Lesson learned: Don't Be Prideful

This week my mission president went home, all the way to Ashton, England (with in the mission boundaries).  Haha, he can't email us right now because we're on our missions, but if we serve in Ashton we'll still see him because he lives there. He is going on holiday soon though. We had a conference in Manchester and it was crazy. We had to leave the day before and stay in the assistants flat because we are at the other end of the mission and we needed to be early because they wanted me to play in the musical number. So that was nice.

For the musical number they gave me some sheet music and said to learn it in five minutes and some missionaries were going to play the violin and sing with me. It is a good thing we were doing it for a church thing or I probably wouldn't have gotten my gifts of the spirit and stuff and been able to play it. But I did,  sorta. So I played it fine right from the beginning when we were rehearsing it. I was actually doing better than the singers and much better than the violins when we started. But basically, the violins were were having trouble staying together with anyone, so they decided to just play a verse on their own and then we would come in, which was fine, but then I got the chance to learn a lesson in humility in front of half of the mission…. :)

So then during the actual musical number, the violins did ok, and then I came in with the singers and we did one verse fine, and then on the second verse, I was thinking prideful thoughts about how much better we were doing than the violins, and I was struck down and I totally lost my place, and I was also struck with deafness, so I couldn't hear where the singers were at all, and I just fell out completely. It was bad. So I just ended up not playing half of it and then coming back in right at the end. So yeah. Don't be prideful. You will lose every time. Especially when you are basically relying on gifts straight from God anyways. 

So anyways, aside from that, this week has actually been really good. We had someone we have been trying to get a hold of for a while that told us she had met with missionaries before, and we finally came to her house one day and she said, 'come on in!' So we did. :)

She was super nice and she had a ton of questions. She was raised in some christian churches and she wanted to believe, but there were just questions that she asked that they couldn't answer. She started asking us her questions. Some of them we answered because we have the true church and we know, and some of them were extra deep stuff that I still want answers to, and I told her that. She thought it was amazing that we had enough faith to believe in Resurrection without understanding the science behind it, but I told her that I believed that someday I would learn and that I know that I have had an answer to my prayers and she was so excited. It's amazing how prepared people are, even in Wales, where everyone thinks that they already have the answers. :)

Well, have a nice week. Bye!

-- 

Elder Ferguson

mormon.org/me/C2WV

Time to break the streak….

Hi,

This week, I got a new companion. His name is Elder VB.  He is pretty good. He has a Ukelele. I don't really like Ukeleles, but I'm getting pretty good at it already, so it's ok. haha. 

After transfer meeting, we ended up missing a bus which made us miss a train which made us get back at 10:30.  I think it was the first time I've been outside of the flat in the dark in Newtown. haha.

Everyone says that Elder VB has an American accent, but he doesn't, not even close. He just pronounces rs. 

We found a new investigator on Friday! He is a Christian and he's really nice. He actually checked his work schedule to see when would be the next good time to come by, so we won't have to go hunting for him when he's not home for the next appointment. It's pretty exciting. There have been no baptisms in Newtown for the past two or three years, but it looks like it might be time to break that streak. Ha.

-- 

Elder Ferguson

mormon.org/me/C2WV

From Amy -

So there was no explanations for the last picture, so I thought I'd get your opinion.  Reply or post on facebook a comment & give me a caption for this picture.   I'll send your results to him in his next letter just for fun. 

This first Picture is from Ryan's old mission president that use to send me so many awesome pictures.  He sent me this quick email a couple days ago:

 I went to missionary transfer day on Wed and look who I met. He's good esp since he has a piano in his flat. Imagine that!  Brother N

Which side are you on?

I'm getting a new companion! His name is Elder VB. He is from Holland. He was my district leader in the MTC. He was trained by Elder H. He is nice. It will be an interesting transfer or probably two. 

This week we went to a Zone meeting. That was nice. After zone meeting we went on exchange and I came back to Newtown with a missionary from New Zealand. He was nice. We found a new investigator right outside of our flat. We taught him the restoration right away and he accepted it right away. We gave him the Book of Mormon and he said thank you. It's funny how sometimes people do that. Usually people just say 'Not interested' or just do the universal sign language for 'No thank you; I am happy with my own religious beliefs for now but maybe next time.'  So that was nice. 

We also ran into someone who is a member that doesn't come to church anymore. He basically tried to tell us that our church was wrong, but he was polite and would still listen to what we said. We explained how he was false doctrinally and he accepted it, although he still thought that we were wrong. It's interesting how people will open up a conversation with you like that. 

One time someone was talking to Joseph Smith about all of the Apostasy in the church at the time. He said that if he decided to leave the church, he would just go somewhere else and not bother anyone about it again instead of trying to tear down the church. President Smith told him that that isn't how it works. He said that once you are baptized you have chosen a side and left the neutral ground, and you can never go back. Either you are totally on the Lord's side, or you are totally not. That is what I learned this week. Bye!

-- 

Elder Ferguson

mormon.org/me/C2WV

(Amy)  I looked up what he was referring to and found this story
https://www.lds.org/manual/teachings-joseph-smith/chapter-27?lang=eng

The new area…

This week was nice. We were actually in our own area for most of the week, so that was good. We have an investigator that is a Sunni Muslim, one that is a Born-Again Christian, and one that believes in reincarnation, and whatever else she decides to believe. 
None of them is really planning on changing, but that's ok, because two of them are kinda new, and one of them seems like she actually does sort of want to know, she just doesn't like the idea of organized religion.

Yesterday I read the Bible for bashing scriptures just because someone sort of asked me to prove the church is true with the Bible. I'm not going to actually bash, I just want to know them just in case. I think it helped me to build my testimony of why we need the Book of Mormon, cause the Bible is confusing. No wonder there are so many christian churches in the world. 

Well, bye!

-- 

Elder Ferguson

mormon.org/me/C2WV

Zone Activities & Meetings

Hello!

This week was a nice one, but we almost got no missionary work done. Because our area is at the bottom of the mission, we have to travel forever to get to any of our stake/zone stuff. This week we had an activity with half of the mission in Manchester on Thursday. We had to leave on Wednesday and stay at another flat and then the activity went too long so we ended up not making the last train back to Newtown that day so we had to stay in the Shrewsbury flat. We came back on Friday, and then on Saturday we left at one to make it to the Saturday evening session of stake conference. And then we stayed the night there and went to stake conference in the morning. We stayed in four different missionary flats this week including our own. That was pretty fun, but it wasn't that great of a week for sleep because I was always sleeping on couches and armchairs and stuff. Oh well. It was still really fun.

When we were at the activity thingy, President Preston talked to us about being courteous and polite and stuff.  He also talked about being humble and stuff, which I guess I could probably do better on. I don't want to be known as the missionary that just thinks he's better than everyone else.

We also had a talent show and a relay race thingy that day. I played Moonlight Sonata again, because it's one of the only songs I remember all the way through still. I would have played a hymn, but I'm pretty sure everyone is super tired of hearing the hymns. So that was nice. Then we had the relay race and I had to race someone to eat a bagel. I didn't eat it very fast, but it was fun.

At Stake conference, we had Elder Donaldson, who I'm pretty sure his name is spelled different than how I just spelled it. He was funny. Something that I remember at stake conference was to just be happy and keep doing what's right. Hopefully this week I will get to do more missionary work because there aren't any special things going on. Bye!

-- 

Elder Ferguson

mormon.org/me/C2WV

New area - FaceTime Mother's Day Call

Hello! 

This week was pretty boring, nothing too exciting happened. We ran into an investigator that has been hard to contact yesterday and we taught him a lesson. That was nice, because supposedly he was really good before I got here, although the first thing he said to us when we got in was that he wouldn't convert. That's alright, we know better, don't we? ;)

Anyways, I don't remember if I told you, but Elder G is from Utah.  We have a lot of fun.  Newtown is really small. There is some other towns that we went to on Thursday, but we had to get a ride with a member, but that was nice. We go down and see less-actives that will probably not come back for a while because at the moment the place where we meet for church is about and hour and a half drive away from them. Also, because we're just renting a little hall, it looks like the Kingdom hall, just fyi. 

I don't really have anything else to say. Keep the commandments, read the scriptures. Bye!

-- 

Elder Ferguson

mormon.org/me/C2WV

Mother's Day Call run down from (Mom) Amy:

I figured out a way to screen record the call, so I can go back and listen to it whenever I am missing him and his big smile.  He told us in his new flat/apartment there is a Keyboard.  He is pretty happy about that.  He said that he's fed just about every day that he's been there so far.

He said that this area that he's in right now is one of the biggest, if not the biggest in his mission.  He said it's made up of a lot of people from Birmingham.  Some of the signs and such are in Welch, but everyone speaks English.  He told us his clothes and shoes are still holding up fine.  He said that even though he's in a bike area they are mostly on foot because one of the bikes has a flat tire.  He told us his new companion is from the same town in UT that he will be attending college in when he gets home.  (Snow College).  He asked us if he sounded different (in his speech).  He sounded pretty normal to us.    He thought we sounded weird.  (No English accent.)  I asked him what advise he had for those preparing for a mission.  He said, Read The Book of Mormon.  

Transfers

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Haha, woops, I forgot to tell you this week would be a bank holiday didn't I?

This week was nice. It's tempting to not just say anything and make you wait until Sunday, but I guess that wouldn't help the missionaries who can only see what I send out anyways, would it?

Last week, Elder T found two new investigators while I was gone on exchange. Sort of a third as well. It's pretty exciting, except for I haven't met them and I am leaving first thing tomorrow morning because it's transfers! But at least the area is doing good now that I'm leaving. ;)

So I'm going to Newtown, which is the furthest area south in the mission. I'm going to be in a branch this time. I'm pretty sure I'm always going to be in pretty small wards because they are the ones that need people to play the piano... I get to be ward pianist again. Yay. Haha, at least now I can play all the hymns instead of the three that I could play in seminary. My companion's name is Elder G.  I think he's from California. I can't think of anything else to say. My next area is a bike area. I'm pretty excited. Bye!




For Mother's Day - OK! I will come on Skype about two o'clock I think. That's when we are planning on doing it anyways, so see you then!
-- 

Elder Ferguson

mormon.org/me/C2WV

The picture of Elder Ferguson is one I got from a member of the church in England that likes to watch out for all of our missionaries and was nice enough to send me this today.  (This picture is from today!  Transfers were today.)  She wanted to get more, but her batteries in her camera died.  That's ok.  At least we got this one.  :)  -  Amy