June 13, 2016

This week was insane!

Tuesday, we had zone training. We had an amazing meeting about loving,
encouraging, and inspiring each other; it was probably the best one
I've been too. We talked a lot about the importance of loving each
other and how it's necessary that we are always uplifting, inspiring,
and believing in each other. Afterward the entire zone was able to
have lunch together because a member cooked for us all; she always
does and yes, it's incredibly nice of her. Following the lunch we had
to go home and get a report started which took a while but we were
able to go and visit two people and have a lesson with our
investigator on date for July 2, J.G.. We talked about the
importance of Prophets in this day and age.

Wednesday, exchanges with the Assistants. I went to Blue Mills with
Elder Beyeler and Elder Odland stayed in Olathe with Elder Anderton.
Things went really well. We taught a man they had been working with
and talked about how in the eternal perspective the Gospel really is
the most important thing. There's a talk from Gordon B Hinckley called
"It's True Isn't it?" Where he shares an amazing story about an Arab
man who joins the church and sacrifices everything he has to be a
member of the church; y'all should read it. After that visit we went
and tried to contact some people before we dropped by a man they had
been teaching who's wife was a member with a goal to decide on a
baptismal date; so right as we pull up he did as well. We walked in
together and he walked in the house and said, "Y'all came at the
perfect time. I was just at the church praying and thinking about
things and I want to be baptized on July 2." Well, our plan worked
haha it was insane how things went down. But that was an insane
miracle. After that we went to teach a young man who is in town with
his grandparents from Hawaii, the Blue Mills ward is like 80%
Polynesian. The boy is not a member but his grandparents want him to
be baptized while he is here. It was an interesting visit, the boy,
who is 9, was super nervous and ended up breaking down but we talked
about the Restoration and as he felt the Spirit and we helped him
realize that he was feeling it, he calmed down and we had a good
visit. We were also able to talk to some people on the streets and
find a few new peeps to work with. And we had a nice visit with a
struggling member; all in all, the day was money.

Thursday, we got off exchanges then had lunch with some missionaries.
There are a few who are struggling but we were able to have some good
talks and discuss the importance of the mission. I am a firm believer
in one thing. Behind the badge, there is a person, a human being with
doubts, fears, goals and dreams. Sometimes when I look at missionaries
I have to metaphorically 'take off the badge' and be me. I have to
talk to them as if they were a person. They struggle, they question,
as do we all; but sometimes we take the role of the support crew, as a
brother or sister, we are all on the same team anyways. Well, after
the talk we had to work on some weekly planning. All in all, we did
have success but we only taught one person that day, the success was
just measured by the hearts of missionaries, not the numbers on the
paper.

Friday, we went on exchanges with the Olathe 2 Elders. I stayed with
Elder Spencer in Olathe 1 and Elder Odland went to O2 with Elders
Butterfield and Wright; they are in a trio. The day was good. We were
able to speak to some awesome Hispanics and get two new people to work
with. The nice thing about Hispanics is that they are so nice and
willing to talk about God in all forms so we get a lot of
opportunities to discuss the gospel with them. We had a lesson that
fell through which was a little saddening but that's the work, ups and
downs.

Saturday, we started off with a super powerful lessons about the Plan
of Salvation and discussed the principle of Eternal Families. We
helped identify the spirit multiple times and it seemed to be going
well until... Elder Odland extended the invitation to pray to know if
the Plan of Salvation was correct and then the lady, who speaks
Spanish but wants the lessons in English to practice, said, "Oh
pray?.... No." So this lady had a problem in the past with praying to
know if the message was true and when we talked with her about why she
wouldn't pray she literally told us that she knew it was true because
it felt right but that she thought of church as just a social thing
that we use to raise families... Boo. Well, we will work on it. That
lesson ended up taking longer than we thought they would so we ended
up going to lunch from there with a distant family member who lives in
Lenexa, so that was fun. But let me tell you something, Saturday was
HOT and HUMID. Midwest summers are brutal. The second you get out of
the car, you get sticky, it's just miserable. Highlight of the day was
a sweet party we had that night. It was for the Spanish members of the
ward: tacos, loud music, soccer; all the classics of a good Latino
party.

Sunday, always a great day. We had a few meetings in the morning that
went well. Church was nice afterward our appointments that we had fell
through so we just tried to visit some people.

The week was a good one. Congrats to Syd on graduating High School;
it's so surreal to say that haha. Life goes by too fast. I hope
everyone is doing well. Sorry for such long emails haha!

Much love,
E. Hinrichsen