How has your week been? Did you get to see much of Conference?
How are things on your end? Things are great here in Paper Mill. We attended all of the sessions of conference, and had a couple investigators commit to watch the conference sessions as well. One investigator was going to go to the priesthood session with us, but when the member went to pick him up, he didn't come to the door. We had even called him about thirty minutes before the member left and he was still solid to go, so we're left wondering why he wasn't able. And we still haven't heard from him. But such is missionary work. But, we don't give up THAT easily ;)
We're excited to have two baptismal dates. One of them, Gloria, we committed right at the first lesson, and she accepted excitedly. We hadn't heard from her for about a week afterwards, and we had assumed the worst--that the adversary had somehow scared her away, but we recieved a call from her yesterday. She was just as excited as ever to be baptized, and had been very busy. We're so excited to work with her. I feel really really good about her baptism--a feeling not uncommon to me after meeting an Elect.
Conference was fantastic. Slightly difficult on investigators (but only because it's slightly more difficult to get them to go, not for lack of the spirit). But extremely edifying! I loved Elder Patrick Kearon's talk (Priesthood Session, so I haven't seen it but Bryon liked it as well and had already told me a bit about it), mostly because I've never heard an entire talk dedicated to the problem which is justification. I feel that I particularly suffer from this--his comments provided a wonderful perspective and spirit, and I feel I'm more able to better follow the commandments as a result. I love conference.
In short, things are going VERY well. I love being in the mission field! It's such a joy.
We're excited to have two baptismal dates. One of them, Gloria, we committed right at the first lesson, and she accepted excitedly. We hadn't heard from her for about a week afterwards, and we had assumed the worst--that the adversary had somehow scared her away, but we recieved a call from her yesterday. She was just as excited as ever to be baptized, and had been very busy. We're so excited to work with her. I feel really really good about her baptism--a feeling not uncommon to me after meeting an Elect.
Conference was fantastic. Slightly difficult on investigators (but only because it's slightly more difficult to get them to go, not for lack of the spirit). But extremely edifying! I loved Elder Patrick Kearon's talk (Priesthood Session, so I haven't seen it but Bryon liked it as well and had already told me a bit about it), mostly because I've never heard an entire talk dedicated to the problem which is justification. I feel that I particularly suffer from this--his comments provided a wonderful perspective and spirit, and I feel I'm more able to better follow the commandments as a result. I love conference.
In short, things are going VERY well. I love being in the mission field! It's such a joy.
Did you get our snail mail? Which day did it arrive? (we sent it on Tuesday).
I haven't gotten a letter from you guys yet. I got one from Katie. So... did you get the address right? It's:
Elder Trenton McGregor
1150 Cole Drive SW
Lilburn, Georgia 30047
It goes to the office and then they forward it to our apartments. So it shouldn't take that long. I would say 3-4 days to get here from Sac, and then 1 day to be forwarded. Oh well.
Did you get a bike? Tell us about it, and if not, how are you getting around, since it sounds like you must be in a biking area?
It's a biking area, but we only have 2 bikes between 6 missionaries.
Yeah, we only have 2 bikes between 6 missionaries. I still need to know what you guys think--should I buy a used bike? From what I hear, the used bikes aren't the greatest, and the two bikes we have are pretty awful, I'm not going to lie. I'd prefer to have a new bike if you guys think it a good idea.
Have you had the opportunity to speak/teach in Portuguese yet? Have you done much teaching?
Ok, so I'm one of the English Elders. I don't speak Portuguese. We run into Brazilians every once in a while and I'll pass their info to the Portuguese elders. So no, I don't teach in Portuguese. Yet. But it's fairly certain that I will be eventually, because President King pretty consistently asks the Portuguese Elders how good my Portuguese is. So yeah.
How is it that the two visa waiters speak Portuguese? They are going to Brazil? (Sis King said Bolivia.) And if they are waiting to go down, how do they already speak Portuguese? They aren’t going to the Sao Paulo CTM?
We have Bolivian visa waiters, but we also have Brazilian visa waiters. Elder Graff and Elder Rawlings are both Brazilian Visa waiters. So they speak the Portuguese they learned in the MTC. In Provo. So no, they already did their time in the MTC and will not go to the CTM.
Sieverts and Mundt - they are serving their whole mission in the Portuguese-speaking area? Does it seem like you would do the same when one of them heads home?
Elder Sieverts was originally an English speaking Elder, but President King put him in this area with the charge to learn portuguese. And he did. He speaks very well. Elder Mundt was a Spanish speaking Elder, and President King did the same thing with him. So they're permenantly here. Very exciting.
And w/E Mundt you did a lot of knocking, but not so much with E Blum -- how do you and E Blum get your contacts?
Elder Blum and I try to avoid tracting if at all possible. We do a lot of appointments and street contacts to stay busy. But sometimes we're not so lucky...
How is Marcus doing, the one you found tracting that was excited to read the BoM?
Marcus is going to be in Detroit for about a month, so we're going to keep in contact with him over the phone. We're super excited about Marcus. He's really great.
Well, that'll just about do it! I love you all and hope things are going well at home! Have a fantastic week, and I'll hear from you next Monday!
Much love!
Elder McGregor
ps
What do you think about the bikes?
Dad says "if you get it used, it's better since you won't be bringing the bike home. But if there's nothing that fits that's reasonable, just get a new one. Be sure to get a good lock." and here's what I'd put in my letter; " If you get a new bike it may be more likely to be stolen and will also lose value more quickly than a used. That’s weird that you can’t see the bikes in the mission office before you buy. When we were talking to Bro Anderson it seemed he expected you’d be IN the mission office the day you arrived. It was probably closed by the time you got there, though. Anyway, we expect you won’t spend more that $500 if you buy a new one-- keep us posted."
Alrighty. thanks for the advice. Love you guys!
(He got his flight plans on Thursday and his flight left Monday @ 6:20AM. It wasn't until we were checking him in online and picking his seats that we noticed he was assigned to First Class. The only thing we could figure was that by the time his tickets were purchased just a few days earlier that was all that was left. Goodness!The Carol Burnett sketch is just too funny - Harvey Korman is in First class and just a seat behind him sits Tim Conway in Coach. Carol is the flight attendant. lol. Watch it here
ps
Did you relly get to fly First Class, and how was your flight?
yep, it was really nice. almost like the carol burnett sketch ;)
(He got his flight plans on Thursday and his flight left Monday @ 6:20AM. It wasn't until we were checking him in online and picking his seats that we noticed he was assigned to First Class. The only thing we could figure was that by the time his tickets were purchased just a few days earlier that was all that was left. Goodness!
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