I'm tired! I haven't been able to fall asleep very well for the past three days. Overall, though, I'm doing well. It turns out that the mission will be closing our apartment, and moving us into the other one they have been keeping on hold for a while, which means that this area won't be having any sister missionaries for a while. We'll be making the move ASAP, because the other apartment is so much better than ours. I feel that I've been doing well as a district leader thus far. For sure this transfer is going to be a learning process as I learn the ropes, but it feels really good to have more to think about. I know how funny that sounds, but that's just the way I am. Zone leader may be too much, but my calling keeps me pretty darn occupied. A large part of my daily studies are now devoted to lifting my district members, and I have to plan things like exchanges and District Meetings and Correlation. I have found that looking far far ahead (like, until the end of the transfer) has helped me to stay on top of things. I just want to be a District Leader who changes the lives of everyone in my district for the better, who helps lift them to a higher level of performance and thinking. It's just hard to do that- in fact the only way to do that is through prayer, revelation, and the gift of discernment.
We went on a massive Area Book cleanup this week. We borrowed the car and went through our whole area, and looked up a ton of people. It was a pretty slow grind, but we were able to drop a couple of people whose addresses don't even exist, and set up a couple lessons. We also had our first productive Branch Counsel in a while. There's room for improvement, but it's the most involved I've seen most of these people in missionary work, and it was rewarding to see all of these people take such an interest in what we are doing. I love this branch, and it is so rewarding to see the people here progress and grow.
As far as investigators and less actives go, we're still teaching Vicente, that elderly gentleman. He's progressing very well- he just needs to come to church. If it comes down to it, we'll just knock on his door at 8:30 on Sunday morning. He gets up at 6 every day, so it shouldn't bother him. It's so funny how he's the one to ask us about having another lesson, and how excited he is about learning. He's a blessing in my life. We haven't been able to get a hold of William until Saturday, because his phone was out of commission. We have a lesson set up with him on Friday, though. We are also teaching a young single mother with a month and a half old baby girl, but we feel that her progress will be slow. Her name is Janelle. More on her to come. We are also teaching a kid our age who comes from a pretty rough background (I can't elaborate more), nothing of his own making, but he really wants to shape up so that he can serve a mission. His name is Walter, and he's a really good friend of mine. We also teach Sam, someone who lives in our area, kinda-sorta. She's away at college, but we get to Facetime her and her boyfriend and teach them together, because the missionaries in her area aren't allowed to go on campus, and neither of them own a car. She's a member, but he isn't. She's super hilarious, and we had a really good lesson with them this week. She asked what she needed to do to be worthy to enter the temple, and we went over the things with her, and it seems to us like there really isn't much holding her back. We're praying for a happy ending to that story.
Love,
Elder Richard Brandt Hull
We went on a massive Area Book cleanup this week. We borrowed the car and went through our whole area, and looked up a ton of people. It was a pretty slow grind, but we were able to drop a couple of people whose addresses don't even exist, and set up a couple lessons. We also had our first productive Branch Counsel in a while. There's room for improvement, but it's the most involved I've seen most of these people in missionary work, and it was rewarding to see all of these people take such an interest in what we are doing. I love this branch, and it is so rewarding to see the people here progress and grow.
As far as investigators and less actives go, we're still teaching Vicente, that elderly gentleman. He's progressing very well- he just needs to come to church. If it comes down to it, we'll just knock on his door at 8:30 on Sunday morning. He gets up at 6 every day, so it shouldn't bother him. It's so funny how he's the one to ask us about having another lesson, and how excited he is about learning. He's a blessing in my life. We haven't been able to get a hold of William until Saturday, because his phone was out of commission. We have a lesson set up with him on Friday, though. We are also teaching a young single mother with a month and a half old baby girl, but we feel that her progress will be slow. Her name is Janelle. More on her to come. We are also teaching a kid our age who comes from a pretty rough background (I can't elaborate more), nothing of his own making, but he really wants to shape up so that he can serve a mission. His name is Walter, and he's a really good friend of mine. We also teach Sam, someone who lives in our area, kinda-sorta. She's away at college, but we get to Facetime her and her boyfriend and teach them together, because the missionaries in her area aren't allowed to go on campus, and neither of them own a car. She's a member, but he isn't. She's super hilarious, and we had a really good lesson with them this week. She asked what she needed to do to be worthy to enter the temple, and we went over the things with her, and it seems to us like there really isn't much holding her back. We're praying for a happy ending to that story.
Love,
Elder Richard Brandt Hull