. Just her Eternal Salvation.  p

So this week, we went on exchanges with the Zone leaders. That was really good. I don't remember if I mentioned this last week, but I have been on exchanges twice now in the two weeks I have been here, and both times I stayed here and 'lead' the area while Elder F went somewhere else. Whew. That's pretty weird. The bus system is crazy here, but it's pretty fun anyways. We didn't have a whole lot of success during the exchange. Luckily, as Elder Oaks put it, we don't worship success, we worship Jesus Christ. It's a good thing, cause I would be in trouble some times. But we did find one new investigator. We were walking down the street, we were about to get back to the flat, and we hadn't found anyone to teach and we were about to finish our exchange, and we passed this young man. I took one look at him and said to myself, oh well, he will just ignore us anyways, he's a young man, and he doesn't look like a very 'churchy' person. So I kept walking and Elder P started talking to him. We had a lesson on the spot and he gave us his phone number and address. So hopefully we will be teaching him this week. That is when I felt what Elder H (from my last area)  called 'the spirit of correction.'

Anyways, we also had specialized training this week, which means we had a training from the zone leaders, the assistants, and President and Sister Preston. One very special insight I had from President adding on to Sister Preston's training was that chocolate comes from trees, therefore, chocolate is salad. The End. So that was nice. But I also got a real insight thingy from the zone leaders. They have had a ton of miracles happening lately. They have had like five serious member refferrals and they have all turned into investigators. They said that they were talking to President about it and he said that they must have done something right and the Lord was finally blessing them for it. Basically, just because we're doing something good, and keeping the commandments and everything like that, that doesn't mean we will be blessed right away, it just means that we will. So yeah. Be patient and eventually you will be blessed for your righteousness.

This morning we got a referral for someone who wanted a 'Finding Faith in Jesus Christ' DVD. I have been passing out cards for that like crazy recently because we have run out of mormon.org cards and they've had a mess up so they can't print any more for a while. Anyways, I got a referral this morning for the DVD and they gave us their full name, their number, and their address, and they live about five minutes away from our flat. They said they also want a Book of Mormon. There's proof that we will be blessed for our diligence, even if it takes a long time sometimes.

Anyways, I don't have much else to say. Bye!

Elder Ferguson

The new area…more details! yay!

Well, this week was good. I don't remember if I wrote you before or after we got to phone call, but the trainee, Elder S, got emergency transferred while we were emailing yesterday, so there's just two of us now. Me and Elder F. I wasn't training Elder S just for the record though. It was Elder F.

Anyways, this week has been good. There isn't a whole lot to report I don't think. This ward has a ward pianist, so I just play the piano on P-days now, which is why this email might be a little bit short. On Tuesday and Wednesday, we went on exchange with another missionary, and I stayed in the area and tried to navigate the bus/train system. We mostly walked... XD But I have a map, and I have re-learned everything I was supposed to have learned in Scouts, so it was fine. :)

On Friday, we had interviews with President Preston and I played the piano in the chapel while Elder F had his interview. I am getting really good. I also discovered that the chapel has an organ and you don't need a key to turn it on, so I might learn to play the organ while I'm here.

While we were doing interviews, it hit me that I had been super pridefull about my last area, because in Middleton we had been teaching about thirty lessons every week, which was about twice as good as most districts were doing in the zone. But it finally hit me that really, none of that could have happened anyways if God hadn't blessed me with all of those investigators and stuff. I realized that I really wasn't doing any more work than most of the other missionaries, although I think that that did definitely have something to do with it, but I didn't really have anything to do with me. I'm finally starting to understand that Heavenly Father really does love me, and that Faith is not measured by our sucess, it is measured by our work. President Preston quoted Elder Oaks saying that we don't worship success, we worship God. So I am much more humble now. And even though we spent all day knocking doors on Saturday and we didn't get one new investigator, I don't doubt that God loves me or that he doesn't want to bless me or answer my prayers, he's just not doing it the way I think he should, which doesn't matter anyways. So yeah.

We are having a baptism on February 1st. It's a woman that was referred by a member. She's super good.  It's really amazing what member missionary work can do, I think it's really the only way missionary work can be done effectively here, because nobody wants to let a stranger come in and preach to them…

Have a nice week! If you aren't a full-time missionary, have a good time intruducing friends to the gospel and making new friends! Or repenting if that's what you want to do instead...? Bye!

Elder Ferguson

A new companion

Well, this week has been really good. The companion I have that is training is Elder S, but he just barely got emergency transferred to a new area because I think another missionary went home. It's pretty sad, he's a really good missionary already. He's actually waiting for his visa so he can serve a mission in India. Well, anyways, I don't really have a whole lot else to say. Thank you for the birthday wishes. Bye!

A letter from England from the Bishop's wife.

I got this great email today from another member of his ward in Middleton.

Hi Sister Ferguson,

My name is Chris Bushnell and I've been a member of Middleton Ward for over 50 years.  My husband is Bishop at present and so we have worked with your son at times, giving him lifts home many times. I have had two sons serve missions and would have loved to have heard from a sister in the ward they were serving in, and I know I ought to have written before, but since my husband had a big heart attack and myself a stroke,  Elder Ferguson joining us just after, I haven't felt up to it so please forgive me.  I hope you don't mind my writing.

In 52 years I've met a lot of new missionaries. Mission President's seem to think we are good at unnerving the new trainee's, but Elder Ferguson has been one of the special one's.   He came to us so timid.  I don't really think he could understand my English accent at all.  He just smiled.  He started to play piano for us, as our pianist had stopped doing it, and as nervous as he must have been, he plodded on regardless.  He has been able to play his jazz for us during our ward activity evenings, and we've even had a few notes out of his trumpet.  (I have watched your youtube to Bro. Maurice , and he is excellent).  I, having a musician for a dad, a pianist for a sister and four children learning and playing piano, and trombone, appreciate your son's abilities.

I'm writing to tell you that I have seen Elder Ferguson overcome his shyness, not that he has become a loud missionary, I've seen him teach the gospel with his own parables so that the sister they were teaching could grasp something; I've witnessed him speaking in Sacrament meeting and bearing his testimony to us.   He is a very special young man and you, as I usually describe our feelings, must be 'well pleased' with him.   He is a gentle giant and I 've warned him he will be in big trouble if he doesn't come back to see us at the end of his mission. :)

The sisters in our ward are very kind and motherly and they, we, have loved mothering him.  We hope he is happy in his new area, Crosby.  If he thinks he's had trouble with our accents, I've told him he is going to have big trouble there, in the Liverpool area. They really do have an accent of their own, but will be lovely people and he will enjoy the challenge.   

Sincerely 

Sister B

1st Transfer - To Crosby/Liverpool Stake

So I'm getting moved to Crosby on Wednesday, which is in Liverpool Stake.  I only have fifteen minutes to email you, but maybe I'll tell you more next week. Today was good. Elder H is staying here, so you can still write him at this address, but I'm leaving. My new companion is going to be Elder F.  He's going to train a new missionary at the same time, so we will be in a trio. If you have some free time, feel free to email me the links to some deep doctrine talks so I can listen too/ read them. This Saturday we are baptizing two of our Hungarians, and another will be baptized next week. So that will be really good. Bye!