Dear ya'll,
So this week was good!
Super slow still in our neck of the woods but we are still finding many service
opportunities here with the wonderful saints of the Welby stake. We've met some
amazing families this week! We had tickets to go down to conference with some
people we are working with but alas, all of them fell through, we were still
able to go on Saturday morning and also to the Priesthood session Saturday
night downtown to watch conference there at the conference center. It was
packed as usual! The messages were really good this conference and helped
me evaluate where I am and how I can improve. On Sunday we went early to the
Liddle family home in the ward that we live in. They invited us over for a
pre-conference breakfast. It was really good! They are so nice! They have two
young boys and their youngest is a girl. Isaiah, Ian, and Elsa. They are so
cute! We watched conference with the Liddle family and helped support them as
the husband is going through a change in his work that makes him be away from
home throughout the week and we are striving to be an influence for good in
their family and for their kids. We've done service for them and shared
spiritual messages with them as well as watch conference with them in their
home this weekend. We love them and they are grateful for the help at this time
in their life. I brought my guitar and played them some songs while we made
lunch in between conference sessions. Sister Liddle and I talked a lot because
she served a mission over in Scotland! My sister Melanie served there and we
got to visit for 10 days there after her mission, so we talked a lot about all
the stuff there, how when she first got there she walked up Pratt's Hill to
dedicated her mission to the Lord and start her mission off with a prayer. We
talked about Saint Andrews golf course and of course we talked about the
amazing chocolate and bakery shops there! It was fun! It was also a good
opportunity for me to practice the songs I've written on my mission in front of
a live audience. Haha I broke one of my strings on my guitar while doing it, so
they graciously bought me some more strings! Such a nice family! I love
them!
Not much happened this
week but here is a report of some of the things we did, or tried to do. We were
going to have lesson with the Romero family in the 1st Ward this week but we
were unable to because of scheduling difficulties and sickness. We were going
to conference with them on Sunday morning but Brother Romero called in sick, which
was sad. We gave the tickets to another family to use instead of us going. Not
many people wanted to go that we asked. We tried having a FHE with the Sharps
and their neighbors but it got pushed back again to next week because of
scheduling difficulties. We took Cayden Troff, a young priest, with us to a
lesson to teach someone in a different ward we had scheduled to meet on
Thursday evening at the Stake center. It was a good experience for him as he
actually got to participate in teaching the Plan of Salvation and not just
stuck finding people with us. He enjoyed it and we talked to him a little bit
about missionary service afterward. He is a Grand Master in the world of chess
and has travelled the world many times over because of his talent in the field
of chess. He's a pretty cool guy!
We met with the
Hawkins family in the 3rd Ward as their son is preparing to serve a mission. We
spent some time getting to know them as well as had a little Q and A about
missionary service. We shared an Easter message about Jesus Christ to help them
understand the importance of this time of year and season. It was a good
opportunity to see how as missionaries we teach a lot about Jesus Christ
because He is our light and salvation. He is our everything! We also met with
the Carlson's who helped us put on the talent show we did a few weeks ago. They
had given some referrals to us of some of their neighbors we had visited and we
had reported back to them the progress in that endeavor. We shared a message to
them about the light of Christ and how we must judge righteously in this world
of opinion and doctrines. We invited them to pray about the messages they heard
in conference.
We spent some time
with the Wimmer family in the 4th Ward and helped to uplift them. They have
done so much for us and for me that they have a special place in my heart. We
went to watch the Priesthood session with brother Wimmer and they gave us
referrals that we have started visiting. We have not contacted all their
referrals but did contact Brother Whitney, one of Brother Wimmer's friends, and
invited him to basketball on Tuesday nights and he came and had a good time
playing with us. (We played some children's hymns in the background so he
received some of the doctrine contained in those hymns through osmosis) haha we
are slowly trying to invite him as he is not active and is seemingly kind of
cold still towards the church, not sure yet if there is a definite reason or if
they just haven't come in a while and then stopped coming. We will continue to
try to be an influence for good in their family.
We met with Emalee
Gonsalves in the 5th Ward again this week and had a great discussion about
revelation and the importance of prophets and apostles on the earth today. She
is someone we have been working with to help her come back to church. She is a
bit older and is single so we have to have our Ward Mission Leader join us for
each visit so we can meet inside her home. We committed her to watch and to
take notes of conference that we can review and talk about when we next see
her. She is doing great and is just waiting on the bishop and the ward council
as to finding a calling or responsibility in the church. She feels a little
self-conscious about the whole "calling" thing. She doesn't want to
stand in front of people and teach per se, but she is warming up the the fact
that callings are another way the Lord blesses each of His children and makes sure
we are all progressing together back to His presence.
We tried to watch
conference with the Randle family in the 6th Ward this weekend but they were
not home. We have shared their info with the Wallis's, our senior couple
missionaries, to see if they can have better success with them. The Wallis's
are great teachers and can do a lot more good for that family than we can as
they will be around much longer which will reduce the possibility of he
Randle's falling through the cracks between transfers and changes of
missionaries as they are progressing slower. We supported the Law family as
Brady got his mission call this week. We stopped by the night he got it to
congratulate him and share our love for that family.
We tried stopping by a
referral given to us in the 7th ward by the Wallis's. It is Lorena and Antonio
Vasquez, no answer at the door but sounded like people were home. We are trying
to contact this family to see if we or the Spanish Elders would be better
suited to try visiting them. We stopped and visited with the Brady's on the
same street as we were on our way over to contact this referral. We talked with
them for a minute and asked them if they knew this referral we were asked to
stop by. They said they've seen them but hadn't met them yet. We also stopped
by the Steed family to see how they were doing and he answered the door and
asked us to come back when his wife was there, in the mornings before
3:00pm.
We had dinners in the
8th ward this week and had some good experiences meeting these wonderful members
in the Ward. We found some extra tickets to conference this weekend and asked
many people who declined us but we invited the Workman's who we just previously
had dinner with and they accepted. Brother and Sister Workman as well as her
parents went. They greatly appreciated it. We also had a good time over at the
Rasmussen's who fed us home-made pizza, they good part was that their oldest
son was there that we were able to talk to and we shared a message with the
family on Christ and His infinite love for us and our individual situation and
trials. We invited them to watch conference.
We met with Will
Hansen this week who is in the 9th Ward who basically told us to not talk
"church" to him anymore, that he was done and that God had His chance
to speak to him and now he is closed off and won't ask or listen anymore. He
said we are welcome to still come by but not to teach him. He wants the
blessings God fully intends to give to him but he feels his life is too far
gone in every manner of the phrase and that there is no point to his life
anymore, thus he will not endeavor to ask, seek, or knock. We tried to console
him but wouldn't let us. We invited him to take his concerns to the Lord by
watching conference this weekend. He agreed hesitantly. We counseled with our
district about how we can help him and received some council from the Wallis's.
We still went over and did a lot of service for them this week by shoveling
rock and using a wheelbarrow to move it to a low spot in the front of their
property. That was right up my alley with what I used to do back home for work!
Haha Sister Hansen especially appreciates the help. We still have much to do
and will continue to help out in that home to try to show Will we still care
for him. We told him when we saw him at their service and told him how much we
love him and will always be there for him. He appreciated that as well and said
he trusts us and believes us when we say that. We also met with Gary this week
and taught him the Plan of Salvation and personalized it just for him to help
him see hope amidst his trials. It helped him gain a better understanding and
viewpoint of God and how He views him. He still struggles a lot and texts us
frequently about giving up and that there is no hope for him. We console him
often and have felt the need to also involve the Wallis's in our attempt to
help Gary come closer to Christ. They have been with us to one of his lessons
so far and connected really well with him.
So yet again our
numbers this week absolutely suck! But I know the Lord sees the way we are
striving to work and find people and that's all that matters! Our efforts are
much more sacred to the Lord than the results. We see this correlation in the
Doctrine and Covenants, section 117, verses 12-13
12 And again, I say
unto you, I remember my servant Oliver Granger; behold, verily I say unto him
that his name shall be had in sacred remembrance from generation to generation,
forever and ever, saith the Lord.
13 Therefore, let him
contend earnestly for the redemption of the First Presidency of my Church,
saith the Lord; and when he falls he shall rise again, for his sacrifice shall
be more sacred unto me than his increase, saith the Lord.
(Underlines added afterward)
Oliver Granger was
simply to stay behind when the saints were being driven from city to city, and
his job was to sell the properties that were abandoned by the saints. He, in
the standards of the world, or looking at it numerically, failed miserably, because
he didn't gain any money for the church by what he did. Like the scripture
said, "when he falls" it doesn't say "if he falls." The
Lord did not set him up to fail—for in His perfect eyes, Oliver Granger did not
fail, because he kept trying, he was diligent and persevered. We can see the
same principle in our lives, in fact I am sure that when we reach the other
side of the veil, and we will meet our Savior, we will be astonished as to
how He views us and our efforts to come close to Him. At times I feel
very distant from Christ, or that the path ahead of me is daunting and
increasingly steep so as to deter my progress. But I know my Savior lives! I
know He loves me! I know that through Him I can become clean from sin and be
admitted entrance into my Heavenly Father's presence again someday. As long as
I keep trying, and getting up "when" life, temptation, sin, and
trials knock me down, I will see success and many blessings in my life! I know
this is true for all who strive to live the gospel of Jesus Christ in their
daily lives! I love you all so much! Hope you have a great week! :)
Love Elder Patterson
This is us with Cayden Troff, the chess man
