So this week was really nice. We have been having a good time and are getting quite a bit of work accomplished. Weather report first of all; today is the first day that it has been above 60 in four days. We also think the mountains got their first snow of the year yesterday. It has been raining and cold and wet most of the week.
We had a really powerful lesson with the Huckins this past week. The Spirit was really strong and they asked us to help them learn more about the church and the scriptures. We were pretty grateful for that.
On Wednesday we had a really neat experience. There is a group of Europeans out here that have been adopted by a Native tribe down in Florida. They are all spiritual healers and are really nice. Well one of the members of the Bigfork ward set up a time that we could go give a presentation to the group of them. There were six that listened to the whole thing and others that came in and out. One lady named Gemma, from Netherlands by-the-way, was really interested and had a few really good questions.
Probably the biggest highlight of the week is the Murray family. They are a family that missionaries tracted into a few months ago and have been working with. They love the missionaries, love the church, and want to be baptized!!!! This week we set a baptism date with the whole family for Sept. 18th. They have all made big changes and are completely prepared by the Lord. He has been blessing us greatly and taking good care of us.
This upcoming week is pretty exciting. We have an outdoor Zone Conference tomorrow, team-ups with the Assistants on Wednesday, team-ups with the Kalispell elders on Friday, and team-ups with the Whitefish elders on Saturday. I'm excited because I get to go to the Kalispell and Whitefish areas with the junior companion while Elder King works with the senior companion in our area. Get to enjoy more of the beauty of this area.
Yesterday Elder King and I were asked to teach Sunday School in the singles branch and the topic was missionary work. The scripture for the week is the whole book of Jonah. Jonah is a powerful story of accepting the callings of the Lord and magnifying our callings. It is also a lesson on repentance, forgiveness, and love. And of course, musical numbers with vegetables :)
Hope everything is going well and enjoy the weather because winter is fast approaching.
Elder Wixom
Monday, August 30, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
Start of area number five
Well this week was quite an adventure. First of all, here is a little background on our area. We cover the Bigfork ward and the Lakeside and single adult branches. If you take the Flathead Lake, we cover the northern half of it. Pretty much it is a very big and very beautiful area. Only problem is is that because it is so big it splits our focus. We go from Wednesday to Tuesday in one area, and then switch off every week. Kind of makes it difficult scheduling and having things to do but it is worth it. My new address is:
691 McCaffery Rd.
Bigfork, MT 59911
So there you have it. Depending on if we stop by at the house during our Lakeside week or not, mail may not get to me until the next week so if you send something and I don't respond right away, sorry about that.
According to Elder King, this week was a bit of a slower one work wise, but there are a few things that we are contributing that to. First of all, we didn't get our car until Friday. It was in the shop for two weeks and that made working a little bit harder; especially because we live seven miles out of town on highway with no bike lanes. There were also a lot of people who were out of town for the last week of summer and had to cancel lessons or just couldn't meet with us this week.
We did have quite a bit of success though. First of all there is a part-member family named the Huckins. She was raised in the church but has not been the most active and he is not a member. We got to know him better and his background and past experiences with missionaries. And we did this while vacuum packaging green beans.
One of our more progressing investigators is Sharon Snell. She has been meeting with missionaries for a while and her daughter is a member here in the ward. She has been reading the Book of Mormon and feels that it is true and so we will continue to work with her in helping her come to church more often.
Another neat lesson we had is with a lady named Sherrie and her two daughters, Kaylee and Tiegan. They have extended family that are members of the church and Sherrie wants her daughters to know more about the church and what their cousins believe. We had a nice, simple lesson where we introduced the Restoration and we will talk about it more when we meet with them again.
We pretty much live on a mini-farm and the member we live with threw his back out a few weeks ago, so we have been doing a lot of service around the house. So far I have dug and de-sprouted potatoes and butchered chickens. It has been lots of fun and lots of fresh veggies.
We were asked to speak in sacrament meeting this past week and I had the opportunity to speak on missionary work. So the scripture for the week is one that I shared in my talk. It is D&C 84:62, 76. This is the Lord's command for us to share the gospel with those around us. This life is all about seeing if we will keep all of God's commandments, so sharing the gospel is a requirement for us to have everlasting joy.
Hope everything is going well. Keep up the good work and talk to you soon.
Elder Wixom
p.s. Attached is a picture from my first morning here in the Flathead valley. Jealous? I thought you might be :)
691 McCaffery Rd.
Bigfork, MT 59911
So there you have it. Depending on if we stop by at the house during our Lakeside week or not, mail may not get to me until the next week so if you send something and I don't respond right away, sorry about that.
According to Elder King, this week was a bit of a slower one work wise, but there are a few things that we are contributing that to. First of all, we didn't get our car until Friday. It was in the shop for two weeks and that made working a little bit harder; especially because we live seven miles out of town on highway with no bike lanes. There were also a lot of people who were out of town for the last week of summer and had to cancel lessons or just couldn't meet with us this week.
We did have quite a bit of success though. First of all there is a part-member family named the Huckins. She was raised in the church but has not been the most active and he is not a member. We got to know him better and his background and past experiences with missionaries. And we did this while vacuum packaging green beans.
One of our more progressing investigators is Sharon Snell. She has been meeting with missionaries for a while and her daughter is a member here in the ward. She has been reading the Book of Mormon and feels that it is true and so we will continue to work with her in helping her come to church more often.
Another neat lesson we had is with a lady named Sherrie and her two daughters, Kaylee and Tiegan. They have extended family that are members of the church and Sherrie wants her daughters to know more about the church and what their cousins believe. We had a nice, simple lesson where we introduced the Restoration and we will talk about it more when we meet with them again.
We pretty much live on a mini-farm and the member we live with threw his back out a few weeks ago, so we have been doing a lot of service around the house. So far I have dug and de-sprouted potatoes and butchered chickens. It has been lots of fun and lots of fresh veggies.
We were asked to speak in sacrament meeting this past week and I had the opportunity to speak on missionary work. So the scripture for the week is one that I shared in my talk. It is D&C 84:62, 76. This is the Lord's command for us to share the gospel with those around us. This life is all about seeing if we will keep all of God's commandments, so sharing the gospel is a requirement for us to have everlasting joy.
Hope everything is going well. Keep up the good work and talk to you soon.
Elder Wixom
p.s. Attached is a picture from my first morning here in the Flathead valley. Jealous? I thought you might be :)
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Warm welcome from Kalispell
So in case you didn't catch it, I got transferred. We left at about eight this morning and I am now e-mailing. I am going to be serving in the Big Fork and Lakeside wards. I was also asked to serve as a Zone Leader, so that will make this fairly interesting. My new companion is..................................................Elder King!!!! That's right, the same Elder King from Worland, WY. It is going to be so exciting. Unfortunately he isn't here yet, he went to drop his old companion off, but he'll be back tonight.
My last week in Stevensville was pretty quiet. Not a whole lot of exciting things happened. One really big event is that we went country tracting south of Victor. Walked for four and a half hours, and no potential investigators. It was pretty cool.
Sorry for the short email. We are kind of in a rush and so I'll write more next week when I have more time. And since time is so short, the scripture for the week is John 11:35. If I got the reference right (my scripture are packed) is says "Jesus wept". Short but powerful. I think it shows that God cares for us and will weep for us when we have a hard time and rejoice when it is going well.
Have a good week and I'll write more next week.
Elder Wixom
My last week in Stevensville was pretty quiet. Not a whole lot of exciting things happened. One really big event is that we went country tracting south of Victor. Walked for four and a half hours, and no potential investigators. It was pretty cool.
Sorry for the short email. We are kind of in a rush and so I'll write more next week when I have more time. And since time is so short, the scripture for the week is John 11:35. If I got the reference right (my scripture are packed) is says "Jesus wept". Short but powerful. I think it shows that God cares for us and will weep for us when we have a hard time and rejoice when it is going well.
Have a good week and I'll write more next week.
Elder Wixom
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
A little bitter in the Bitterroot, but still going strong.
So this week was a little bit of a slower one, we only taught nine lessons. Part of that was we had four or five set lessons cancel on us, so that was pretty depressing especially since they were ones we were looking forward to. But we had good lessons with the ones we did which is nice.
We visited with a part-member family named the Ls. All of our plans had fallen through a couple of weeks ago and so we were going through the area book to see if we could find any formers or potentials in the area since we had driven out there and wanted to make the best use of our miles. And so we found them. He was raised in the church but never really developed a testimony and fell away. They are a really nice couple and enjoy having missionaries over for visits. So we will keep working with them and see what we can do.
This week we started Br. R on the stop smoking plan. He is ready to go and has the desire to quit which is the most important part so hopefully it all goes well.
On a sadder note, we called S to try and set up a time to visit this week and he dropped us. He said he has a lot of questions but just wants to read and think it through on his own for the time being. Hopefully the Spirit works with him and he has the desire to learn more about the church and then ask the questions he has.
This weekend was Creamery Picnic Days here in Stevensville. It is a lot like Peach Days, only when the town of 1,000 people approaches 5,000 you know it is a big event. There are some members that live on the road that leads to the park so they let us set up a booth to talk to people. It did not go as well as we had hoped; however, it was worth it. A man approached us and started talking to us with his two kids. We had had members from all over the valley talk to us and so I figured he was a member in another ward and when he gave his kids an Article of Faith pass-along card I was pretty sure. Then he told us that he had been a member his whole life but has not been active for some time. Better part, he lives in Stevensville!!! Downside, we know the road, just not which house is his. Motivation to go tracting, especially since he expressed a desire to start coming back.
The scripture for the week is 1st Corinthians 10:13. Elder Senior shared this scripture when we were working with Br. Rogers this last week and I had almost forgotten about it. I think it is a good reminder that God does not give us anything we can not handle and no temptation we can not resist. Our trials are for our good and that is what matters most.
We get transfer calls this week so it will be interesting to see what happens. Hope everyone is looking forward to school starting and have an awesome year.
Elder Wixom
We visited with a part-member family named the Ls. All of our plans had fallen through a couple of weeks ago and so we were going through the area book to see if we could find any formers or potentials in the area since we had driven out there and wanted to make the best use of our miles. And so we found them. He was raised in the church but never really developed a testimony and fell away. They are a really nice couple and enjoy having missionaries over for visits. So we will keep working with them and see what we can do.
This week we started Br. R on the stop smoking plan. He is ready to go and has the desire to quit which is the most important part so hopefully it all goes well.
On a sadder note, we called S to try and set up a time to visit this week and he dropped us. He said he has a lot of questions but just wants to read and think it through on his own for the time being. Hopefully the Spirit works with him and he has the desire to learn more about the church and then ask the questions he has.
This weekend was Creamery Picnic Days here in Stevensville. It is a lot like Peach Days, only when the town of 1,000 people approaches 5,000 you know it is a big event. There are some members that live on the road that leads to the park so they let us set up a booth to talk to people. It did not go as well as we had hoped; however, it was worth it. A man approached us and started talking to us with his two kids. We had had members from all over the valley talk to us and so I figured he was a member in another ward and when he gave his kids an Article of Faith pass-along card I was pretty sure. Then he told us that he had been a member his whole life but has not been active for some time. Better part, he lives in Stevensville!!! Downside, we know the road, just not which house is his. Motivation to go tracting, especially since he expressed a desire to start coming back.
The scripture for the week is 1st Corinthians 10:13. Elder Senior shared this scripture when we were working with Br. Rogers this last week and I had almost forgotten about it. I think it is a good reminder that God does not give us anything we can not handle and no temptation we can not resist. Our trials are for our good and that is what matters most.
We get transfer calls this week so it will be interesting to see what happens. Hope everyone is looking forward to school starting and have an awesome year.
Elder Wixom
Monday, August 2, 2010
AMAZING!!!
So this week was pretty good in the long-run. We had a lot of success but a lot of problems start creeping up as well. We'll see what happens.
First of all, Sherrie. Things have been a roller-coaster for her. I don't remember if I said this, but she is recovering from neck surgery. Well this last week was really bad for her; a lot of pain and fear. We had a really powerful lesson about service and she retained a lot of it. Problem however, due to the economy and not having been at work since March, she is renting out her basement to a friend of a friend. Problem #1, he's a guy which means she can't get baptized as long as he is there. Problem #2, we found out he attends the Assembly of God church here in town that doesn't like us, so we're a little worried about him anti-ing her. But she likes us and has a good view of us so maybe she'll work on him.
We had another fun lesson with Gwen & Zack. Gospel of Jesus Christ and they understood and were able to teach it back. That is always a good thing.
This week we also had a 20-hour Zone Conference. Went from 9-9 on Thursday and 9-5 of Friday. Lots of craziness. Salt Lake has now changed the focus of missionary work from What to teach, What to do to now on "How to be a better teacher". They put out eight main points and we spent about two hours focused on each point. Lots of role-playing and lots of discussions. It was a really neat experience to be a part of. I told Elder Senior I'm a little jealous of him because he gets to work on this for pretty his full two years. We were told they aren't really starting to push this in the MTC until May. All well.
Friday night when we got back to town we had another lesson with Steve. Elder Senior and I wanted to apply the things that we had just been taught. Ending result... probably one of the most powerful lessons I've been a part of on my mission. We focused primarily on listening and I really think we taught him, and not just another lesson. I felt the Spirit and I hope that Steve did and recognizes it. A very neat experience overall.
The scripture for the week is Moroni 6:4-6. This is Moroni explaining how the Nephite church worked and lists the reasons for church. Here in Montana we get a lot of, "My church is in the mountains" or "I don't need to go to church to worship God". I personally like church because it gives a chance to learn and grow from one another. And you can only take the sacrament at church so that is a very good reason to go; be cleansed from sins and start over. Plus, after eight hours of church every week, it becomes a spiritual high.
Hope everyone enjoys the last of summer, autumn is just around the corner. Good luck with everything and have fun.
Elder Wixom
First of all, Sherrie. Things have been a roller-coaster for her. I don't remember if I said this, but she is recovering from neck surgery. Well this last week was really bad for her; a lot of pain and fear. We had a really powerful lesson about service and she retained a lot of it. Problem however, due to the economy and not having been at work since March, she is renting out her basement to a friend of a friend. Problem #1, he's a guy which means she can't get baptized as long as he is there. Problem #2, we found out he attends the Assembly of God church here in town that doesn't like us, so we're a little worried about him anti-ing her. But she likes us and has a good view of us so maybe she'll work on him.
We had another fun lesson with Gwen & Zack. Gospel of Jesus Christ and they understood and were able to teach it back. That is always a good thing.
This week we also had a 20-hour Zone Conference. Went from 9-9 on Thursday and 9-5 of Friday. Lots of craziness. Salt Lake has now changed the focus of missionary work from What to teach, What to do to now on "How to be a better teacher". They put out eight main points and we spent about two hours focused on each point. Lots of role-playing and lots of discussions. It was a really neat experience to be a part of. I told Elder Senior I'm a little jealous of him because he gets to work on this for pretty his full two years. We were told they aren't really starting to push this in the MTC until May. All well.
Friday night when we got back to town we had another lesson with Steve. Elder Senior and I wanted to apply the things that we had just been taught. Ending result... probably one of the most powerful lessons I've been a part of on my mission. We focused primarily on listening and I really think we taught him, and not just another lesson. I felt the Spirit and I hope that Steve did and recognizes it. A very neat experience overall.
The scripture for the week is Moroni 6:4-6. This is Moroni explaining how the Nephite church worked and lists the reasons for church. Here in Montana we get a lot of, "My church is in the mountains" or "I don't need to go to church to worship God". I personally like church because it gives a chance to learn and grow from one another. And you can only take the sacrament at church so that is a very good reason to go; be cleansed from sins and start over. Plus, after eight hours of church every week, it becomes a spiritual high.
Hope everyone enjoys the last of summer, autumn is just around the corner. Good luck with everything and have fun.
Elder Wixom
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