So this week was a pretty successful week. We taught 3 member present lessons and 7 other lessons. Lot of success is going on right now and I'm grateful for the opportunity I have to be a part of it. I've decided that the Lord doesn't work in mysterious ways, they are very obvious as long as you are paying attention and looking for them. If not then they seem unusual.
Yesterday hit 100 degrees here in Stevensville. Very hot and, if not careful, can be dangerous health wise as well. We've both been trying to drink more water and stay hydrated. Yesterday there was a fire that started on one of the mountains that surrounds the valley. It looks like they are trying to control this one which is good, but as of this morning it is still smoking.
This last week we committed Deb to be baptized and she said yes!!! Only problem is that she doesn't want to get baptized because her boyfriend's house may be selling and he may have to move in with her. At least she understands it's not bueno, but he is being stubborn and won't marry her. All well, what can you do?
Heather and Ray fed us dinner one night this week. It was a great chance to relax and to enjoy one another's company as well as talk a little about how each of our churches is organized. Overall a very enjoyable evening with not a whole lot of stress.
We also started teaching two kids this last week. They are here in town for the summer living with their grandparents and come to church every week. Neither one of them are members and they wanted to take the lessons so they could learn more about the church. Pretty neat opportunity and really smart kids. The best part, we've been able to have really fun lessons.
And of course, this week was also Pioneer Day!!! Both wards of ours had ward parties and so that was really fun. Good chance for us to reflect on the pioneers in our lives; both our ancestors as well as the modern-day pioneers we see around us every day.
So the scripture for the week is one of the ones found in the hymn book. First one is in the Primary book. This week we felt like pioneer children cause we walked, and walked, and walked, and walked, and walked, and.... On a more serious note, if you turn to hymn page 252, "Put your shoulder to the wheel" (hopefully that's right, I don't have my hymn book on me). Probably my favorite part is that the world has need of willing men who bear the worker's seal. So many people today think they can get everything for nothing; it doesn't work that way. We all have to do our part. And as Brother Croxford would always say, "We all have work, so don't be a jerk. Put your shoulder to the wheel."
Hope you have a fantastic week and that everything is going well.
Elder Wixom
Monday, July 26, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
WOW... where has the time gone?
July 19, 2010
So it seems really weird that I've been out a year already. Today actually technically marks the beginning of the 2nd half of my mission, which is an even weirder feeling. Weird also to think how much changes in a year, it'll be a completely new life when I get home so that's kind of cool I guess. All well, not very much time left to work so just got to keep trying to do my best.
We've been helping out with a lot of service this week. We helped some members pound in fence-poles for their electric fence. We've also been helping members move and get things organized. It's been lots of fun.
The work out here is continuing to go well. This week we taught a total of 13 lessons, 4 of which were lessons with a member present and 3 more investigator lessons. Elder Senior and I are trying to get as many members involved with the work as possible to keep them going and getting excited. We are getting quite a few refferals as well which is really helping out.
One of those referrals was a guy named Steve. He is in his early 30's and was in the army for ten years. He described himself as a left-brained, needs to make sense kind of guy. We answered some of his questions about the church and then talked about Joseph Smith and the Restoration. It went really well and we have another lesson scheduled for later this week which I'm excited about.
Last Tuesday we had our plan to work here in town; however, we got a call from a kind-of investigator during district meeting. He talked about how his life was falling apart and wanted us to stop by. Well... he lived clear out on the northern border of our area, but we went by and changed our plans. On our way back to town we got a call from the office with a media referral and it was on the way so we went and stopped by. It was for an 18-year old named Brian. He had just gone down to Salt Lake to learn some more about the church for knowledge sake and requested a visit. He claims to be an athiest and is learning to learn. It was a really cool visit and we'll probably go back in a week or two to check up on him.
We had another good lesson with Heather and Ray. A lot less anti and a lot more honest questions. Heather seems to be taking a greater interest than Ray is at the moment, but we are going to keep doing our best to keep answering their questions and talking about the church.
This week has also been crazy with disasters. Thursday there was a propane fire which also burned some junk cars down from Sherrie's house. While we were visiting with her on Friday there was another fire in the exact same spot which was interesting. There was also another fire on the other side of town. And on Friday we were visiting with a less-active family named the Rogers. After the lesson, we looked out the window and saw a 350+ pound sheep just wandering down the street. So we helped his owners round him up and get him home. By-the-way, sheep are very stubborn animals and don't move when they don't want to.
So the scripture for the week is 1st Kings 12:1-16. This is the story of when Rehoboam pretty much loses the kingdom. I just think it goes to show that if we ignore the good advice for what we want to hear, we're going to find ourselves in trouble. Think of the old men as the General Authorities. They're telling us what we need to be happy. If we listen to them great; however, if we choose to listen to the world, or the young men, we will find ourselves in trouble later on. So... listen to those who know what's best and not for the popular vote.
Hope everything is going well with all of you. Keep going strong and enjoy the rest of summer.
Elder Wixom
So it seems really weird that I've been out a year already. Today actually technically marks the beginning of the 2nd half of my mission, which is an even weirder feeling. Weird also to think how much changes in a year, it'll be a completely new life when I get home so that's kind of cool I guess. All well, not very much time left to work so just got to keep trying to do my best.
We've been helping out with a lot of service this week. We helped some members pound in fence-poles for their electric fence. We've also been helping members move and get things organized. It's been lots of fun.
The work out here is continuing to go well. This week we taught a total of 13 lessons, 4 of which were lessons with a member present and 3 more investigator lessons. Elder Senior and I are trying to get as many members involved with the work as possible to keep them going and getting excited. We are getting quite a few refferals as well which is really helping out.
One of those referrals was a guy named Steve. He is in his early 30's and was in the army for ten years. He described himself as a left-brained, needs to make sense kind of guy. We answered some of his questions about the church and then talked about Joseph Smith and the Restoration. It went really well and we have another lesson scheduled for later this week which I'm excited about.
Last Tuesday we had our plan to work here in town; however, we got a call from a kind-of investigator during district meeting. He talked about how his life was falling apart and wanted us to stop by. Well... he lived clear out on the northern border of our area, but we went by and changed our plans. On our way back to town we got a call from the office with a media referral and it was on the way so we went and stopped by. It was for an 18-year old named Brian. He had just gone down to Salt Lake to learn some more about the church for knowledge sake and requested a visit. He claims to be an athiest and is learning to learn. It was a really cool visit and we'll probably go back in a week or two to check up on him.
We had another good lesson with Heather and Ray. A lot less anti and a lot more honest questions. Heather seems to be taking a greater interest than Ray is at the moment, but we are going to keep doing our best to keep answering their questions and talking about the church.
This week has also been crazy with disasters. Thursday there was a propane fire which also burned some junk cars down from Sherrie's house. While we were visiting with her on Friday there was another fire in the exact same spot which was interesting. There was also another fire on the other side of town. And on Friday we were visiting with a less-active family named the Rogers. After the lesson, we looked out the window and saw a 350+ pound sheep just wandering down the street. So we helped his owners round him up and get him home. By-the-way, sheep are very stubborn animals and don't move when they don't want to.
So the scripture for the week is 1st Kings 12:1-16. This is the story of when Rehoboam pretty much loses the kingdom. I just think it goes to show that if we ignore the good advice for what we want to hear, we're going to find ourselves in trouble. Think of the old men as the General Authorities. They're telling us what we need to be happy. If we listen to them great; however, if we choose to listen to the world, or the young men, we will find ourselves in trouble later on. So... listen to those who know what's best and not for the popular vote.
Hope everything is going well with all of you. Keep going strong and enjoy the rest of summer.
Elder Wixom
Monday, July 12, 2010
Stories from Stevi
July 12, 2010
So Stevensville is going pretty well so far. We are having a lot of good times and the work is really progressing. So where to start...
First of all, my new address is:
978 S. Sunset Bench Rd.
Stevensville, MT 59870
The house is pretty cool. We live with one of our ward mission leaders about five miles out of town, so lot of ranches and hay fields and animals and wide open spaces. Love it!!!
My new companion is Elder Senior. He is from Alpine, UT and has been out only one transfer before this one. Pretty exciting. He went to BYU for three years before coming out and is going to major in Business Finance. He is the third of four boys in his family and his dad is actually a professor at BYU.
So I will say, as much as I loved our investigators back in Great Falls, it has been nice to meet some new people. One of those is Deb. She originally lived in Corvallis (town south of us) and took the missionary lessons there. Then she moved up here and we are teaching her them again. Pretty exciting. She wants to be baptized and has come to church for the last month. She just has some issues with WoW we are helping her work through and then we'll see.
Two of our investigators are a couple named Heather and Ray. I'm not sure what church they go to, but their pastor used to be a member of the LDS church and so he has given them a lot of interesting views. This last week when we went by they had 14 pages of anti-material that we went over with them. They cool thing is that they really aren't antagonistic, just wanting to learn what we believe; even better, they are listening to us over their pastor for what our beliefs are, which is a nice change.
Another investigator we have is a lady named Sherrie. She lives out in the country a little and so has quite the zoo at her place: four dogs, three cats, three goats, a sheep, and a miniature horse. She loves animals and nature and volunteers at the bear dog shelter. She reminds me a lot of the lady who is over the Springdale Community Center (I feel bad cause I can't remember her name). Anyway Elder Senior and Elder Tanner tracted into her and started teaching her. So we taught her on Wednesday and then she explained how she had been conned into buying stain for her fence and promised labor and then the labor quit and she has health issues and just a bad situation; so she asked if we could help her. So Saturday we went over with some of the ward members and stained her fence. The first group had four guys and they did half the fence in about eight hours. With the six of us, we did the whole fence, including re-doing what had been done, and did it in about four and a half hours. Lots of fun. Only the back of my legs got really sunburned so I was grateful for that; I must have missed that part when putting on the sunscreen.
So last night at dinner we were talking about being prepared for the last days. So we watched the movie about the ten virgins. I really liked the scripture at the end so that'll be the one for the week. It is Matthew 25:1-13 and then D&C 45:56-57. Every little act that is good adds a drop of oil to our lamp. So keep doing the little and the big things so that when the end comes you are part of the wise group.
Keep up the good work and talk to you later.
Elder Wixom
So Stevensville is going pretty well so far. We are having a lot of good times and the work is really progressing. So where to start...
First of all, my new address is:
978 S. Sunset Bench Rd.
Stevensville, MT 59870
The house is pretty cool. We live with one of our ward mission leaders about five miles out of town, so lot of ranches and hay fields and animals and wide open spaces. Love it!!!
My new companion is Elder Senior. He is from Alpine, UT and has been out only one transfer before this one. Pretty exciting. He went to BYU for three years before coming out and is going to major in Business Finance. He is the third of four boys in his family and his dad is actually a professor at BYU.
So I will say, as much as I loved our investigators back in Great Falls, it has been nice to meet some new people. One of those is Deb. She originally lived in Corvallis (town south of us) and took the missionary lessons there. Then she moved up here and we are teaching her them again. Pretty exciting. She wants to be baptized and has come to church for the last month. She just has some issues with WoW we are helping her work through and then we'll see.
Two of our investigators are a couple named Heather and Ray. I'm not sure what church they go to, but their pastor used to be a member of the LDS church and so he has given them a lot of interesting views. This last week when we went by they had 14 pages of anti-material that we went over with them. They cool thing is that they really aren't antagonistic, just wanting to learn what we believe; even better, they are listening to us over their pastor for what our beliefs are, which is a nice change.
Another investigator we have is a lady named Sherrie. She lives out in the country a little and so has quite the zoo at her place: four dogs, three cats, three goats, a sheep, and a miniature horse. She loves animals and nature and volunteers at the bear dog shelter. She reminds me a lot of the lady who is over the Springdale Community Center (I feel bad cause I can't remember her name). Anyway Elder Senior and Elder Tanner tracted into her and started teaching her. So we taught her on Wednesday and then she explained how she had been conned into buying stain for her fence and promised labor and then the labor quit and she has health issues and just a bad situation; so she asked if we could help her. So Saturday we went over with some of the ward members and stained her fence. The first group had four guys and they did half the fence in about eight hours. With the six of us, we did the whole fence, including re-doing what had been done, and did it in about four and a half hours. Lots of fun. Only the back of my legs got really sunburned so I was grateful for that; I must have missed that part when putting on the sunscreen.
So last night at dinner we were talking about being prepared for the last days. So we watched the movie about the ten virgins. I really liked the scripture at the end so that'll be the one for the week. It is Matthew 25:1-13 and then D&C 45:56-57. Every little act that is good adds a drop of oil to our lamp. So keep doing the little and the big things so that when the end comes you are part of the wise group.
Keep up the good work and talk to you later.
Elder Wixom
Monday, July 5, 2010
Adieu, Sayonarra, Good-bye, and Farewell
July 5, 2010
Well 30 weeks later, and I am back on the transfer cycle. I'm heading out in about three hours to Stevensville, MT. In case you don't know, that is just south of Missoula. I've heard that is it really pretty there and that the people aren't quite as weird as they are in Missoula which is a good thing. It has been an adventure here in Great Falls and I've grown so much. It was really hard yesterday in church saying good-bye to everyone because I've just become so close with the members here. This is definately a place I'm coming back to. I don't have the address for my new place but I'll get that to you next week.
Our last week was another slower one, but still had good progress. Sis. G went a little over a week with not smoking, but then her life took a major turn for the worse and so she's back into it. Depressing because she wants to get baptized and it is just this one thing in the way. I guess a lesson of life, even if it is just a little thing, it can hold us back from what matters most.
We just keep losing investigators which kind of stinks. We're pretty sure Tabitha moved because it looked like people were cleaning her apartment when we drove by one day. We haven't tried to see but their cars are gone so that's a bummer.
Fourth of July was a blast here. Sat. we spent the night at the Lefebres with fireworks, snacks, and Apples to Apples. Last night we went to the Colwells for more fun and games. We made s'mores as well which were really tasty. Overall just a good weekend and a good way to celebrate my last, first holiday (also a weird thought).
So the patriotic scripture for the week is Alma 58:40. God has made us a free people so that we could progress the best. All he asks now is that we "stand fast in the liberty wherewith [He] has made [us] free." Do the things that we know are right and do them to the best of our ability. It is the little things that bring the greatest blessings.
Hope you had a fantastic 4th and that the summer is amazing so far. Stay strong and steadfast.
Elder Wixom
Well 30 weeks later, and I am back on the transfer cycle. I'm heading out in about three hours to Stevensville, MT. In case you don't know, that is just south of Missoula. I've heard that is it really pretty there and that the people aren't quite as weird as they are in Missoula which is a good thing. It has been an adventure here in Great Falls and I've grown so much. It was really hard yesterday in church saying good-bye to everyone because I've just become so close with the members here. This is definately a place I'm coming back to. I don't have the address for my new place but I'll get that to you next week.
Our last week was another slower one, but still had good progress. Sis. G went a little over a week with not smoking, but then her life took a major turn for the worse and so she's back into it. Depressing because she wants to get baptized and it is just this one thing in the way. I guess a lesson of life, even if it is just a little thing, it can hold us back from what matters most.
We just keep losing investigators which kind of stinks. We're pretty sure Tabitha moved because it looked like people were cleaning her apartment when we drove by one day. We haven't tried to see but their cars are gone so that's a bummer.
Fourth of July was a blast here. Sat. we spent the night at the Lefebres with fireworks, snacks, and Apples to Apples. Last night we went to the Colwells for more fun and games. We made s'mores as well which were really tasty. Overall just a good weekend and a good way to celebrate my last, first holiday (also a weird thought).
So the patriotic scripture for the week is Alma 58:40. God has made us a free people so that we could progress the best. All he asks now is that we "stand fast in the liberty wherewith [He] has made [us] free." Do the things that we know are right and do them to the best of our ability. It is the little things that bring the greatest blessings.
Hope you had a fantastic 4th and that the summer is amazing so far. Stay strong and steadfast.
Elder Wixom
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