Joshua's email - 1/7/13

Jowlers!  Elder G

Jowler Joshua

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This week has been really good!  We had a district training meeting on Tuesday about the role of the Holy Ghost in conversion.  Elder G is doing really well training the district and helping inspire and uplift everyone in their efforts.  We learned and talked a lot about how important it is to not only keep our covenants and obey the commandments, but to also follow the missionary handbook with exactness.  The handbook is a guide to teach us how to live in such a way that we can always be receptive to the promptings of the Holy Ghost, which is incredibly important in missionary work.

After our meeting, I went with Elder L, a missionary from Germany, to Baraboo, WI.  I changed into my service clothes because we were going to be moving a chicken coop from a family's house in Baraboo to another family's house in Portage.  It was pretty cold, and unfortunately I didn't have my coat, but when people here find out that I'm from Montana, they say I don't need a coat, haha.  We spent the next 3.5 hours moving and hauling a chicken coop in the freezing cold, and a foot of snow.  It was pretty fun actually.  We ate dinner with two LDS families, and that was really enjoyable too. We talked a lot about our testimonies, and about Talmage's book, Jesus the Christ.

The next day, we woke up and did service for an old folks' home.  We baked cookies for a couple hours.  Later we got to eat some, so I really enjoyed that too.  We gave a blessing to a lady in the Baraboo ward, and then our exchange was pretty much over.  We literally didn't have any time to proselyte, but I still go into exchanges with a goal that I want to learn at least one thing from my companion.  I learned two things from Elder L. 1) Never get in a car with a German that hasn't driven in a year-and-a-half.  He wasn't exactly the smoothest driver, hahaha!  2) Elder L always thinks about others before he thinks of himself, and I'm always striving to develop that attribute of putting others before myself - which is something my dad is really good at, too.

Wednesday through Friday, we spent a lot of time teaching K the last few lessons before his baptism.  We scheduled and organized his baptismal service, and everything went really smoothly.  We've been working with K for almost three months.  He was supposed to be baptized in December, but he got really sick for about four weeks.  It was really good to see him finally get baptized on Saturday, and the ward welcomed him with open arms.  We were also able to teach a lesson with one of our potential investigators, Leon, who we've been trying to contact for a couple weeks now.  Hopefully something good will come from us continuing to visit him.

Saturday evening after K's baptism, we decided to go tracting.  We've slowly been moving into a finding stage, as we've now baptized S and K, and a few of our investigators have dropped us or vice versa.  We went street contacting and visited potential investigators for a few hours, and we were able to set up a return appointment with an investigator, K, who we feel is very promising.  Afterwards, it was time to tract.  We've begun to pray before we go tracting each time, and Elder G. has a strong opinion that you shouldn't tract just to fill time.  He says we should only tract if we feel inspired to do so, and only tract an area if "we feel good about it."  Haha.  We picked an area to knock, and the first door was opened by a man named K.  Surprisingly, he let us in, and we shared a little bit of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with him, and talked about baptism.  He seems very promising, and we set up a return appointment for this Saturday.  THE VERY NEXT DOOR, we knocked, and a lady named  came out.  She's a really nice lady in her 40s, and she told us she was familiar with our church, and she studied religion for a few years.  We talked to her about our message for a few minutes and she was very interested.  We set up a return appointment, and then, as directed by the Spirit, we began to talk to her about baptism.  I got the opportunity to invite her to be baptized, and she said, "yes!" with a big smile.  She then said, "you guys are giving me the chills!" as we set up a baptismal date for February 9th.  NO WAY!  Baptismal date set on the doorstep!  We could feel the Holy Ghost incredibly powerfully as we talked to her, and we indicated to her that the feeling she received was from the Holy Ghost.

Anyway, this was pretty much our week!  We got asked to give talks on missionary work this Sunday, so that should be exciting.  We've been pondering a lot about how to get the members involved with missionary work, and so we've begun  to share an awesome message with the ward about bringing friends to church!  Hopefully we'll see some good results from that as well.  Other than that, not much else is going on, other than teaching and finding, and trying to get the members even more involved!  I love Sun Prairie!

I want to challenge all who read this letter to do service for someone this week!  Prayerfully seek someone that you can help AND share the gospel with.  Instead of focusing on only the service, try to find a way that the service you render can help spark a desire to learn more about the gospel.  Look for ways that you can help the missionary efforts by looking for opportunities to teach as you serve.  Just as Ammon served and then taught King Lamoni in the Book of Mormon, you can too.  If you're not sure how to share the gospel with others, pray and ask for the guidance that you need, and it shall be given you. :) Every member a missionary!

Love, Elder Whicker!