Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving
Week 59 Dec 2nd 2019
  Happy Holidays, it's now December! Time to get ready for Christmas! Monday was a pretty bland day, we did the usual stuff and after a little bit we went to the Chapel so we could use the wifi. We were able to call home and talk to family and friends. We also played some B-ball. It was pretty fun. We then came home for dinner and then we were off for the night. First thing we did was go visit Noel and Laura, a couple people we are teaching. When we got there it turns out they were up in Boston. While on the phone talking to Noel, he thought I was his son, because I must have sounded just like him. After we hung up we picked up our laundry from a members home that does it for us. We then came home to fold it all and we had forgotten our White Shirts so we went back to pick them up. We also went to CVS for a couple of items then came home. For the night, I listened to an awesome Member missionary fireside talk and it was truly amazing. Tears came to my eyes and it made me ponder and think on how I can be a more effective missionary and help members share the Gospel!
     Tuesday after we got up and ready, we had a short study session then made our way to "Salvation Army" we help out with service there with organizing food and unloading it from the truck when it comes in. After we finished, we were able to have some lunch they made. For the last hour we helped take people who came in around and pack up what they needed. When we finished, we made our way to the Navy Pass Office so I could get my pass to get on the Navy Base. (We have FHE there on most Friday nights). We then came home and changed for the rest of the day. After we changed we had a little more studies left to do. We then went to the Library to print out a few things for #LighttheWorld . Later we went to the Church and copied 50 sheets of the daily #LighttheWorld calendar. The last thing we did for the night was stop by a less active members home and we shared a message of "Lehi’s Vision" it went really well! We had one last lesson with a less active member and we focused it all on prayer.  It was pretty awesome to see his faith grow!
     Wednesday morning I got up and got ready for the day. While I waited for our studies to start I listened to the talk "Bill Carpenter's Conversion Story", and oh boy is that powerful. I invite you all to go look it up and listen to it for yourself! We were going to go to the Library after studies but as we left the apt I unfortunately forgot the keys inside. We had to wait at the leasing office until someone got back to help open up our door. When we got our keys it was time to go to our lesson with James and it went really well. He said he has prayed and he knows that the Book of Mormon is true! After his lesson we went to the library and I officially got a library card! It will be so much easier to use the computers now. While we were there we looked through the Facebook Finding guidelines and oh boy is there a lot! That's okay though it's there to keep us safe. We ended up going to Wendy's for dinner and then went to the Chapel to see what we could do for a “Light the World” set up. Later on Tionna came and we had a great lesson with her.  We watched the Time Italy Temple walkthrough to help prepare her to enter into the Temple then serve her mission!!! To end the night we had a lesson with Brother Motrrom a less active member. We watched a Book of Mormon video with him and invited him to start to pray daily, it went really well!
     Thursday, Happy Thanksgiving! Today was honestly such a fun day. We left to the Chapel after a little but of studies and we had a training.  Us and 14 other Companionships were in this. We are going to be doing "Facebook finding". It’s a way we can use Facebook to better reach out and find people to teach. It starts soon and all of us will be testing it out to see if we should train everyone to do it.  We had time to call family and talk to them. Shortly after members came to the Church and had a potluck dinner, there were about 30 of us and it was a lot of fun! I was able to call home again and talk to my extended family to see how all of them were doing as well! Later we played some card games with some of the members. We then left to visit Noel and Laura for our second dinner... we were already pretty full. We hung out with them and enjoyed their company of friendship. We then had the Narragansett Elders come over- Elder Burrows and Elder Stokes. Last transfer Elder Stokes was here in Newport so Noel invited them over. We had a really good time. To end the night we shared a message on Trusting in the Lord and it was pretty awesome! All four of us then came back to the apt and got ready for the night.
     Friday morning after we woke up the Elders went home so they could get ready. About an hour later we went up to see them and head to District Council. We had a good lesson on following the spirit to help discern the needs of our friends. We had some Sparkling Apple Cider and talked about what we will do for District P-day. We are all excited for this upcoming Monday! On the way home we stopped by Wendy's for some lunch then officially made it back to the apt. We changed out of our Suits then went to the Library to get ready and set up our Facebook Pages for Facebook finding starting next week. That took a while. When we got home we relaxed and then had Dinner. For the rest of the nIght, we did stop byes to see less active members . We didn’t have much success in that but we did have the opportunity to do some service.  We saw some people moving so we helped out. We brought some boxes and furniture in and turns out that one of them is a less active member! I handed out a couple Book of Mormon cards and invited them all to the 22nd for the Special Christmas Service! It was a great way to end the night!
     Saturday while in studies today I finished up the Book of Alma, and the awesome story of the 2,000 Stripling Warriors. It amazes me to see the Faith they all had, that in the midst of war none of them died. Sure they may have been injured but no deaths from the faithful servants of God! After lunch we went to the Library to finish up and getting ready for Facebook finding. We then went out to the Chapel and set up one of the bulletin Boards to be #LighttheWorld. It was pretty awesome. While we were setting up we listened to a few really good talks by John Bytheway, definitely a great speaker! After dinner we made a few stop byes in Newport area and didn’t get any luck. To end the night we had a lesson with Lloyd a recent convert and we watched one of the Book of Mormon Videos.
     Sunday was a pretty good day. It was Fast and Testimony meeting, and once again I bore my testimony. There were so many awesome Testimonies given especially by Primary Kids! They were all on prayer, and I can definitely say I truly felt the Spirit. We had a Friend there at Church, who brought his friend and it was her first time, her name is Zoey. While in Sacrament there was a boy who bore his testimony that made Zoey feel the spirit and she was truly moved. Second hour was Sunday School and our lesson was given by Brother Robert  Wood, he is a retired area 70 from the Church. He gave a pretty awesome lesson from the Epistle of James along with 1st and 2nd Peter.  After Church we came home and had our studies along with weekly planning. After we finished up with that, we had dinner because we were both pretty hungry from our fasting. To end the night we did a few stop byes but not any luck. It was snowing pretty bad and we were in the area so we made our way to see Noel and Laura. We pulled up at the same time they did, and it couldn't have been any better. We were there for the rest of the night. We helped build our friendship with them. While we were there Noel said if we didn’t come over on Thanksgiving it wouldn't have been the same, we are like family to them and he was beyond grateful that we made it there. When we were getting ready to leave we talked about the power of prayer and invited them both to read Alma 34. It was an awesome night!

                          Alma 36:3
    "3 And now, O my son Helaman, behold, thou art in thy youth, and therefore, I beseech of thee that thou wilt hear my words and learn of me; for I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day."

     Where it says "son Helaman" change that to (Daughter if applicable) your own name. And read it as if our Heavenly Father is talking to you personally.  I have done this many times throughout my mission as I have had hard times and it has given me so much peace to Know that I have a Savior who has sacrificed himself to be able to give us comfort in the trails of our lives. Christ truly does know how each and everyone of us feel, he didn’t just atone for our sins, but for our pains and afflictions of every kind. That is the greatest gift I have ever received and that is what I am grateful for! I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.