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!

 

 

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.

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.

 

 

Elder Edholm -- week 74

Another normal week this week. One great thing is that our investigator Ibelize is progressing great! At church yesterday she cried twice baring her testimony. I think she's the best investigator I've ever had. She always talks about how she feels the spirit so strong and that she knows she's found the truth. Seeing people get converted like that strengthens my testimony so much. We're going to have a family home evening with her tonight, and the district president is going to share the message, it's going to be great.

We did a companionship exchange with the assistants this week. I went with Elder Clark, who is actually from Orem and he went to Timpanogos, and I learned a ton (yes 2000 lbs like dad would say). One thing I learned is that there is no reason to be nervous or anything for things like that because if you're going to be nervous because somebody is going to be watching you work, than why aren't you nervous all the time because God's always watching us. We shouldn't need to change how we act or what we are just because somebody in an authority position is watching us. Another I learned is that I need to smile more because people will be a lot more willing to accept this message and accept that it will change their lives if they see how much it has changed mine first.

Another cool thing that happened was that we went to a council where Elder Martinez from the area presidency went. I learned so much. One cool thing he said is that we need to help our investigators learn by faith. And that the way to soften their hearts so that they exercise faith is loving them, having the pure love of Christ for them. That we need to look at them like Jesus would look at them, that he died for them, and that is seen your eyes. Another thing he said is that we're not here on a mission to make friends with our companions and the other missionaries. He said that if we're being obedient that there will always be some missionaries that don't like us.

Well that's about it for this week!

Elder Edholm -- week 73

So this week was great. We really have been working hard on finding. Our whole zone is doing something to help us find a lot of people for this transfer and the next one. It's working really well, we have been finding a lot of people to teach, although not everybody wants to listen we work diligently to find the ones that do. The best part is that we have this amazing investigator named Ibelize. She's probably the best investigator I've ever had. She really reads and studies the Book of Mormon probably better than I do. She even applies it and tells us how she's been applying the teachings that she learns into her life. She's come to church twice now and always participates in the classes. She has a baptismal date for the 26th of this month and she's very excited for it.

Something really important that I've learned since I got to this area is that the numbers aren't important. I'll admit it, before this part on my mission I measured my success by my numbers. If our numbers were good than it was a good week; but if our numbers weren't that great it wasn't a good week even if we had a lot of powerful lessons. I've learned that looking for success in numbers is not the best. When I looked for success like that I was just wanting others to look at my numbers and think ¨wow, look how hard that guy works.¨ I've learned now that worldly recognition doesn't bring happiness. As I've been looking for success as it's described in Preach my Gospel I've enjoyed my mission a lot more.

Besides that I thought I'd just answer some of Mom's questions. The poorest parts of my last area are poorer than the poorest parts in this area. My apartment is small, but it's pretty nice, there's always water!!! There are two other missionaries that live in our house. My last two zones are the only two zones that don't have sisters because I think president thinks they're too dangerous. But this zone has lots of sisters. And my companion's name is Elder Florentino, he's dominican.

Anyway, love you guys!