Rad Week

This week was pretty rad!  We had a lot of stellar lessons with a lot of people!  We met with Bro Kennedy a couple of times and talked with him about the health blessings of following the commandments, because he has insomnia and is always tired during the day and awake at night.  We shared part of The Oath and Covenant of the priesthood as well as part of The Word of Wisdom, "To the renewing of their body" "They shall run and not be weary.  They shall walk and not faint" and invited him to come to church, and HE DID!!! We have been working so hard to get him to church, and he finally came, it was such a happy day!!

We got to go out with Bro Aukema a few times this week, and he brought us to 2 different people houses, and now have 2 new people to teach!  One of which was a lady named Billy.  She and her family are super awesome.  She was baptized years ago but doesn't go and doesn't remember much about the church.  She lost her dad about 6 months ago and has been having a really really hard time with it, it is really sad, but we taught her about the spirit world and the resurrection and she found some comfort from it, it was pretty neat.

We also got to meet with the Wilson and had a really good lesson with them about keeping the Sabbath day Holy.  We talked about how it is a commandment, just like "Thou shalt not kill" and "Thou shalt not commit adultery," and how all of the rest of the commandments only have one verse, but keeping the Sabbath day Holy has 4.  We also talked about the blessings that come from it and read with them from Isaiah 58 where the Lord says that if we turn away our foot from the Sabbath (doing what we want) then he will cause us to ride upon the high places of this world.  They really like it and said they were going to try and come, but they didn't..... and that's okay, they understood the message and we are going to continue to work with them.  It's hard for them, cause she works and they have 3 crazy kids, so they just decide to stay home, but we will get them there!

We then went over to Cody Pettis' house and taught him about baptisms for the dead and family history work, and got him started up on familysearch.org  he loved it! We didn't have much to go off of at first, but once we put in a few names, sooo many more filled in!!  And there were so many green temples which means he can take those names to the temple!  We are going to work with him some more to get him to the temple and take those names.

During our weekly planning session, Elder Sabin and I did comp inventory and basically found out how much we don't like each other.... hhahahaa!!  But we were able to work through a lot of it.  Thankfully he was willing to change and move forward, cause I was being really prideful and didn't want to change at all, but he softened my heart and helped me realize how mean I had been and a lot of thing I need to change.  Don't get me wrong, we aren't buddy buddy but I am thankful he is my companion, he is making me a better missionary and better person.

Last thing.  Yesterday we went out with the Aukema's to visit this family, the Gravely's, and my heart was so full!!  She loves the gospel and the church, but her "significant other" wont let her go to church with her kids. It is really sad!  The kids are pretty physically handicap (born with no legs, severe allergy to rubber and skin will peel off if he comes in contact with it, their hands are deformed ect..) and when they go to the doctors, they need both parents signatures to go through with things, and the guy wont sign so they can go to church.... it makes me so sad!  I have met them 2 times, and I love them so much, they are the sweetest kids that I have ever met!  They love sports and always want us to go outside and play basketball or baseball with them, it is so awesome!

This area is pretty slow, and it has taken some getting used to, but it is growing on me a whole lot!  The people here are so amazing, and the Lord has been softening the hearts of a lot people.  It is so awesome! I really do love it!

Thank y'all so much for all the support, love y'all so much!!

Elder Skippy

Pony and a goat walking down the dirt road.

bro aukema made this "redneck swimmin hole" with his back hoe. there is a zip line and a diving board, so sick!!

Greenhead

This week we were able to go down to the new area, and boy is it different!  There is so much land, but very few houses, so its hard to find people to teach, but we were able to contact a few less actives and share a message with them and get a return appointment too!  We really feel like there is a lot of work to be done in our area and that the Lord has prepared people to hear our message, we just need to get over ourselves and do the Lords will, not our own.

 

We were also finally able to meet with Carl for the first time in FOREVER!!  He has been out of town, because his brother in law, that he was really close with, passed away.  He told us how his brother in law was a member and gave him lots of good advice and talked with him a little about baptisms for the dead, but he was really confused about it, so we taught him about it and how its not something that is new, but that it was all taught in the bible, it really blew his mind and he wanted to learn more.  We talked with him about family history and the "turning the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers" and he wanted to get on board.  So on Sunday we started him up on familysearch.com and found a few of his ancestors, he loved it so much; the Spirit of Elijah is real!!

Now for the big news, we went over to the Aukemas to talk about Stan, and Bro Aukema got a call from him and he was SUPER stressed out over the whole thing and was making excuses for a whole bunch of stuff and told us that a lot of stuff didn't make sense to him, we tried to explain somethings, but he was just super stressed, so he didn't really understand any of it.  Needless to say, he didn't come to church, and he wasn't baptized ):  Satan is so real!!  He makes me so angry sometimes, Stan was so ready, but the adversary made him think that he's not... hopefully we will be able to get in contact with him this week and teach him again, help him understand things that don't make sense to him, and help him feel the Spirit.  I just want him to have the gospel, it will bless him and bring him so much happiness, but he has his agency.  All we can do if pray and keep trying.

I love you guys and hope you have a great week!

Elder Skippy

Stories

This week was pretty cool, we did a TON of service, which is always fun!  This time we helped someone move, and they had this really nice telescope that they didn't want, so they just gave it to us!  So we now have a random telescope in our house, too bad its always cloudy here):  Honestly though, I love going out and helping people, it makes their day and it makes mine too, service is the best way to turn a bad day into a good one!

On Thursday we went down to the area that we took over, Greenhead, and boy is it back woods!  There are some pretty crazy roads and like no houses.  While down there we learned that the gps doesn't really know the roads, so we ended up going down this dirt road that turned into sand and then shrubbery, and we ended up getting stuck... hahaha we spent 25 min pushing and trying to move the car, and we finally did it!!! It was so accomplishing and fun!  I'm so pumped to work down there!!!  

On Friday we had trade offs with the zone leaders down in Panama City, it was such a blast!!  I got to go with Elder Gunnell and I swear he and I are long lost twins, it's awesome!  We got to talk a whole lot about life and things that we want in life and how the mission is changing our perspectives and our desires and how we want it to continue to change us as much as it can. he really is a stud missionary and taught me a ton!  I love going on trade offs, you learn something profound each time, and always make great friendships.

On Sunday we saw an incredible miracle!  One of our investigators, Stan Porter, has been out of town for quite sometime (2 months), but we got a call from Bro. Aukema telling us that he invited them and us over for dinner.  While at dinner we had an excellent lesson with him and his wife, we did the baptism object lesson with pepper and water, and when we got done talking about it, and how he can be baptized the same way that Christ was baptized, he said "I'll be at church next sunday and y'all can schedule me down for baptism."  It was sooooo crazy!!!  It's amazing how prepared this guy is.  Bro. Aukema is his best friend since high school and has been working with him on the gospel for 8 years and now I am privileged to be here to see the fruit of his labors.  I am so thankful for members and their examples that they are to their friends and their desire to share their beliefs with others and their perseverance as well!  So there is only one problem... Stan needs to be taught the lessons again before he gets baptized and his only day off is Sunday, so we are probably going to go over next week and teach him a whole bunch of stuff in one day and then get him baptized the following week or the one after that.  I just hope his desire will stay!

We then went over to the Wilsons house and they told us that they have been reading from the kids picture Book of Mormon with the family!  Then we taught them how to have a family home evening, as we were teaching, Vince got all excited and started to remember his childhood and the things his family would do and taught his wife all about it, it was really neat!  I am so excited for them, they are making steps in the right direction!  They are small, but if they follow through with everything they are going to see the blessings and want to keep moving forward!

I am starting to like this place more and more, I am starting to love the people and that makes all the difference!  I am excited for the great things that are in store and the memories that are going to be made!

I love y'all so much and hope y'all have a great week!

Elder Skippy

 

 

Weird Week

well this week sure was a long one, but it was good! we got to go down to panama city for a zone conference to meet the new president and sis smith, they are pretty dang cool! while with talking with them we could definitely tell that they have been called by god and are very inspired! they seem to be young and hip, so hopefully we will be getting ipads, but probably not hahaha. nonetheless i am extremely excited to learn from and work with them!

so last week as we were walking out from the library this lady talked with us for like 30 minutes all about the gospel and her beliefs and then wanted to pray with us, and in her prayer she started going off on all this random stuff "i believe in the cross, i believe in the blood, i believe in the feast" and then proceeded to ask god to save us, it was pretty strange and funny at the same time!

so training is pretty hard... i feel like i am doing everything any time we talk to people. i try and give him plenty of opportunities to do things like teach, knock doors, make appointments, plan, and talk on the phone, but its just super awkward every time he does... i honestly feel like i have elder calhoun as my companion. he is a SUPER hard worker and really wants to do whats best, but its hard to work with him. but i am trying my best to get a long, teach him, and also learn from him; its going to be a struggle.

so the highlight of the week was that one of our less actives got humbled. Lee ended up blacking out a couple times and falling and breaking things and told us that he very well could've died, but he said it made him know that he needs to change! he told us he has a problem with alcohol and he wants to change, cause he doesn't want to die. we asked him why he thinks we come over and he said "because im part of the brotherhood", we told him how much we, the ward, and the savior love him, it was so cool, he loved it! he really wants to change and go to church and read his scriptures, but he has a hard time following through, its kinda sad): but he is definitely making progress!!

i am loving the people here more and more, they are becoming family just like in crestview, its so awesome!! i really do enjoy being out here and love the gospel so much, it makes me so happy!!

i love y'all so much!!

elder skippy