We head east, to that sunny-D light

I'm leaving Buffalo and heading to Palmyra. This area has changed a ton since I got here and it is so cool to see the work progress. Here are a few highlights.

- I flushed into east buffalo

- we switched to area book 2.0

- we merged our area with Kenmore and flushed that apartment

- we got Facebook

- we had Angels baptism

It was a great time. I'm looking forward to Palmyra.

We had a zone meeting this week that was about technology and the use thereof. It ended up mostly being about President Nelson and his past four talks which have all been about how we gain power in our lives to help others and ourselves. We got preach my gospel chapter 3, a hymn book thing, the proclamation, and the living christ all in Swahili for Anaclet.

This week we had exchanges with Downtown and I got to be companions with Elder Winward. He is a awesome kid and we had a good time but we got wrecked all day that day. We didn't find a single person. Some member we stopped by made us hot chocolate though. We missed our bus home and had to walk there haha.

We had Angels confirmation the Sunday and the sacrament talk was just one guy who talked for 45 mins and it was one of the best talked I've heard here in New York. 

Anaclet didn't make it to church so we weren't able to give him the Swahili stuff.

It's all about the little things

Email in response to me telling him about the fun "friend party" I had after an awful birthday:

Erik: I'm glad you had a good week. It's funny how we always want more then what we have but we haven't even perfected what we do have whether that be a house or a car or knowledge. As we strive to perfect what we do have by keeping everything in order and learning all the facets and perspectives of what we have, then we ultimately gain more.

Thanks for all the things that you provided for me to explore and learn and sorry for not caring for all of it the best I could 

Me:Thanks, Gandalf/Dumbledore.  When did you become so wise? 

Palmyra!  How fun!  I hope you stay there for a few transfers so you can be by the grove in the spring. 

Love you!

Erik: Proverbs 9:9-10

9 Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.

10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

I have nothing but scriptures and Jesus the Christ to read.

Fairweather

This week went well. It warmed up for the weekend and it's going to drop tomorrow I believe.

Angel May was able to be baptized yesterday after church and she will be confirmed next Sunday. She was so prepared and now she is so happy for this change in her life. 

Anaclet is doing awesome. We will be setting a goal for his baptism sometime in February next time we meet with him. There is a girl that was recently baptized in the YSA ward that speaks Swahili. Her name is Sabina and I had actually met her. She helped us teach Anaclet and resolve some concerns he had. She translated the baptismal questions for us as well. Anaclet could stay after church to watch the baptism sadly but he is always excited for Sunday's and Wednesdays when he gets to be with the young men. 

His name is spelled "Anaclet" we found out.

We have now been authorized to use Facebook and not only that they are making me use it.... I am forced to be on Facebook for 30 minutes a day. It is a wonderful tool and I know that the Lord prepared the New York Rochester Mission for this tool. Right when we got it was when we found out we needed Facebook messenger to have Sabina video chat into a lesson. And we can now message Anaclet.

I hope everyone has a great week.

Path of the Just

This week we had some fairweather. It was over 40 degrees for two days. But it went from 50 degrees into the morning on Friday, to about 10-15 by 8 o clock.

This week I got to go on an exchange with Elder Bouck from Texas. We got to teach a family the restoration our first evening. The next day we were knocking on a street and getting nothing but rejection so we left. Right as we left that street we ran into a girl that we contacted and invited to be baptized and she accepted and we set up a time to go back and teach her more. 

We got anti-ed by a man that in the beginning he was talking about the native Americans knowing Hebrew and having the records of Moses. We shared a little bit about the book of Mormon but he just started rebuttaling us said Jesus was black and he only came to save the Israelites so he would not read the book of mormon. It is so sad to meet people that are so close yet so far.

We are trying to plan for Angels baptism but she got sick again :-( she wasn't able to come to church.

Anaklet is doing awesome. We found out the young men took him to mutual and he loved it. We are trying to get the baptismal questions in Swahili, and guess what. A girl that I have met who goes to the YSA ward here speaks Swahili and lives in our ward. I just happen to be in the YSA for a day or so when Elder Vizcaìno left so I met her. 

Anaklet said he would come to church but didn't make it and we don't know why yet. He said something really inspiring when we asked him if he could walk in the cold to church. He asked us who created the cold. He repeated it, "who created the cold". We answered, God. He said, "exactly. So I will walk in it to come and worship him." 

I am looking forward to hearing from the quorum of the twelve Apostles and Prophets on Tuesday.

I hope everything is going well for everyone.

Proverbs 4:18-19

".. , the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble."

As we make right choices our path will become brighter and brighter as we walk and one day we will be able to see we are not alone.

Growth

North buffalo is doing great. It was rather chilly this week with below 0 temperatures for about 3-4 days. My bones got a little cold a couple times so my voice was shivering during a few lessons haha.

Angels life finally settled down so we had three lessons with her this week to prepare for her baptism. We taught her all of the commandments this week. She is amazing. After the first lesson which we pounded most of the commandments we gave her doctrine and covenants 89 for her to read and just from scanning the heading before we left she asked us about coffee and tea. We explained briefly and our next lesson we found out she hadn't drank another cup since. She was going through heavy withdrawal because she usually had 4 cups a day for school. But she checked with her doctor and that was all she needed was to know that it would go away. 

She had her interview for baptism this Sunday and will be baptized on the 21st. She is so excited for it and feels so fulfilled from meeting with us and church and everything else.

Anaklet is struggling with some things at school. He isn't coming into the US at the best of environments. He wants to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, but it is forcing him to confront some issues in his social group.

We finally got our apartment looking decent today. It only took three Mondays.

I hope everyone has a great week

Remember sometimes you can only focus on growing deeper in your roots rather then stretching upward.

[I received this picture from Sister Krebs on 1/6/18]

Another Revolution

Happy New Year everyone.

This week got pretty cold here in buffalo. But our work is still red hot from being in the fire and flames that it takes to mold people's character. We almost got to finish moving ourselves into our new apartment today but we will have to do the rest some other time.

They are going to try to impliment Facebook back into our mission but we don't know when yet.

We have raised the standard of our mission and this week our area did well at meeting the goals. 5 of the people in our area made it to church which made for a interesting Sunday because we were running around trying to make sure everything got taken care of for them. 

Angel May, the woman that wants to be baptized on the 21st, has been really busy with other things and so we haven't been able to meet with her so we are meeting with her three times this week. She is so prepared and she is already inviting friends to hear the gospel.

Anaklet invited his older brother Freddie to church without our knowing and so they were both there. Freddie is a really happy guy and he speaks French better then Anaklet so he was able to converse with some of the Canadian members and the young men from the Kongo. Anaklet is doing awesome.

We are meeting with a man named Zell Gamon that is struggling with the lose of his wife. He is in his late 40s early 50s and he has met with missionaries on and off since the 90s. He is a super down to earth guy and realizes how much he has been blessed to be living the life he lives. He is a drag racer and very well off and also a school bus driver which because of something's in his past he should never have been able to do all the stuff he does. We told him that he may have heard the message before and it may sound similar but it will have a different ring behind it. 

The first lesson with him was super powerful. We had prepared a little bit but it was completely guided by the spirit. It was a lesson on the restoration infused deeply with the plan of salvation, emphasising agency. He promised to pray about it and he knows that God will answer him because he has received answers before. I can't wait to hear back.

The event that led us to find him was asking someone who regected us, who they knew that could use our message. (Remember to ask for referrals from everyone)

Just remember it doesn't matter how much time you have allotted to do something if the Lord would have it done then it will be done.

Always ask yourself

Is all well in my zion?