Hello everyone!
It's another beautiful day in Saint Charles! The weather is a little
humid with clouds in the sky but the spirit is strong, so I guess I can handle
the humidity. Last night we saw the coolest storm pass right by us. We stood on
our balcony and watched a ginormous cloud go right by us. It was really cool
because it was right under the moon and every once in a while a bit of the
cloud would cover the moon and it gave off the coolest light. Lightning was
striking nonstop throughout the clouds. Mom would have loved it. I tried to
take a video but it didn't do it justice at all.
Anyways! This week was great. Elder Atkinson is a stud and I am super
excited to be serving with him. He's got it all down to a T. Next assistant
maybe? Hahaha, I'm just kidding. We aren't supposed to speculate that sort of
stuff anyways. He's awesome though. He works hard and is always thinking of
ways to improve and that's just what I like so I can tell this transfer is
going to be a great one.
We
basically dropped all of our investigators in the time that I've been here, no
one they were teaching is anywhere near ready, and they all have been taught
for months now with no sign of progression. One guy wouldn't even commit to
pray, at all. We weren't even committing him to ask God if the Book of Mormon
is true (it is by the way) we were just asking him to pray in general and he
said no. It's just how the work goes I guess. We are now down to one
investigator who has a little more potential to progress. I'm excited to try to
help him in the coming weeks. I haven't met him yet but when I do I'm going to
try to get everything about him so I can study according to his needs and
figure out, with Elder Atkinson, on what to do. I'm pretty pumped. We have a
bunch of potentials as well but have slowly been dropping them as well.
We met a nice lady who was walking her dog and did the whole "can
I pet your dog" approach to contact her. That one always works, unless
they're grumpy. She let us pet her dog and then we got into some good
conversation and eventually gave her a Book of Mormon. She wouldn't give us any
information except for her email, which is really all that we need, so we'll
see where it goes.
Met a lot of the members of the Ward at church yesterday. It's a
really good sized Ward, probably the biggest one I've served in out here. The
members are all nice (like always) and they seem to be pretty pumped for the
Work. They have had some great missionaries in the past serving here so we have
some big shoes to fill. As long as we keep being ourselves and working hard we
can't go wrong (I hope.) The awesome thing is that most of the members here have
already given us the names of their friends and neighbors they would eventually
like to share the gospel with so that makes it a lot easier on us.
We actually had dinner with a family last night and they invited one
of their non-member friends to it and it was a great dinner with wonderful
gospel conversations. We were unable to share a message because of time
constraints (I've repented, don't worry) but it was still good overall. She
texted us later that night saying she gave that friend a Book of Mormon after
we left and that was super exciting to hear. We hope she realizes how awesome
that is.
After that Dinner we went to an assisted living home and sang for
them. We tried to get lots of members there but only the young women and like two
dads came so it was a little weird but we all sounded good. The people loved us
being there. They kept asking if we were going to be coming back in the future
so I guess the answer is yes. I love doing things like that. Most of the people
had tears in their eyes after we left and I know most of them don't get visited
by people very often and it just really makes me appreciate the good things in
life. I'm glad we were able to make a difference in someone's day yesterday. I
hope all the members that came felt the same spirit I felt because it sure felt
good.
So a little bit more about the area (because this email isn't already
long enough.) We are in a car share with the other Elders in the Ward, their
names are Elder Barnes and Elder Noble. Just kidding his name is Elder Moore
not Noble. I can't take credit for that one, it was Bishops idea. Elder Barnes
came out with Elder Atkinson and Elder Moore came out a transfer before me so
there are no old Missionaries around me anymore. I guess I'm going to be pretty
old in a few days. I can't believe it's almost been a year, but I'll talk more
about that once I actually hit it. When we don't have the car we ride bikes, so
I guess I'm going to start getting thin here pretty soon. Hahaha, probably not.
It is really hilly though so its rough. But it's what we have to do to hasten
the work so so be it. Also, a large sort of our area is very wealthy so not
much different than my last area on that since. At least we have a little
ghetto here.
Well,
I think that's probably long enough. It sufficeth me to say that I'm excited to
be serving here. I see big things in the future. I'll keep working hard and I
expect no less from all of you. I hope you all have a great week!
Love,
-Elder Cody Eddenfield
Choose the Right
New companion, Elder Atkinson:
