Speaking more Spanish

This week was good.

Tuesday, we went and did our studies at the library in town. It was
built in 1901 and is a "Carnegie Library",which is a sector libraries
that Andrew Carnegie funded. That day we spent most of the time trying
former investigators but we didn't have any success. We visited with
our recent converts and ate dinner at the church which somebody
dropped off. We tried a less active and ended up talking with their
neighbor and found out the less actives were both in the hospital.
After that we visited a family who has been going through some hard
times and ended up teaching their less active son the Restoration.

Wednesday, we had District Meeting where we discussed the Atonement.
After that we went on exchanges. I went to Concordia with Elder
Drinkall we tried quite a few less actives and potentials and weren't really able to get in to any homes. But we had an appointment that night where I did a baptismal interview for them, but the man had to reschedule his baptism because he worked Saturday so it's pushed back until the end of October.

Thursday, we exchanged back and Conley and I talked a little about how
it went. We went and did Mormon.org time at the library. We weekly
planned a little then tried a few people. We then went to dinner in
 Cole Camp. We visited a few investigators who I'm not sure if
they will join the church or not, but they sure love taking care of
us! We ate at a restaurant called "The German Table". It was some
delicious German food. I got the knochwhurst and wheinwhurst, probably
butchered the spelling, and some German potato salad, and red cabbage.
It was amazing! After that we walked around the town a little before
coming back to Sedalia. At that point we set up appointments for the
next day.

Friday, we went to a part member family's house, the and kids are
members but the parents aren't. We played a little Twister, yes, the
game where you put your hands and feet on the dots. It was hilarious.
Then we talked about the CPR of the gospel. It stands for Church,
Pray, Read and it can save our souls just as CPR can save lives. After
that we met with a Spanish family in the ward who we just talked with
so we could practice Spanish. It was pretty cool. Then we tried a less
active family in the ward.

Saturday, we had our correlation meeting. Then we went to Brother C and Sister J's


house again, we met with them and decided we would have lunch
together. So, we ate lunch at their house. After that we visited with
a man who's interested in the church but his wife is not fond of it
but we talked about fasting and he decided he would fast with us! So that was cool! We tried a few people out then picked up dinner from the church which
someone dropped off. After that we went around and tried visiting a
few people.

Sunday, we had Ward Council. During church we have someone who
translates the program for the Hispanics, he sits in a room off to the
side and just translates what he hears people say into a microphone
and the Hispanics get headsets to listen to him translate. Well, he
asked me to translate the sacrament prayers, and so that's what I did,
but Elder Conley had done it a few weeks ago and said that Brother
Beard, who translates, tried to have him translate it all after the
sacrament, so I thought he would ask me to, and he did... So I did! I
translated all of testimony meeting after the sacrament prayers, now
mind me, it wasn't super accurate, but I was able to get it done, what
an awesome experience! Well, Sunday school was about Missionary Work,
and priesthood was about the talk "On Being Genuine" by President
Uchtdorf from the last conference, everyone should read it. After
church we tried a few people and met an awesome less active young man
who expressed to come back to church, sweet! Then we met with another
less active we have been working with, he has some problems with
forgiving people from his past, so we are trying to work past that.
Well, then we had dinner with a really cool family, well two families
actually, they live together but it was really a good time. After
dinner we tried a few people before watching the moon do its eclipse,
that was really cool.

Well, this week was pretty good. I'm super stoked for General
Conference and shoutout to my parents for always making it such a
priority in our family. We read of the saints of Book of Mormon
gathering to listen to King Benjamin it seems like in our day, we
allow the things of the world to distract us from heading the prophets
council. Watch conference folks, and witness the Moses of our day lead
Gods people. Also, three new apostles!! Maybe we will see a future
prophet join the ranks of the brethren. Anyways, love you all. Have a great week!

Staying in Sedalia

We had a pretty slow week.

Tuesday we were able to visit with two less active members. One lived in the projects here in Sedalia, he was a nice man who said he'd be interested in coming back to church; the other was a man baptized about a year ago who is big into gaming; he said he'd be willing to read and pray. Then we did some service for a nice lady in the ward. After dinner we visited with a family who only the youth are members but they are faithful and so we dropped by their house before receiving transfer calls, we found out we are both staying in Sedalia for 6 more weeks!!

Wednesday, our really good buddy Elder Rodgers out in Tipton was being transferred so we went to their apartment and said goodbye; plus Elder Rodgers gave us some stuff he wasn't going to take, as in, he had a ton of protein bars; because in their area is a certain Medonite, similar to Amish, store that sells expired goods that the bigger stores couldn't sell at a reduced price, and every once in a while they sell protein bars, you fill an entire bag and it costs a flat rate of $5; the only rule is that you have to be able to tie the bag. Haha, so Elder Rodgers accumulated a LOT of protein over four and a half months. He gave us three bags full, and that was probably about half, he filled up his carry on with protein, and left the extra. After we were with them, we went and tried a few people before going to dinner. After dinner we visited a few people that the Relief Society President asked us to go visit.

Thursday, we did a ton of service, we helped a non member clean out his shed  then organize it, we helped another member move some furniture around, then we went back to the previous house where they fed us lunch; we then weekly planned and visited an investigating family who are having a baby soon so we helped them put together a ton of baby stuff: crib, stroller, play pen, changing table, stuff like that. We then went to dinner followed by visiting a member family just to better know the ward.

Friday, I wasn't feeling well so I slept a little during studies. We were able to get out on time and we tried to visit a less active member for the Relief Society President but we ended up talking to three people about Jesus and they said we could come back which was great! Then we dialed a wrong number but talked with the lady for a while and ended up getting a referral for some missionaries in the St Louis Mission. After dinner I had to do two baptismal interviews for the sisters in our ward who had two baptisms for Saturday, the first interview was Spanish the second English, the Spanish was stressful but I made it haha

Saturday, we had our missionary correlation, then helped a member do some service for a non member. After that we had lunch then had to help the sisters by filling the font for the first baptism which Elder Conley performed for them; it was a 10 year old boy named Kaleb. After the baptism, we had an investigator there so we met with him for a little, then the other baptism, in Spanish, started and I had to conduct haha. After the baptism, a family in the ward made a Mexican soup called Posole, so we ate it there and were able to speak some Spanish to the members, it was sweet. Then we had a new member lesson with the M. family.

Sunday was good. Talks were on the role of Media today and family history. For Sunday School we went to the Spanish Gospel Principles class which was about The Millenium. Priesthood was about Pride, which is something that we all suffer from greatly but as President Ezra Taft Benson stated, "Humility is the antidote for Pride", and as President Uchtdorf once said, "We don't discover humility by thinking less of ourselves. We discover humility by thinking less about ourselves." Now, off the soap box haha, after church we had lunch with a cool family. Then we visited a family to practice teaching the lessons and basically got a referral out of it! After, we visited with an investigating family who we talked with and shared a message about the love of God. Then we had dinner and after we visited a few people.

This week, we didn't really get a ton done. But we helped a lot of people through service, and that's what Christ did, serve others, and we hope that through our service, miracles will happen. Anyways, hope everyone is doing good! Have a great week!

Elder Hinrichsen

Pluggin' along

Tuesday, we cleaned up the apartment, then went around visiting with
members. We visited a couple of really sweet families that seem pretty
missionary minded. After dinner, we tried to visit a few investigators
out with little success.

Wednesday, we had district meeting with an emphasis on being a
Christlike missionary. The trainings were on patience, humility, and
charity. After the meeting, the district went out to eat at Kehdes
bbq, which is a delicious bbq place in Sedalia. After that we went on
exchanges; I went to Concordia with Elder McClaws, and Elder Conley
stayed in Sedalia with Elder Drinkall. While on Concordia, we met with
two less actives and had a great lesson with a part member family.

Thursday, I did a baptism interview for the Concordia Elders, then we
exchanged back. We did Mormon.org time and weekly planned, before
visiting a few members. After that we had dinner with the some super
awesome members. After dinner we helped give a blessing to a young
woman in the ward who is very sick; but the Priesthood is real, and
miraculous. After that we visited with our recent converts, the
M. family to help them set up LDS.org accounts in preparation for family
history work.

Friday, we had a meeting for the middle of the training program for
new missionaries, which is 12 weeks long, and we are about 6 weeks in.
The meeting was good. I got to
see some of my favorite Elders from around the mission! Afterwards
they gave us lunch and we stayed to help clean up. After cleaning, we
stopped by the mission office, and man, we have the BEST senior
missionaries in the world. We talked with them for a little since we
never see them; then we dropped by a recent convert of one of the
Elders we drove with to the meeting since he served in the same area
where the meeting was held. Finally, we drove back and talked with the
Zone Leaders in Warrensburg for a while before going back to Sedalia,
when we got back we had dinner then visited an investigating family.

Saturday we had our ward missionary correlation meeting; afterward,
we went and did some service. And we decided to use the phone instead
of waste our limited miles; so we called like every number on the ward
roster of less active members, which we found out like 70% of them are
disconnected numbers. But we were able to set up about 4 appointments
to go visit less active members, which is awesome! Then we went to go
have dinner with the M. family but there was a mix up, they were at a
party and had thought we were doing it another day, but they said we
could go to the party's get some food, so we go - it was amazing. We got to use
our Spanish a lot, and even though they gave us weird looks when we
showed up, like really weird; they warmed up to us in the end. We
played some soccer and football with the kids and talked with some of
the adults, it was fantastic,

Sunday I spoke in church, about Jeffrey R Hollands, October 2012 talk
"The First Great Commandment". Sunday school was about honesty,
priesthood was about living the law of chastity. After church we went
to visit a less active family but they weren't home, so we talked to
some people that were in their apartment complex. After that we went
to a baby shower for an investigator, there were a bunch of members of
the ward there as well, since a few members of her family are members,
including her kids, but the family having the baby is awesome!! The
shower was great. After the shower, we visited with a few
people before going to a late dinner with the M. family.

This week has been good, the work has just been slow. We will be
working more with the members to try and find solid people to teach,
because that is usually where the solid investigators come from. Hope
everyone is doing good! Love you all!
Seth
P.S. Transfers are this week so we will see what happens

Elder Smedley and I, he goes home this week and he knew Elder Valdez well

Rise and Shout the Elders are out!

The Missionaries in Seth's zone

This week was, average.

Tuesday we were on exchanges with the Elders in Tipton, I stayed in
Sedalia while Elder Conley went to Tipton. We went around trying to
visit people then decided to walk around the downtown area of Sedalia.
We didn't see too many people around, so we stopped into a Christian
bookstore and it was really cool. A member called asking for
help so we helped an elderly lady connect her tablet to the wifi haha
We also set up her printer and connected it to her tablet, she called the
youngsters to work with technology. After that, we went to our dinner
with the recently baptized M. family. After dinner we went and
visited with a part member family where the nonmember wife agreed to
let us practice teaching the lessons to her.

Wednesday we had enchiladas for lunch, legit Mexican enchiladas,
they were amazing. Well after exchanging back, we were asked to go do
a baptismal interview for some elders; so we quickly visited with
someone and cut it short just for the interview, but when we left our
meeting we found out the interview was cancelled, so we just decided
to try visiting a few people. Then we had dinner with a really cool
couple who built their own house, which is incredibly nice. Then we
had the Bishop sign the baptismal records for the baptism and
then we visited with some investigators that night.

Thursday we did the baptismal interview that was cancelled the day
before. Then we did our weekly planning and Mormon.org time which the
took a few hours. We visited with a super cool older man,
 he's not a member but he loves the Elders. After that, we
visited with some people that live right across the street from the
church. Then we went to dinner with some members who took us out and
visited with them at their house after; we finished by teaching the
part member family we met with earlier in the week.

Friday we had a zone training win the whole zone in the morning that
went until about 1, it was good, just really long. Afterwards we went
home and ate lunch with the Tipton Elders then played a little apples
to apples game. After that we had to get a picture of the baptismal
records sent to the mission office because it was the last day they
could be processed and we hadn't sent our in. Then after we sent the
pictures we had to get a little more information for the records lady,
after that we went to dinner with a really cool family and then we
visited a nice less active man and discussed his concerns.

Saturday we had our correlation meeting, then we had planned to go
around doing service, so we went and asked the high priest group
leader if there was anyone who needed service, he didn't know, so we
went and helped the elderly lady who needed help with her tablet
again; then we got a call from the high priest group leader saying that he
would like help cleaning out his cars, so we went and helped him with
that. That took up most of they day because we visited with the
family a little after we finished. We had a late dinner that night, so
we went there after service, then we tried visiting a few people that
night.

Sunday was fast and testimony meeting The testimonies were good, but we were
sitting really far back, in the gym, and the speakers for the
microphone weren't working so we could hardly hear. But what I heard
was good haha. Sunday school was a good lesson about charity.
Priesthood was on Boyd K Packers, "The Saviors Selfless and Sacred
Sacrifice" from the April 2015 Ensign, which is a really great
article. After church we tried to visit a few people then went to
another town in our area because our dinner was there and we visited
with members from there, we were able to meet some really great
members of the ward. Then we had dinner with the 2nd counselor in the
bishopric who is just hilarious. After dinner we had to run to teach
one of the new member lessons to the recent converts in the ward.

This week was good, nothing super abnormal, just a normal week of the
work. We have decided that this upcoming week we will be trying to
work mostly with the members, because that's where the most success
comes from. I hope everyone is doing well, love you all. Have a great
week, and, Rise and Shout Baby, Rise and Shout!

Sedalia Baptism

His week was slow but great because we got a baptism!

Tuesday we had a meeting for all the District Leaders in
Independence area. The meeting was largely focused on making sure that
things are getting done in the correct way and the role of District
Leaders. That took a while; after that we set an appointment for the
family getting baptized for that night to get everything ready to go.
That night we taught a man we are working with and had a super awesome
member for him tag along so it went great. Then we finished all the
prep for the baptism.

Wednesday we had District Meeting about adjusting our teachings to
for the needs of investigators and then teaching simply. After
District Meeting we went out to lunch together. After lunch Elder
Conley and I went and tried to clean out the baptismal font because it
was pretty gross... Turns out it was just years and years of hard
water that probably will never come off... Unfortunately we learned
that the hard way. While we let the chemicals sit we finished
inputting information I tot he online area books so we now have it all
on our iPads. We ended up trying to visit a few people that night.

Thursday during our morning studies our phone went into an eternal
loop of turning on, where it wouldn't turn on, it would just
continuously do the start up for the phone and then restart the
process each time. So we went and used a member's phone to contact the
mission office but the person in charge of phones wasn't there so we
had to wait until the next day... We went around trying to set baptism
things up by talking to people in person without a phone. Then we had
dinner with some great members out here before heading to get the
interviews for the baptism done! They were good to go!!

Friday we still had a broken phone and needed a new one. So, having enough
miles to spare, we trekked down to Independence and got a new phone
and trekked back. That took about 4-5 hours and then we had to go help
the Elders out in Tipton with an open house that they were having.
We came from Independence to Warrensburg where we talked with some
Sprint people, then went to our apartment changed quickly and raced to
Tipton where we spent the rest of the night helping there.

Saturday we had the baptism!! We first had correlation in the
morning after which we set everything up for the program. We went to
lunch with the Y. family, the coolest family, and Sister Y. always
spoils us too much by making our favorite recipes; she made Elder
Conley's moms pancake recipe, so he was in heaven. (After lunch we
remembered that we hadn't gotten anyone to make treats for the
baptism.... So we did! We went to the store and bought cookie dough
and Danish dough and baked those along with muffins we had tons of mix
for already in the pantries. We were so worried they were all going to
be horrible, but people were raving about the muffins especially haha)
Then we changed and went to fill the font. The baptismal program went
great. (I actually conducted) I gave the talk on Baptism and Elder
Conley gave the talk on the Holy Ghost. The three people baptized
where the Mom, Mary and daughters, Marcie and Stephanie. After the
program, they had a huge dinner with their family at their house with
Carne Asada, beans, rice, and cake; it was incredible.

Sunday they were all confirmed. So one of the Elders who first was
teaching them baptized one of them and another member baptized the
other two; and the ward mission leader, Elder Conley and myself did
the confirming. The sacrament talks were on Joseph Smith and the
parable of the Good Samaratin. Sunday school was about the Word of
Wisdom (but got off onto some crazy tangent about not taking pills but
using herbs and about how gross the McDonalds industry is haha) 3rd
hour was combined about Sabah observance. After church, again, the
M. family had a huge meal at their house, this time it was chicken and
beans; again, amazing!! After we ate we went and visited a few people
before we went to dinner; and after dinner we had to go and help give
a blessing. After the blessing we ended up visiting with the family
for the rest of the night.

This week was amazing with the baptism; the only problem now is that
we need to find people to teach; but I know that with hard work and
loving hearts, the Lord will put the elect in our paths. Hope everyone
has a great week! Love you all!

Seth