Week 22

Hey y'all! It has been another exciting week as I head into week 5 of this transfer. I can't believe it's time for Thanksgiving already! Wasn't it just Halloween?

This week has been really good and really exciting. We have some news: we are now covering the Allen 4th ward along with the Allen 1st and 6th wards! So now we're covering 3 wards. It's definitely gonna be new and exciting and Elder Van Cleve and I are way stoked to get to work. The members and the Bishop are awesome and way supportive and so it should be really good. We’re gonna get really busy really soon and I'm so excited!

This week would have been really good teaching wise, but almost everyone we had appointments with decided to cancel on us. We did have a really good lesson with Trevor, though. We were finishing up the Plan of Salvation and he was having a problem with the three Kingdoms of Glory because he's always been taught Heaven and Hell. He said he would pray about it, though, and so hopefully things will work out for him. He came to church, too! It was really good to see him there and we are really hoping he enjoyed it. Sadly we haven't had a chance to talk to him since church yesterday, but hopefully we'll get a hold of him today. He's really close and we hope he will make the right decision.

We were going to meet with Travis this week, but he had a couple servers go down at his work and he couldn't meet with us and so hopefully we'll see him soon.

So we had a pretty awesome miracle this week. We were tracting on Tuesday and we knocked on the door of a man named Rod. We introduced ourselves and he said he had been looking for a church the past month or so. He said, "I went to that neighbors church and he’s a Methodist, and then I went to that neighbors church, and they’re Mormons, and I liked their Church better.” It was way cool! We found out later by talking to the member next door that they have known them for almost 2 years and invited them to see the Primary Program and he loved it. He has a wife named Suzanne and they have two kids: a 5-year-old and a newborn. He just got laid off and said he was very open right now. We could not believe our ears and quickly set up an appointment to see them the next Tuesday (tomorrow). We are really excited to go over and start teaching him and are so happy someone opened their mouths to their neighbors and shared the Gospel with them.

This week I also had a really good and personal experience. We were dealing with someone who was really annoying us and we really did not have good thoughts that night. I felt horrible; but not because I was mad. I felt guilty for thinking some of the things that I did about this woman. I knew I needed help and I prayed and poured my soul out to my Heavenly Father. As soon as I started praying I instantly felt so much better, and by the end of my prayer, I felt the Spirit around me. I share this experience because I was ready to be upset at this woman for a long time, and I knew that was wrong. I knew that these feelings were not conducive of a successful missionary and that I would need the spirit if I wanted to receive the blessings God has set in store for me. I share this because after I prayed I remembered a very important scripture: “I the Lord will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men.” I wasn’t going to forgive this woman, and the Lord knew that. I literally felt the Spirit leave. I knew I was wrong and needed to forgive and forget and not get upset because things didn’t turn out the way I would have liked. I know that as we pray for strength, guidance, forgiveness, and whatever else it may be, if it is for a righteous purpose and if it is God’s will, we shall receive whatsoever we shall ask of him. I leave with you one of my favorite scriptures: “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” (Matt 7:7-11).

I love you all. God Bless and Have a Happy Thanksgiving! See Psalm 100: the Thanksgiving Day Psalm.

Love,

Elder Grondel