Monday, March 12, 2018

Week 83 Lots of Baptisms!


Hello family. It’s been a wonderful week. The Lord has really been blessing us here in Bellingham, and I'm so grateful for it. Let’s get to it, shall we?

Monday 
P-day was pretty interesting. We started with going to email. After, we then went and did some shopping. Then we went to Target and hung with the sisters at the mall. We walked around and looked into shops that were there. We had an okay time. It felt really weird with just the sisters and us, but we had nothing to do because Elder Milner can't do anything really with his foot for another week or so. After being with the sisters for a really long time, we then went back to our area and had dinner. Then we went and had a lesson with the Sibley's. We taught them about the restoration. After, we then made some visits and then went home for the night and worked on the area book.

Tuesday
We started the day with mormon.org time. I looked up some talks for my talk I was giving on Sunday, and I also watched some videos on Mormon Channel. After that, we then went home and worked on the area book again and made some phone calls. Our area book just got a new ward list, so we’re trying to color code it and stuff. After doing that, we went into lunch and comp study. Then we went and saw Sister Drake. She is going through a hard time so we thought to go and visit her. After, we then went and talked with Brother Yuing about some new people in the ward and who we should go see. Then we traveled to Sudden Valley and had dinner. After, we had a lesson with a Jehovah’s Witness named Greg. Yes, sadly there was some bashing that happened, but in the end, he agreed to learning more about our church. So, we will see where that takes us. From there we drove back into town and did more area book work for the rest of the night.

Wednesday
We had district meeting, and everyone was there, our whole district, the zone leaders and the AP's, so we had a full group. Elder Brown instructed on having faith in our investigators. After district meeting, we went to MOD with the Shupes before our lesson with Hue. We talked with her about going to the temple with the Shupes, and then we talked about learning and serving in the church. After, we drove to Sudden Valley and had a lesson with Nick Nelting, a less active in the ward. We talked with him about how to get him to come back to church. He really wants to come back, so we are going to help him. After our visit, we went and saw Sister York. She is a person in the ward going through a hard time too. From there we then went back into town and visited people. Later that night, we had dinner. Then from that, we went to the church and talked with the activity day girls about missionary work. After, we then visited some more people before we ended the night.

Thursday
We helped at the food bank in the morning. After, we then had lunch at Boomers, a burger joint in Bellingham. Then we came home, had comp study, and then went to see people. Later that night, we had a lesson with Joey, Brother Jones’s son, on the plan of salvation. After, we then went to dinner. Then we had a lesson with Ivan. We talked about faith with him. He's an investigator we are teaching. He just doesn't have a full belief in God, but he does believe there is something out there. After that, we then ran to a lesson with Debra Land. We read the scriptures with her. After, we went home and ended the night.

Friday
We started the morning off with weekly planning. After, we then had lunch and comp study. Then we had a lesson with Chris. We almost dropped him, but he told us to give him one more week, and if he didn't start reading the Book of Mormon, then we can stop coming by. After our lesson, we went and had a lesson with Nikki. She was someone we were trying to teach for a little while, but every time we went over, she was sick, so we finally met with her and taught her the restoration. After, we then went straight to a lesson with Lailoni. We taught her about the restoration too. After, we went to dinner with Hue. She made us food from Vietnam. It was really good. After dinner, we went over to Jason Byers and read scriptures with him and watched talks with him. That ended our night.

Saturday
We started with printing off our progress record. Then we went over to Justin Lon's house who was taking us down to Arlington for 3 baptisms that were happening. Hank, Harlie, and David all got baptized! 3 people I taught in Lakewood!!! I was so happy for them! We spent most of the day getting down there, watching the baptisms, and then going to BW's for lunch. Justin did the blazing challenge there, which to complete this, you have to eat 12 wings that have the hottest sauce on it under 6 minutes. And he killed it with 3 seconds to spare. We had so much fun! Justin is a great guy. After, we then came back to Bellingham and hung out with Justin and the kids to go through the baptismal questions with Avery, and then we also spent our dinner hour with Justin talking. Then we went to a lesson with the Sibleys. We went over the Book of Mormon. They may be dropped soon. They don't seem too interested. I think the mom only likes the company, not the commitment to do things. After, we then went to the church and Avery got her interview with the zone leaders. Then we went to Brother Jones’s place and talked with him before the night was over.




 Sunday
We woke up early for ward council. Then we went through church. Elder Milner and I talked about The Joy of Missionary Work. After church, we then gave bishop an update on how things are going. After, we then went home, got lunch, and then we went and read scriptures with Holland. After that we ran to the church and started filling the font for Avery’s baptism. During that time, we got everything set up and helped with decorations. President Wilding also came to the baptism which really surprised me. It was the first time I've had him come to one. It really scared me. After getting everything ready, we had her baptism, and I do have to say it was great!!. After the baptism, we then ran to a lesson with the Redelk's. We just read the scriptures. After, we came home and had dinner.




 Well that's my week for you, brothers and sisters. I would like to share something from the Infinite Atonement this week.

Sometimes I like to imagine what the Savior had to take upon him for us. Then while reading the book, Infinite Atonement, Elder Tad R. Callister quoted Ezra Taft Benson:

"There is no human condition, be it suffering, incapacity, inadequacy, mental deficiency, or sin, which His love will not reach out to the individual."

He went on to add, "This is a staggering thought when we contemplate the Mount Everest of pain required to make it so. What weight is thrown on the scales of pain when calculating the hurt of innumerable patients in countless hospitals? Now add to that the loneliness of the elderly who are forgotten in the rest homes of society, desperately yearning for a card, a visit, a call, just some recognition from the outside world. Keep on adding the hurt of hungry children, the suffering caused by famine, drought, and pestilence. Pile on the heartache of parents who tearfully plead on a daily basis for a wayward son or daughter to come back home. Factor in the trauma of every divorce and the tragedy of every abortion. Add the remorse that comes with each child lost in the dawn of life, each spouse taken in the prime of marriage.  Compound that with the misery of overflowing prisons, bulging halfway houses and institutions for the mentally disadvantaged. Multiply all this by century after century of history and creation after creation without end. Such is but an awful glimpse of the Savior's load. Who can better bear such a burden or scale such a mountain as this? No one. Absolutely no one, save Jesus Christ the redeemer of us all."

To imagine that much pain and suffering is just eye opening. It truly shows how much the Savior had to suffer for us. I know he did it so we could get back to our Heavenly Father.

Well, that's it for me. I hope you all have a good week, and I'll see you soon. Bye!!

Elder Hammond

No comments:

Post a Comment