Monday, October 26, 2015

Week 13! Not a Newbie



Hello all!
My week was pretty good! We actually had a pretty good amount of lessons last week with some fairly solid investigators. None of them made any lame excuses for why they could can't go to church and some of them should be to the Trunk-or-Treat on Wednesday. We also met a very less active member who was baptized as a Catholic over 10 years ago but we started visiting with her and a lot of the things that bothered her about our church were actually false so we have been addressing a lot of concerns and she is starting to read the Book of Mormon again!
We've actually been meeting with a lot of less-active members lately and it's been going fairly well I would say. We also did quite a bit of service this week as well. That pretty much consists of my week!
Transfers are tomorrow and Elder Weigel is leaving me. He's going to be a Zone Leader in Rockford. Elder Fia is going to be my new companion, he has been in my district since I've been out so I know him fairly well already. I am no longer a new Missionary either, yesterday was my last day as one. Now I'm a big boy!

Love you all!
-Elder Eddenfield






Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Week 12



Hello all!
Like most have been, this week was great! On Tuesday we had my last New Missionary training. I'm definitely going to miss going to those.
The main point of this one was to let us know that our mission is not prepared to have 1,000 people thrown at us. We were then told how we are to prepare ourselves for this influx of people, mostly by being more obedient. It's crazy to think that next Monday I won't be a new missionary anymore...it'll be the real deal, although it's been the real deal since the beginning. The rest of the week was pretty normal.
We've been doing a lot of tracting because we don't have a lot of investigators. We're slowly but surely getting more though. Yesterday the Missionaries in the Nauvoo mission sent us the information for a man named Grant. He is actually related to Heber J. Grant who was a Prophet a while ago. Grant is super awesome and I feel is super prepared to hear about the Gospel, I mean he went to Nauvoo on his own without any members taking him...so, yeah. Oh yeah, I finished the Book of Mormon today and all I can say is that I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that no one can tell me otherwise. I truly know this and I know that everyone can find this out for their own if they read Moroni 10:3-5 and heed Moroni's council.

Love you all!
-Elder Eddenfield

This is a picture with one of the new apostles, Elder Renlund and his wife. Cody taught Sister Renlund about the Law of Chastity (so he could practice teaching discussions.)  :)



Monday, October 12, 2015

Week 11



Hello All!

This week was pretty good! The majority of it's goodness came from Tuesday where we found 4 new investigators and 3 more who have potential. We taught the young man who we found on Sunday who's name is Alex. He is super sincere and is really prepared. He is 17 and has been going to lots of different churches searching for the truth and he said he hasn't found it yet (that's because he hasn't tried the true church yet.) We stopped by a few days later and asked if he read the Book of Mormon and he said he read the Introduction and he first chapter and he actually basically explained the first chapter to us which means he actually read it, he said his friend read it with him and is actually interested as well. I am super excited to continue teaching him and helping him feel the spirit. In the last email I said that I was preparing him for the next Missionaries, this doesn't mean that I won't be here anymore it just means that I don't think I'll be in this area next transfer. So I might get to see him make those changes in his life, but who knows.
On Friday I went on an exchange with Elder Fia again but this time it was in his area. We did a lot of tracting and ran into some very interesting people. One of them used to be taught by missionaries and knew quite a lot about what we believed and said she would be interesting in meeting with them again. Another woman was Catholic and was pretty rude to us and was basically Bible bashing. It was really hard for me to hold back and to not bash back but surprisingly I didn't do it, so that's good I guess. All we could do was testify and leave and it's up to her agency  to decide how she'll react to it.
With all this in mind I just wanted to talk to everyone about being nice to missionaries. I'm not complaining about how people treat me but many people do not treat us as well as we would like. So just make sure that you treat missionaries that may come to your door nicely and understand that they are doing what they believe is right.
Today started out with helping some members of our ward move, it went really well and we got to show off our muscles, or the small amount we have. Afterwards we went up to Shorewood and had a Zone P-Day. We had lunch and played soccer for 4 hours straight. It was actually really fun, even though I sucked.

That's pretty much all for last week!
The scripture I am ponderizing is D&C 4
1 Now behold, a marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men.
2 Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day.
3 Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work;
4 For behold the field is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul;
5 And faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work.
6 Remember faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence.
7 Ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Amen.


I hope you all have a great week!
-Elder Eddenfield