So this week was a much better week then last
week. We still can’t ride our bikes because of a mix up with the delivery of
Elder Thomas' tires. We should get them
by tomorrow or so. The weather has been
a little cooler. It is back in the 80’s
but it hit low 70’s for a couple days this week. I have now turned 20 so I am no longer a
teenager and now can't be rebellious -haha.
Monday we just hung out at a church building with
the whole district. We were going to go
play some beach volleyball, but we didn't have a volleyball and the weather
started to look stormy. Later that night
we found a great place to get the best of both worlds, well, at least for me -haha.
We can do some finding/missionary work
while playing soccer at an Open Turf thing. We might try and go a couple times.
Tuesday we saw Olivia and Rebecca and taught
them about tithing and fast offerings. So
that was a good lesson. We then had to
go out to see Jarvis, but he unfortunately wasn't there. The members that were going with us took us to
dinner afterwards instead. We went to a “not
as good, but similar” Cafe Rio type of place and got huge burritos. We then had to go teach the 9yr. old girl name
Hayden. It was like pulling teeth trying
to teach her. We had dinner there too. Then we went to Institute where one of the
teachers gave me a Birthday gift and some peach cobbler. So we were stuffed and it was awesome way to
end the day. I got a Tennessee Volunteer
T-shirt.
Wednesday we had District meeting. Afterwards we went to do some finding. We later had a lesson with the family that
were supposed to be baptized last weekend. We went over the Baptism Interview questions
again and had them tell us what each one meant. We have reset their date for Oct. 16, but
that may change because of certain situations. Then Bro. Amyx took us to visit a less-active member
up on Lookout Mountain. I was so tired
that I was falling asleep in that lesson.
I had no idea about anything they were talking about. It was bad! We ended up giving her a blessing before we
left. On the way back, Bro Amyx told us
his conversion story and it is funny and awesome. Not enough time to really go into it though.
Thursday we went to a less-active member's
for lunch. On the way, we were walking
on the side of the road and a car drove by and yelled at us, "Hail Satan!"
We just laughed it off. Later we went down and got to see Jarvis
finally. We expressed to him the
importance of church because he hasn't been coming when he says he will. It went well. He has been reading a lot and is already
almost done with the book of Alma in the Book of Mormon.
Friday we met with Olivia and Rebecca
again and went over the Baptismal Interview questions. Rebecca has decided she doesn't want to
convert so we dropped her date to be baptized.
Olivia isn't sure if she is personally ready to make that commitment yet
so her date is cancelled for now. We
will continue to pray for them and meet with them to answer any questions,
teach, and help them any way we can on their journey back to God. After that lesson we took the bus out to see
Dean. He fed us some burritos that he
likes to make. They were good and we
just tried to see where he is at and if he is still wanting to be baptized like
he was a few weeks ago. We asked him to
pray about it and a date he can be baptized by.
Saturday we did some Weekly Planning and
then just watched Conference basically all day.
Sunday we watched Conference again like
almost all day. Rebecca and Olivia came
to one of the sessions. Olivia watched
almost, if not all of the sessions I think. I am curious to know what she thought or
felt. Some other investigators watched
on their own after we called and reminded them.
So conference was great! I enjoyed it a lot. There were a lot of good things said and some
of the themes I noticed were about love and all the aspects of that, missionary
work and how we need to use all the resources we have as well as other ways we
can share the gospel, repentance and constantly making our lives better by changing
from our mistakes, and joy and how that is the purpose of his life. One of my favorite talks, however, was from
Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He talked about remembering who we are as sons
and daughters of loving Heavenly Parents, as well as who we are personally. Being strong in the things you know are true. He talked about names. He told about his names and what they mean and
represent. For each of us, we have been
named after at least one person. Our last
name is what we carry with us forever and what we are known by. It is the name that shows the world what
family we are in and who we represent. There
is a great movie called Forever Strong, that talks about how their rugby team
has only one true rule: Don't do
anything to embarrass yourself, your team, or your family. The choices we make affect not only ourselves,
but our family members, both present, past, and future. We should all live up to our names and hold
them with respect, not only for ourself, but for all of our family members. Then he went into first and middle names. Some people, like myself, have been named
after people either from scripture, family, or other people in the world. We should look to those people and carry their
names with respect and not diminish them in any way. We should also look to who these people are or
were and strive to be like them and have them be proud of us. Our names mean a lot to us, the world, and to
God. That is why He has taken the time
to remember every single one of us by our exact name. He knows each of us personally; our struggles,
personalities, things that make us happy or sad, etc. He truly knows you and me. We are His literal spirit children. We should always strive to uphold His name as
well. I leave these things with you in
the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.
Elder Ellison
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| Birthday Surprise at Institute |
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| A Possum Right in Downtown Chattanooga - It Almost Attacked E. Thomas |
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