Elder Edgel
360 Howard St #4
Delta, CO 81416
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Friday, November 28, 2014
Please share the "He is the gift"
I love my new area, I love my new companions, I love the new zone, and I love the members here!
I however didn't care much for the mess that was left for us haha. See the pictures of me in the chair.
Things have been pretty crazy over here in Delta... Let's see if I can include everything. This is the busiest my mission has ever been... White washing(meaning we're replacing the other missionaries that were here) the zone leader area so we have a really messy house, a disorganized area (meaning leads of people to teach and record about the town) and a zone to get going. Plus He is the Gift to get planned so our ward gets pumped, the zone gets pumped and help the stake get pumped, Mission Leader Counsel, Zone Meeting, District Leader Counsel, training a new zone leader and training a soon to be zone leader/helping him to become obedient and consecrated and higher standards that our mission has ever had that we need to be hitting. (: Lots to do! It is the most exciting time to be a missionary!
Tuesday we met some investigators and the ward mission leader who told us that he has not been too impressed with missionaries here. Apparently after they've been there for a while they slack off. I'm actually very excited to work with him! He's on fire and won't accept anything but the best! We cleaned our apartment that night which was a huge mound of garbage.
Wednesday we met more investigators and found some very prepared people!
Thursday we had a very spiritual Mission Leader Counsel 2 1/2 hours away about He is the Gift Initiative and the new standards of excellence which are the principles of baptism so that every area can baptized every week. They're high goals. The highest we've had but we're really excited and know it can be done. I feel like my vision has raised to what we should be accomplishing. So those two things alone open a huge can of worms of work and planning and prayer and meetings. I also had an appointment with a chiropractor 30 minutes away who fixed me up but we had traffic on the way back and didn't get home till 9 so we didn't any proselyting except talking to a guy in Little Caesar's when we got dinner. I didn't think I could be exhausted just from driving.
Friday was weekly planning so we dented the many things that we need to do. Saturday was zone meeting and that was awesome to see how excited the missionaries were. I love love love missionaries because of their excitement to serve the Lord!
Sunday we got to meet the ward and asked as many members as we met for people they knew that we could teach... not a one. We had a great Ward Counsel with the Stake President, President Taylor. It was an honor to see him teach the ward leaders. He's also so excited for He is the Gift. It's too bad that not everyone is as excited but this man gets how important this will be. Fortunately Elder King grabbed the video on his USB for our zone meeting so we've been able to use it for our ward leaders and also for the ward counsel. That night we met with the Bishop and discussed what we could do in order to get the ward excited for this. He's so humble that he suggested him and one of his counselors role playing in the Gospel Principles class on sharing it with a friend. We're going to have the 5th Sunday School class on it.
He is the Gift is the most exciting thing I've ever been a part of. It's bigger than Wet N Wild coming back to Vegas! It's bigger than Blink 182 getting back together! It's more huge than getting a black man in office! These last few years I haven't card for Christmas at all. I just felt that it was selfish, greedy, and commercialized. I've felt empty on that day. But this video helped me to really see the meaning for it. I feel a reverence for it now. I feel a greater desire to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas. Celebrating the birth of our Savior. The gift of life, love, hope and peace.
The greatest gift that anyone could give me for Christmas this year would be to share this video with someone and invite them to discover and embrace the gift of our Savior. This video must be more than just a cool 3 minutes. This video should soften hearts in preparation for your testimonies and invitations to embrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ through His restored Church. There is no greater way or more exciting time!
For Christmas please email me and tell about the miracles that you've seen as you've shared this with your friends and family and then shared your testimony about embracing Jesus Christ and then invited them to embrace it with you as well by coming to church with you or listening to the missionaries.
I cannot say enough about this initiative. PLEASE pray, ponder and plan how and who you'll share this message with. You're friends will thank you for doing so. This is way too huge to let pass by. This is what Jesus Christ wants for His children. Their joy and their peace that comes from this message. All missionaries around the world are focusing on this in everything that they do for the entire month! If it's that important it should have some kind of focus in the rest of your lives as well!
I love you all and am confident that you will see miracles as you simply share this video with many people!
I however didn't care much for the mess that was left for us haha. See the pictures of me in the chair.
Things have been pretty crazy over here in Delta... Let's see if I can include everything. This is the busiest my mission has ever been... White washing(meaning we're replacing the other missionaries that were here) the zone leader area so we have a really messy house, a disorganized area (meaning leads of people to teach and record about the town) and a zone to get going. Plus He is the Gift to get planned so our ward gets pumped, the zone gets pumped and help the stake get pumped, Mission Leader Counsel, Zone Meeting, District Leader Counsel, training a new zone leader and training a soon to be zone leader/helping him to become obedient and consecrated and higher standards that our mission has ever had that we need to be hitting. (: Lots to do! It is the most exciting time to be a missionary!
Tuesday we met some investigators and the ward mission leader who told us that he has not been too impressed with missionaries here. Apparently after they've been there for a while they slack off. I'm actually very excited to work with him! He's on fire and won't accept anything but the best! We cleaned our apartment that night which was a huge mound of garbage.
Wednesday we met more investigators and found some very prepared people!
Thursday we had a very spiritual Mission Leader Counsel 2 1/2 hours away about He is the Gift Initiative and the new standards of excellence which are the principles of baptism so that every area can baptized every week. They're high goals. The highest we've had but we're really excited and know it can be done. I feel like my vision has raised to what we should be accomplishing. So those two things alone open a huge can of worms of work and planning and prayer and meetings. I also had an appointment with a chiropractor 30 minutes away who fixed me up but we had traffic on the way back and didn't get home till 9 so we didn't any proselyting except talking to a guy in Little Caesar's when we got dinner. I didn't think I could be exhausted just from driving.
Friday was weekly planning so we dented the many things that we need to do. Saturday was zone meeting and that was awesome to see how excited the missionaries were. I love love love missionaries because of their excitement to serve the Lord!
Sunday we got to meet the ward and asked as many members as we met for people they knew that we could teach... not a one. We had a great Ward Counsel with the Stake President, President Taylor. It was an honor to see him teach the ward leaders. He's also so excited for He is the Gift. It's too bad that not everyone is as excited but this man gets how important this will be. Fortunately Elder King grabbed the video on his USB for our zone meeting so we've been able to use it for our ward leaders and also for the ward counsel. That night we met with the Bishop and discussed what we could do in order to get the ward excited for this. He's so humble that he suggested him and one of his counselors role playing in the Gospel Principles class on sharing it with a friend. We're going to have the 5th Sunday School class on it.
He is the Gift is the most exciting thing I've ever been a part of. It's bigger than Wet N Wild coming back to Vegas! It's bigger than Blink 182 getting back together! It's more huge than getting a black man in office! These last few years I haven't card for Christmas at all. I just felt that it was selfish, greedy, and commercialized. I've felt empty on that day. But this video helped me to really see the meaning for it. I feel a reverence for it now. I feel a greater desire to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas. Celebrating the birth of our Savior. The gift of life, love, hope and peace.
The greatest gift that anyone could give me for Christmas this year would be to share this video with someone and invite them to discover and embrace the gift of our Savior. This video must be more than just a cool 3 minutes. This video should soften hearts in preparation for your testimonies and invitations to embrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ through His restored Church. There is no greater way or more exciting time!
For Christmas please email me and tell about the miracles that you've seen as you've shared this with your friends and family and then shared your testimony about embracing Jesus Christ and then invited them to embrace it with you as well by coming to church with you or listening to the missionaries.
I cannot say enough about this initiative. PLEASE pray, ponder and plan how and who you'll share this message with. You're friends will thank you for doing so. This is way too huge to let pass by. This is what Jesus Christ wants for His children. Their joy and their peace that comes from this message. All missionaries around the world are focusing on this in everything that they do for the entire month! If it's that important it should have some kind of focus in the rest of your lives as well!
I love you all and am confident that you will see miracles as you simply share this video with many people!
Monday, November 17, 2014
So many amazing things happened here
Well Elder Johnson was my companion in my last area so I obviously have failed at talking about my companions haha. Ya he's from Boulder. Love that guy. Great at the piano.
So good to hear the gospel essentials in your ward is a good class! Woot! I'm so glad that you are a good missionary momma, because I dislike when members see missionary work as the missionary's work. I love members that see that this is all of our work and blessing to be a part of.
I LOVE MY MISSION!!! I'm getting transfered out. I was crushed when I found out. President called us to tell me I was leaving to white wash an area (don't know if a zone leader area is being moved or if the zone leaders are being replaced) training a new zone leader and getting an awesome third that needs to become converted to obedience and become a leader. I'm so excited and so heart broken at the same time. I have LOVED serving with Elder Penuelas sooo much. He's taught me so much. He's so powerful and such a great missionary. I wish I would have given Elder Welck more attention. He's done so great though. He's grown a lot and helped us out a ton. The transfer wouldn't have been the same without him. I have loved this ward sooo much. Some of the most amazing members I've ever met are here. Some not so much haha. But some powerful ones are here. They've taught me so much about how I want to be when I grow up.
We have had the most spiritual lessons with the Grays. Everything for our lesson on Saturday fell through, couldn't get a member to come with us and the kids weren't there and our lesson was focused for Stone, Steel and Violet. So we got to talk about Jaida's concerns and confusions. We resolved all the ones she addressed about becoming gods, temples, confirming the Holy Ghost, and the trinity. I can very confidently say that I know that they know the church is true. I know they will be baptized. I know they will be sealed. I feel so much love for them every time I think of them or see them. I feel the Spirit so strongly around them because I know it's their time. Last week I kept having the feeling and a voice whisper, "It's almost time, it's almost time, it's almost time" and in our lesson with them I kept feeling surges of the Spirit very strongly saying "It's time, it's time, it's time." We're very excited for them. They are going to do so many amazing things as members. The road isn't nearly over them. But they agreed that they need to tell their parents and their family that they want to join the church if they want to show Heavenly Father that they have real intent of joining and are going to care more about what He thinks than what others think.
I've noticed that the worst lessons I've taught are when I'm scared of messing it up and not being enough and scaring them away and not doing it right. And if I keep it up, those thoughts will happen. But as if I learned to forget that and focus on why the Gospel is so important and why the Grays need it and just be bold with them even if it might scare others away, that the Spirit has come in way stronger than ever before.
We had a very successful week. We found 12 new investigators! My mission record. I've knocked a ton of doors in the cold.
We also had a very spiritual emergency to tend to. Last night Elder Penuelas wanted to borrow the Spanish Elder's hair clippers so we went to their apartment around 8 55 and did our planning while we waited for them. Their phone was off. We got a call from the spanish sisters in eagle telling us that a recent convert of a few weeks just got in an accident and the wife as passed away, the kids are injured, they need a blessing and they're at our hospital. So we waited for the elders to get home. 9:25 and their still not there so Elder Penuelas knows spanish and we decided that we would just go and do it ourselves and bring the Branch President and his counselor who had already been notified several times. It was the most powerful blessing I've been a part of. The father was destroyed. I learned a ton about being the importance of a junior companion. I don't know spanish so I only said maybe 15 words the entire time. We sat with them and I just prayed and took care of the phone with texting people to keep them updated as the President and his counselor talked with them. Elder Penuelas said some powerful words which I am grateful that I was able to understand about how the church would take care of them. Then they gave the oldest daughter, the father and the oldest son each a blessing. Again all I did was pray and handle the phone. Elder Penueals gave the first blessing which was powerful that I could again understand bits and pieces of power. All three of them in their blessings were inspired to tell them that it was her time and that Heavenly Father took her because he needed her. The son was told that he was spared because the Lord needed him to serve a faithful mission and bring many souls unto Christ. We got home around 10:45 of course with the Assistants knowing and their permission.
I'm going to miss this area, the investigators and my companions! So many amazing things happened here. I learned so much while serving here. More than any other time of my mission and I know I'll continue in learning.
The Grays will be baptized soon, Annie Olson and her son Michael and possibly his wife will be baptized around January/February, John Merritt will be baptized very soon, Debbie Meriam wants to be baptized and just needs her husband to get into gear. I can't wait to hear of all the amazing things that happen here after I'm gone. All of these people are so strong. I can't wait to take what I've learned to help many others in my new area!
I love you all!
-Elder Edgel
So good to hear the gospel essentials in your ward is a good class! Woot! I'm so glad that you are a good missionary momma, because I dislike when members see missionary work as the missionary's work. I love members that see that this is all of our work and blessing to be a part of.
I LOVE MY MISSION!!! I'm getting transfered out. I was crushed when I found out. President called us to tell me I was leaving to white wash an area (don't know if a zone leader area is being moved or if the zone leaders are being replaced) training a new zone leader and getting an awesome third that needs to become converted to obedience and become a leader. I'm so excited and so heart broken at the same time. I have LOVED serving with Elder Penuelas sooo much. He's taught me so much. He's so powerful and such a great missionary. I wish I would have given Elder Welck more attention. He's done so great though. He's grown a lot and helped us out a ton. The transfer wouldn't have been the same without him. I have loved this ward sooo much. Some of the most amazing members I've ever met are here. Some not so much haha. But some powerful ones are here. They've taught me so much about how I want to be when I grow up.
We have had the most spiritual lessons with the Grays. Everything for our lesson on Saturday fell through, couldn't get a member to come with us and the kids weren't there and our lesson was focused for Stone, Steel and Violet. So we got to talk about Jaida's concerns and confusions. We resolved all the ones she addressed about becoming gods, temples, confirming the Holy Ghost, and the trinity. I can very confidently say that I know that they know the church is true. I know they will be baptized. I know they will be sealed. I feel so much love for them every time I think of them or see them. I feel the Spirit so strongly around them because I know it's their time. Last week I kept having the feeling and a voice whisper, "It's almost time, it's almost time, it's almost time" and in our lesson with them I kept feeling surges of the Spirit very strongly saying "It's time, it's time, it's time." We're very excited for them. They are going to do so many amazing things as members. The road isn't nearly over them. But they agreed that they need to tell their parents and their family that they want to join the church if they want to show Heavenly Father that they have real intent of joining and are going to care more about what He thinks than what others think.
I've noticed that the worst lessons I've taught are when I'm scared of messing it up and not being enough and scaring them away and not doing it right. And if I keep it up, those thoughts will happen. But as if I learned to forget that and focus on why the Gospel is so important and why the Grays need it and just be bold with them even if it might scare others away, that the Spirit has come in way stronger than ever before.
We had a very successful week. We found 12 new investigators! My mission record. I've knocked a ton of doors in the cold.
We also had a very spiritual emergency to tend to. Last night Elder Penuelas wanted to borrow the Spanish Elder's hair clippers so we went to their apartment around 8 55 and did our planning while we waited for them. Their phone was off. We got a call from the spanish sisters in eagle telling us that a recent convert of a few weeks just got in an accident and the wife as passed away, the kids are injured, they need a blessing and they're at our hospital. So we waited for the elders to get home. 9:25 and their still not there so Elder Penuelas knows spanish and we decided that we would just go and do it ourselves and bring the Branch President and his counselor who had already been notified several times. It was the most powerful blessing I've been a part of. The father was destroyed. I learned a ton about being the importance of a junior companion. I don't know spanish so I only said maybe 15 words the entire time. We sat with them and I just prayed and took care of the phone with texting people to keep them updated as the President and his counselor talked with them. Elder Penuelas said some powerful words which I am grateful that I was able to understand about how the church would take care of them. Then they gave the oldest daughter, the father and the oldest son each a blessing. Again all I did was pray and handle the phone. Elder Penueals gave the first blessing which was powerful that I could again understand bits and pieces of power. All three of them in their blessings were inspired to tell them that it was her time and that Heavenly Father took her because he needed her. The son was told that he was spared because the Lord needed him to serve a faithful mission and bring many souls unto Christ. We got home around 10:45 of course with the Assistants knowing and their permission.
I'm going to miss this area, the investigators and my companions! So many amazing things happened here. I learned so much while serving here. More than any other time of my mission and I know I'll continue in learning.
The Grays will be baptized soon, Annie Olson and her son Michael and possibly his wife will be baptized around January/February, John Merritt will be baptized very soon, Debbie Meriam wants to be baptized and just needs her husband to get into gear. I can't wait to hear of all the amazing things that happen here after I'm gone. All of these people are so strong. I can't wait to take what I've learned to help many others in my new area!
I love you all!
-Elder Edgel
Thursday, November 13, 2014
Usually people put a wise quote here
We taught John! We told him that he could be baptized soon and that there was just confusion and then he told us that he was on probation. So I felt awful for shoving my foot in my mouth but he's so humble and told us that he knew it would happen when it was right so isn't too worried about it. But he will be baptized a whole lot faster than before.
Lee Holt and Sheree dropped us this week. Really bummed me out but when someone drops us the Lord is preparing someone else for us to teach.
We had a good lesson with Joe. He vented for a good 20 minutes randomly. Normally he's very quiet. He did pay very good attention and was listening to every word we said when we did teach him. Hopefully he doesn't get off point and quit now that he's getting to the good stuff.
Sheree dropped us through text. Devastating. She said that she would report us if we came by again. That I do not understand. She had been reading, praying, went to church twice, met the Bishop and had a few friends. Elder Welck told us that when someone drops us, God is preparing someone else for us to teach. So we decided to focus more on our finding efforts even though it's dark early. We went tracting at 7 (people hate it when we knock their door when it's dark even though in the summer it's still light out at 8:30). We ran into the most pleasant, friendly, faithful lady ever. She's in her 70's and had had contact with the church her whole life. God had been preparing this lady her entire life. She loves the church and would love to be baptized. Nothing comes easy though... Her husband is less active and pretty stubborn. He claims to be a member but wants nothing to do with us. We'll get him though. God is more powerful than a stubborn husband.
The Grays are back in town!! We're so excited to teach them!! They came to the last two hours of church. Missionary work tip: make sure that your Gospel Principles class is the perfect environment for nonmembers and where they can really feel the Spirit. A member made a weird comment and instantly all three of us let out a sigh and started praying. I was pretty irritated and the thought came to me, "Do you not think that I am more powerful than a comment?" So that must mean that good things are in store for the Grays. We're teaching them tonight! I'll get a picture so everyone can see their beautiful family.
We drove to a baptism in Montrose which is an hour away. It was Elder Penuelas's last area and the investigator he put on date. It gave me time to reflect. While partaking of the sacrament as I prayed I realized that one day I'll be closing my eyes while the sacrament is passed as a grown man with a family. It humbled me and helped me to realize that God is molding me into who He needs me to be and that I have no need to fear about any of that. If anything I should be very hopeful and confident for my future with Him at the helm. I also realized the need to submit more to His will. To serve more out of a willing desire. It was very good reflection. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is so cool in how it works. After I have exercise faith in him through fasting to know how to be better, repenting through seeing how I can be better, renewing my baptismal covenants, The Spirit then purifies my sins and teaches me how I can do better to endure. It's sad that something this simple so many people don't know, refuse to know, or refuse to live. When in all reality it brings the greatest joy than any other thing.
I love you all so much!
-Elder Edgel
Lee Holt and Sheree dropped us this week. Really bummed me out but when someone drops us the Lord is preparing someone else for us to teach.
We had a good lesson with Joe. He vented for a good 20 minutes randomly. Normally he's very quiet. He did pay very good attention and was listening to every word we said when we did teach him. Hopefully he doesn't get off point and quit now that he's getting to the good stuff.
Sheree dropped us through text. Devastating. She said that she would report us if we came by again. That I do not understand. She had been reading, praying, went to church twice, met the Bishop and had a few friends. Elder Welck told us that when someone drops us, God is preparing someone else for us to teach. So we decided to focus more on our finding efforts even though it's dark early. We went tracting at 7 (people hate it when we knock their door when it's dark even though in the summer it's still light out at 8:30). We ran into the most pleasant, friendly, faithful lady ever. She's in her 70's and had had contact with the church her whole life. God had been preparing this lady her entire life. She loves the church and would love to be baptized. Nothing comes easy though... Her husband is less active and pretty stubborn. He claims to be a member but wants nothing to do with us. We'll get him though. God is more powerful than a stubborn husband.
The Grays are back in town!! We're so excited to teach them!! They came to the last two hours of church. Missionary work tip: make sure that your Gospel Principles class is the perfect environment for nonmembers and where they can really feel the Spirit. A member made a weird comment and instantly all three of us let out a sigh and started praying. I was pretty irritated and the thought came to me, "Do you not think that I am more powerful than a comment?" So that must mean that good things are in store for the Grays. We're teaching them tonight! I'll get a picture so everyone can see their beautiful family.
We drove to a baptism in Montrose which is an hour away. It was Elder Penuelas's last area and the investigator he put on date. It gave me time to reflect. While partaking of the sacrament as I prayed I realized that one day I'll be closing my eyes while the sacrament is passed as a grown man with a family. It humbled me and helped me to realize that God is molding me into who He needs me to be and that I have no need to fear about any of that. If anything I should be very hopeful and confident for my future with Him at the helm. I also realized the need to submit more to His will. To serve more out of a willing desire. It was very good reflection. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is so cool in how it works. After I have exercise faith in him through fasting to know how to be better, repenting through seeing how I can be better, renewing my baptismal covenants, The Spirit then purifies my sins and teaches me how I can do better to endure. It's sad that something this simple so many people don't know, refuse to know, or refuse to live. When in all reality it brings the greatest joy than any other thing.
I love you all so much!
-Elder Edgel
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
I LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE MY MISSION!!!!!!!!!!
I'm sorry I've been writing short emails. The longer I've been out the more use to being away from home I am and the less I care about being there and just want to be where I am. Get everything done that I need. I've been a bit selfish with my time. I should know that it's not my time. For one and ultimately it's God's time and I do what He wants. And 2 it's yours, dads, and everyone else that has helped pay for me for my mission. I will write better emails. Thank you momma.
I LOOOOVEEEEE MY MISSION!!!!!
We are seeing A TON of miracles in the 11th ward. My companions are amazing. They've taught me so much and we get along so great. Trios are a ton of fun and you get ton of work done if you're all focused and I'm grateful we all are. Elder Penuelas has taught me a lot about being effective and getting things DONE. He's focused, knows how to work, loves to work, and knows how to help people get baptized. Elder Welck keeps the work fun and is a light hearted guy. He's very easy to get a long with. Loves to laugh and finds joy in just about anything.
The 10th elders gave us this referral that we all thought was going to be very unsolid. It turned out to be a great lesson and she's already come to church twice! It's hard for her to come to church because she gets claustrophobic from being inside without windows for so long so we're working on getting her to stay for the rest of church. Our ward isn't very excited so she hasn't liked it too much unfortunately. But she's on date for November 29!
We picked Lee Holt back up. He's been pushing back because he doesn't understand prophets and doesn't allow us to teach him about it and gets so caught up in what he doesn't know. We're seeing him tonight and going to lay down the law and teach very simply.
The first week here we street contacted a lady that was telling us that the LDS faith was a bunch of bogus. It ended with her being excited to talk to us again and for us to teach her. She's super elect and has just been blinded by the world. Her daughter is just as solid! She's loved everything that we've taught her. We've only taught twice though since she's out of town and is hard to catch.
We're really sad to hand off another really solid investigator named Victor. He's 18 so he needs to go to the single's ward. He felt the Spirit strong in our lesson with him. He was really really excited for us to teach him again. He doesn't have a social life since he works so much. He's a really excitable guy and will be a great missionary!
We haven't been able to teach Loni all that much. We've only taught her twice and we haven't been able to make it inside her house yet. She likes it all but is flakey and works a lot. Hopefully we can teach her again soon other wise we need to drop her.
John Merritt is really amazing! He got really down after his baptismal interview when he found out that it might be awhile for his baptism. He left the church for a little but came back and is in church whenver he's in town. He's more active than his wife that's a member. Well he'll be baptized within the next 4 weeks!
Holden is 22 but married so we have a great relationship with him. He's open but busy but we should be able to start teaching him twice a week and then set him on date soon.
We had one of the most intense lessons of my mission. Dusty and his son Garrett. We taught Dusty a long time ago but he's been busy for a long time. He's so ready for baptism though. He loves everything we teach him. And not the way normal people love what we teach. Him and his son cracked out their Bible and were asking the whole time where what we said was found. The funny thing is they accepted the Book of Mormon as scripture without much explanation so if it was found in the Book of Mormon that was good enough for them. They had such a thirst and wanted to learn everything we had to teach and know all the details. Dusty is in his late 40's and his son is in 20's. Some of the nicest people I've ever met. Dusty divorced very early after being married but he is extremely respectful towards women and very friendly and polite to everyone. His son is the same. Both very knowledgeable, wise and humble. Deeply spiritual. Very open and loving to everyone. And very very interested. They're some of the most elect people I've ever met. They're also very hard working so it's hard to teach them often enough.
We haven't been able to teach Justin Quinton yet. He's very busy. He's also a charitable guy but hard working so we're trying to nail him down to a time.
We're going to teach Annie again and start teaching her son on Wednesday. He's very interested.
The Rivera's are moving but have been reading the Book of Mormon here and then.
We had a deep lesson with Joe the New Yorka. Things have been really hard on him through his divorce. He opened up a lot and told us a lot about it. He said that we've helped him a lot through it. All we've ever done though is smile and teach him doctrine. He's always been really busy but we've promised to just take 10 minutes of his time so we just teach one or two principles and then pick up the next we see him. But every time we've taught him doctrine. It's crazy how much just teaching him has helped. There's a quote that says the study of doctrine will help behavior more than the study of behavior. We've helped Joe more by teaching him about the Restoration than talking to him about his problems.
They Gray's have been out of town in Panama for 2 weeks but get back on the 5th. They've fallen behind a little and gotten a little lax so as soon they get back in town we're going to fearlessly jump on it. I was too intimidated and afraid of loosing them the last few times we've taught them but that's only slowed them down. There's no reason to be afraid when you have the truth so when they get back we're going to boldly testify to them!
Eddie the body builder dropped us unfortunately. It's crazy how uncomfortable people will feel around us for no reason at all. All we've ever done was smile and ask about them and be so happy about the message we share but for whatever reason the next time we see them they're really uncomfortable. Dustin Jackson is an example of that. He had a baptismal date and was ready to go. Then he fell away and last we saw him at the Halloween party he barley would look me in the eye let alone acknowledge my existence. It's unfortunate that people are afraid of the truth. Why?
We had a great zone conference. Sister Murdock has two kids on missions as well. She told some missionaries once about how jealous their moms are of her right now. That she gets to be in their presence. How she and their mothers would give anything to be able to watch their children be missionaries for at least 5 minutes. We took a member out with us and she loved watching us teach. She said it reminded her so much of her son that's on a mission. So go out with the missionaries momma! It'll almost be like watching me!
I feel like the beginning part of my mission was for me. I needed to be converted first. I had no idea what I was doing but tried my best. I at least had one conversion being myself. Now I feel like I actually know what I'm doing and know how to baptize and help people get there. I'm really really excited now to work as hard as I can with these last few months I have left and bless as many people as I can and then continue being a missionary forever!
I might leave this area in 2 weeks so that's really unfortunate. There's always the chance that I could stay one more. I love this area for the people that I've been able to teach. Some of the most elect people I've ever met.
I love you all!
-Elder Edgel
I LOOOOVEEEEE MY MISSION!!!!!
We are seeing A TON of miracles in the 11th ward. My companions are amazing. They've taught me so much and we get along so great. Trios are a ton of fun and you get ton of work done if you're all focused and I'm grateful we all are. Elder Penuelas has taught me a lot about being effective and getting things DONE. He's focused, knows how to work, loves to work, and knows how to help people get baptized. Elder Welck keeps the work fun and is a light hearted guy. He's very easy to get a long with. Loves to laugh and finds joy in just about anything.
The 10th elders gave us this referral that we all thought was going to be very unsolid. It turned out to be a great lesson and she's already come to church twice! It's hard for her to come to church because she gets claustrophobic from being inside without windows for so long so we're working on getting her to stay for the rest of church. Our ward isn't very excited so she hasn't liked it too much unfortunately. But she's on date for November 29!
We picked Lee Holt back up. He's been pushing back because he doesn't understand prophets and doesn't allow us to teach him about it and gets so caught up in what he doesn't know. We're seeing him tonight and going to lay down the law and teach very simply.
The first week here we street contacted a lady that was telling us that the LDS faith was a bunch of bogus. It ended with her being excited to talk to us again and for us to teach her. She's super elect and has just been blinded by the world. Her daughter is just as solid! She's loved everything that we've taught her. We've only taught twice though since she's out of town and is hard to catch.
We're really sad to hand off another really solid investigator named Victor. He's 18 so he needs to go to the single's ward. He felt the Spirit strong in our lesson with him. He was really really excited for us to teach him again. He doesn't have a social life since he works so much. He's a really excitable guy and will be a great missionary!
We haven't been able to teach Loni all that much. We've only taught her twice and we haven't been able to make it inside her house yet. She likes it all but is flakey and works a lot. Hopefully we can teach her again soon other wise we need to drop her.
John Merritt is really amazing! He got really down after his baptismal interview when he found out that it might be awhile for his baptism. He left the church for a little but came back and is in church whenver he's in town. He's more active than his wife that's a member. Well he'll be baptized within the next 4 weeks!
Holden is 22 but married so we have a great relationship with him. He's open but busy but we should be able to start teaching him twice a week and then set him on date soon.
We had one of the most intense lessons of my mission. Dusty and his son Garrett. We taught Dusty a long time ago but he's been busy for a long time. He's so ready for baptism though. He loves everything we teach him. And not the way normal people love what we teach. Him and his son cracked out their Bible and were asking the whole time where what we said was found. The funny thing is they accepted the Book of Mormon as scripture without much explanation so if it was found in the Book of Mormon that was good enough for them. They had such a thirst and wanted to learn everything we had to teach and know all the details. Dusty is in his late 40's and his son is in 20's. Some of the nicest people I've ever met. Dusty divorced very early after being married but he is extremely respectful towards women and very friendly and polite to everyone. His son is the same. Both very knowledgeable, wise and humble. Deeply spiritual. Very open and loving to everyone. And very very interested. They're some of the most elect people I've ever met. They're also very hard working so it's hard to teach them often enough.
We haven't been able to teach Justin Quinton yet. He's very busy. He's also a charitable guy but hard working so we're trying to nail him down to a time.
We're going to teach Annie again and start teaching her son on Wednesday. He's very interested.
The Rivera's are moving but have been reading the Book of Mormon here and then.
We had a deep lesson with Joe the New Yorka. Things have been really hard on him through his divorce. He opened up a lot and told us a lot about it. He said that we've helped him a lot through it. All we've ever done though is smile and teach him doctrine. He's always been really busy but we've promised to just take 10 minutes of his time so we just teach one or two principles and then pick up the next we see him. But every time we've taught him doctrine. It's crazy how much just teaching him has helped. There's a quote that says the study of doctrine will help behavior more than the study of behavior. We've helped Joe more by teaching him about the Restoration than talking to him about his problems.
They Gray's have been out of town in Panama for 2 weeks but get back on the 5th. They've fallen behind a little and gotten a little lax so as soon they get back in town we're going to fearlessly jump on it. I was too intimidated and afraid of loosing them the last few times we've taught them but that's only slowed them down. There's no reason to be afraid when you have the truth so when they get back we're going to boldly testify to them!
Eddie the body builder dropped us unfortunately. It's crazy how uncomfortable people will feel around us for no reason at all. All we've ever done was smile and ask about them and be so happy about the message we share but for whatever reason the next time we see them they're really uncomfortable. Dustin Jackson is an example of that. He had a baptismal date and was ready to go. Then he fell away and last we saw him at the Halloween party he barley would look me in the eye let alone acknowledge my existence. It's unfortunate that people are afraid of the truth. Why?
We had a great zone conference. Sister Murdock has two kids on missions as well. She told some missionaries once about how jealous their moms are of her right now. That she gets to be in their presence. How she and their mothers would give anything to be able to watch their children be missionaries for at least 5 minutes. We took a member out with us and she loved watching us teach. She said it reminded her so much of her son that's on a mission. So go out with the missionaries momma! It'll almost be like watching me!
I feel like the beginning part of my mission was for me. I needed to be converted first. I had no idea what I was doing but tried my best. I at least had one conversion being myself. Now I feel like I actually know what I'm doing and know how to baptize and help people get there. I'm really really excited now to work as hard as I can with these last few months I have left and bless as many people as I can and then continue being a missionary forever!
I might leave this area in 2 weeks so that's really unfortunate. There's always the chance that I could stay one more. I love this area for the people that I've been able to teach. Some of the most elect people I've ever met.
I love you all!
-Elder Edgel
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