Lasting Happiness

Elder Hinrichsen and Elder Higgins

Tuesday exchanges with Elder Higgins and Smith. I went to Marshall with Elder Higgins, and Elder Smith went to Sedalia. We mainly tried people out, visited with a less active man and woman. A little dog tried to jump on my lap and when it did my lap got soaking wet and when I smelled the liquid, it was pee. Then we tried a few peeps and went to Carollton where we visited with an investigator and then had dinner with a sweet family who's working on their house so they fed us a very thrown together dinner of hamburgers and baked beans made on a little plug in stove, but I appreciated it! Then we drove by a lady's house and she wasn't home plus I didn't feel good so we cut out.

Wednesday, well. We rushed from Marshall to Sedalia, where we exchanged back and rushed to District Meeting where we were late. District Meeting was good. We briefly talked about utilizing the phon then Elder Fastje, who goes home this week gave his final training on sincerity (he chose the topic). We ate unch at Freddy's, then did exchanges with the Zone Leaders. I stayed in Sedalia with Elder Olsen, and Elder Conley went to Sedalia with Elder Fillerup. We visited with a less active; an investigator whom we committed to read the B.O.M and pray about it, had dinner and visited with Another less active. 

Thursday, exchanged back after studies. We had lunch with some investigators. Weekly planned then did Mormon.org time. Visited with the M family and Mary was feeling better, she's been sick for a while so it's great that she's feeling better. Had dinner at the Y family. Then took brownies to the M's where we did a little family night with Popsicle sticks talking about staying together as a family and how many together is stronger than one alone.

Friday, we had lunch with a member and his nonmember friend, it went alright. Later we met with two less active and two investigators; the meetings were pretty good and we were able to take a member we've never worked with out so it was nice to get more people involved in the work! We had some southern comfort food for dinner made by a sweet member; they made some homemade fried chicken, mashed potatoes; the works, it was honestly one of the best meals I've ever had.

Saturday, well, we had to go to a meeting in the Independence area and we didn't get back until 3:45. The meeting was good, they talked about utilizing the tools we have. Anyways, we met with an investigator which went really well. We had dinner with a cool family but got caught up into conversation. Then we had to plan the Elders Quorum lesson that we were asked Friday night to teach on Sunday, and since we have Ward Council tomorrow we wouldn't have time to plan it out then. 

Sunday, we had ward council, then we finished planning our lesson, an investigator and a less active came to church which was great! Mary in Sunday school talked about how she felt that the church was her family when she was sick and how she appreciated everyone helping her out when she needed it, it's times like that when the mission is pure gold. Sunday school was on obedience to the commandments, we taught Priesthood on the talk "Waiting for the Prodigal" by Elder Nielson from April 2015. After church we had a new member lesson with Mary, Marcie and Stephanie. We took a member out to try and visit people but we only contacted one of the four people we tried to visit. We had dinner and then visited the a less active family.

This week we put in a lot of work with less active members which was really good. There is an article entitled "A Brother Offended" from the Ensign in the 70s by Neal A Maxwell which is really good, it talks about reactivation, and since reading that a few months ago I love finding people who have fallen away and working with them. The gospel is so true, it is the only way to lasting happiness; yes the world will bring you pleasures of many kinds, but Gospel isn't meant to bring instant pleasure, that's the point of self mastery, to put off what we want in the moment for what we want most. The Gospel isn't intended for instant pleasure, but rather, as the beloved Christmas song states, "Joy to the world, the Lord is come" the Gospel brings joy; lasting, eternal, and deep. This week was good. Take care!

Elder Hinrichsen

Festival of Sharing, Investigator at Sacrament Meeting and Magic Tricks

The kids I did my horrible magic tricks for haha. The girl in front

with he the glasses was baptized... I don't know what I'm doing here haha

This week was really good!

Tuesday we helped a new family move in, lunch at a bbq shaq, the
barbecue pit stop. We had exchanges: I went to Tipton with an Elder
there. We tried people in Smithton with no success, then tried some
people in another town but, again, no success. The Tipton branch covers
the largest area in the mission. It takes a little over an hour to get
across and most of their area is little towns of probably around 100
people (which I'm starting to think is decent sized haha). A. took
us out to dinner. Then wet visited with a less active and his
inactive.

Wednesday exchanged back. District Meeting about teach, testify,
invite, promise blessings, follow up; it was a good meeting. Then
Brother Hopkins took the entire District out to lunch at Golden Coral -
what a stud. After we visited with T.D. a less active we've been
working with, then tried less actives for a while with little success.
We ended up meeting a less active who was grumpy at first but he liked us after
we just showed genuine interest in him and his hobbies. Lastly, we
visited with the M family.

Thursday we did some studies then set up appointments with the phone
for a busy day. We met with an investigator and took a member to the appointment.After that we were scheduled to do service so we rushed home, ate and went to do service
where we raked leaves and cleaned windows. After service we rushed home
and changed then went to an appointment. THEN we rushed to dinner
which was great. After dinner, we went to the Y's for a little
then went and gave Sister M (recent convert) a blessing
because she's not feeling well.

Friday we met with an investigator and talked about the Book of Mormon
as a second witness and then a little bit about Prophets. We had
another lesson with an investigator and we took a member who
got along great with him. Between the two we did Mormon.org time.
After the second visit we went to dinner with CL and G.J. at
Freddy's which is amazing, then we visited with CL and J. Then I did
a baptismal interview for a little girl that a family in the ward is
adopting . Then I did horrible magic tricks for the of the family
while Elder Conley visited with the parents.

Saturday we helped out at the Festival of Sharing at the fair
grounds. We went under the pretense that it would be for an
hour or so, but we got to spend 3.5 hours there. We spent most of our time
loading boxes of food onto carts and dollies. After service we
ate cinnamon rolls at the Y's house then went with Brother Y
to see an investigator. Then dinner with a sweet part member family,
(the husbands not a member) but we got pretty friendly with him. After
dinner we rushed to the baptism that the sisters were having and an
investigator that we invited came!! A little late, but he came!! We
thought he was going to forget haha.

Sunday got up and dressed; we went to knock on the door of an
investigator we are working with, and it turns out that he was all ready to go!! So he came to sacrament meeting! Sunday school
was about developing talents, it was pretty good. Priesthood was about
leadership from the Ezra Taft Benson manual. We tried to have a lesson
with the M family, but the Sister M was sick again :( so we had to cancel it.
We had lunch with a member. We changed, tried, some people; then we
went to V and J's where they were making dinner and, since
we didn't have dinner, they fed us some tacos, they were unreal! 

This week was really good! We are excited for all the work happiness
right now, but we have transfers next week and we are both worried
since we've been together for 3 months and it's rare to stay together
for longer than that in our mission, but with the increase in work, we
hope to stay together for one more!! But we will see. As for now I'm
doing great! I hope you all are doing well!! Take care and have a
great week!

Elder Hinrichsen

9 Months in the Mission

(A member sent this picture to Elder Hinrichsen's Mom this week)

This week was slow, but ended on a high note!

Tuesday, we tried a lot of people but didn't much success. We tried to visit less active members and former investigators. We only had one real appointment with a nice guy who talked with us about religion and we taught the plan of salvation, don't think it will go anywhere though.

Wednesday, I hit nine months in the mission, wow how the times flies!! Well, we visited an investigator we are working with, we watched a general conference talk, the one by Sister Neill Marriot, then showed him the mormon channel and he loved it. After that we visited with the recent convert family and discussed family history and starting that. After that we had to help a family move out of their house, they were told right after moving in that there was a gas leak so they had to leave, so we moved the same family twice in one week haha. The move took longer than anticipated so we ended up not getting to dinner until about  7:30, luckily we kept them updated on how long it was taking so they were expecting us late. 

Thursday we had to get some maintenance done on the car. After that we tried to get Elder Conley on Lds tools so he could see the ward roster from his Ipad, because he hasn't been on for a long time, but we have to go through Salt Lake apparently, it's a big mess... well, after that we visited a less active man in the ward who is planning on coming back to church this upcoming Sunday since this week was stake conference. After meeting with him we tried to contact some ladies that the Relief Society President asked us to visit for her; well, we didn't have any luck other than talking with a nice man. That was in his yard, we just discussed religion and our beliefs then gave him a pass along card. Then we went to dinner, where Sister Y fed us a feast of a meal. French toast, pancakes, sausage, and hash browns... she always spoils the missionaries haha.

Friday we had a Zone Training that took up until about 1:30-2. We talked about how to find people to teach, and how to better work with members. I don't think the members fully understand how capable they are of bringing so many people to the gospel. As a missionary, people see us and think, "Oh great, it's the mormons here to try and baptize me" well, they are right haha and so they have this idea of us and avoid us to avoid the topic and the conversation, and I think it's because they know it's right but they don't want to admit it but anyway, the members can provide a real world aspect to the work, when people see someone like them who wants to share the gospel it interests them a LOT more, so, do missionary work, everybody needs the gospel... EVERYBODY, it's essential for true and lasting happiness, bold but true. Anyways, after lunch we went around and tried some people out but didn't find many to teach. Then a member took us to eat at Kehde's bbq, which is one of the best barbecue places around Sedalia area, and it is amazing! After that we visited with a part member family where the parents aren't members but are working towards baptism. 

Saturday we had missionary correlation meeting. Then we visited with a member who
we set up to invite a non member over for dinner with us. We visited a non member lady who left the church but we discussed her coming back, we will see where this goes. She is a super nice, half native american and half African american lady, its a cool mix, she has the thick native american hair which is really sweet, and she has a ton of cool artifacts. For lunch we went and at pupusa's at an El Savadorian store, pupusa's are a dish native to El Salvador, they are made of dough and fried but they are stuffed with cheese and meat, really good stuff! We tried a few other people, then visited a few members and are going to take them out on team ups with us! 

Sunday we had stake conference.We had Elder George F Rhodes Jr. come and speak to the Warrensburg stake. He gave an amazing talk about how we need to come to know God. And to know someone is to know their likes and dislikes, and he read Isaiah 58:13-14 and talked about how the Sabbath needs to be a delight to us, and then we can delight in the Lord and God, and we can better come to know them. The rest of the day we visited a few people here and there, but not really much going on. But at the end of the day we visited a family with a less active son, we have been practicing teaching them the lessons. We taught lesson 3, the Gospel of Jesus Christ and talked about the gospel principles of faith, repentance, baptism, the Holy Ghost and Enduring to the End. Before the lesson, we gave him a blessing because he recently had a seizure and it was something he had never experienced before and he was still a little shook up from it. Well, anyways, after the lesson he asked us, "Are you afraid to die?" we talked about it, and had a really powerful conversation, eventually the mom asked him, "Maybe you are just afraid to live" and he said, "yeah" he started crying and talking about his life, and how hard its been for him, he lived away from home and got into drugs and all sorts of bad stuff, then he talked about prayer, and we discussed Uchtdorfs conference talk and starting where you are at right now. Then we talked about how life is hard, and how it's not going to be easy to live the gospel, but that it is so worth it. 

The gospel is real and it is so powerful it's scary. People try to run and hide form it, but as we know EVERY knee shall bow and EVERY tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ. Well, I know that for sure. That lesson with the man was one of the most spiritual experiences of my life. To watch this hardened young man just break down. The Lord cares for us all so much its amazing. To see the gospel at work,... there's really nothing better than that. So, share it with your friends and those you love. It's for everyone. As said, " we see that God is mindful of EVERY people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea he numbereth his people and his bowels of mercy are over ALL the earth."  Have a great Week! 

Elder Hinrichsen

Teaching, Learning and Serving

Tuesday, we did our Mormon.org time and then set up some appointments
for later on. We went around trying people for most of the day. Dinner
that night was unreal, home made fried chicken, mashed potatoes,
gravy, peas, and Sauerkraut; then a homemade pie for dessert. WOW.
Well, after dinner we taught a lesson to a less active.

Wednesday we tried a few people out and set some appointments. We
taught the cub scouts what it meant to do their "duty to God" so we
talked about doing service to others. We then visited a few people and
talked about General Conference.

Thursday we had a zone conference. It was a
lot about the importance of the Doctrine of Christ and focusing on
that, which is Faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, the gift of
the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. After the conference we ate
dinner quickly then helped a less active family move. Then we did a
bible study with a few investigators

Friday we saw the Smith Cotton high school homecoming parade. It was
a big deal for the town, since it's the only school here. A ton of
people came to the downtown area which basically shut down. It was
pretty cool, and there were a lot of people to talk to. After that we
visited with the M family. Then after dinner we visited three more
people to talk about conference.

Saturday we watched the first session of conference with a few
investigators, it was really good! I loved Uchtdorf's talk about if our
experience in the church is working for us. Between sessions we
visited a few people then watched the second session at church. I loved
Elder Hales talk and Elder Martino's talks. After that session we had
dinner of smoked pork shoulder which was another absolutely amazing
dinner. Priesthood session was great, I loved Elder Anderson's talk
about our faith growing by choice but not by chance. After dinner our
Ward had an ice cream bar.

Sunday we had breakfast and watched conference with three families
from the ward at one of their homes. I loved President Monson's talk
regardless of his instability, he's getting old. We watched the second
session with our recent converts, the M's, I loved Elder Keetchs
and Elder Bednars talks. After the meeting, we talked about conference
with the M family. Then we went to dinner and after dinner we came back
to the M's for a new member lesson.

So, this week was good. Conference was a great. It's a great recharge
for missionaries. I hope everyone else was uplifted by the words we
heard. But remember that the words will be available in the new
Ensign, the living scriptures available, we think the Book of Mormon
is for our day, these scriptures have been spoken to us. I hope that
you are all doing well.

Elder Hinrichsen

The Parade: