Random Stories

August 14, 2017

It has been a good two weeks!! Two Tuesdays ago we were able to see Jason Huckabee again! We had just finished going out with our ward mission leader for lunch and then drove straight over to meet with Jason. When we got there he asked if we could go get some Canes so right after I had a foot long from Subway I had three finger chicken box. We need to get a picture with this guy next time we meet with him. He is a big guy and is so friendly. We talked about different doctrines (mainly he talked) and we would ask questions every so often. At the end of our meeting he said in his heavy southern accent. "Well gentlemen I have done most of the talkin today... I'm not sure what kind of rules you have or if you need to ask but how about next time we meet we go to my study and we pray and seek the Lord through revelation and I would like to hear more about what you say." Literally our only intention the entire time but I realized we probably could of been a little more up front in our language with a man that studies the Bible frequently and enjoys church so much that he decided to be a preacher. We are pretty excited to meet again next Tuesday.

We also met with Doug that day another time later in the week. He continued reading in the BofM and we are trying to help him understand how to communicate with Heavenly Father. One of our lessons with him was particularly good. We were able to bring a ward missionary out with us, Brother Smith. He and Doug were able to relate over life experience with being rebellious in high school. After we had left Brother Smith and Doug were talking and Doug asked, "So you really think this is true huh?" Brother Smith, "Yeah man!" Haha hopefully that sticks out in Doug's head.

Two Wednesdays ago we had dinner with Brother and Sister Coleman and we asked them who they knew that we could share our message with. They referred us to a woman down the street that they thought would enjoy a visit. We went over to the house and there was an old Hawaiian woman sitting outside named Elmira. She was so kind to us. We introduced ourselves and informed her that we had a message from God to share with her. She was genuinely listening and so we started talking about the BofM and its purpose. She was cracking some funny jokes too. She told us that she was 87 and was too old. We came back a few days later and she had read what looked like half the BofM. She was somewhere in Alma. Unfortunately we got a call from her on Saturday and she no longer would like to meet. She was kind of hard to understand so we aren't fully sure why she doesn't want to meet anymore. So that was a bummer. 

We got to meet with Caleb Miller again as well. He is the 16 year old boy that is very knowledgeable in the Bible. When we met we asked what he had thought about the BofM and the things he brought up made it sound like he had gotten into some of the really simple anti material. Hopefully he has an open enough heart to not give up on it. It has been hard to schedule appointments because he is classic busy teenager. 

Combined District Meeting

Elder Shawgo and I doing some 

food prep before Bingo

The temple trip this Wednesday was great! Elder Christensen and I caught a ride with  Brother and Sister Coleman. We were able to do some of their family names and I had the opportunity to do an initiatory and then head in for a session. In the Celestial room there was a sister probably in her twenties that expressed that she would like a blessing and had recognized that Elder Christensen and I were missionaries. We went off into one of the side rooms where they put kids for sealings and other things and were able to give her a blessing. Then following that we sat in to watch some sealings since we can't participate as missionaries. There were several names that needed to be done and since there was a second sealer in the room and enough men they asked us to go in another sealing room and step in as witnesses. That was a treat too. Afterwards the Coleman's took us out for some IHOP. It was a good time. While we were there a waitress walked behind us with a bunch of food and there was some red pancake syrup that dripped off across Elder Christensen back. None of us noticed but then another waitress noticed and she came over and informed us of the situation and then did her best to clean it off with a wet rag it was pretty funny. 

That night it was about 8:45 and we got a referral over the phone for someone named Sandra. We were walking up to a house right when we got the text. As we were walking up to the house we could see through a really big window that there was someone watching TV in a big recliner. Well we stopped to look at the text before we actually went up to the house. Right as we looked down apparently this teenage boy decided it was his chance to "disappear" so he rolled off the couch and ran into the other room. Well I had looked up right as he was halfway off the couch so I saw the whole thing happen. I had to laugh because that was totally me before coming out here. Anyways we looked up where the referral was and it was less than half a mile away. We showed up and when she answered the door she said, "Wow! That was fast!" Apparently she had been on the phone with one of the church representative missionaries 10 minutes before we showed up. This just goes to show how awesome technology is! Her boyfriend, Ian, came out and apparently he is a member that ended up going less active a while back. We are excited to start teaching them. We might be sending them to the singles ward. We came back two days later and she expressed that she felt really good about being baptized. 

Got to run!! 

I know that Heavenly Father loves us and simply wants us to be ourselves while repenting! So be yourself! Everyone else is taken! 

Love you!

Elder Kelly