5/21/12

Hello family and friends!

 

I honestly feel as if I am starting to come into my own as a missionary now! At least by way of the progression of the work and the cool experiences we are being blessed with. I am by no means anywhere close to a standout missionary, but I do feel very blessed this week.

 

On Tuesday we were really excited for a lesson because they couple was super nice and seemed excited for us to come over. When we got there we chatted for a bit and then asked them what there expectations were for meeting with us. The wife began to talk about how they had been having some issues as a family and so they have started to pray more. They had prayed to God that He would send them something so that they could better their lives and know the way that He wanted them to go. The next day we knocked on their door. At first she said she didn't recognize that as an answer, but the whole week leading up to the appointment she and her husband had been talking and waiting for us. The Spirit was so strong as she told the story and it was all I could do not to start crying. We testified that we were their answer and that we are led by the Spirit to find our Brothers and Sisters who are ready for our message. We had a great lesson with them and they understood most things really well. The reason that experience impacted me so much is because, first of all it is so cool to hear something like that. But also, I don't always feel as if I am a good missionary because I don't have any revelatory experiences while tracting telling me where to go or anything like that, but now I know a little bit better how this huge plan works out. It is daunting to know that when a great family kneels together and asks Heavenly Father to help them, that sometimes he might send us out to help them. I have never doubted the divine intricacies of the work that we do, but after that visit I felt as if we had been blessed with a tender mercy to show us that we are vindicated in what we do.

 

Also, on thursday we went on exchanges with the bike Elders in New Albany. We cover their area as well, but its always different on a bike. I was with Elder Potter for the day, he went into the MTC the same day as me, so its always fun to work with him. Last exchanges went pretty sweet, so I was excited for this one. After the last exchange, I felt like I had learned so much, and it was no different with this one. We went to go follow up with a potential investigator that Elder Baker and I had found one day in a park. Way nice guy, recognizes us as servants of the Lord, so he always likes to see us. We handed him off to the English Elders and they hadn't been able to see him. So we biked over to his apartment and he was there and let us in. He is seriously such a nice, cool guy. He had basically memorized the Restoration pamphlet Elder Baker and I previously gave him, and he was talking about how much he loved Joseph Smith for being the prophet of the Restoration - you don't hear people saying that in the first sit down lesson - I had yet to hear that from any investigator. So, we were pretty stoked. We had an AWESOME lesson, the word lesson doesn't fit, it was just a couple of guys talking. He was like a kid in a candy store, he wanted everything. He was so happy when we gave him a Book of Mormon, he said he had been searching for something like that his whole life. We continued to talk and then commited him to be baptized next month, he tearfully said yes. It was such a cool experience. He told us how much he loved us as we walked out and we stopped to offer a prayer of thanks before we headed out. First time committing someone to baptism for real, not that it is a huge deal, but it was so cool. I don't think I will ever be in a situation like that again where the investigator already has such a strong testimony of the importance of what you are saying. The rest of the exchange went pretty well, we ended up getting in the middle of a fight at the skate park, but it wasn't really anything. Some kid was mad because people were talking about him on FB. We looked a little out of place, four missionaries hanging around 30 high school kids watching a fight. But we actually has some good interaction with them before the cops got there.

 

The next day was super great too. We have been teaching a family and commited them to be baptized as well. They are so cool, they aren't super golden or anything, but they accepted the invitation to be baptized and we will continue to work with them until the date to make sure they are ready.

 

We had another Spanish fireside last night, it wasn't as amazing as the last one, but it was still way good. Always fun to see all the other missionaries.

 

This work is definitely inspired. I am so blessed to be here. It hasn't been that long and I can already see how far I have come. The Lord truly does watch after his missionaries and Heavenly Father definitely answers prayers. There is nothing I would rather be doing.

 

Thank you all for your prayers and your letters,

 

I love you all,

 

Elder St. Martin

5/14/12

 Hello all,

 

Feeling refreshed and reinvigorated after getting to talk with my family yesterday!

 

This last week was another good one. Because we have found so many people who welcome us back, we have been trying to get around and see everyone, but unfortunately this isn't as big of a priority for others as it is for us, so we have been running into a ton of missed and ditched out on appointments. That is the work, it is alright, just frustrating.

 

We started our new English class on Tuesday with new lessons and more people. It was pretty good, and more people have called since then wanting to come, so it is definitely a nice, new addition.

 

We did have a good experience with a new family we have been teaching, we already had taught them a great first lesson and commited them to read. So when we went by for the follow up lesson, we were hoping great things. Not all of them read, but some did. The one thing I was most excited to hear was how the father explained how after we left there was a "harmony" in his home that he couldn't explain, a kind of "spirit" that they haven't experienced before. We were so excited to hear that, recognizing the spirit in their home will hopefully help their family and help them read together.

 

As we find and begin teaching these people, it is so sweet to see how they can see the inherent goodness in what we we share before we even sit down to teach them. One of the things I am most grateful for here is that people really do see us as representatives of Jesus Christ. So when they slam the door, it's because they aren't willing to truly accept him yet, and when they invite us back we are so happy because we know we are probably working with someone who has a solid faith in Christ.

 

I have reached my four month mark, and I know that seems so short, but I look back at where I started and can see so many changes. A mission is so interesting. To be honest, I haven't had tons of amazing spiritual experiences, whether that is all part of the plan or me not being receptive, but I have been so impressed to see the intricacies of the plan that Heavenly Father has for us. And although nothing crazy has happened (yet) I know that, like life before and after this mission, that my mission will provide me with multitudes of tiny testimony builders and a gradual shift in the person I am. (My family might not think I am too different yet, but I feel like I am).

 

It definitely is crazy that time flies by so fast, but I am so thankful for all the many opportunities I have had thus far.

 

I hope that everyone has an awesome week! Love you all!

Elder St. Martin

5/7/12

Hello family and friends!


This has been another great week in the Great Kentucky Louisville Mission!

The weather is picking up and the work is getting pretty hot as well, hopefully we can get some people to cool off in the font before the worst of summer gets here.

We really have been hitting the pavement pretty hard these last two weeks. We have found some pretty cool people. We taught one family last week who has never talked with missionaries before (several people have, and several confuse us with Jehovah's Witness, but that's another thing altogether). We started teaching this family and it was actually probably one of the better lessons so far on my mission. One thing I really appreciate is the unity Elder Baker and I already have and the rate at which it is developing. This family is open to everything and very clearly sees us as representatives of Christ.

There are a few situations like that, so I am excited for the work here in Clarksville.

We had an awesome Stake Conference yesterday as well. All the missionaries in the Stake joined the Stake Choir for a rendition of Called to Serve, it was pretty cool. The whole conference was about missionary work and the temple. President and Sister Woodbury were there and both spoke, so it was a pretty cool conference.

We have been in a challenge the last two weeks to see who could find the most new investigators. It was split up by district and and companionship. The winning district gets a pizookie party and a pizza party, and the winning companionship gets their car cleaned, a day to blitz with the Zone Leaders, so you can cover twice as much ground, and since Fort Knox is in our mission, a set of Army scriptures with a way cool Army scripture case. So, that challenge plus the fact that this area has been SO slow really got us started off hot. I am proud to say that Elder Baker and I beat out our whole zone and Clarksville Spanish just got some pride back. Plus, our district won as well, so it is safe to say we will be having a pretty fun District Meeting soon with all of our prizes. That challenge really helped our zone as well, more new investigators were found these last two weeks than during any other two weeks in this zone.

It is weeks like this that will ensure the work is progressing well here, we don't have it super hard here, but it isn't the easiest either, so I love to see things like this happening.

There is a saying around here, DWFTB, Don't Wait For The Bishop. But, we are changing it.

DWFTB, that's what Clarksville Spanish's new motto is, Do Work, Find, Teach, Baptize.

Elder St. Martin

4/30/12

Hello Family and Friends!

This was an AWESOME week in the GKLM.

It was a little crazy getting everything together for transfers, Elder Banks two years are up, so he was getting all of his stuff together for that.

Transfer meeting came and went and we got started pretty quick.

My new companion is Elder Zac Baker from Tuscon, AZ. He is 22 years old and has 2 years at U of A under his belt in journalism. His Spanish is pretty good, so I have no fears about that. He is a hard worker and a great planner and I have already learned a lot from. We teach rather well together and haven't had many problems at all in 5 days, but we will see. He really is a great guy and very sincere and focused on the work. He has been out for 8 months, including MTC, and this is his second area.  We mesh rather well and I don’t see any problems coming up at all in the future with him, I can say that pretty assuredly right now. Same name, same spelling, same state – good deal.

It is weird to not have Elder Banks here, all I know is Clarksville with Elder Banks, but that is a mission, we’re never anywhere for too long.

We hit the pavement and got to work. Tracting isn’t fun, and we end up talking to lots of English speakers, but that’s alright, they need this too. We have been making a better effort to talk to everyone we see and from that we have gotten some good referrals for the English missionaries in our district and in turn we have had some referrals from them as well, so its all working out.

We taught more lessons this week then I ever have so far, and we added more investigators this week than this area ever has. When you get to work and focus on the people and the Gosple, the Lord will make up for the rest.

This last week I really saw how inspired this work is. Every little thing is the way it is because that is the way Heavenly Father wants it.

A few weeks ago the mother of the only hispanic family in our area, actually THE only hispanics who go to church, had a neat experience. There is a Spanish branch a ways away out in Corydon, Indiana and she had been asked to speak in church at this branch. No one told her when she was to speak so she was trying to figure out if she should go to Corydon or stay and go to Jeffersonville ward. She prayed and felt that she should stay. A little bit after that some people came knocking at her door. When she went outside she was met by two other hispanics selling tamales. She told them she couldn't buy them because of keeping the Sabbath day holy. They talked for a little bit about church and the gospel and this member got the couples' address and said she would come visit them sometime. When she told us this story we were way stoked to go with her and meet and hopefully teach this family. But, the address was written down wrong. That went cold and we wrote it off as a cool experience for her.

Fast forward two weeks. Now we are at this last Saturday night. An appointment had just fallen through, we were planning to teach a lady and we were going to have her follow us to the church and have a lesson there. A member was waiting at the church as well, so we were hoping it would go well. Well, she never showed up at her house, we waited and called and knocked. Nothing, So we let our member know he could go home and we left a bit annoyed. We have tons of places to go knock at and lots of members to see, but we decided to go to a complex that has not been tracted by missionaries in a long, long time - if ever. So we started at the back and knocked. No one really answered or they weren't interested. After about 30 minutes we heard some loud Spanish on a TV and went to that door. We knocked and it was a family watching a lucha libre fight. We explained que somos misioneros con la Iglesia de JesuCristo de los Santo de los Ultimos dias, and that we would like to share a message with them. Just like that they let us in real quick and we sat down. We asked them if they had every talked to missionaries like us and they said no. As we talked I started looking around and saw some coolers and a big pot in the corner. At that time she mentioned how she and he made and sold tamales. I let that pass by. Then she said she had met a member of our church. She struggled with the name and finally I connected the dots and blurted out her name and they said yes and we talked about her and what they had talked about.

We had a pretty simple and short lesson about the Restoration and invited them to church. They said yes. What?! Yes, wait, you just barely met us and church is tomorrow, in about 13 hours and you have lots of kids, you sure you want to come? We’re not arguing.  And man did they come. I have never had an actual investigator come to church. But they were there. It was testimony meeting, so I prayed that nothing crazy would be said. I prayed the whole meeting. That Elder Baker would do well on translation, I was struggling. They had things to do after sacrament. But they said they would come again next week. And we are meeting with them on Wednesday.

There are hundreds of hispanics that live around that area, not to mention lots of people travel for work and whatnot. And the fact that we just so happened to be there to knock on their door, and that they had met that member of our ward, and that she had felt the need to stay, and everything - is not a coincidence. It was so cool to see.

Who knows what will happen with that family, but I am excited.

Also, on Wednesday night we set up an appointment with one of the ladies from our English class, for Sunday. She had come to the charla with the huge group of people that our other investigator brought. Her husband really liked it as well. So we had a RM come with us to the lesson to. We knocked. She answered the door. Bad news: she had completely spaced about our appointment. Good news: she had a house full of people. They let us in and we chatted for a bit and then watched some futbol, but we rather quickly got into our lesson. It was awesome. Three of us, six of them. We had a great lesson on the Restoration and the BOM. There are some things that weren’t understood by everyone, but instead of us going back over it and explaining it, one of the friends jumped in and said, “no, that’s not what they are saying, what they are saying is . . . “. That doesn’t happen very often. It is a great group of people. A few of them have come to the English class, but there were a few that we have never met. We are going back next Sunday.

There are no coincidences. I know that for sure.

Missionary work is not easy. It is work. But it is a good work. The timing was just right, because we got new mattresses this week as well. So, now I know that really, really can sleep well knowing that we put in a good day.

My dad has reminded me that since I am in a car and that we have an investigator who owns a taco truck and great members, that I should watch out or I am gonna get stupid fat. Well, we now have an awesome family that makes the best tamales I have ever eaten and we found a bakery in of the downtown areas that gives us free cookies and cake and milk because we are “good people”, well I am sure they don’t give free food to all “good people”, but I will accept free baked goods any day.

The people here really are nice, some just wave us on, but the majority are very cordial and listen. Especially Hispanics, they are such great people.

We did happen to kind of get in the middle of a knife fight in one of the apartment complexes we were tracting at. I was torn between calling the police, watching with the guy whose door we had just knocked, or raising my arm to the square and testing some things out. We left our friend with a pamphlet and our number and jetted out of there. It was something I am not too used to. But, I can say that I was not impressed with the weapon selection. Such a poor choice to use a butcher knife, so much less dexterity at the wrist. The other guys’ choice of a barbeque lid as a shield was mighty impressive.  But the best was the five year old Mexican kid that ran out with a huge stick with a little rusty nail at the end. Unfortunately his mother pulled him back into the house before he could show off his skills. The real sad thing was that one of them was someone we had just talked to a few nights before, so I really hope he had that mormon.org card in his pocket when they took him to jail.

Anyway, I am sure my sweet mother won’t read down this far, so she will never know about our more “interesting” interactions with people.

I really am so thankful for all of your prayers and letters. I love you all and wish everyone the best.

Elder St. Martin