Andover week 2

So today is not normal P-Day. Thursday was made our P-Day but we get a very limited time to email today. So for those of you who emailed me, I will get back to you next week. sorry!

So I really hate being sick. like a lot. for the flipping 4th time in sixth months I am sick. I was stuck in the apartment most of saturday then sunday I got a wicked migraine (first one in 6 months, must be a record) and that basically destroyed proselyting efforts there too. Blah. Our zone had a goal of reaching a certain amount of lessons and I am not sure if we made it because we undershot it due to illness. Blah. i feel horrible.

Other than that.. the week was good! We taught the W. family and they basically bashed the whole time. Like I said before, for some reason when i come to town the bashers come out. at one point Brother W. said, "lets take the book of mormon off the table and just talk about the bible." I politely refused and you can tell how that lesson went. ha ha

We had our first district meeting under the reign of king elder damron, i mean, uhm, humble servant elder damron. I'm just kidding.. but the meeting went pretty well. SO MUCH STRESS. at first I thought i would not have enough to do to fill the time, i quickly realized I didnt have enough time. but the spirit was there and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

We are teaching this old man, Brother R. He seems kinda crazy and I am unsure if he comprehends what we are actually teaching. he remembers a lot of it, but its significance doesn't come across well. He rants about how marvelous the book of mormon makes him feel, though. So hopefully he continues to progress. I set a baptismal date for January 11th with him.. That is right. My birthday is on a saturday next year. BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT EVER. So I REALLY hope this one turns out. ha ha. But there will be some struggles. He likes to go off on tangents so teaching can be hard. he talked about being hit by a car on his bike multiple times for like 30 minutes one lesson. That was interesting.

We were walking down the street one day and this woman in a giant van pulled up and told us she respects us for what we are doing, even if we are completely wrong. Then she ranted about her megachurch and how Christ didnt abandon her church like we claim he did, or something like that. I just smiled and expressed my appreciation for meeting someone with such great faith. i really do enjoy meeting these people. we need more faith in the world.

We also went to a blood drive being held at our church building. I had a sore throat so they wouldnt let me donate blood. my zone leader elder Hicken almost passed out before he was about to give blood. so that was quite amusing. ha ha. we mingled with the people and investigators and chatted. it was pretty fun. Later that night I returned to the church to interview Brother and Sister B. for baptism. i cannot describe with words how great of an experience this was. The testimonies and the joy they both have seeped from their souls and shone from their countenance. Miracle after miracle occured during their meeting with the missionaries. One miracle was after they accepted to live the law of tithing. they knew they did not have enough money to pay it, but felt they should commit to it. 5 minutes after the Elders left the got a phone call and brother B. got a job offer for a job he interviewed for like 6 weeks ago (he was supposed to hear back after 2 weeks). they talked so much about the joy and peace they had in their lives now. So remarkable. I am thankful for the opportunity I had to meet and interview them.

We brought Sister W. to church. She liked the service! but after sacrament meeting she basically told us she was done talking to us and she learned all she wanted to. Then she turned to me and called me a self righteous blah blah blah. my jaw dropped a little bit. She told me I am not considerate of other people's beliefs and the other missionaries actually were. This disturbed me to the core. I have always tried to be open minded and respectful. Disrespect is the one thing that really sets me off. She told me my body language gave me away and she knew that I thought her beliefs were a joke. I hate the body language card. A few people have "read my body language" on my mission and claimed i have malice towards them but in each case my body language had to do with something else. Such as feeling super sick and wanting to die... not hating her beliefs. i took the humble route and apologized for the miscommunication. It is humbling to apologize for something you do not think you did. Another problem is the last missionaries stopped teaching her and went over to be her friend only. We need to befriend everyone, but we are also trying to bring people unto Christ. I tried to get sister W. to read the BoM. Not to demean her beliefs, but the help her understand ours. She is meeting with us after all... She didnt like that idea. oh well though. I plan on going over and smoothing things over one more time.

Sorry this email is so short. this whole not a pday thing kinda makes things hectic.

this week i read mosiah 22:9

9 And it came to pass that the king hearkened unto the words of Gideon.

In this case King Limhi listened to the counsel of Gideon on how to escape the lamanites rule over them. I think this applies to all of us. The King, the boss, listened to an underling of his. Are we humble enough to hearken to the advice of those people we sometimes feel are "below" us? Takes a big slice of humble pie to do that.

anyway, i loveth all of thee!

Have a good week, Elder Damron

Andover week 1

So new area. Fun! I miss River Falls a little bit, but I guess that is natural. For the first time in my mission I am actually serving in Minnesota, though.

So the Taylors have this santa plate that Elder Cole and I liked a lot. Well, at the start of me training him he took an oath that he would not eat off of any plate but that santa plate while he lived at the Taylors. I like that plate too and was here first, but he still swiped it. He even would pick my plate up, put my food onto another plate, and then use the santa plate. That goon. haha. Anyway, on Tuesday I walked out into the kitchen to see him and another missionary this was with us eating lunch. And the other missionary had the santa plate. I started laughing and said, "OH MY GOSH." They looked at me puzzled. The realization of what had occurred creeped onto Elder Cole's face. Oh man, that was hilarious. He tried to defend himself as he realized the mix up, but alas, the day before our time together ended he failed at keeping his oath. I need to teach him what enduring to the end means.

We taught and said goodbye to Sister Jessica and Sister Jamie, both of whom got baptized. I teared up a little as we walked out of Sister Jamie's apartment that night after saying goodbye. I truly care for these people. Leaving was one of the hardest things I have done in awhile.

Our investigator Mike was FURIOUS I was leaving. Like, super super mad. He didnt want either of us to leave and called the mission home and demanded we both stay. Oh man.

We tracted into this guy named Ross. I shook his hand and kept shaking and kept shaking. He wouldnt let go. I tried pullling away but he seriously held my hand for like 2-3 minutes and kept talking. so awkard.

So now I am with Elder Garrett, who was actually in my district and room in the MTC! I was happy to hear that I was with him. He is the definition of exactly obedient and I admire him for that. Not that I am not obedient, he is just very aware of what we should be doing.

Basically this area is a tracting area. It is literally all we do here. The missionary who was with elder garrett before me kinda left him hanging dry a little and he doesnt know the area very well and we have no investigators. so basically both of us dont know the area. We are psuedo whitewashing (we call it whitewashing when 2 missionaries with no prior experience of the area come in and start working there). I whitewashed River Falls. It is brutally hard, but it can be fun. We are going to do WORK in this place. I am pretty excited.

This ward is also amazing, I love it already. It is a super missionary minded ward. We have joint teachers lined up throughout the week that are also required to feed us, which we dont mind, and if our plans fall through we go help them work with their people. Their reactivation program is very good as well. Family after family is coming back to the church. I am going to like this place.

While tracting this guy opened the door and said, "Hi, my name is Blaine. Blaine Lutheran." I got a kick out of that one. ha ha. on the same street we met a man who left the church over 20 years ago. He lives on Zion street. Oh the irony...

We dropped by a potential Sister G. we talked for a minute, set up a return appointment, then she told us to hold on because she wanted to give us some stuff. We waited and she came out and handed us a stack of anti. This stuff was honestly so ridiculous. I couldnt even believe that she got sucked into this stuff. I just do not understand people who claim to be the true christians but then run around persecuting anyone who does not have their beliefs. Our return appointment was rather fun, too. She spouted off all this stuff and I just kept telling her to go to the source, not the internet, and read the BoM. She pulled out the 'ol Revelations scripture that basically says (in their interpretation) no more scripture can come forth. I am pretty sick of that one and I told her (politely, dont worry) to look up the order the bible books were written. Since Revelations was not written last, that argument would mean that parts of the bible would have to be thrown out. Then I basically repeated "read and pray about the BoM" 39 times and we had to leave. Why do the bashers come out when I come to town? Ha ha.

We tracted into a woman named Sister B. She is a wonderful lady and we had a good discussion. At the end she told us if we came to her church, she would come to ours. So we did! We went to a baptist church sunday night from 6-7. The first 20 minutes were songs and the congregation could pick them I picked out "I'll Go where You Want Me To Go" from their hymn book and we sang that. It was pertty fun. Then the pastor taught Judges chapter 6. The sermon was great and the music was fun. But whenever I go to another church I cannot help but feel a little empty. Afterwards a man came up and told me that the song I picked was quite fitting for us. They are wonderful people there. Sister B. is coming to ours next week.

At church I told this guy I was from mesa and he rambled about Arizona for about 40 minutes to me. He talked about his family history there, how he goes there a lot, how the ward is very connected to Mesa, and just about anything else possible you can and cannot think of to talk about Arizona. Then he talked about Vegas for awhile. During priesthood he came up and talked another 10 minutes about the surrounding towns. I was mildly amused. ha ha. I liked that guy already.

Anyway, my email time is a tad short today because I have to do some district stuff. Being a district leader is uber fun; I love getting to know all the missionaries and their investigators.

Thought: So the woman who gave us the anti gave us the testimony of some woman that was actually pretty cool. the line I liked out of it said:"I know you think you believe in Jesus, but you may be decieving yourself. It seems you dont belive in him; you believe about Him." This line hit me pretty hard. There is a lot of truth in it! How many of us believe about Him, but not fully in him? I could not help but think of Matt 25: 10-13

 

10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were^aready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was ^bshut.

 11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
 12 But he answered and said, ^aVerily I say unto you, I ^bknow you not.
 13 ^aWatch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh

Do we truly know Christ? Will our lamps be prepared that we may be let in to the feast?

I love you all, have a wonderful week!

Elder Damron

pics from week 24

Baptism!

River Falls week 24

Well my time in River Falls has officially come to a close. For the first time on my mission I am being transferred! Six months in my first area. I will really miss this place. I was absolutely shocked. Both Elder Cole and I thought I was staying... I am gong to Andover Minnesota and will be with Elder Garrett, who was actually in my MTC room with me! I am happy about that. I will also be the District Leader there. I am ever so slightly terrified about that... we will see how that goes.

Well, here is the summary of my last week in River Falls, 'Wiscansin. First, BYU lost to Madison. apuoghfasudnfkajsnfjaskdfna. <-- That describes my feelings about that. I may or may not have talked a lot of trash to ward members and investigators... good thing I am leaving before they can all come track me down ha ha :)

So one of our investigators, Sister L., called us on monday night freaking out because CPS showed up at her house and said they were taking the child because the place was too dirty for the child's health. She lives in a trailer park and without going into too much detail, the trailer is the dirtiest place I have EVER been in my life. We went over to help her clean it to try and help her keep the child. I started having an allergic reaction to something in the house and my throat was closing. I was wheezing and coughing. Then I started to itch a lot. We cleaned a good portion and then had to leave so I didnt die or something. Oh man. The horrors. 

Elder Carlos Godoy of the 70 came and toured the mission this past week. He is flipping hilarious. He taught us how to find the real concerns that investigators have instead of the fake ones they throw at us. Someone's phone went off and he stopped talking and turned to the person and said, "you could at least make it a hymn!" He then told a story of when he was with President Uchtdorf and Pres. U. was setting apart someone to be a 70 and someones phone went off halfway through. Pres. U. told the man the same thing. ha ha. 

He also held a fireside later that night which we were allowed to bring investigators too. He told his conversion story. He had always seen the mormon church and wondered what went on inside. Finally he got invited to an event there and when he went inside people were playing a game called Poor Poor Cat. Our investigator, Sister J, Started Laughing hysterically at this (She is from Brazil, just like Elder Godoy). We were just like what... He then explained that in Poor Poor Cat one person gets on his knees and crawls around to all the people in a circle meowing. The person the "cat" goes up to must then pet the person's hat and say "poor poor cat." If you smile while doing this you then become the cat. So yep, that was his first impression of our church. Ha ha. The Sister Missionaries were playing and he eventually was taught by them and got baptized. 

So while out one night checking up one someone we had talked to a few times before a rolled up newspaper slammed into the window next to my head. i turn to see a boy about 6 years old standing there. All of a sudden he screams ALIENS and then grabs the newspaper and chucks it at my back as I was walking away. I, being a great trainer, pointed at Elder Cole and said, "He is the alien!" The little boy and now a little girl who had appeared locked their sights onto him. He took off running as the two children chased him screaming alien and throwing that newspaper at him. I was quite amused as I watched the scene. ha ha. 

So the Hudson ward is getting sister missionaries and we went to the member's home that they are living in to help them clean out their garage and other stuff for the Sisters coming in. We had to take out some screws from the wall in which they were moving in to. Those screws were literally possessed by Satan. It took us 2 hours to pry like 10 screws from the wall. One of the screws took literally 1 hour. Elder Cole and I got up and literally worked up sweats putting all our might into unscrewing that screw. Our pride definitely took a hit that day.. finally we got it out and screamed in triumph. There was a black powder around the hole that the screw came out of. We knew it was Satan's screw....

So our investigator Brother M is a little quirky and very shy. I knew for a fact that he would NOT like the fact that one of us was leavingon wednesday. So when we were at his house last when we went to set up our next appointment I was very careful. I said," Brother M. we are... going on a trip on wednesday and would love to meet you before then!" Elder Cole totally missed what I was trying to do and was like, "yeah! One of us is for sure leaving! We want to see you before then!" I facepalmed. As I predicted, Brother M was not comfortable with that and he ended up calling the mission home and demanding that we stay... oh boy. 

A few days later I went on an exchange with Elder Sharp, another missionary who is from Mesa. We had a blast, but literally no one would talk to us that day. that wasnt fun. ha ha

Our investigator Sister J was baptized on Saturday. She is the most golden and prepared person I will perhaps ever meet. I feel completely unworthy of the gift of teaching her that the Lord gave us here in River Falls. She told her conversion story at her baptism and it was so powerful. Not often do investigators flag you down on the street and then get baptized... 

Well, since transfers are today my email time will be a tad shorter since I now have to go pack for the first time in 6 months. Blah. 

 Thought: Alma 5: 6-7

6 And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, you that belong to this church, have you sufficiently retained in ^aremembrance the captivity of your fathers? Yea, and have you sufficiently retained in remembrance his mercy and long-suffering towards them? And moreover, have ye sufficiently retained in remembrance that he has ^bdelivered their souls from hell?

 7 Behold, he changed their hearts; yea, he awakened them out of a deep sleep, and they awoke unto God. Behold, they were in the midst of darkness; nevertheless, their souls were illuminated by the light of the everlasting word; yea, they were encircled about by the ^abands of death, and the ^bchains of hell, and an everlasting destruction did await them.

I love these scriptures because we really need to remember how merciful God has been to our fathers. This is one purpose of the BoM. Go read moroni 10:3-5, remembering is also a condition of us receiving answers. God awoke them from a deep sleep and illuminated our souls. This is the point of missionary work. To remind people that before they came to earth they agreed to a very specific plan! Oh how glorious this plan is! This is salvation, people cant remember but we have that knowledge. Share it! 

Sorry if my email is scattered today. I love you all! Have a great week.

Elder Damron