May 11, 2015
Mother's Day Skype with our favorite Elder :)
Last pic with Flat Zach for his family photo album :(
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Elder L & Elder Muir at Sister M's home (surprise texts w/pics always make a mom happy)
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The MM family farm
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Fishing pond on MM family property
Foundation of John Brown's tannery
Note from mom: How do you explain the joy and happiness that
comes to a mother’s heart from such a simple yet meaningful & needed Skype conversation?
Words can’t explain how exciting it was
to Skype with our missionary yesterday. Indeed, a prophet, at some point in the past
was an inspired man and knew that he could bring a smile to thousands of moms
on Mother’s Day by letting them talk to their sweet boys :)
Simple pleasures bring lasting happiness...22 days and counting
Well I’m sure you can guess that
our highlights from the week are the same…Mother’s Day Skype:) Also, I
forgot to ask how you liked my Mother’s Day card?
1. How was your week? What were the
highs/lows? This week was
pretty awesome. I think we all know what the best and biggest high
was...YESTERDAY!!!! It was so fun to see you all and talk with you.
It is so weird to think that was the last time Skyping for me. It is even
weirder to think we’ll be having a real face to face conversation here
shortly. Another high was going to zone training this week. It was
awesome, President was there and did an awesome training about the importance
of planning here in the mission and in the future. He related his
experience in preparing to climb the Matterhorn and how we need all
the necessary items in order to be successful. It was very
insightful and helpful to hear all of his tips. It was cool how he tied it
all into missionary work and, in addition, how it can be applied to everyday situations
when we return home. He talked about his business life too and the
importance of planning. Like you know, was an executive for REI and Lands
End. He talked about the planning it takes for all kinds of things they did
in the company, whether it be in marketing or the budget or whatever. So
that was cool. On top of that, the zone leaders did a training that they received
from the missionary department a few weeks ago. The training was on
how to better use the pamphlets the church provides and how we can teach from
them better. They taught a cool way of teaching an 8 minute lesson using
the pamphlets. It was very
insightful. Another high was fishing at the MM family’s pond. We’ve also been busy with lots
of service too. We’ve helped a lot of
people move all kinds of stuff. The biggest
low has been the humidity.
2.
What did you do
the rest of the night? Dinner? Were you able to visit with A & D? After I finished talking with
you guys we had dinner with the T family. We
had ribs that were slightly spicy for my taste buds but they were still good. After dinner Elder L talked to his family for
an hour or so until about 8:30 pm. We
pretty much spent most of the afternoon eating and talking between our
families. Unfortunately, A ended up cancelling because the baby had an ear
infection and a high fever so they were in the ER. I don't think they
have insurance so it is easier for them to go the hospital.
3.
Has the weather
been hot all week? Have you had lots of rain? Boy, we finally warmed up.
We’ve been in the low to mid 80's, but add about 70% or higher humidity
and it makes it terrible. It didn't really start raining terribly until Saturday
afternoon and yesterday afternoon. We’ve been getting the afternoon heat
of the day thunderstorms that roll through. But by mid-week this week it
is only supposed to be 60ish so that will be nice.
4.
How was the
fishing adventure with the MM family? It was awesome. I will send pictures when I’m done emailing. We
went over last Pday after we were done emailing and shopping. The kids weren’t
quite home from school yet, but the mom was home and she was already out
fishing. So we just headed out across the field and started fishing with
the worms they dug up in the garden. We fished for about 2 hours and then
we had to head home for dinner. It was pretty fun. Around 4 pm the kids got home from school and
they came out and fished too. However, by about 5:00-5:30ish it started
to get stormy so we went in and chatted for a few minutes and then headed
home. I caught 8 to 10 fish (bluegill) that I reeled in and just threw
them back in. We all had tons of bites, but it was hard to tell if you had
a bite and needed to reel back in because the floater would not really bob on
some of them. Evidently the MM family owns the land and pond but the DWR
owns the fish and we didn’t have a license…oops. Luckily we didn’t get checked.
5.
How are things
with your investigators?
a. A & D? They are doing well. It’s still hard
to have lessons with them. They have
cancelled the past few times, but they are still interested and working towards
baptism. They end up cancelling last
minute so that puts things on hold. Hopefully they will still be baptized
in mid June.
b.
R? She keeps
busy with work. We are going to see her again tomorrow and we continue to
teach her the new member lessons. We
just try to keep her going. Overall she is doing well.
c. B? She seems to be doing well. Lessons are kind of like pulling teeth
with her. It is hard to get her involved and talking so it makes it hard
to teach, but she likes the lessons and likes having us over. We are just
having to take it slow with her.
d. Referral you talked about? Well he is someone that met with missionaries in
the past. But he stopped meeting with them and has been
doing the chat etc. on mormon.org.
Recently he requested a visit and now we are teaching him. We are
glad to add him to our teaching pool.
e.
Any other teaching
opportunities? We have a new
record that the bishop pulled in yesterday and it’s a guy that is 20. He was baptized at the end of March. We
were texting him yesterday and he seemed excited that we contacted him and
sounds excited to meet with us this Thursday. I am not sure why he is
here because his record came from down in Daytona, Florida. It looks like
his parents may live here in our area, so more info is to come. The records show that the missionaries that baptized him are in the Berry's mission. From what I can tell Daytona is part of the
Florida Orlando mission.
f.
Less actives? Nothing new, we are just trying to meet as many
people as possible and assess each situation.
6.
Any mission
news/activities this week? No, nothing until
next week with iPad distribution and then the Palmyra temple trip.
7.
What are 5
positive things from the week? 1) I got to talk to you guys. 2) It has finally warmed up. 3) I had exchanges this week. 4) We had a zone training.
8. Any other news? I keep forgetting to tell you one thing about
Meadville. Not only is it home to
the Talon zipper, the Channel Lock tool company (
https://www.channellock.com/history.aspx ) started here also. Gpa Lewy will be
interested in this. They started
out making farrier tools. They
continue to make product here and are the largest employer in Crawford
county. So any time you pull out the nice baby blue handled tools
you can think of good ole’ me here in Meadville, PA (and don’t forget when
you use a Victor mouse trap you can think of good ole’ Lititz, PA…thanks
Mel). Also, this past
week we were driving around trying to visit someone and we came across this
tannery that was owned by the abolitionist John Brown. He was involved with Harper’s Ferry during
the Civil War http://littlebitsofhistory.blogspot.com/2011/03/john-brown-tannery-part-2.html
I love you. BTW…the mission rule about temple
excursions means the temple day turns into our Pday. Because it will be a long day I probably won’t
have time to email. So I’m just giving
you a heads up so you don't freak out on Monday if there isn’t an email in your
inbox, now you’ll know the reason why. Maybe you can print your email and
send it to me instead.
Love you tons,
Elder Muir
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