Week 20

This week was a week of great change for me as we had transfers.

 

So, last Monday was not our P-Day, but  we still were able to email. The reason it wasn't our pday was because we went to the temple of Tuesday. It was Elder Kiene's last week and Elder Valdez and him are best friends and so Elder Kiene invited us to go through with him for his last time before the departure trip. Anyways, on Monday we emailed then we had to go get a car from Independence. After getting the car we attempted to visit a few people and met with a few less active members. it was a pretty normal day.

 

Tuesday was the day we were dreading. During the day on Tuesday of transfer week is when the President gives calls for people who he asks to serve in leadership, and we had heard rumors that Elder Valdez was going to be a Zone Leader, but we were doubtful, seeing as he only had 5 weeks left, it just didn't seem like it would make sense. But that morning we went to the temple, WOW. If anyone ever needed the sweet peace and comfort of the spirit, it was me that day. I love going to the temple, there truly is no peace that even comes close to that we feel inside The House of the Lord. After that we went to lunch with the Elders who we went to the temple. But for the rest of the day it was just the two of us, trying to avoid the phone because we didn't want to get the call asking Elder Valdez to serve in leadership. We went to the church and just played played basketball for a few hours, then we went home and were getting ready for the rest of the day when the call came... I answered because Elder Valdez was in the shower and President Vest asked me to be the new District Leader, that didn't even bother me, but I just said, "does that mean Elder Valdez is leaving?" because he was the old district leader, and it turned out, he was going to leave. to be a Zone Leader in the Independence South Zone, for 5 weeks. We were both shocked and upset, we absolutely loved our time together, he was like a Brother to me, as i came out scared and not really sure what i was doing, and he showed me how to be a missionary. Anyways, the rest of that day we visited a few people. just him saying goodbye to people made me start to tear up at times... on family said to him as we were walking away, Elder Valdez, know that you are always welcome in this house, i nearly broke down, I just hope that when I leave areas people will want to tell me the same thing, that I am always welcome in their homes, I hope and pray that i can effect people as much as Elder Valdez did.

 

Wednesday was just full of us visiting as many members as Elder Valdez could, he had a specific list he wanted to visit so we went and met them so he could say good bye... i can already tell that leaving area's is going to be really difficult, when people say that the best part of the mission is the people, i think i now know why, we are sent to change peoples lives with the message we have, but really, they just change our lives more than they even understand. Our last goodbye was with the P. family, that was the dagger lol, but seriously it was so hard to eat dinner with them, as we had dinner with them that night, knowing that elder Valdez was going to say bye when he left. at the end we were all just crying and Elder Valdez shared this message about how he hoped and prayed he could live worthily to be with them after this life, then said, "well, for the last time, is there anything I can do for the P. family tonight?" it was really sad, our last time with just us together. It was definitely heart breaking.

 

Thursday, we had to rush to get out of the house and to transfers. Where I met my new companion, Elder Childs, from South Jordan, Utah. He has been serving for about 11 months, I don't have a picture of us this week but I will definitely send one in the future! At transfers, it turns out that a TON of the missionaries got transferred from one area to another, it was nuts, and a few missionaries with just 5 weeks left were put into leadership positions, which i thought was a little weird. After transfers, we went home and did weekly planning and then we went out and visited a few people to introduce Elder childs to the leadership in the ward.

Friday, we continued to try to visit people form the ward. We went to visit the ward auxiliaries. and were able to do some service for a few members in our ward. It was a fairly low key day.

 

Saturday, we were able to meet a lot of members and in fact, were able to meet with a new investigator, an older man, he has a daughter who is a member who referred him to us and we met with him and his daughter and member form our ward. He has been reading the pamphlets the missionaries who were working with him gave him and he is very interested so we are really excited for that!! We were also able to visit a few less actives and a few people we were asked to visit. It was a good day!

 

Sunday was just great. i needed to relax at church especially after being so stressed about taking over the area and being with a new comp and being the district leader. church was really nice. after church we went and attempted to visit with a few people but were unsuccessful. Then we went home and had dinner, a member gave us some food to cook at church. And we worked on getting the new ward roster we received updated with all the notes form the older ones.

 

All in all, this week has been stressful lol. I believe that we are put in situations for our own learning and growth, and I am looking forward to that growth this transfer, someone once said, "Every man is in favor or progress, it's the change they don't like" boy isn't that the truth. I do not like change one bit, but change is how we grow, like President Stoleworthy once said, "there is no growth in the comfort zone, but there is comfort in the growth zone". I know that is true! I hope everyone had a great week and great Memorial Day! This truly is the greatest country in the world! I would like to thank all those who serve or have served in the armed forces for your sacrifice, this truly is the land of the free because of the brave! Have a great week!

  Elder Hinrichsen

Week 19

This was a walk week, and this transfer has been 7 weeks, we have had the car for 5 and walked for 2, and when walking, it feels like missionary work just moves in slow motion here lol.

 

Tuesday, we had a zone meeting. The trainings were good, on sincere prayer, obedience, repentance, and charity. After, our zone went to lunch at a place called "court house" people rave about it but, in my opinion, it is literally chilis with old fashioned decorations. lol After that we went and visited a woman who has been less active for quite some time, she is considering coming back to church and her husband isn't a member so we can potentially work with him we showed up just in time to help them carry a table from their garage indoors. then we visited another less active family that we have met a lot with and have fellowshipped them well, we aren't forcing the gospel on them but we just invite the spirit to their house.

 

Wednesday, we went to the library and did our Mormon.org time, then we walked a really long way because we didn't really know where we were going to visit a part member family we have been visiting, they weren't at home, so we walked to our dinner because it was on the opposite side of our area. at the dinner the husband's mom was their from south America, and she showed us a presentation about why the book of Mormon was in some city (i forgot the name) in south America. After the presentation we went and visited a family in our ward.

 

Thursday, we did our weekly planning and after that we had a meeting with a young man who we are working with on baptism. He is a grandson of a member in our ward who has recently moved in with him and we felt he really likes the gospel. He just has trouble keeping up with reading and praying but he likes lessons and meeting with us. After the lesson we went to visit a less active member, she wasn't home so we walked to the jail for correlation.

 

Friday, we walked to visit the same less active we tried on Thursday and about 10 minutes into walking, we got caught in a CRAZY storm - an insane downpour for about 30 minutes and lots of thunder. We were SOAKED. Luckily. my bag is water proof so nothing got wet... Elder Valdez bag was NOT waterproof... so his scriptures got damp and he had to leave them out in the apartment to dry. My planner was SOAKED, shoes soaked, basically every piece of clothing was drenched so we slowly walked home in the heat that followed the storm. We changed and relaxed for a little then headed off to visit another investigator we are working with who lived like 3 miles away, but right when we started walking we got picked up, which was a relief lol, then we visited a family that lived by the investigator after who gave us a ride to dinner. After dinner we had time to walk home.

 

Saturday, we went and did service most of the day. We helped a family clean their gutters and another family clean their garage then we went to dinner. After dinner there was another crazy storm that lasted for almost the entire night - apparently the tornado storms went on, but we slept through it lol

 

Sunday, we found out that a couple families had flooding during the storm so during Elder's quorum a lot of the men went to go and help a family that had really bad flooding. We weren't able to go because we were walking and it would have taken an hour to get home and to the families house so all the priesthood was combined. After church we taught a young man in the ward after which we had dinner with his family. After dinner we visited a few families.

 

It has been a long and slow motion week lol. from car to walking feels like you can't get anything done, but I know that we have effected someone's life for good this week. I hope you are all good and pray for you all the time!

  Elder Hinrichsen

Week 18

Hope everyone had a good week! It was great to Skype and see everyone! This week was pretty normal.

Tuesday we had a choir practice in Independence, we did Mormon.org time, then we visited a young man who we are working with and put him on a soft date for May 23, we hope that follows through. We tried a few less actives and met a part member family and we talked with the wife who isn't a member and she said we could return and talk with her another time, so that was great!

Wednesday we were on splits. I went on splits with an elder who I thought I really liked but as we worked together I didn't think that our styles of teaching really worked together, but that day we visited a few people and got in contact with a less active lady who said she was wanting to go back to church just had a few worries which we talked about, she said we could stop by another time, her husband isn't a member but is supportive of her going, so some potential there! We had dinner and a lesson with the Propst then we had a lesson with a young man in our ward.

Thursday we were back from splits and we went and visited the people that we didn't visit the day before. We met another less active man, he was very friendly he said he wasn't interested in coming back, but that we could stop by anytime we were in the area, that was really nice of him! Later we had a lesson with a  grandmother of a family we are teaching, and it was my first full lesson in Spanish, I was pretty much super nervous during the entire thing but my companion said I did pretty good so that was really nice!

Friday we visited people. We met a few members and weren't really able to get into the homes of many other people. This was the night the Propst were going to the temple, but we already had decided to sing in a missionary choir for a "Friday Night Out", those are held in the Visitors Center in Independence ever Friday night, and there is usually a spiritual program of talks, music, etc. things like that, the choir we were in sung 2 songs, a songs called "A Marvelous Work", basically we sang D&C 4, and High on the Mountain Top.

Saturday, we had a lesson with D. in the morning then went around visiting a few people we wanted to meet, then we went back and did studies, weird but Derek wanted the lesson in the morning so while we were out we just visited a few people. Then we went to a families house who we had dinner with and helped them plant a garden and take care of their yard and had dinner with them.

Sunday, we got to Skype! It was so great to see everyone! I skype'd in the morning, then we had church, which was really good, about mothers of course. The P. told us how great the temple was, that was so great to hear that they loved it! Then Elder Valdez Skype'd in the afternoon at another members house. It was really nice to have that chance to talk with my family.

It has been a good week for me, I hope everyone else had a good week as well! Love you all!

   Elder Hinrichsen

Week 17

Hey everyone!

   This week was very interesting, but not in a bad way!

Tuesday, We had a list of people to visit, less actives, and an active family whom we had never met. I thought we wouldn't really have any success, but we really did, which was very encouraging! We met a less active man who we have been trying to visit for some time but have never gotten in contact with him, he was very nice and said we could come back whenever we wanted. Another man set an appointment with us for later in the week; and the active family was there, an older couple, very nice. They showed us there garden, man gardening is a HUGE thing out here, probably because anything can grow in this climate! Finally, after dinner, we were able to meet with a young man, who is an active member, just another one of those youth teaching assignments, and we taught him the restoration.

 

Wednesday, We had quite a good day. We were able to meet with a part member family, the dad isn't a member but he really loves meeting with us, we met with a young man who we are working with, he has been praying and reading the scriptures occasionally and his grandpa, who he is living with and is a member of our ward, said that his attitude, grades, and his whole life have improved since he has started meeting with us, and of course we know that we aren't making the difference, but the gospel is. Finally we were able to meet with the grandmother of a family who is very active in our ward, she visits 4 months every year from south America, and we just happened to be serving in this English ward, two Spanish speaking missionaries and she only speaks Spanish, so we are trying to work with her, she is very hesitant but she keeps commitments so we will see how that goes. And our investigator who was getting baptized Saturday canceled an appointment with us.

 

Thursday, We weekly planned, tried to visit a few people, did our Mormon.org time then visited one of our favorite families although they are less active they really love us, then had correlation meeting and S., set for baptism last Saturday had the baptism interview and we got the green light from our Zone Leaders!

 

Friday, we spent the day basically setting up the baptism, we had to make the programs, get everything in the church set up, chairs and such, we had to get the tv working so we could play videos, and that took most of the time. then we had dinner with the Laubaughs, the mom is out of town so it was just the dad and the only son at home, so the dad grilled up a ton of food, after dinner we went and helped clean up the church, it was set to be done on Saturday morning, and we were going to go to that but we found out it was going to be done that night so we just went and helped out.

 

Saturday, was interesting... That morning the man scheduled for baptism text us that we were going to have to postpone it because his uncle in southern Missouri died, and he will be working for the next 4 Saturdays so we don't know when or if the baptism is going to happen, we were a little skeptical as if he was really interested in the church, so I think we got our answer lol... anyways we had a ton of service to do that day because our ward had a few activities going on that day. There was a service project at a womans shelter to build some planting boxes so we went and helped out there, then we had to leave a little early to help out with an eagle project for a young man in the ward, where we set up a butterfly waste station, basically we just planted a bunch of plants that attract a certain type of butterfly and provide food for it, it was pretty fun. After the project, we got a call from Brother P., he was back at the women's shelter working by himself with another man in the ward, so we went back and helped them finish up, shoveling a bunch of mulch into wheel barrows and putting it in. Then we went home showered real fast and went to dinner. We were so tired that night lol

 

Sunday, Well it was fast sunday, the slowest sunday of the week lol. But it was a fairly normal meeting, nobody got up there and told anything crazy lol the rest of church was good. Sunday school was about the living church of Christ today, Priesthood was about the talk from President Eyring this past conference about fasting, it was also brief because the Elders Quorum had to go set up for the break the fast, our ward gets together and people bring food to break their fasts together, usually there isn't enough food and it runs out fast, but this time there was plenty! Then we had a lesson with a young man in our ward, and we visited with the P. family who are going to do baptisms in the temple THIS FRIDAY!! We will be going with them so we are super excited!

 

So this week was pretty normal. We did have the little step back with our investigator canceling the baptism, which Elder Valdez has never had happen on his mission, but it wasn't a big deal, we were very skeptical about if he was being real with us or not when we were teaching him and the fact that this happens right before his baptism might be a sign that he wasn't. But it wasn't something really depressing. I love you all and hope you have a great week!

  Elder Hinrichsen