MARCH

This week was super awesome!!  We had a lot of really great experiences!  Elder Renslow and I decided to do something pretty cool for our studies; we each took a sticky note and wrote down a question that we had, prayed about it, and opened up to a random page in The Book of Mormon to find our answers and it worked!!  We both had similar questions, regarding becoming a better missionary, and when we came together for comp study found out that we both opened up to the EXACT SAME PAGE!!  It was honestly so crazy, but a huge testimony builder to know that The Book of Mormon really does answer your questions.  I encourage y'all to do the same activity.  Write down a question on a sticky note, pray about it, and open up to a random page in The Book of Mormon and you WILL get an answer, no matter what the question is, it will get answered!

We have been teaching this lady named Genoa (a less active) who is a heavy smoker, but wants to quit.  She has been stuck in her ways but recently went to an addiction recovery class put on at the church and had a really good time there and is pushing forward!  She is not the same person that I met 5 months ago, it is crazy!  She seems so much more happy and humble!  We asked if we could trade her our favorite verses in the scriptures for her pack of cigarettes and she handed them over like it was nothing, it was sooooo cool!!  But it felt awkward driving around with them in our car hahahaha so we got rid of them as soon as we could!

Elder Renslow and my focus for this transfer has been to contact all the less actives on the roster and we have found tons of people who have moved away like 10 years ago, but it is a really really good way to get to know some new people, and we have actually gotten two new investigators out of it!  The other day, we were getting yelled at and threatened to have the cops called if we came back, so that was fun, but seriously, it was.  I don't know why they get so mad, like if they just ask for us not to come back we will respect that, but they insist on being super rude, so we just get a kick out of it and killed them with kindness.  So we were getting ready to knock on a door to meet a less active, when out of nowhere a Camaro comes flying around the corner, parks two houses down, and a lady pops out and comes over to us and asks if we have an extra Book of Mormon!  Elder Renslow and I were in awe, because that never happens, so we could hardly speak to her.  It turns out, she was baptized when she was 8 years old and then fell away, and now her son (living with his dad) is going on a mission and she wants to get back into the church!  This was another huge testimony builder to know that God has a plan for us and we were meant to be there at that specific time, it was so cool!

One last thing, testimony meeting yesterday was super good.  There were a lot of really great testimonies that were given.  One kid, Isaiah (17) got up and bore his testimony on trials and how he is thankful for them, because of the person that they have made him become.  He has been going through a lot lately, so it was really powerful to hear that from him.  There was another one given where this lady said that the word "covenant" in French is "alliance."  How cool is that?!  When we make a covenant with God, like baptism, we form an alliance with him, and if God is on our side, then we have nothing to fear!

I truly am so thankful for the gospel.  I know that it really does bless our lives more than we can comprehend.  It is so awesome being out here sharing that with people and helping them come closer to Christ and live/have a better life.  I love you guys and hope that you have an awesome week and take time to recognize all the things that the Lord does for you, it will really surprise you!

Love

Elder Schipaanboord