It was a great conference! I watched all of it, 4 sessions at the church and 1 at our ward mission leaders home. No investigators watched them with us, they went to a members house to watch, we only had 3 watch (Tasha, Savannah, and Pamela.)
We are still teaching the Foret's. Kevin and Joey have stopped coming to church because their vehicles are both broken down and they don't like asking people for rides, and don't like people at church say that they will help them with their cars and then not follow through with it.
The Miscannons. Sister Miscannon is a less-active member, and she wants us to teach her husband the lessons because she feels that he needs it. We taught him once several weeks ago and since then when we set up appointments things always come up to make it so they have to cancel. We will keep trying with them.
That's awesome that Tara got her mission call! And I am enjoying the weather, it will start getting extremely humid.
My companion is great because he knows the gospel and does about 60% of the talking when we teach. (It's great, I am getting better at talking more)
In my studying of the Book of Mormon I have been reading it and I now that it is a true book because it is EXTREMELY spiritually up lifting and I know that it was translated by the power of God through Joseph Smith.
Here is my week!
Pamela is continuing to progress, we had to move for BCD back to May 7th because the original date was too soon and the 23rd of April wouldn't work because stake conference is the following day, and yeah. We pushed it back to the 7th.
This lady called us Tuesday and asked us to come talk to her and she told us things that she didn't want us to tell anyone else so I can't tell you, but she is from Russia and I think she is in culture shock right now because she doesn't understand the people here, and she thinks that us as Americans are spoiled and that we complain alot. She likes our church but doesn't feel she is ready to be baptized. She said that she wants to be free and that there are some things she does that aren't in harmony with what we believe and she thinks that she has to change every aspect of her life, and she told us that with all our rules that we are just like Comunists! Elder Adam and I are getting frustrated with her because no matter what we teach her, she only focuses on the problems of our church and our country, but we see her for the last time today and then she is moving tomorrow. (We are both excited for that!)
On Friday when we were doing service for the Sorensen's (they have all the birds and animals I sent you pictures to) They have some goats and one of them was pregnant and had babies last week (triplets!) They are soft and we got to hold them! I will try and upload them to the email. (there I think I did it) I will go into more details with some things in my voice recording. Love you guys! Stay true to the faith! It really is the way to go!!!
Monday, April 4, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
Cameron's Letter March 28, 2011
Hello Family!!! I hope you are all doing well! Well I will just dive right in with what I have to say!
Mom said "Your experience with Malcom sounded scary" (Mom also included Aunt Virginia's comment from last weeks letter on the blog.) Yeah it was a little scary, and from what I remember him telling us is that he flew choppers, so I'm thinking he had a ton of Agent Orange affect him, but he did tell us that he did not like seeing the stuff that happened there. We did go see him again Friday, he took us to his back room and talked with us. He said he read the Book of Mormon (I'm not sure if he read it all or just some) and that it IS very comparable to the Bible and that one of these days he wants to sit down and compare the 2, (we told him to compare them teaching wise) I thought it was awesome, he is making small steps and hopefully he will get that feeling he needs!
Mom asked "What is the average number of baptisms per missionary, during their whole mission?" Elder Adam told me the last time he knew it was about 5, but it has increased alot since then (that was when he got here.)
Mom asked "What happened this week that strengthened your testimony of the Savior?" My testimony has been strengthened when we are tracting and we get people who aren't interested or who already have a church. I just feel really sorry for them that they aren't willing to hear a message about truth and happiness!
Mom asked "What did you learn in your personal study this week that you didn't know before?" I don't think I learned anything new, but there were some interesting things I read. I don't have my scriptures with me right now, so I can't tell you them at the moment.
Mom asked "Tell me of an experience you had this last week following the promptings of the Holy Ghost." Yesturday after dinner we couldn't think of anyone to go see, and all of a sudden "go see the Miscannons" came into my head. So we went and saw them, we are going to try to go back sometime this week to have a lesson with them!
Mom asked "What are the rules of your mission & are you following all of them?" There are too many rules to say at this time, and I am doing my best to follow them all! There are a few changes I am going to make.
Well for the exciting highlights of my week! Last sunday we got a referral from a member (her name is Sister Gainus,) she asked us to go see her 17 year old niece Pamela. We did that Monday evening. We got to know her and taught her a few principles, and then we gave her a Book of Mormon and asked her to read it! She said that she would! We went back to her house on Thursday and asked her if she read. She said she read the Introduction amd the Testimonies of the Witnesses in school because she had forgotten to read until that day. As she was reading in class her teacher said to put it away and that she can't practice her religion in school. We thought that that was dumb! She had a few questions and we answered them. We then taught her all of Lesson 1. After I quoted the Joseph Smith experience Elder Adam asked her how that made her feel. She said it made her feel like doing the right things. He then asked her what she thought were the right things to do, and she said it was going to church, praying more, reading the scriptures, and changing some things in her life! AWESOME!! He then asked her if she would be baptized... she said "yeah, sure!" YES!! It was sweet! We then invited her to church, she said she will hopefully make it. (she unfortunately didn't make it because of some family problems,) we are going to go see her tonight!
That is pretty much the only exciting thing last week, well that and playing basketball on Saturday! Oh and I got to play Lord of the Rings Risk on Friday (a member in our ward is military and he tutors at the high school and after that they come over to the church and play games. And the kids he brings are all non-members) we didn't get very far in the game. We are gonna go over again friday!
Saturday while tracting we ran into a guy and we talked and he talked about faith in Christ, and Elder Adam was going to read from the Book of Mormon and asked if it was ok, and the guy said no, and he said that he didn't believe that the gold plates existed and nobody saw them! (he said that he did research on this) Elder Adam told him that there were 11 witnesses to see the gold plates, and he wanted to know who they were and Elder Adam said a couple names and said the others were in the front of the Book of Mormon. The guy then asked us if we knew how much the plates weighed? We told him we didn't, and he said about 230 lbs. In my head I thought, wait I thought you said you didn't think they existed. And he said that there were actually 2 sets and that someone saw Joseph Smith run like 75 yards through the forest with them, and he said that even a pro body builder couldn't do that. We were like ok whatever. And we ended shortly after that.
Well that's all for now! I Love you guys! Stay True!
Mom said "Your experience with Malcom sounded scary" (Mom also included Aunt Virginia's comment from last weeks letter on the blog.) Yeah it was a little scary, and from what I remember him telling us is that he flew choppers, so I'm thinking he had a ton of Agent Orange affect him, but he did tell us that he did not like seeing the stuff that happened there. We did go see him again Friday, he took us to his back room and talked with us. He said he read the Book of Mormon (I'm not sure if he read it all or just some) and that it IS very comparable to the Bible and that one of these days he wants to sit down and compare the 2, (we told him to compare them teaching wise) I thought it was awesome, he is making small steps and hopefully he will get that feeling he needs!
Mom asked "What is the average number of baptisms per missionary, during their whole mission?" Elder Adam told me the last time he knew it was about 5, but it has increased alot since then (that was when he got here.)
Mom asked "What happened this week that strengthened your testimony of the Savior?" My testimony has been strengthened when we are tracting and we get people who aren't interested or who already have a church. I just feel really sorry for them that they aren't willing to hear a message about truth and happiness!
Mom asked "What did you learn in your personal study this week that you didn't know before?" I don't think I learned anything new, but there were some interesting things I read. I don't have my scriptures with me right now, so I can't tell you them at the moment.
Mom asked "Tell me of an experience you had this last week following the promptings of the Holy Ghost." Yesturday after dinner we couldn't think of anyone to go see, and all of a sudden "go see the Miscannons" came into my head. So we went and saw them, we are going to try to go back sometime this week to have a lesson with them!
Mom asked "What are the rules of your mission & are you following all of them?" There are too many rules to say at this time, and I am doing my best to follow them all! There are a few changes I am going to make.
Well for the exciting highlights of my week! Last sunday we got a referral from a member (her name is Sister Gainus,) she asked us to go see her 17 year old niece Pamela. We did that Monday evening. We got to know her and taught her a few principles, and then we gave her a Book of Mormon and asked her to read it! She said that she would! We went back to her house on Thursday and asked her if she read. She said she read the Introduction amd the Testimonies of the Witnesses in school because she had forgotten to read until that day. As she was reading in class her teacher said to put it away and that she can't practice her religion in school. We thought that that was dumb! She had a few questions and we answered them. We then taught her all of Lesson 1. After I quoted the Joseph Smith experience Elder Adam asked her how that made her feel. She said it made her feel like doing the right things. He then asked her what she thought were the right things to do, and she said it was going to church, praying more, reading the scriptures, and changing some things in her life! AWESOME!! He then asked her if she would be baptized... she said "yeah, sure!" YES!! It was sweet! We then invited her to church, she said she will hopefully make it. (she unfortunately didn't make it because of some family problems,) we are going to go see her tonight!
That is pretty much the only exciting thing last week, well that and playing basketball on Saturday! Oh and I got to play Lord of the Rings Risk on Friday (a member in our ward is military and he tutors at the high school and after that they come over to the church and play games. And the kids he brings are all non-members) we didn't get very far in the game. We are gonna go over again friday!
Saturday while tracting we ran into a guy and we talked and he talked about faith in Christ, and Elder Adam was going to read from the Book of Mormon and asked if it was ok, and the guy said no, and he said that he didn't believe that the gold plates existed and nobody saw them! (he said that he did research on this) Elder Adam told him that there were 11 witnesses to see the gold plates, and he wanted to know who they were and Elder Adam said a couple names and said the others were in the front of the Book of Mormon. The guy then asked us if we knew how much the plates weighed? We told him we didn't, and he said about 230 lbs. In my head I thought, wait I thought you said you didn't think they existed. And he said that there were actually 2 sets and that someone saw Joseph Smith run like 75 yards through the forest with them, and he said that even a pro body builder couldn't do that. We were like ok whatever. And we ended shortly after that.
Well that's all for now! I Love you guys! Stay True!
Monday, March 21, 2011
Cameron's Pictures, mostly his apartment.
Robert Mullins in his new suit & ME!!!!!!
I'm not where you think I am!!! Bagdad is a few miles south of Milton!
Flash the Emu!
What we see when we first walk in our apartment!
The Kitchen! Those are my bananas! My cupboard is the one right above the dishwaher!
The living room/bedroom! My bed is the blue bed. 
Our wall with all the great pictures! And Elder Adam!
The back room/study room part 1: Elder Adam's and my desk,
The living room/bedroom! My bed is the blue bed. Elder Bond's is the one with the FSU blanket, Elder Vincent's has the flame blanket,
Elder Adam's is the brown bed.
Our wall with all the great pictures! And Elder Adam!
The back room/study room part 1: Elder Adam's and my desk, Mine is the one on the left.
The back room/study room part 2: Elder Vincent & Elder Bond's table.
The black hole/change room. My drawer is the top drawer of the dresser with legs.
The back room/study room part 2: Elder Vincent & Elder Bond's table.
The black hole/change room. My drawer is the top drawer of the dresser with legs.Cameron's Letter March 14, 2011
That's awesome about BYU! They will beat Florida like they did last year! And don't worry! I don't think their are any Florida fans in the ward and I don't think I know anyone who is a Florida fan (they are mostly Florida State fans) The Jazz seem to be doing alright! They could do better! Well it's kinda hard for me to take a picture and be in it at the same time! I'm not like Jamie (who is VERY photogenic!!) I'll send one of the elders of the apartment, but it was before transfers and one of the Pace elders got transferred and now there are 3 elders in Pace (1 greenie and 2 ZL's. Elders Sawyer and Haderlie are the new ones to the area, they are pretty cool!)
I am the designated driver now so yes I am clear to drive and I have driven the last 3-4 days! We have a Corolla, it's kinda small for me, like the steering wheel won't raise higher so sometimes it is hard to get in and out.
This week has been pretty good, we have been teaching the Foret's, Robert, and a new investigator Kory Wells (he was referred to us by someone who no longer lives in the area!) It's awesome!! And Robert has been asking for copies of the Book of Mormon to give to some of his friends that have been asking about our church! It is also awesome because he is doing alot more missionary work than alot of the members in the ward! And he isn't a member! You guys should always try to share the gospel with people/ non-member friends!
We unfortuantely had to drop Askana because she had no desire, and she doesn't believe in Joseph Smith and she said she will probably never read the Book of Mormon! It's sad but we weren't getting anywhere with her and thought we could try elsewhere.
On Tuesday district meeting got cancelled, so we decided to go tract and see someone Robert had referred us to. We didn't get in to see them, but later when Robert was there we were able to get in. We were told we were going to help move, so we came in regular clothes, but when we got there and started talking they started asking questions about what we believe, and so we kinda had to do a small lesson that we weren't prepared for. We showed the mom the Articles of Faith, and she had a hard time with number 12 (she asked, "so you guys don't believe in God's law?" We told her we do, but that we must obey the law of the land. She still had a hard time with it.) and the "we believe all things" in number 13 (she said "how can we believe all things, because there is alot of evil?" We didn't have an answer for her, but that was in the Admonition of Paul and we didn't know where that was. It bugged Elder Adam so the next day in personal study he looked for it and found it and he said that Paul says it in the Bible and this family said they believed in the Bible and Paul said that. It was awesome, but I don't think we will go back because they just wanted to find false things in what we believe.) Afterwards Robert came out with us and apologized for how they acted, and that he thought they wanted to know more about us and not try to bash on us. We told him it was ok and that it happens alot with us.
Another story while tracting on Friday (we were on a trade-off, Elders Sawyer and Haderlie came with me and Elder Adam went with Elder Bond) we came to this open door and knocked and a voice said,"who is knocking at my door?" We said,"it's the Mormon missionaries!" He invited us in and we talked for about 20 minutes about what he does and what he has done. His name is Malcolm and he is a mechanic for lawn mowers (the big kind) and he fought in Vietnam, and he has read the Korin (the Muslim book) and the Hindu book while he spent time in the Middle-East and Japan. He told us that he loved researching history on churches. He asked us for a Bible, at first I thought he was talking about an actual Bible, but he was talking about a Book of Mormon! He said he would read it! He is an older man, I'd say about in his late 60's or so and he sees different points of view of things. I hope when he reads the Book of Mormon he will find it to be true! When we first asked him how he was doing, he said crappy and we asked if there was anything we could do to help him. He said no and said that if it gets bad enough I have a gun over there and I will use it. At the end he told us that the gun he was referring to was a gun he used in Vietnam, and it was loaded. He walked over to it and grabbed it, and pulled it out of it's holder. ( I got scared! I didn't want there to be an accident, so I was gonna try to get out of there as soon as we could.) He walked over to us and took out the magazine to show us that it was loaded. After that we had to leave because we were late for dinner. It was scary! But I am still here in one piece! Well that's it for this week, I will talk to you guys next week! Love you all!!
I am the designated driver now so yes I am clear to drive and I have driven the last 3-4 days! We have a Corolla, it's kinda small for me, like the steering wheel won't raise higher so sometimes it is hard to get in and out.
This week has been pretty good, we have been teaching the Foret's, Robert, and a new investigator Kory Wells (he was referred to us by someone who no longer lives in the area!) It's awesome!! And Robert has been asking for copies of the Book of Mormon to give to some of his friends that have been asking about our church! It is also awesome because he is doing alot more missionary work than alot of the members in the ward! And he isn't a member! You guys should always try to share the gospel with people/ non-member friends!
We unfortuantely had to drop Askana because she had no desire, and she doesn't believe in Joseph Smith and she said she will probably never read the Book of Mormon! It's sad but we weren't getting anywhere with her and thought we could try elsewhere.
On Tuesday district meeting got cancelled, so we decided to go tract and see someone Robert had referred us to. We didn't get in to see them, but later when Robert was there we were able to get in. We were told we were going to help move, so we came in regular clothes, but when we got there and started talking they started asking questions about what we believe, and so we kinda had to do a small lesson that we weren't prepared for. We showed the mom the Articles of Faith, and she had a hard time with number 12 (she asked, "so you guys don't believe in God's law?" We told her we do, but that we must obey the law of the land. She still had a hard time with it.) and the "we believe all things" in number 13 (she said "how can we believe all things, because there is alot of evil?" We didn't have an answer for her, but that was in the Admonition of Paul and we didn't know where that was. It bugged Elder Adam so the next day in personal study he looked for it and found it and he said that Paul says it in the Bible and this family said they believed in the Bible and Paul said that. It was awesome, but I don't think we will go back because they just wanted to find false things in what we believe.) Afterwards Robert came out with us and apologized for how they acted, and that he thought they wanted to know more about us and not try to bash on us. We told him it was ok and that it happens alot with us.
Another story while tracting on Friday (we were on a trade-off, Elders Sawyer and Haderlie came with me and Elder Adam went with Elder Bond) we came to this open door and knocked and a voice said,"who is knocking at my door?" We said,"it's the Mormon missionaries!" He invited us in and we talked for about 20 minutes about what he does and what he has done. His name is Malcolm and he is a mechanic for lawn mowers (the big kind) and he fought in Vietnam, and he has read the Korin (the Muslim book) and the Hindu book while he spent time in the Middle-East and Japan. He told us that he loved researching history on churches. He asked us for a Bible, at first I thought he was talking about an actual Bible, but he was talking about a Book of Mormon! He said he would read it! He is an older man, I'd say about in his late 60's or so and he sees different points of view of things. I hope when he reads the Book of Mormon he will find it to be true! When we first asked him how he was doing, he said crappy and we asked if there was anything we could do to help him. He said no and said that if it gets bad enough I have a gun over there and I will use it. At the end he told us that the gun he was referring to was a gun he used in Vietnam, and it was loaded. He walked over to it and grabbed it, and pulled it out of it's holder. ( I got scared! I didn't want there to be an accident, so I was gonna try to get out of there as soon as we could.) He walked over to us and took out the magazine to show us that it was loaded. After that we had to leave because we were late for dinner. It was scary! But I am still here in one piece! Well that's it for this week, I will talk to you guys next week! Love you all!!
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Cameron's Letter March 14, 2011
Last monday we had a much more effective Empty Nester's FHE! There were a lot of people there and there was pretty good participation!
On Wednesday we had another mission conference, and this one was about mormon.org ( oh by the way, yesterday when we got on to mormon.org I saw Charlee Allen on there! It was awesome to see someone I knew on there! You, dad, and Laura should create accounts and talk to other people too about making accounts, because it will REALLY help out the missionary effort and help people know more about us and what we believe!) I need to make one too, but I don't remember my member record number.
We did service for an elderly couple who can't really do any work outside, we got rid of a bunch of leaves on the driveway and clipped some bushes but we still have more work to do, they agreed to let us come in and start having lessons with them (It's going to be awesome!!!!) We discovered a new more effective way to teach Savannah, Jamie, and Jada. We taught them one at a time, and that seemed alot more effective! We are going to continue doing that!
We went to a friend/ half investigator's winging graduation. Were he got his wings to fly a helicopter (more search and rescue chopper) and he was extremely happy to see us there! I hope that that helped him out to realize that we do care about him! And later that day we had a lesson with Robert! We taught him the Plan of Salvation! It's awesome! And he has asked for copies of the Book of Mormon to give to some people who have asked him about our church! (He is is doing more missionary work than alot of the ward members!) And yeah that is pretty much my week! I have been on my mission for just over 2 months! Time sure has flown by! Well keep me posted on things at home! Love you guys!
On Wednesday we had another mission conference, and this one was about mormon.org ( oh by the way, yesterday when we got on to mormon.org I saw Charlee Allen on there! It was awesome to see someone I knew on there! You, dad, and Laura should create accounts and talk to other people too about making accounts, because it will REALLY help out the missionary effort and help people know more about us and what we believe!) I need to make one too, but I don't remember my member record number.
We did service for an elderly couple who can't really do any work outside, we got rid of a bunch of leaves on the driveway and clipped some bushes but we still have more work to do, they agreed to let us come in and start having lessons with them (It's going to be awesome!!!!) We discovered a new more effective way to teach Savannah, Jamie, and Jada. We taught them one at a time, and that seemed alot more effective! We are going to continue doing that!
We went to a friend/ half investigator's winging graduation. Were he got his wings to fly a helicopter (more search and rescue chopper) and he was extremely happy to see us there! I hope that that helped him out to realize that we do care about him! And later that day we had a lesson with Robert! We taught him the Plan of Salvation! It's awesome! And he has asked for copies of the Book of Mormon to give to some people who have asked him about our church! (He is is doing more missionary work than alot of the ward members!) And yeah that is pretty much my week! I have been on my mission for just over 2 months! Time sure has flown by! Well keep me posted on things at home! Love you guys!
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Cameron's Letter March 7, 2011
As far as cooking the last 2 P-days I have made chili and the other elders LOVE it (Especially Elder Vincent, he and Elder Bond live with us and their area is Pace which is about as far away from Milton as Orem is from Provo.) That's really the only cooking I have done. Most days we go to members houses for dinner. It's awesome!!!! Saves alot of money! But lunches I have made myself sub sandwiches like I made at Village Pizza (they are really good!) or I find some leftovers or something. And we use a car to get around in!
I am doing great! I love my mission, and I greatly appreciate my companion, he is teaching me alot, there are some small things I have to get use to, but that's life!
Now for this weeks events. I'm not going to type as long a letter but I am going to do the highlights! Last Tuesday we had a Mission Conference where Elder Packer of the 70 came. There were some things said that kinda made it sound like we should focus on the numbers. Which confused me a little. We went to the ward mission leaders house for dinner and to wait until we were going to go help some members move stuff into their house. While waiting we played "Disney Scene It" which confused me because I didn't know if it was a good thing to do (plus it also doesn't help that it was on party mode and we did it for at least an hour- an hour and a half. I think that was the part that bugged me the most. But after helping move I felt like we accomplished something!
Wednesday we did service for a lady who might become an investigator (we raked leaves and cleaned out the gutters) We taught Savannah, Jamie, and Jada (Foret girls). And we couldn't get someone who could speak spanish to come with us to see Askana, so we did what we could and then fellowshipped with her and her cousin (Katrina, we are going to sing happy birthday to Katrina when we go over tomorrow) Then we went and got Robert some shoes and a belt to go with his suit! He looked awesome! He can't wait to wear it to church!
Thursday we did weekly planning. Then we attempted to go see a referral from another missionary, but when we got to the address and knocked a lady opened the glass door and said not interested and closed the door and walked away. Elder Adam was doing the talking after, he asked if she could help us find someone, twice, but she ignored us. So we left. Then we had another lesson with Savannah, Jamie and Jada, but we didn't teach a whole lot because they were all over the place. After dinner we went to see Brenda Braun and she told us that she had a great week. For 30 years she has not taken the sacrament or felt like she was worthy to go to the temple, but she finally figured out the problem. She was excommunicated from the Catholic church because she got a divorse, and she thought that the excommunication was for every church. We told her that she hasn't been excommunicated from our church, so she CAN take the sacrament and she CAN go to the temple! It was awesome! She teaches herself when we go over there!
Friday we did service half of the day. We helped the Sorensen's with building a barn for their goats and a few other things, then we went with a new member of the ward to Pensacola to get stuff out of storage and helped move him into his house. Then after we showered and got ready, we went to teach Kevin and Joey. Joey was taught about strength in the Lord, he has tried to quit smoking but hasn't been successful, we commited him to stop cold turkey on March 13! He gladly excepted! Kevin was taught about praying and it's importance. And he accepted the commitment to pray every day.
Saturday we played basketball!!!! It was great! I feel like the Lord is helping me out with my basketball skills! Today it was POURING! There was a TON of rain. We were going to go do service, but that didn't happen because of the rain. Then we had lessons with members the rest of the day.
Sunday was a good day! There were alot of people at church! We had a good lesson with Tasha, Kevin, and Joey! After church Savannah wanted us to come teach her a lesson so we did. Jada is CRAZY!!!! She is all over the place and thinks everything is funny! So while I preoccupied Jada, Elder Adam taught Savannah about baptism. We commited Savannah and Jamie to be baptized on April 30th. The reason it is so far away is because they have extremely short attention spans and we can only teach them a little bit at a time. We have come to realize that a reason why the girls are the way they are is because they don't get much disipline and they watch rated R movies, the girls are 7,8, and 9 years old. They don't get scared of them but they watch them.
Anyway that was my week! Happy Birthday Laura!!! Sorry there isn't anything from me, I'm a poor missionary.... haha just kidding, it's because I forgot to get you a card. I'll look at cards today when we go shopping.
So since I have got here I have not gone a day when I haven't heard sirens! But it doesn't help that there is a hospital in our backyard. Also the weather is VERY nice (before the storm) we got up to high 70's!!! And you guys are still in the 30's!!! HAhAHAHa! But I do want to say this I am very grateful to you mom and dad for being consistent in praying and reading the book of mormon with us and that you kept me "sheltered" from the worldly things! And also for teaching me the principles of the gospel! I love you guys!!!!
I am doing great! I love my mission, and I greatly appreciate my companion, he is teaching me alot, there are some small things I have to get use to, but that's life!
Now for this weeks events. I'm not going to type as long a letter but I am going to do the highlights! Last Tuesday we had a Mission Conference where Elder Packer of the 70 came. There were some things said that kinda made it sound like we should focus on the numbers. Which confused me a little. We went to the ward mission leaders house for dinner and to wait until we were going to go help some members move stuff into their house. While waiting we played "Disney Scene It" which confused me because I didn't know if it was a good thing to do (plus it also doesn't help that it was on party mode and we did it for at least an hour- an hour and a half. I think that was the part that bugged me the most. But after helping move I felt like we accomplished something!
Wednesday we did service for a lady who might become an investigator (we raked leaves and cleaned out the gutters) We taught Savannah, Jamie, and Jada (Foret girls). And we couldn't get someone who could speak spanish to come with us to see Askana, so we did what we could and then fellowshipped with her and her cousin (Katrina, we are going to sing happy birthday to Katrina when we go over tomorrow) Then we went and got Robert some shoes and a belt to go with his suit! He looked awesome! He can't wait to wear it to church!
Thursday we did weekly planning. Then we attempted to go see a referral from another missionary, but when we got to the address and knocked a lady opened the glass door and said not interested and closed the door and walked away. Elder Adam was doing the talking after, he asked if she could help us find someone, twice, but she ignored us. So we left. Then we had another lesson with Savannah, Jamie and Jada, but we didn't teach a whole lot because they were all over the place. After dinner we went to see Brenda Braun and she told us that she had a great week. For 30 years she has not taken the sacrament or felt like she was worthy to go to the temple, but she finally figured out the problem. She was excommunicated from the Catholic church because she got a divorse, and she thought that the excommunication was for every church. We told her that she hasn't been excommunicated from our church, so she CAN take the sacrament and she CAN go to the temple! It was awesome! She teaches herself when we go over there!
Friday we did service half of the day. We helped the Sorensen's with building a barn for their goats and a few other things, then we went with a new member of the ward to Pensacola to get stuff out of storage and helped move him into his house. Then after we showered and got ready, we went to teach Kevin and Joey. Joey was taught about strength in the Lord, he has tried to quit smoking but hasn't been successful, we commited him to stop cold turkey on March 13! He gladly excepted! Kevin was taught about praying and it's importance. And he accepted the commitment to pray every day.
Saturday we played basketball!!!! It was great! I feel like the Lord is helping me out with my basketball skills! Today it was POURING! There was a TON of rain. We were going to go do service, but that didn't happen because of the rain. Then we had lessons with members the rest of the day.
Sunday was a good day! There were alot of people at church! We had a good lesson with Tasha, Kevin, and Joey! After church Savannah wanted us to come teach her a lesson so we did. Jada is CRAZY!!!! She is all over the place and thinks everything is funny! So while I preoccupied Jada, Elder Adam taught Savannah about baptism. We commited Savannah and Jamie to be baptized on April 30th. The reason it is so far away is because they have extremely short attention spans and we can only teach them a little bit at a time. We have come to realize that a reason why the girls are the way they are is because they don't get much disipline and they watch rated R movies, the girls are 7,8, and 9 years old. They don't get scared of them but they watch them.
Anyway that was my week! Happy Birthday Laura!!! Sorry there isn't anything from me, I'm a poor missionary.... haha just kidding, it's because I forgot to get you a card. I'll look at cards today when we go shopping.
So since I have got here I have not gone a day when I haven't heard sirens! But it doesn't help that there is a hospital in our backyard. Also the weather is VERY nice (before the storm) we got up to high 70's!!! And you guys are still in the 30's!!! HAhAHAHa! But I do want to say this I am very grateful to you mom and dad for being consistent in praying and reading the book of mormon with us and that you kept me "sheltered" from the worldly things! And also for teaching me the principles of the gospel! I love you guys!!!!
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Cameron's letter Feb 28, 2011
Last monday evening we went to Empty Nester's FHE (The older people in the ward that no longer have kids living at home) because they wanted us to teach them how to go about doing member missionary work. What we did was watched the Restoration and then had a little testimony meeting, (oh! First I have to tell you that we were asked to keep the lesson to about 20-30 minutes, from 7:30-8:00ish) so the Restoration took up about 20 minutes, and after I bore my testimony about the Restoration then left it open for others to bare their testimonies for about 10 (there were only about 11 of them (older couples) there 13 total) and only 5 of us bore testimonies. Elder Adam closed with his testimony and then told them that we can't tell you A specific way to do missionary work, that everyone has a different style, and then he asked if they would invite someone to a church social and only 2 said yeah and 1 or 2 nodded their heads, but other than that it ws very silent. A few seconds later one of the guys raised his hand and asked if he could be exused. We thought REALLY!?!? and said ...sure... he and his wife were going dancing at 8 and at this point it is 8:10. Everything fell after that. We closed right after and then I was asked to say the closing prayer. After that we had atleast 3 people tell us that next time we shouldn't take that much time up. First of we started 5 minutes late, so we only went 5 minutes over what we were told to go, and we thought it was ok because WE were feeling the Spirit, and we thought others were too, but it like they really didn't care about what we did! Yeah maybe they thought that we would teach them, but we both felt like we should try it. We weren't in a very good mood after that, so we just went back to the apartment for the rest of the night.
On Tuesday after lunch we visited a member and taught a lesson. After she asked us to go see her visiting teachy, so we did. We just visited with her and her husband (they were both pretty old.) After that we went to visit a girl who we tracted into, her name is Askana Madrinan. She is from Panama and her first language was Spanish. She can speak English, but some words weren't the same in Spanish. We answered some of her questions about the Gospel and about Joesph Smith, but she was very confused about Joesph Smith. We set another appointment with her on Friday and I'll tell about that one in a minute. After that we went to a members home for dinner, and then out to another members home to have a lesson. We went to the Hensley's and that are awesome! Bro Hensley use to be a bishop in another ward, so I thought it was cool to hear some of his thoughts, we told him about what happened at Empty Nester's and he just chuckled, they have at least attempted to get us referrals or to have us over when they invite a less active member(s). We talked about how we can have as much joy as Ammon had in Alma 27:17. That was actually one of his goals for this year, to feel that much joy! It was very interesting!
On Wednesday we went to do service at the Sorensen's and this time we invited Robert Mullins, because he wants us to find him oppurtunities to serve so he can get out of the house. Sister Sorensen was sick so we were just told to build a fire and burn more things and to gather up more bricks and move them over to where they are building a barn. We burned ALOT of wood!! Elder Adam was extremely happy!!! After lunch we visit a less active lady named Patty Thompson she had a bird named Gizmo and from what Elder Adam has told me, that bird is the devils bird. haha! We helped her clip some of his wings and some of his talons! It was crazy! The bird struggled alot! Then we went to visit a member who just got out of the hospital (he had to go to the hospital to have kidney surgery) he seemed to be doing well! :) Then we went to dinner at Cici's Pizza with some members. It wasn't the greatest pizza, Village Pizza is WAY better! Cici's pizza didn't have many toppings on it, I didn't really like that. That is where I found out about Deron Williams being traded, at first I was mad, then I thought more about it and what the Jazz got for him. Then I realized that the Jazz are getting ready to get Jimmer Fredette!!!!! I so happy!!!! After that we went to the church to maybe get a lesson, but no dice. The 2nd councilor in the Bishopric (Brother Hathaway) told us that Kevin and Tasha had gotten into a fight. Tasha wanted to leave, but Kevin said where are you going to go, you have no where else to go. Tasha doesn't really like Joey because he just sits around all day and she got mad at him because he started yelling at the girls. I thought how can you yell when you are deaf? After that we left and since we couldn't think of anything else to do we went tracting, at 8 o'clock at night! It was actually pretty funny! One guy said that he was REALLY busy right now with a tv show. After we left we just laughed! We didn't get any success with it but it helped relieve us of the stress we were under.
Thursday we did weekly planning. Then had a lesson with the Foret's again. Kevin's parents were there visiting so we taught them, and they want to go to church but they can't find a church with deaf people. When Kevin told them we had some every week they decided to come down from Mississippi to check it out. After that we had dinner at the Hathaway's. Then we went to see Brenda Braun and she told us that she has bought a house and she will move in at the end of March. She shared a great testimony about faith in Jesus Christ and how it helped her! I felt the Spirit!
Friday we went to early morning seminary and played a game with them, after we went out to East Milton to visit people out there. We were using Elder Adam's GPS and it told us to go on this dirt road. We did, and we kept going for a few miles then we came to a HUGE clearing area, where alot of trees were being cut down. Then we got to a point where the GPS told us to go straight but we could not see a road! So we followed a log truck outta the area. In the afternoon we went back to teach Askana but this time we brought a member with us who could speak Spanish so that made it alot easier to teach her things! We taught her more about Joseph Smith and the Restoration, we even got her a spanish Book of Mormon! Later that evening we taught the Foret's girls and had dinner there, it was a very interesting dinner. Red cabbage with apples and sausage on rice. I didn't really like the apples part and it would have been better if there was more sausage, but afterwards we decided that since they live on a small budget that next time we aren't going to have dinner with them just so that they can have more for themselves and so they don't have to use up alot of money.
Saturday I got to play basketball again!!!!!!! I was very happy!!!! Pretty much eveything fell through after that except when we went to see a members less active parents. We had a good lesson with them!
And Sunday in Ward Council we again asked them that if in their quoroms and classes they would ask for referrals and after church we talked to the Relief Society President and she had completely forgot to say that and that it was not something they were use to announcing, but we had asked her to do it for the past 3-4 weeks and she forgot every time. That rattled us, then an appointment fell through and Elder Adam got bit by a dog while we were visiting a less active lady, it was a request by one of the councilors. The door was open when we got there and the dogs started barking and she slammed the door and said No Trespassers! She said that she had a No Trespassing sign in her yard but there wasn't. There was a Beware of Dog sign. We got even more rattled, Elder Adam was mad at the dog for biting him. We went to dinner at the Bishops house that evening. And that pretty much did it for us because people weren't answering phones, and nobody was available to have us come over, so we went home and just talked the rest of the night.
Well that's my week. Love you Guys!!!
On Tuesday after lunch we visited a member and taught a lesson. After she asked us to go see her visiting teachy, so we did. We just visited with her and her husband (they were both pretty old.) After that we went to visit a girl who we tracted into, her name is Askana Madrinan. She is from Panama and her first language was Spanish. She can speak English, but some words weren't the same in Spanish. We answered some of her questions about the Gospel and about Joesph Smith, but she was very confused about Joesph Smith. We set another appointment with her on Friday and I'll tell about that one in a minute. After that we went to a members home for dinner, and then out to another members home to have a lesson. We went to the Hensley's and that are awesome! Bro Hensley use to be a bishop in another ward, so I thought it was cool to hear some of his thoughts, we told him about what happened at Empty Nester's and he just chuckled, they have at least attempted to get us referrals or to have us over when they invite a less active member(s). We talked about how we can have as much joy as Ammon had in Alma 27:17. That was actually one of his goals for this year, to feel that much joy! It was very interesting!
On Wednesday we went to do service at the Sorensen's and this time we invited Robert Mullins, because he wants us to find him oppurtunities to serve so he can get out of the house. Sister Sorensen was sick so we were just told to build a fire and burn more things and to gather up more bricks and move them over to where they are building a barn. We burned ALOT of wood!! Elder Adam was extremely happy!!! After lunch we visit a less active lady named Patty Thompson she had a bird named Gizmo and from what Elder Adam has told me, that bird is the devils bird. haha! We helped her clip some of his wings and some of his talons! It was crazy! The bird struggled alot! Then we went to visit a member who just got out of the hospital (he had to go to the hospital to have kidney surgery) he seemed to be doing well! :) Then we went to dinner at Cici's Pizza with some members. It wasn't the greatest pizza, Village Pizza is WAY better! Cici's pizza didn't have many toppings on it, I didn't really like that. That is where I found out about Deron Williams being traded, at first I was mad, then I thought more about it and what the Jazz got for him. Then I realized that the Jazz are getting ready to get Jimmer Fredette!!!!! I so happy!!!! After that we went to the church to maybe get a lesson, but no dice. The 2nd councilor in the Bishopric (Brother Hathaway) told us that Kevin and Tasha had gotten into a fight. Tasha wanted to leave, but Kevin said where are you going to go, you have no where else to go. Tasha doesn't really like Joey because he just sits around all day and she got mad at him because he started yelling at the girls. I thought how can you yell when you are deaf? After that we left and since we couldn't think of anything else to do we went tracting, at 8 o'clock at night! It was actually pretty funny! One guy said that he was REALLY busy right now with a tv show. After we left we just laughed! We didn't get any success with it but it helped relieve us of the stress we were under.
Thursday we did weekly planning. Then had a lesson with the Foret's again. Kevin's parents were there visiting so we taught them, and they want to go to church but they can't find a church with deaf people. When Kevin told them we had some every week they decided to come down from Mississippi to check it out. After that we had dinner at the Hathaway's. Then we went to see Brenda Braun and she told us that she has bought a house and she will move in at the end of March. She shared a great testimony about faith in Jesus Christ and how it helped her! I felt the Spirit!
Friday we went to early morning seminary and played a game with them, after we went out to East Milton to visit people out there. We were using Elder Adam's GPS and it told us to go on this dirt road. We did, and we kept going for a few miles then we came to a HUGE clearing area, where alot of trees were being cut down. Then we got to a point where the GPS told us to go straight but we could not see a road! So we followed a log truck outta the area. In the afternoon we went back to teach Askana but this time we brought a member with us who could speak Spanish so that made it alot easier to teach her things! We taught her more about Joseph Smith and the Restoration, we even got her a spanish Book of Mormon! Later that evening we taught the Foret's girls and had dinner there, it was a very interesting dinner. Red cabbage with apples and sausage on rice. I didn't really like the apples part and it would have been better if there was more sausage, but afterwards we decided that since they live on a small budget that next time we aren't going to have dinner with them just so that they can have more for themselves and so they don't have to use up alot of money.
Saturday I got to play basketball again!!!!!!! I was very happy!!!! Pretty much eveything fell through after that except when we went to see a members less active parents. We had a good lesson with them!
And Sunday in Ward Council we again asked them that if in their quoroms and classes they would ask for referrals and after church we talked to the Relief Society President and she had completely forgot to say that and that it was not something they were use to announcing, but we had asked her to do it for the past 3-4 weeks and she forgot every time. That rattled us, then an appointment fell through and Elder Adam got bit by a dog while we were visiting a less active lady, it was a request by one of the councilors. The door was open when we got there and the dogs started barking and she slammed the door and said No Trespassers! She said that she had a No Trespassing sign in her yard but there wasn't. There was a Beware of Dog sign. We got even more rattled, Elder Adam was mad at the dog for biting him. We went to dinner at the Bishops house that evening. And that pretty much did it for us because people weren't answering phones, and nobody was available to have us come over, so we went home and just talked the rest of the night.
Well that's my week. Love you Guys!!!
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