November 17, 2014
Of course, just when I start to settle in and get a handle on things I get
a curve ball thrown at me. I have to
remember that you always told me the only thing you can count on is change. This
week has been an adventure. You’ll see below what I mean. Elder R
left for Pitt yesterday and will fly to Taiwan early tomorrow morning (Tuesday).
Now I am in a trio with Bellefonte elders until transfers (4 more weeks).
I’ve moved to Pleasant Gap and we left our apartment empty yesterday. Here’s
your answers J
- How was your week? What were the highs/lows? Well this week was kind of bitter sweet. I was hoping Elder R would not leave so suddenly, but I’m glad he finally is able to go to Taiwan. I feel like he was snatched up in the night. I learned a lot from him and I loved being with him. We only had 2 lessons this week, but the midweek news kind of changed up our plans. One of the highs this week was the priesthood lesson we had yesterday about prayer from the Joseph Fielding Smith manual. It made me think of the real power and importance of prayer. President Joseph Fielding Smith taught that we should make the spirit of prayer “part of our very being.” https://www.lds.org/manual/teachings-of-presidents-of-the-church-joseph-fielding-smith/chapter-22-prayer-a-commandment-and-a-blessing?lang=eng At the moment I feel that my prayers need to be more sincere and heartfelt. That is something that I have been working on. An interesting point was brought up in the lesson by a couple of the people. They commented about how they have young kids and saying nightly personal prayer is sometimes difficult for them; however, their random prayers throughout the day sometimes have more of an impact. Sometimes the need is more desperate (not sure if that makes sense). Pres. Smith teaches that the season for prayer is always (see Alma 34:18-28). Another high was that we were able to have another lesson with L&M (the people our WML came with us to visit). It was awesome and the spirit was super strong. They are both making a lot of progress which makes us happy. The low was trying to get everything packed for both of us to leave. It was kind of a low week for lessons but we did our best with the circumstances we had. A lot of weekend was spent packing for the sudden change.
- Is Elder R still with you? How's the training going? Nope, he got a call from President Thursday night saying his VISA came. President & Sis. Johnson came this way for a stake conference yesterday and they picked him up on their way back to Pitt. He flies out early tomorrow. I am in a trio (with Elder J & Elder R) up in the Bellefonte ward but living in Pleasant Gap. We live in an old Victorian house that has been turned into an apartment. I sleep on an old mattress that they had. Bellefonte proudly claims to be Central Pennsylvania’s Victorian Secret and is home to some of the best fly fishing in PA. It’s about 15 miles northeast of State College and is a borough of State College. Pleasant Gap is on the outskirts and kind of in between Bellefonte and State College. Together the 3 of us have to keep track of people in the Bellefonte ward and also help keep up on things for my ward. I am back in a car now but the problem is Bellefonte is still quite a distance from State College. I’m probably going to be doing a lot of Melchizedek priesthood holder exchanges/splits on some nights for the next month. Yep, I will be in the trio for the next 4 weeks. Transfers are the week before Christmas and that’s when I’ll get a new companion. So it is going to be kind of crazy.
- How is your cold? Hope you are feeling better? Yes, the only thing is I can’t get rid of my stupid cough.
- Have you had stake conference again? It’s this coming weekend. Luckily, we’re in the same stake as my last area (Ridgway branch) so I’ll be able to see some of the members from the branch.
- When is your zone conference? December 4th
- How's the weather? It seems that old man winter has rudely arrived and sent the temperatures plunging into the basement. The high tomorrow is only supposed to be 23. It snowed a bit this week, but it didn’t stick. It’s been cloudy most of the week.
- What's your mode of transportation mostly...bikes, walk or bus? Usually bus and walk because the bikes are too much of a hassle.
- Any service this week? No, but I think our service opportunities will pick up in Bellefonte. It sounds like they do a lot of service for people.
- How are the investigators?
- YL? They are at Disneyworld right now and get back this week. However, until I am back to my normal area we are going to let the branch sisters teach them. The sisters live in the same complex and one of the sisters speaks mandarin so it just makes sense.
- B? Not sure what is up with him, I think we might have to drop him soon.
- C? She has been busy with school so we have not been able to meet with her. However, she did come to church yesterday.
- Media referrals, did you contact them? One of them is not interested and the other says he is busy until January.
- Less active guy with NM wife (you went with WML)? Their names are L & M and they are doing awesome. We had another lesson with them Tuesday night with the WMLand they are both doing great. An interesting thing happened. Our phone has been having problems and sometimes we don’t receive our text messages right away. Anyway L & M texted us saying they couldn’t make the appointment Tuesday night; however, we didn’t get the message until Wednesday morning. When we showed up for the appointment they let us in and we had a very spiritual lesson and they didn’t mention anything about the text they had sent. I know Heavenly Father has a hand in all things and we were where we needed to be Tuesday night. M understands the BOM very well. She was reading in 1 Nephi where it talks about Joseph of Egypt and Joseph Smith and she understood all of that by reading it on her own and not having us explain it to her. I am hoping she is one that I can baptize while I am here in State College. They were sick yesterday so they were not able to make it to church and they had to cancel their appointment last night.
- Are you happy & healthy? Yes, right now is kind of crazy since Elder R is gone and now we’re basically running 2 wards. It is just a bit stressful.
- Can we pray for anything specific? Please pray that the next month will go smooth while I am in the trio.
Well I think that is everything for the week. What a difference a
week in the mission can make, things can change up pretty fast. It is
kind of crazy. I love you all,
thanks for everything.
Love you,
Elder Muir
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