Halloween treats

Good week. It was a little spooky just because it was Halloween and all.  In fact, we had a little trick instead of a treat come our way. 

Funny: This week we did a lot of work with the less active list. We tried to go visit all of the people on the list and we made some serious headway. It was an excellent week for visits. We did some amazing works. One of the funnier visits went like this: Elder Kerby and I went up to the door of Brother Turner. We knocked ( this was a fellow that we have been trying to visit for a long long time) and finally some old lady came to the door. We asked if Brother Turner was there. She paused for a moment and then replied that he had been dead for the past two years. Oh dear. We were a little taken aback to say the least. We then wished her our condolences and went on our way feeling bad for the grief that we had caused. We felt like we had just reopened a nasty paper cut and poured lemon juice on it. We were feeling bad for ourselves till about an hour later we got a call from Brother Larson who asked us what we knew about a "Brother Turner." “Brother Turner?” I asked, "Brother Turner is DEAD." "Oh. “He responded. "Well, I just left a loaf of warm homemade bread on his porch.” “I don’t think he will be needing it anytime soon.” I replied. I didn't feel that bad anymore. The Halloween spirit was abound for sure! haha

Spiritual: This week was rough on my companion. He was sick the end of Monday night, Tuesday night, all Wednesday and all Thursday. It was really difficult for him to endure this. He is a real go getter and being sick was super hard for him. On Monday night I was reading in the living room and I got the feeling to go into the room where he was. I went in and he was just in a rough place. The devil had been getting to him and he was not feeling well, mentally and physically. I sat down and talked to him for a while. It was different from a regular investigator because he was my good friend and I felt that I could actually do some good. We had quite a long discussion about why this illness had come to him and in the end I gave him a blessing. It was a sweet sweet experience and a powerful one. It got worse for him because while he was sick I went on exchanges with the Chinese elders because their companion was sick as well! (Yes another day in Chinese makes for a long day.) haha I loved the food though! The next day we made contact with a ton of less actives! I was wondering why the Lord would put him in this place where he had to just watch as all these miracles took place. I believe one of the reasons is that he got to really pray and ponder the word of the Lord and now he has come out of it with an intense vision of what the work in this ward can be. The Lord gives us trials for a reason. (That reason might have been that I needed to see if I knew the area enough and was able to do the work on my own) The Lord will bless you in your times of trial and affliction if you turn to him instead of wallowing in your grief. 

Where I am at: I survived the plague!!!! YAY! The work here is going super well! Laura who is 19 has a baptism date on the 9th and she is so solid! She prays every day and reads her scriptures and is just so happy about the gospel. We just started teaching her two younger brothers who are twins and are getting into gang things. Not good. We are confident that the gospel can help them in their life. Today also celebrates my two moth mark in the mission field! Yay! Happy day! According to elder Pak, the elder that is on his last transfer, I am as green as can be. It’s okay. But it’s also not easy being green. My orange trick has come in handy so so so many times! I did it for the stake president, the zone, and a lot of families. I guess i am getting the nickname of the Black Orange again. haha

Things are really going well. There are a lot of technical things that I need to work on but I am really doing well. I have a direction, know where I am going, and am running to the end goal. I love you all and the season here is beautiful! It made me laugh that on Halloween my companion was sick and I got to go to a really wealthy member’s house in Ruby Hill and eat candy. I got the treat and he got the trick. 

I love you all!