The baptism of Edward

Yes! It happened! This week was great. We started out the week with a dinner lesson with Edward at the Fowler's house. The Fowlers have been great in fellowshipping Edward. We had a great lesson with him on Monday night and finished teaching all of the principles necessary for baptism. That's the quickest I have ever taught anyone all of the principles, in fact, that is the first time that I have taught all of the principles needed for baptism. And everything just clicks for him, it makes perfect sense to him. We got a little worried in the middle of the week because we lost contact with him. His phone wasn't working so we were kind of freaking out a little. His baptismal interview was supposed to be Friday, and luckily Thursday night he called us! He got his phone fixed and he told us the first thing he did was call us. We went by the next morning and went over the baptismal interview questions. We also learned some pretty sad news. It turns out he has moved to south Charlotte, which is in a different stake😢. So we talked to President and the bishop, and we decided to go forward with the baptism and the confirmation on Christmas Day then transfer his records to the Sharon Ward. That's pretty super sad news, considering how people have embraced him in this ward, and we won't be able to teach him the new member discussions, but I am sure he'll be totally fine. People will love him in the new ward, too. That night, Brother Potter (another amazing fellowshipper) picked him up, took him shopping for a suit, shirts, socks, and some ties. So great. He had the baptismal interview, Elder Johnson, one of the Zone Leaders interviewed him and said it was one of the most spiritual discussions he's ever had. Needless to say, Edward passed with flying colors. Saturday morning he came to the Ward Christmas party. It went pretty well, except it was so crowded that we had to sit in a different room with the Fowlers and Edward and a bunch of crazy kids. This ward is so big, and the building is average sized. Anyway, Sunday came and he came to church and right after church he got dressed into his outfit, and we had a good baptismal service. We had Brother Fowler baptize him. It was pretty rough since Edward has only one good leg and that one isn't even that strong. Edward had to hold on to Brother Fowler in a weird way for it to work and Brother Fowler had to squat in a weird position to get it done. They had to do it two times because the first time Edward's hand didn't go under. But it got done and Edward was super happy. We had him bear his testimony afterwards and he bore a super amazing testimony, he told us his whole story. 

So he was born in Ghana and he was a popular guy in high school. He even came out with a

couple music albums that got pretty popular. He was also super good at soccer and had scholarships to plenty of schools and was planning on playing soccer for the Ghana soccer team. But all of that changed when he got hit by a wayward car. He lost the strength in his legs and he only is able to hold his weight on one for a short time, hence, crutches. He moved to South Africa with his mom when his mom and dad split because the mom wanted to practice Christianity and his dad wanted to continue worshiping African idols. He wanted to get baptized but no one would baptize him because he was crippled. He worked as an English teacher in South Africa until he uncovered some sort of scam and exposed it and he started getting death threats so he moved to America. The rest is history. He had such a powerful testimony. He started reciting scriptures from the Doctrine & Covenants and the first four Articles of Faith. He is so ready for being confirmed next week. 

This week other than that was good. I had two exchanges, one with Elder Seely and one with Elder Bingham. They were both pretty fun. Now that Edward is baptized, we are back to looking for more people. We got a new referral from someone so we'll see how that goes. Well, honestly, I can't really think of what else happened this week I am just so excited for Edward! Love y'all!

Feliz Navidad

Hello! This week was pretty good. This week was pretty wet and chilly. I had to break out my winter coat this week, it was nice though, the summer was so hot. 

Anyway, Edward is so great! We had three appointments with him this week and he came to church. Two of the lessons we had with him were at members' houses. We taught him most everything this week, and we actually talked with him and moved his baptismal date up to the 18th! So after church next week he'll be baptized! So that's super exciting. He is the most solid person I have met on my mission, it's so great! 

Last night we went caroling with the YM and YW. We had a bunch of fun with them visiting less active or lonely members. We had a really fun group. We had Interviews and district meeting this week, they both went pretty well. That's about all that happened this week. I'm so sorry it's such a short email, but we have an early dinner appointment with Edward, so I got to go. Love ya!

Wow!

So this week was so good! Now that November is over we are going to have an amazing December! So I guess I'll just start off with the most exciting part, and his name is Edward!!! So on Wednesday I was at the mission office and I was about to get going when a senior sister came up to me and asked if I was in the Mountain Island Ward. I said I was and she got super excited. It turns out while I was there, a man named Edward showed up in a taxi cab. He explained to her that he was from Africa, and he had gone to our church in Africa and he really liked it, but he didn't think the church was here in America. He was looking for it one day and he found one in Asheville, which isn't even in our  mission, and he was going to get a cab ride all the way out there to find a church. Luckily his brother corrected him and told him there was one on Hilliard which is the mission office. So he took a taxi there. It's a good thing that out of all the churches around Charlotte he went to the Hilliard one because it would be the only church with people inside of it at the time, and even better, it was full of missionaries! So that afternoon we called him and that night we saw him with a member. We saw him twice this last week and he committed to a baptismal date of the 24th of this month! Christmas Eve! He also came to church yesterday. The member we initially brought with us picked him up and sat with Edward. We were sitting in the back with some other investigators and they were sitting at the front, and before we knew it Edward went up to the pulpit and bore his testimony! He said he already knows the church is true! We are super pumped for him.

We also had the Juarez family at church and a guy named Bol and his girlfriend came too, so that's great.  

It actually rained a bit this week. It hasn't rained much for a while. Tuesday morning we got up and biked over to a Bible referral and gave them a Bible. We were biking back and it started raining, pretty good, by the time we got to the bus stop we were drenched. I had to air out my shoes for a week before I could wear them again. It's been a pretty chilly week. I had to break out my sweaters and ear warmers. We did service a couple times this week and as always, we found some crazy clothes and I just had to try them on. I'll send some pictures. 

We went on  exchanges this week. I went with Elder Fox to Huntersville, we had a pretty good time. I made banana bread this week, it turned out pretty good. Anyway, that's about the week, Christmas is awesome, love y'all!

Thanksgiving is over! And November almost is too! And even the year is almost over! What!!!

This week wasn't too bad, not too shabby at all. Things went okay this week. We kind of wish we would have found more people to teach this week, but we have December in front of us and the new Christmas initiative! So we can find a whole lot of people this next month! #lighttheworld! Check it out on Mormon.org. This year the initiative is all about service. On the website there is a calendar that has some acts of service for each day of the month. There are a lot of good ideas so get out there and serve this Christmas season! It'll be a blast. 

Anyway, I honestly can't really remember much before Thursday, probably because not too much happened, but thanksgiving was great! We got up and we were able to go to a tri-ward Turkey bowl. It was a blast! I haven't played football like that for a good little while. I forgot how much I love that game. I was happy with the fact that I wasn't too extremely out of shape either. I kept up pretty well and had some good plays. And, I didn't get hurt either. I was a little sore afterward, but it wasn't too bad. 

We then were invited to a recent convert/investigator family that the Huntersville Elders are working with. We went and had thanksgiving lunch with them and that was fun. After that we had two other dinners lined up but both of them canceled, which was probably a good thing because we were still pretty full from our lunch. 

For dinner we went to the Heilperns. They are a crazy family! They had most of their kids there for thanksgiving and it was crazy. Elder Richins and I just sat there and listened to the conversation. It was very entertaining. We went home stuffed. 

The next morning we got up and pulled out the Christmas decorations that we have in the apartment and put them up. I'm super stoked for Christmas. 

We taught the Juarez family a couple times this week. I don't know what to do with them. The two older boys that got baptized say they aren't ready to receive the Aaronic priesthood, whatever that means, the girls are just kind of brats, the younger boys want to be baptized but don't want to do anything for it, and the mom is just overwhelmed with it all. It's kind of a tough situation. 

Sunday was pretty good. We had an early appointment with a Bible referral. We got there, gave him his Bible, and a Book of Mormon and taught him the Restoration. We asked him to pray to know it's true and he blurted out, "It is true." We set up a return appointment for next Sunday so we'll see how that goes. 

We then went to Ward council. President and Sister Alexander gave a training on how the Ward council can work with the missionaries. They then gave talks in sacrament meeting. Elder Richins gave a talk too. We then had dinner with a fun family to end the week. 

This morning we went to the Huntersville apartment and played Risk with the Elders. I destroyed all three of them in less than two hours, the perfect game of Risk:  short, and I won😆. Well, anyway, that's the week! Hope y'all have a great one!

Sick Week 2.0

So yeah, this week has been pretty rough. I woke up on Tuesday morning pretty stuffed up and I didn't think much of it, but Wednesday I woke up and I feel like I got hit by a truck. I could barely breathe and for some reason my eyes would just water like crazy randomly and spontaneously throughout the day. It's been like that all week, and I'm pretty sick of being sick. 

So Tuesday we got up and watched Elder Lopez pack up all his stuff then at noon we drove down to the Hilliard building and dropped off Elder Lopez. It was weird, it wasn't like I loved the guy a bunch, but I have to admit I'll miss him a little. The apartment has felt pretty empty this week. We were supposed to have the car this week, but the sisters scrunched the car up a little a couple weeks ago, and the car people called in the car on Tuesday. They said it would take bout 3 days, and it's been six...it's not even our car week any more, oh well. So we spent a lot of time on the busses again this week staying busy.  

We had correlation with the Ward mission leader for the first time since I've been here. He's been pretty busy with a new baby and so forth. He had us and the sisters over for dinner and then had correlation. Then both the sisters and us went out and invited a lot of his neighbors to a nativity our Ward and other close by wards are putting together. We have a lot of invitations we have to give out before December 2nd and 3rd. I'm super excited for the Christmas season, not bagging on Thanksgiving at all, I'm super pumped about that as well. 

On Friday we went to district meeting. Our district stayed pretty much the same. Only Sister Parker left and Sister Warner replaced her. Other than that all the missionaries in our district stayed. Afterward I went on exchange with Elder Bingham in Huntersville. We had a good exchange. We painted someone's house a little and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows at a member's house for dinner. The next morning we found a Christmas tree in their closet and set it up. They are lucky, they have a full size tree! We exchanged back and Elder Richins and I had a packed day. We biked and bussed from place to place. Saturday morning was super warm so we didn't get any coats or anything, and just suddenly a super cold front came through and the temperature dropped a lot. We got to a bus stop and the bus didn't show up for 30 minutes. So we stood outside in the pretty dang chilly wind for 30 minutes in our shirts. Let's just say it wasn't very fun. The bus then picked us up and we got dropped off at the next bus stop. That one was 30 minutes late, too. So we had to wait another thirty minutes. Then the bus came and just drove right past us, so we had to get on our bikes and book it as fast as we could around the block to get to the next bus stop. We got on...phew. The busses are nice and all, but sometimes they stink. 

Yesterday we went to the group meeting for the last time for at least a couple months. The room we usually meet in has to undergo renovation, so they are stopping it for a while. It wasn't doing so great anyways. 

Anyway, the week was pretty good, excited for thanksgiving this week, hope y'all have a great one! Love ya! 

The Andersons sent me an awesome package, so I took a picture. The Andersons are the best!!

Uh-oh, I Forgot My Journal

So we are at the church right now emailing and I realized I left my journal at our apartment, so I can't remember barely anything from this week, so I apologize in advance if this email is a little short. 

We served at the Crisis Assistance Center twice this week. On Tuesday when we were there and the Charlotte Spanish sisters were there (Sister Beal and Sister Valentin) and the Charlotte Spanish Elders, the Mountain Island Sisters and us, a total of 9 missionaries serving at the same place. Crazy. 4 out of the 5 missionaries from my MTC district were there. Fun. 

Umm, I'm trying to remember, so on Friday we had zone meeting. It was pretty good. I was sure busy for that meeting. I had to conduct the music for the opening hymn, play the piano for the special musical number, and then I had to play the North Carolina song for the closing song. It was pretty hard. 

Gastonia Zone

On Saturday we helped a crazy family split wood from a big tree that fell down on their property. Some guy pushed a stump onto my finger and it exploded. It was oozing nasty clear looking paste, not even blood. Weird. The lady knows her medicine though and she put some stuff on it and covered it with a bandaid and it healed up pretty good. Now there's just a bruise and a bunch of skin missing. 

Yesterday was good. We went to church twice again and then afterwards we went out with a priest from the Ward named Zach. We took him all over the place and we ended up in a kind of run down little part of town and he was kind of freaking out, he wouldn't get out of the car. I guess we are just used to a little more sketchy situations. 

Anyways, sorry for the super short email, but that's all I can remember for this week. Love ya! I'll remember more next week!

A Pretty Quick-like Week

So this week is already gone, it seems like it went by really fast. We started off the week with a 2 day exchange. Elder Lopez and I dropped off Elder Richins at the Huntersville Elders' apartment and went home. We did Salvation Army service that day. The next day we went all the way down to South Charlotte for a meeting. We didn't want to waste miles, so we took the bus down there. It was a long bus drive. It took Elder Lopez and me 2 1/2 hours just to get there, then the same amount of time on the way back. On the way back the bus got super full, jam packed, and I was the only Caucasian person on the bus, and there had to be at least 60 people on that bus, that's Charlotte for ya. 

That night we tried to help a recent convert learn how to read, but we ain't no school teachers, so it was kind of a mess and it tried my patience. The next morning we finally picked up Elder Richins and we did service at the Salvation Army place again. We sort clothes there and we find some super funky clothes some people donate. We goofed around a little and put on some funny clothes. I'll send some pictures. 

The next day we had zone conference! Yay! We had a combined conference with the Hickory Zone, which was kind of strange, because I just left that zone, and I know that zone better than the one I am in now, the Gastonia zone. It was fun to meet up with some old Hickory zone buddies and chat with missionaries in my new zone that I didn't know before. 

Old Greensboro Buddies

We had a really good zone conference. We talked about thrusting in our sickle, and President actually brought out a sickle! Kind of funny. Sister Alexander gave a training about music and how important it can be in missionary work, she really loves music! And they also revealed the new Christmas initiative the church is doing for this year! I think it's called #LightTheWorld if I'm not mistaken. It's all focused around service this year, so I'm super pumped for it!

Saturday was a pretty busy day. We taught this guy named Michael about faith and the Holy Ghost, then had to run over to a part member family and try to commit the children to work to get baptized, then we had to run and take the bus back home. There was this lady on the bus, so crazy. There are ramps on the bus for people in wheelchairs to get on the bus, and a paraplegic person was trying to get on the bus so the bus lady was trying to lower the ramp for her, but this super rude lady was yelling at the bus driver to let her on so the bus driver had to put the ramp back for her to get on, then lower it again for the paraplegic. Then that lady just complained about this and that loudly the whole flipping bus ride. I wanted to slap her, and I can't imagine what bus drivers have to go through, there are so many crazy people in Charlotte. We were talking to a bus driver yesterday morning, and she was telling us all the horror stories that she'd had since she's been driving a bus. She said, "You name it, it's probably happened on a bus." Yikes. 

Tired on the bus

Saturday night we got some CookOut to start our fast. I like CookOut. I'm gonna miss it when I go back to Utah. Sunday was pretty good. We went to the group meeting down in Uptown, then went to the Ward. As always, there were good testimonies. Elder Lopez bore his testimony because it is the last testimony meeting on his mission. He goes home in less than two weeks. Kind of crazy. This transfer has gone by pretty quick! So much has happened. Well, that about wraps it up for this week! Bye-bye✋, have a great week! Love y'all!