Gobbling, a New Car, Stake Outs, and Miracles (Week 9)

Tom the Thankful Turkey -- Flyer for Gratitude Gobble

Hi everyone,

This week has been amazing.  Truly amazing.  I have seen so many miracles.  I'll try telling you as many as I can, but I know there will be some I leave out.

First, let me say today marks two months since I entered the MTC.  Time has flown by.

The Breakfast of Champions -- or, at least, of vegan-attempting missionaries!

We have a new car; it has about 200 miles on it.  The assistants came and swapped it with our car.  The car we had before had about 55,000 miles on it.  The church usually sells its cars at 50,000.

Our new wheels!

 

 

Investigators:

Jason:  He didn't come to church, because he was working.  We committed him to live the Word of Wisdom, so we'll see how that goes.

Pauline:  We weren't able to meet with her this week, since she was at her boyfriend's house.  He lives in another ward.  The Elders visited him, so they taught them both the first part of the Plan of Salvation.

Alyss and Will:  We haven't been able to meet with them this week.  We called a lot to try to set up an appointment.  She typically doesn't answer.

Madelyn: We were out with Sister Selethen to visit some other people, but they fell through.  We saw Madelyn outside, so we went to her place.  Sister Selethen and Madelyn clicked even though they are 30ish years apart.  We probably wouldn't have taken Sister Selethen to visit Madelyn, who we had met once before.  It was a  miracle the other appointments fell through, so they could meet.  Madelyn has 7 children, 5 of whom live with her.  She is working at nights and is working during the day to get her business up and running.

Pastor Trobar:  See Miracle.  He had a stoke a little bit ago and is recovering, so he is in a wheelchair.  He says it is God who helped him recover as much as he has.  He studies the Bible a lot.

Gilan:  He was the person we gave the Book of Mormon to who was smoking outside.  We have been trying to see him again, but every time we swing by he isn't there.  We went to try again.  Sister Taylor had the impression we should call people and update the iPad in the car for a little bit.  Later, we saw Gilan outside.  It was a miracle.  Sister Taylor said she felt like a creep  (#InvestigatorStakeOut).  We quickly got out of the car and went to talk to him.  He hasn't read the Book of Mormon yet, but he still wants to.  He said he had a lot of papers to grade which he just finished, and he planned to read it over the weekend.  We set up an appointment with him for later in the week.

Instruction Sheet for the Gratitude Gobble

We baked cookies this week for something we wanted to try with the ward members.  We are calling it the "Gratitude Gobble."  It's where, once someone has been Gobbled, then they pass it along to someone who hasn't been Gobbled.  They take the person a treat along with a message about something they are grateful for.  We don't want it to be a doorbell ditch--but a verbally passed message.  We shared our gratitude for the Restoration of the Gospel twice and, to another family, that we are grateful for Jesus Christ.  We encouraged the families to pass gratitude along to two people.  We also encouraged them to keep it something that truly matters, like family or the gospel--not something shallow like food.  I would give you all a treat, but I can't through email.  However, could you start the Gratitude Gobble in your area?  Mom and Dad, I expect you to do it.

Baking cookies for the Gratitude Gobble

Miracle: As I've said there were a lot, so it is hard to pick one.  I'll pick Pastor Trobar.  We were biking, going to some houses.  No one was home, or they didn't want to talk to us.  Anyway, we had some extra time to get to the library, so we decided to go a longer way and talk to people along the way.  We were about to pass some apartments, and Sister Taylor stops.  She asks me if we should go on to the library or knock in there.  I hate knocking, so my first reaction is no, let's go to the library.  However, I heard someone's voice, and I thought we should talk to him.  I told Sister Taylor that we needed to talk to someone in those apartments, so we went in.  We both kept walking forward.  I was going toward the person I heard, and Sister Taylor was going towards the person who she saw that she felt we should talk to.  That person was Pastor Trobar.  He knew we were sent by God to share a message with him.  The lesson was long since he likes to talk, but it was good.  I know the spirit was present when we shared with him a scripture from the Book of Mormon.  I know the spirit guided us to the passage to share, since it reminded him of a part of the Bible he really likes.

--
~Sister Aurora Pack

The Elders like to swap ties right before transfers.  This bucket belongs to one Elder!