Happy Memorial Day!

Hello everyone!

   We have had quite a good Memorial Day so far. We wet and did a run with one of the Wards in town and a breakfast afterwards and yes, I ran. Luckily it was still a good temperature this morning. They had some homemade syrup and it was super good!

   This week was pretty good, we talked to a few interesting people. One of them was a black supremacist who called the Book of Mormon fool’s gold. That was a first. We also met a really cool guy near a referral that we got who has met with missionaries in the past but wasn't interested in meeting at the moment. That's seems to be the main theme lately, mostly nice people that aren't interested. That's okay though! The work is still important regardless of whether they accept it or not.

   All of our investigators aren't really progressing very well either. Anqunette is planning on being out of town for quite a while. Not sure what to do with her. Joyce has been reading and praying for two weeks and said that she hasn't gotten an answer yet so we told her to keep trying and to be patient. She said that she will. It's a good sign! We have some good plans to help her recognize her answer and be patient 

   We had lots of service this week for non-members. They were really good service opportunities and the people we served were so grateful for our help. One of them was a move where we were just supposed to help them move a hot tub into the truck but they ended up needing help moving the whole house, so we stayed and helped. I'm pretty sure it was a less-active part-member family but I'm not sure. The other service we had was with a non-member who randomly called us out of the blue and actually lives in another area that touches us. All 7 of the Missionaries in the area went over on Saturday and laid sod for her yard. It was pretty fun but man sod is heavy. On Saturday I was on an exchange with Elder Golling so Elder Berryhill didn't get to have all of that fun. 

   One of the young men in our Ward just got his mission call. He had been called to serve in the California San Jose Mission. I told him that I'll have to go feed him dinner while he's serving there since it's so close to home. He reports to the MTC on August 2nd so I'll have two years to make it out there.

  I think that's about it for this week. I hope you all can have a great week filled with love for the Savior.  

• Matthew 10:32-33

 Whosoever therefore shall ​​​confess me ​before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.

 But whosoever shall ​​​deny​ me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

   I pray that you each will be able to confess Jesus Christ to those around you. I know and testify that he lives. He is your advocate with the Father and He will succor you. I love you all!

Love,

Elder Eddenfield

Lots of Good Contacts

Hello Everyone! Happy Monday!

   We had a great week! We talked to lots of people this week and made lots of good contacts. We met a few cool former investigators as well that's re showing interest in meeting with us again. One lady is a part-member family and she already acts and talks like she's a member of the church so we aren't entirely sure why we has not been baptized. We had tried to set up appointments in the past with her with no luck and on Saturday we were finally able to do so. She will be having us over for dinner in a few weeks. I'm excited!

   A* dropped of the face of the Earth...we have had no contact with her this last week. She is in Peoria, we think, so that may be why but she should still be able to  respond to texts or Facebook Messenger. Hopefully we are able to contact her this week. J* is also being a stubborn lady. She just doesn't seem to be able to feel the Spirit. We even tried an experiment where I read 3 Nephi 11 where the Savior testifies of himself and teaches His doctrine and sat here for a minute feeling the Spirit but she didn't feel a thing. It was really odd and we aren't sure where to go with her. We may have to drop her here pretty soon. As for all of our other investigators...yeah same old same old.

   We were in Peoria for two days last week for meetings. On Wednesday we had Zone a Conference and on Thursday we had a Weekly Planning training meeting. On Wednesday night the Traveling Assistant Elder Urness came with us. Luckily for him we had all lessons that night so he was involved with lots of teaching. He goes home with me. Practically half of the mission goes home with me actually. It'll be a fun change for everyone. I learned a lot from those meetings that I hope to apply and have already been applying. We also found out that we will be having a Mission Tour next month! I'm really excited because most Missionaries only get to have two while they serve but this will be my third. I don't know his name but supposedly he said a prayer during General Conference.

   During my studies this week I was reading a Conference Talk from October 1993 titled Divine Forgiveness. This is a portion that stuck out to me, "The beginning and completion of repentance leading to forgiveness is faith in Jesus Christ, who is the 'author and the finisher of [our] faith' (Moroni 6:4). Our faith in him as Savior and Redeemer engenders in us godly sorrow for our transgressions, a broken heart and a contrite spirit, and a sense of personal accountability. There follows a change in attitude and a turning toward God." If we try to repent without having faith in Christ, our repentance will only be temporary. Faith is a prerequisite to true and lasting repentance. Don't forget it!

   I love you all and hope that you have a great week! 

Elder Eddenfield

 

Happy Mother's Day!

(This is a letter from May 15, 2017)

Hello everyone! Happy Mother's Day!

  This was a great week! We did lots of good work this week and talked to lots of people. I had a cold so my voice was much deeper so I may have scared the people we talked to which is why they didn't keep their appointments. I'm not sick anymore so that fear should be removed. Joyce's heart is starting to soften as well which is fantastic. We were really bold with her but she says that she feels that what we are sharing with her is true and she wants an answer that the Book of Mormon is true, she will get baptized if she receives that. Anqunette is doing really well! She is still reading the Book of Mormon and is still striving to live the word of wisdom. She's doing good! And even better, the members are doing a great job of reaching out to her and inviting her over for lessons or dinners. That's always the best. 

   Yeah, I'm not sure what else to talk about. I had the wonderful opportunity to Skype my wonderful family yesterday and that was a blessing. Typically after calls there isn't nearly as much to say. So sorry about that, I can always say that I am truly blessed to be out here serving God's children though. For anyone who may be reading this (and I have no clue if anyone even does) that is considering serving mission...do it. Nothing bad could come from serving, only good. I am so happy being out here and I have learned and grown so much and I have been blessed with the opportunity to help others as well. It sounds like a win win to me. 

   I would just like to end by saying how grateful I am for my beautiful mother who has raised me and taken care of me and even though I'm hundreds of miles from her she still takes care of me. It's a wonderful plan that our Father has created. It's perfect and I see that through the simple organization that is the family. I love you Mom! I love you all! Have a fantastic week!

Elder Eddenfield

Tanner! A young single adult that came out with us a lot. He's in Utah now...

It was raining really hard. It was great!