Christmas celebrations, relaxation, & back to missionary work - The story of Abinadi

Well, I don't really want to email this week. Sitting around doing nothing really takes it out of you and I really just want to go home and go to bed. On Tuesday we had a Christmas training in Manchester. That was fun. I played the piano for a bunch of different stuff, so that was nice. I can't really remember what I said I was going to play last week, but everything changed last minute, so I ended up playing 'O Holy Night' and 'Still, Still, Still' and some other stuff. It was fun. President taught us all about what really happened when Jesus was born, and he pointed out all of the symbolism. That was pretty fun, but there wasn't a whole lot that really needs repeating at the moment. Just imagine everything you imagine when people talk about the nativity and then get rid of it and make up something completely different, and then you know what I know now. Yup.

Anyways, on Christmas, we went to the same family's house three times in two days. We went Christmas Eve because they had some food left over to feed us after their family left, then on Christmas we went to their house and opened the presents the ward members gave us, and we came back in the evening to have dinner, Skype, and watch Frozen. In this mission, we are allowed to watch cartoons and some other 'family friendly' movies on Christmas and New Year. So this week I saw Frozen, the Best Two Years, How to Train Your Dragon (Thanks for nothing you useless reptile…), and The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, so that was fun. 

Then we finally got to start working again right at the end of boxing day (click on link to find out about boxing day:  Boxing Day) and the next morning, we went over to the other Elder's flat and I went on exchanges sitting in the flat with a sick missionary while Elder H went with his companion to the temple. And I took a nap. Yay. Then I woke up and talked to the other missionary for about five hours (literally) about video games, because he's a gamer, and he knows all the good ones for me to look up when I get home, and then I left, and we did some tracting.

In other news, yesterday we got to see our investigator again, and she is doing good. She said she was going to go to church, but she had to stay home and give her sick dog some medicine, but she's coming next week, and she's been reading the Book of Mormon. She gets it really well, she told us the story of Abinadi, and she remembered it perfectly. She says it's so true, and she was telling us about how there are wicked people and righteous people (she actually used the words wicked and righteous) and she said she wanted to be a righteous person. So I'm pretty happy about that.

I have a cold, so that's why my email sounds really boring this week, because I feel boring right now. 

What is a bear's favorite drink? ……………………………..Koka-Koala! Bye!

-- 

Elder Ferguson

The Cough Syrup Lesson

Do you know the feeling you get when you have to eat some nasty cherry flavored cough syrup, and it's gross, and you do it anyways, and it sticks all over your mouth and you think, wow, I'm glad I got that over with, and then you remember that you have to eat two spoonfuls? And then you choke down the second one, and try to get rid of the nasty taste of it with orange juice and rediscover the nasty flavour of orange juice and cough syrup and that in fact, orange juice does nothing to remove the nasty from your mouth, it just enhances it? And then as soon as you start feeling comfortable and you think the taste has officially gone away, and you realize that it's time for your second dose? Well, that's kinda how my week has been.

Actually, that makes it sound really bad, it isn't that bad, but it's been interesting. In fact, this week we actually went to the temple. That was good. That was like when I realized that I had cough medicine and that I could get better. I love the temple. It teaches about the Atonement. If you go to the temple, you will get better. It's good news. The temple is full of good news, and it's full of things that aren't bad, because Satan doesn't have a recommend.

This week, we have been doing missionary work. It hasn't been too hard, in fact, we haven't even done much tracting yet. (Although it is pretty funny, Elder H. told me last night that he had done more tracting this week than any week before on his mission. He's in for a surprise…) 

I guess the best way to describe why this week was like cough syrup is because this week, is to quote one of my other companions that I did a lot of tracting with. He said that if the work is going bad and you have a good companion, it's not too big of a deal, but even if the work is going well and you have a tough companion, it's not very fun. I like Elder H, he's a lot of fun, but he's very new, and his ideas about how things should be done are pretty different because he doesn't have a lot of experience. In some ways it's good, and I think it can actually help the missionary work go better because obviously, the genius of the church is that it uses imperfect people to bring about a perfect plan. We need diversity and all of that to teach us from each others perspectives, and Elder H. makes sure I get to know his point of view very well. ;)

So that has been my medicine this week. Learning to accept other people's ideas, even when they're not ones I agree with, and learning to be humble. It's one thing to know what you're supposed to do, and it's another to actually do it. I love not being sick, I hate cough syrup. I know cough syrup is good for me, but I don't like eating it all. And then I like to vent, thanks for listening, sorry for the long boring email of wallowing in self-pity.

Next week will be nice. I'm looking forward to Christmas! It's going to be great! I'm happy, even if it didn't sound like it today, Bye!

D&C 3:1-3 D&C 133:26 2 Corinthians 12:10

Elder Ferguson

**********************************

From Amy (Elder Ferguson's mom):

Here's a cute little email Elder Ferguson's little sister wrote to him yesterday and his response to the letter.  I couldn't resist sharing it. 

From Rachel:

How are you? Are you excited for Christmas? I am excited to see you on Christmas! Mary Christmas. do you now where you are going next yet?

I'm hoping I get a puppy for Christmas.  Mom said she already told Santa no though.  I also want an Elsa shirt or doll.  I also want an Olaf pillow pet.   That's from the new Disney movie you haven't seen yet.  I hope you like the presents we sent you.

What's your favorite food so far?  Did you know it's almost the end of the year?  Thanks for the Christmas card ryan lol. (There was no card)

 Rachel 

Elder Ferguson's Response:

Rachel,

I'm good. I'm excited for Christmas. I don't know where I'm going yet. Tell mom that she should get you a puppy because Santa's not going to get you one. I'm going to watch Frozen on Christmas. My favorite food is curry. I didn't know it's almost the end of the year thanks for reminding me. ByE!

--Elder Ferguson

Transfered to Rochdale, surprise!

Well, on Tuesday, we had a zone meeting. It was nice. We did some trainings, but I don't remember them. President Ulrich came to our meeting, 'just to visit,' and he came and watched me and Elder N and some other missionaries role-play, and he gave us some tips, and then he went and watched somebody else for the last couple of minutes. Then we had lunch, and our zone leader pulled me aside after I got my pizza in the oven and said, "Hey, so did President tell you about the transfer yet?" He hadn't. Then Elder O proceeded to bring the whole world crashing down upon my head. Not literally, don't worry, that's just a figure of speech. I don't know what kind though.

 

But anyways, he told me that I was moving to Rochdale and I was leaving right after our meeting ended. Woah. That is a long ways away. And it's almost Christmas. So anyways, I'm not actually that sad about it, but that was probably the most shocking thing that has happened to me on my whole entire mission. I actually got dizzy for a second. I never get dizzy. But anyways, I'm in Rochdale now, which is right next to the border of Middleton. I could walk from my flat to my favorite member's house from Middleton in about ten minutes.

Here is a link to a map of his mission.

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&t=h&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=208902184762411646460.00049dfa9acdb3b0fe918&dg=feature)

 

So anyways, all of the people that I was talking about last week, are kinda gone. They're still investigating, they're still happy, but I don't really know anything else because I'm in the other multi-zone now. :/ I'm mostly sad because I don't get to have Christmas in Shrewsbury, I was actually really looking forward to that, but oh well, I already like the members here, I think I made a pretty good first impression yesterday. Actually, a lot of members asked me if I was English. So I'm doing good. I'm coming home with a Rochdale accent, get ready. This is kinda crazy, because there's a slight possibility that this could be my last area. It probably won't be, but it could be.

 

My new companion is Elder H. He's from Idaho, and he's nice. He has only been out for three months, so he's still really young, but we have a lot of fun. I can't really think of too much else to say just now, we don't have a huge teaching pool right now, but I'm sure next week I'll have loads of miracles to tell you all about, bye!

-- 

Elder Ferguson

Stake Conference/ The church is true, don't forget it, because God won't forget you.

Woah, hey, so I figured out how to connect my ancestry account to my family search account. So before I forget, I'm going to pause and email everyone... :)

This week has been nice. We haven't done very much missionary work, but we still had fun. I don't actually remember what we did at the beginning of the week, but I'm sure it was good. Then on Saturday, we had the evening session of Stake Conference. That was nice. I played the piano while the rest of the missionaries sang for a musical number. I'm getting pretty good at sight reading hymns. I know Heavenly Father must have some sort of purpose for me, cause I wasn't even very focused on what I was doing and I still hit all the keys right anyways. I think my right hand knew not what my left hand was doing. I think that's a scripture somewhere, so it must be ok.

Oh, I almost forgot me clever analogy, just a second. This is kinda like my week this week, "16 ¶Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks."(Jeremiah 16:16) This is what it's been like because every week we find like four investigators, if we're lucky, then three of them disappear, and then we can just baptize them one at a time. :)

So anyways, this week, we went to stake conference. That was fun. And the best part was when we got there, because there's a video broadcast in the Telford chapel where we went, and we got there, and there on the screen was our new investigator that we had only taught once, sitting on the stand next to his friend. And then they sang together with the rest of the seminary students in the stake for the musical number. Haha. Then a member stood up to talk and singled him out and asked him to stand up. And he still says that he believes our church is true after all that! He actually really liked it and he said he felt the spirit really strong! Then we went to a fireside with those two and a recent convert who likes to drive us everywhere. The fireside was in Manchester. It was a lot of fun and President Ulrich spoke and he said a ton of things about Peter, James and John, restoring priesthood keys and all sorts of other fancy church words we had never told our investigator and probably some things that the other two members didn't even know about, since they were both pretty young. 

Then in the car ride home, our investigator told us that he doesn't think it's true anymore, he said he knows it's true. I don't know what's wrong with him. Maybe he's sick. Maybe he actually felt the Spirit. It was a pretty powerful meeting. 

The church is true, don't forget it, cause God won't forget you! These are my two scriptures for the week. They were going to relate to something, but I don't remember what. But here they are anyway; 

Isaiah 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Isaiah 5:25 Therefore is the anger of the Lord kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

-- 

Elder Ferguson

2 different members sent me pictures via facebook last night.  Yay!  He looks happy!  (I think this was taken at a missionary fireside.)

Investigators / Sharing the Gospel through Social Media

Well, we got transfer calls, and we're staying together. Yay. This week has actually been a pretty good one. We have a lot of solid investigators now, one of them has already told us he wants to be baptized. We are hoping he will come with us to Stake Conference with us this week. He is eighteen and he's friends with a member here, and he just sort of came out of nowhere and asked about the church. When we came to teach him the first lesson, he had already read First Nephi and he had already been feeling the Spirit really strongly and he knows it's true. What on earth... We're not even sure what to do with him. And this time, this isn't even a joke, he's a real live person that we met. We have a couple of other people who are pretty similar too. It's pretty nice. 

Yesterday, we had a 'fireside' that the ward council decided we needed to give at a meeting we weren't invited to. We had nine members show up. One of them was the ward mission leader who was helping to provide the technology, and one of them was on the bishopric. It was a good fireside though. We talked about how the members can use technology to share the gospel with their friends. We showed them some videos from an address Elder Bednar gave at BYU (I think it was BYU). It was really good, you should look it up.  

(I looked it up.  You can view it here below.) I just watched it this morning and I highly recommend it.  It was really really great!  It is 44 minutes long, so keep that in mind, but you won't regret it.  It would make a great family home evening lesson!  & Today is Monday!  How about that?!  -  Amy

http://www.byutv.org/watch/e1f321fe-7fde-40aa-a462-4f76a33efd3b/byu-devotional-address-elder-david-a-bednar-81914

You can watch the whole thing and it is full of good ideas for missionary work, and you should do it because otherwise the entire earth would be wasted at the second coming.(D&C 2) If we don't do missionary work, then we won't have members to perfect, and we won't have their kindred dead to redeem. It is the entire purpose of the church and of our Heavenly Father to share the Gospel (Moses 1:39) so that we can save people. If His purposes aren't accomplished, it just shows that we don't understand the purpose of God's creations. We don't understand the Creation, we don't understand the Fall, and we don't understand the Atonement. So hit 'like.' That's pretty much all it takes now. Watch a mormon message, hit 'like,' and you could save someone.

Bye!

-- 

Elder Ferguson