FEB 16, 2015 Pictures!/ Keeping Focused/ YSA/ 2 New Investigators

Well, this week was good. Have you ever seen The Best Two Years? It's a funny movie about missionaries and one missionary gets a bunch of letters from home and he's reading them and he says, 'This is Trunking me out of my mind!!' It's pretty funny. That was my Tuesday/Wednesday, not because of letters though. It was because we had a tea appointment with a YSA aged member and pretty much all she talks about during our tea appointments is movies, and they're usually movies that I haven't seen yet, but I will be seeing in approximately five months. So that was nice, but then on Wednesday, we had a meeting in Chorley. Which was great.  We got to see Meet the Mormons because it's coming to England! Be jealous, all of you other foreign missionaries. The only thing is, guess what month it's coming to England? June. 

(He comes home June 25th)

Yeah. And then we had a series of activities in groups and the whole time I was thinking, 'wow, this must be what institute/YSA is like...' So yeah, but don't worry, I got refocused and now I'm fine. Plus, we had some great missionary work which I'm going to tell you about via ctrl+C, Ctrl+V. =D

 

 On Thursday in the hour before weekly planning, we went out and tried by some people who weren't in and street contacted on the way. The last five minutes before we got back to the flat, we found two new investigators in a row. One of them, we've already seen him again. He is amazing, he doesn't really look like the type of person who would be interested in the gospel, but he said that he always talks to Jehovah's Witnesses when they stop him and he's really interested in religion and finding out about the purpose in life and in changing his life around. We met him again at the library on Saturday and he told us that he really wants to get forgiveness and he's really excited to learn about what we're teaching him.

We also have another investigator that we actually met last week, but we didn't get a chance to see her until Saturday. She is Catholic, but she isn't practicing and she was interested to learn about what we believe. She is also looking to find the truth and she told us that she has already studied some other religions, including Buddhism. When we came to our appointment, she invited us right in and we taught her the restoration. Our recent convert, (Jill) was there and she bore a great testimony, and she told her that she used to be a Catholic when she was younger, which we didn't even know. (Jill) knew just what to say to help, and it was amazing.

Have a nice week, bye!

-- 

Elder Ferguson

Mysterious Referral Story

This week we got a referral. Which they just send us by text now, but they don't tell us anything but the contact information. So we went to check this referral, and the person's husband opened the door and let us in. We came in and she was just sitting there on the couch and she was like, "Oh, Hi, come in, sit down," and stuff, and we were like, "Who are you?" So she told us that she was a member and she had gone less-active in the nineties. The NINETIES! 

She was doing her family history, and she found familysearch.org and she thought, oh yeah, I used to be a Mormon. She hardly remembers anything about the church, but she remembered that she was a member, so she referred herself to ask for a Book of Mormon. Woo! Her husband isn't a member and they were both really happy to have us over again and she wanted to read the Book of Mormon again and see if it was true.

Well, I don't really have any more time because another missionary just sent me some deep doctrine charts and I don't have the right amount of change to print all of them, so I'm going to read them. Bye!

-- 

Elder Ferguson

The story of Jack & Jill

Well.                

 

I would like to start this letter thingy by informing everyone that I am NOT TRUNKY! (anymore) So don't worry about it. I will just keep my daydreaming about home to pdays until 6.

 

Anyways, this week has been great! We had a training by the assistants and President Ulrich on Tuesday. Guess what we talked about? Not being trunky. They pretty much might as well have just read everyone my email from last week. It was kinda funny. I think that must be what it's like to study the lesson before you get to church. It definitlely makes it more exciting.

 

This week we saw a few of our investigators, but there isn't much to say there. They are all just kinda taking it slow... We are finding a lot of new ones. But then when we go to their houses, we find out that they don't actually live where they told us they live. They must think they're really funny.

 

But, this week I did learn two very important lessons. Yesterday. So this is going to be another rebuking email, sorry if some of you were enjoying my cynical humour and stuff, but that's going to have to wait till next week I guess.

 

So! We have two recent converts. We will call them Jack and Jill because this will get confusing otherwise. So Jack is going back to his non-mormon ways and it's not good. He's friends with Jill, and he goes to her house a lot, but he doesn't want to talk to us anymore, so whenever we go to Jill's he tells her to tell us we're not there. So we pretend like we believe her and teach her on her porch. But on Saturday, we asked Jill if she wanted to come with us to a fireside in Manchester. And she said yes. And then she asked if we could meet at the library that day, cause it's warmer. So we came over and she told us that she was feeling bad because she hadn't been reading the scriptures every day. So she's going to start again and we're going to call her to remind her and stuff. Then when we were about to leave we asked her if she wanted to speak at the fireside (to bear her testimony, a lot of recent converts do it at the fireside). We thought she would say no, but instead she said yes.

 

So then on Sunday, we were in Gospel principles and this was the first principle that I learned/ taught. Jill asked if someone sinned enough, and they kept repenting and going back, could they reach a point where they can't repent. And the answer is no. Actually, I kinda wanted to pull an Elder Scott in class and tell everyone that the philosophy that you can't repent after too much sin is one of Satan's Lies. Because it is. It is never, ever, to late to repent. So just repent already. And here are some scriptures just to prove I'm right. (Mosiah 26:30; Matthew 20:9-14)

 

Then at the fireside, there were tons of recent converts bearing their testimonies, that's kinda what it's for, and I felt the Spirit testifying to me that these people are just as powerful and capable as anyone else in the church. Some of the things that Jill has said in the past two days amaze me. She has only just started reading the Book of Mormon and she is already learning tons of things. The Holy Ghost teaches her everything she needs to know and just like the people in that scripture in Matthew, they are given the same tools and the same Gift as anyone else in the church, and they will still have just as great of a spiritual capacity as anyone else in the church.

 

I lied, there's a third, I forgot it. Also, when we are baptised, we recieve the Gift of the Holy Ghost. The Spirit can give us promptings and give us counsel that all the knowledge in the world can't give us. Do you realize the the Holy Ghost is a God!?!!?? He's a member of the Godhead. He knows EVERYTHING (Alma 7:13)!! So just listen to him, and look for his promptings. Actively seek the counsel of the Holy Ghost, cause he knows. 

-- 

Elder Ferguson

This is definitely a Tikka Masala that I made with a special Paste thing some members gave me, so this is one step closer to making it from scratch. And it was really good.

Keeping Your Head in the Game

Well, this week was nice. We didn't do anything too exciting, but it was ok. I will send some pictures of the waterfall we found though. Hopefully. If I remember by the end of this email.  (He must have forgotten about the pictures.)

Anyways, this week, we have been doing a lot of finding and a lot of traveling just for the sake of talking to people along the way and it's been pretty boring. I've had a lot of time to think about other things. So I've mostly just thought about going home, because it's exciting, but then I discovered why missionaries always frown upon thinking about going home. It's a waste of time, and it's distracting. It's not bad to go home at the end of your mission. It's not even bad to think about it sometimes, but I was thinking about it a lot and when those random people on the streets ran into us, I was not thinking, ooooh I want to baptize him! I was thinking, hmm, after I finish being rejected by him I will decide what video game I will play first when I get home. Haha.

So I have been lowering my expectations because I don't want my video game ideas to be interrupted, and that is not good. If I don't think that man on the street is going to listen to me, he certainly isn't going to think he's going to listen to me. If it's not a desire for me who knows about the gospel, it's certainly not going to be one for him who doesn't know anything. So this week I have learned about desires. If you haven't already, get your scriptures ready. This emails going to be full of them. Kinda.

So Alma the Younger saw an angel. And it called him to repentance. And he started getting a little distracted thinking about what his "increase" could be and less about what his "sacrifice" was. (D&C 117:13) And he wanted to be an angel, instead of a missionary. But then he caught himself and he said, 

3 But behold, I am a man, and do sin in my wish; for I ought to be content with the things which the Lord hath allotted unto me.

4 I ought not to harrow up in my desires the firm decree of a just God, for I know that he granteth unto men according to their desire,whether it be unto death or unto life; yea, I know that he allotteth unto men, yea, decreeth unto them decrees which are unalterable,according to their wills, whether they be unto salvation or unto destruction.

5 Yea, and I know that good and evil have come before all men; he that knoweth not good from evil is blameless; but he that knoweth‍ good and evil, to him it is given according to his desires, whether he desireth good or evil, life or death, joy or remorse of conscience.

6 Now, seeing that I know these things, why should I desire more than to perform‍ the work to which I have been called?   (Alma 29:3-6)

He realized that his desires were not aligned with God's. We recieve according to our desires and our faith, and if we have desires to do what's right, God will give us what we want, but we need to align our will with his. Enos and Nephi learned the same thing. (1 Nephi 11:6; Enos 1:12) Sometimes, we don't get our prayers answered because we don't have the faith, but do we ever miss an answer because our desire isn't there? We have to have "real intent" if we want God to help us. (Moroni 10:3-5)

So focus on what God wants. Think about that, and you can change your desires to match his, and you can have all of the life and joy that God is willing to give you. (Alma 29:5)

Sorry for the long email, bye
-- 

Elder Ferguson

Refreshing Investigators

Wow, I almost forgot to write this. Haha.

This week has been nice. It snowed a lot. It didn't snow last year. So that was pretty weird. It snowed a lot. 

At district meeting, I gave a training on finding. But pretty much all I did was I went up and made a bunch of jokes about the pre-mortal existence and read some scriptures and said, what did we learn from that? I let the missionaries just talk about it for ten minutes, and then I was done. It's actually not very hard to give trainings with missionaries, because all you have to do is ask a super vague question and everyone will want to put their two cents in, which they will try to sell like it's a hundred dollars even though we're already on their team. It fills up loads of time no problem.

We taught some investigators for a second time, which is a pretty big deal because if you can teach a second lesson and get a solid return appointment, after that, then they're pretty much guaranteed to get baptized, and it happened. We taught them the plan of salvation, and both of them are in their twenties and they're both pretty smart, and it was kinda bad because I kinda forgot that I was teaching people who knew basically nothing and not members, because it felt like I was just talking to friends, so I sort of started teaching principles from the three pillars of eternity and stuff. Luckily, I caught myself halfway through, before I started telling them about sons of perdition, and having your calling and election made sure, and the three degrees in the Celestial Kingdom and all of that, but they were still super good, even after that super detailed lesson.  They still were willing to meet with us this week. I can't believe how humble they are. It's so nice to meet people like that.

Church finished early this week because it snowed three inches.

Oh, I almost forgot, on Monday I went to get a Kebab at a famous Kebab house. Oh my goodness. It was so good. And it was so cheap. If you are American, you don't know what a Kebab is, it's not the same at all. I will send a picture of one next week hopefully if I get another one. Elder H didn't like it, so I'm going to have to go on Tuesday while we are on exchange... :)

-- 

Elder Ferguson

*  From Amy, Elder Ferguson's Mom - FYI  We discovered this past week that Elder Ferguson's current companion's uncle was Elder Ferguson's Dad's zone leader while he was on his mission in Venezuela   We sent him a picture of the two of them together.  Small World!

New Investigators/ Staying in Rochdale

Well, this week was nice. We found tons of investigators, and some of them actually gave us real phone numbers and addresses. So that's pretty exciting. Our progressing investigator is still progressing. She is funny because she believes the Book of Mormon is true, but she's afraid to actually pray about it because she's scared it will make her go loopy or something. But she finally did this week. And she was fine. :)

 

We taught an investigator yesterday that had tons of good questions and he was already very open to the philosophy that God made evolution happen. He makes me laugh, I think I might have known him in the pre-existence, but I don't really know. There isn't really too much information in the scriptures about the pre-existence besides the basics, and I don't really have access to many of the teachings of the modern prophets as a missionary... :/

 

We got transfer calls this morning and I'm staying in Rochdale. Yay. That means that my next area will probably be my last unless I start getting these weird one transfer areas again after this. 
Here are some pictures.
-- 

Elder Ferguson

haha, here's half of a curry I made the other day. I decided half way through eating it to take a picture.

New Year's Eve / & Coming to church / Fake Addresses

Well....

 

I don't really have a lot to say this week. This week for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, we were allowed to watch some more movies, we saw, Prince of Persia, Chronicles of Narnia 1 and 2, How to Train Your Dragon 2, Mirror Mirror, and Mulan, so that was nice.

 

Our amazing investigator came to church again, this time she ran to church because she was running late. I think she missed the bus or something. I didn't actually get to teach her this week cause I was gone on exchanges when they taught her.

 

This week, we had amazing numbers, we found loads of new investigators, but the sad thing is, of the ones that we found, we have gone back for return appointments with about half of them and of those, 100 percent were fake addresses, and I have a feeling that the rest are going to be just the same. I don't know why that's happening exactly. All I know is that our District Leader came here on exchanges with Elder H and I came back and they had five new flimsy investigators, and all of the sudden everyone will listen to us and tell us yes to whatever we say and then give us a fake address and leave. It's weird because this is actually motivating me to work harder, because when people don't show a lot of interest, I just leave it instead of just forcing a lesson on them anyway for numbers. Maybe it's bad, but I want to start the conversation with as many people as possible so that I can teach them right or drop them instead of wasting our time. Oh well. I'm sure this week will be better. At least we're not just getting bad numbers, but I don't think it's ever really been about the numbers...

 

Have a nice week, bye!

 

-- 

Elder Ferguson