Monday, November 28, 2016

Elder Edholm -- week 76

So, yes, Ibelize got baptized on Saturday! It was a great experience for her, she was very excited. Now we just have to make sure that we do every thing we can so that she stays active, that's the stressful part sometimes. But besides that this week has gone super well. At the beginning of my mission finding was the worst thing for me. It didn't like knocking on doors at all. Now I think I understand it a little bit more. I understand that if I'm not trying to find people constantly than I'm missing out on the blessings that The Lord has prepared for me and the person that needs the gospel stays in confusion and it's possible that their sins fall upon my head. Since I've gotten to this area I've just had that desire to go out and find those people.

In the baptism while people were changing we watched the video of the restoration, the short one that lasts 15 minutes or so. But when I was watching it, it had a different affect on me this time. It's because when the part came when God and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith I imagined that it was me, that I was Joseph Smith and God and His Son came down and appeared to me, and talked to me ¨Calling me by name.¨ It meant a lot more to me when I watched it like that, I felt the spirit a lot stronger, and I really felt the love of God so strongly directly for me. I feel like we should always read the scriptures like that, like they are addressing us specifically, I feel like we can get more out of them like that.

But I hope you all had a great thanksgiving, it's weird seeing the table not all the way full. Oh and Happy Birthday Andy! Wow, 16 years old!
 

 

Thursday, November 24, 2016

Thanksgiving





Our lovely Thanksgiving Lunch!  We had the dinner cooked, devoured, and cleaned up by 1:00!  The boys ran in the Gobble Wobble at 10:30 and the girls got everything ready.  Eric came in 3rd overall in the 2 mile run and came home with a pumpkin pie.  Andy and Brian ran the 4 mile race and Peter and Eric ran the 2 mile race.

This year Andy's birthday happens to fall on Thanksgiving Day.  We put candles in his Coconut Cream Pie.



He got lots of nice presents including a bluetooth speaker for his phone, powerade, pringles, beef jerky, chocolate, cereal, and a BYU Football memorabilia book.

The family humored me and we took a quick little history jaunt in the afternoon.  I've been typing in a lot of oral histories of this area at work and I recently read one that was about a very small town called Neiber.  It was a stage coach station from the early 1900s until Mary Neiber's death in 1923, but quickly faded away by the time the railroad came through.  I had the GPS coordinates of a small cemetery, which was all that was left and it was only about 15 minutes outside of town.  So we put the coordinates into Google Maps and drove away.  We found it on top of a hill. It was a short hike to the top of the hill and we had to dodge millions of small cacti.  It was a beautiful view of the stark landscape from the top. 



This past week Lucy has started her basketball season.  Brian helped coach the first two games as the coach was out of town.  They look pretty good and have won 2 out of their 3 games so far.

Lucy in motion shooting the ball during warm ups before the game with Brian watching.

Monday, November 21, 2016

Elder Edholm -- week 75

So, Ibelize had her baptismal interview on Saturday and she is ready! She's amazing, on Sunday, in the class for investigators and recent converts we were talking about repentance. She talked about how she repented the other week by apologizing to her granddaughter, she was crying, she said that she felt like she couldn't get baptized with that burden on her chest and that now she feels relieved. I can't wait for her baptism, I know she is a real convert, and our branch is helping out a lot so there is a big chance that she will endure.

But since this week is thanksgiving I wanted to take advantage of this email to do exactly that, give thanks. I want to thank everybody. First mom and dad for being missionaries in the first place to set the best example for me and for being amazing parents. All my siblings for making my childhood fun, although I know I wasn't always the best brother, but you guys were great brothers and sisters to me, even though I didn't always show it. Thanks so much for being the best family ever. I love you all so much!

Here are some pictures of my district and my companion and I.
 
 

Monday, November 14, 2016

Elder Edholm -- week 74

Monday, November 7, 2016

Elder Edholm -- week 73