Setback in Baptism, Crazy People, RM JT: March 26, 2013

Hello Friends and Family,

We had a pretty interesting week this week. Elder Chapman is talking more and found out he loves the show Naruto. It’s really funny talking to him about it because of all the Japanese words and stuff in it. We had a fun time last Monday but it was super cold and rainy despite the earlier warm days.

On Tuesday we had a baptismal interview set up for Tiffany and I hoped that Elder Atkinson would schedule district meeting on the same day to save miles. He didn’t.  We ended up being in Petersburg for the interview, but didn’t have much else to do.  A return missionary in the area, J. T., and his mom drove us to Petersburg and we went to Walmart so J.T. could get a phone.  It was funny to watch J.T. walk around Walmart since it was the first time in 2 years that he’s been in a store like that. We had lunch with JT and he showed us his mission pictures, which was cool.  We then had Tiffany’s baptismal interview and her baptism was approved by Elder Atkinson. We spent the rest of the day just seeing people. Marcus introduced us to a referral named James Taylor. It was sweet. 

Wednesday: everything we had planned fell through so we just tried to stay busy. We did play a bit of basketball with Marcus at the church, thinking James Taylor would show up there, but no. We talked with two of three teenage black girl potentials:  Teona and Kayona. Teona was asking us questions about our living arrangements and gave us a very weird look when we told her we were all unmarried and living in the same apartment. J

On Thursday we had our district meeting. Elder Atkinson was scared stiff. I gave a training on member missionary work that was okay, but I always get jumbled around when I talk because no one else will talk during the training!!!! Afterward, we went on splits.  I went with Bro. Lewis and Elder Low and Elder Chapman talked to B. Astrop. B. Lewis is such a funny guy that we went to the Pearce’s and just joked around with them. One of the daughters, Daisy, wants to go to the temple which made B. Lewis really happy. B. Lewis owed one of the daughters lunch so he bought Sonic for her.  We also got a 25 dollar gift card to Applebees for dinner.  Yeah!

Friday was the best and worst day of the week.We got to teach this lady named Jeanie who wants to be baptized, which is wonderful!  We talked to her outside in the cold. Our discussion ended when one of her dogs carrying a chicken away still alive. That was weird. We also got to teach Tiffany with our branch president. She pushed her baptism date back a month which would be on April 20^th, my B-day. Pres. Tetto kept bringing up Tiffany getting married to her boyfriend but I don’t think she'll take that option. After this interview, we met with Doris and found out her daughter read the Book of Mormon all the way up to Mosiah! Really sweet!

The rest of the week involved a service project with too many people and only a few of them doing any work. We also saw Junior and found out he will be gone for a couple of weeks. We had a delicious dinner at the Kings and a Nerf sword fight after.  I dominated. Palm Sunday was good. We got to teach gospel principles. A less active member named Sister Raplee brought her nonmember son, Michael. The next day Michael was really interested in getting a Gospel Principles book. We gave a blessing to Nick Russo and when I was about to anoint his head, I felt an overpowering love for the guy.  He was amazed that we had the kind of authority to provide a blessing for him. On Monday, the library closed for a little bit in the morning so we did laundry and helped Marcus out of a ditch (he got stuck in a ditch).  We also played Republic of Rome with B. Rogers. Really fun game!

Well, I love you all and have fun in the real world.

Elder McClure

New Companion, Crazy Amount of Potentials, A Trio, and Shenanigans: March 18, 2013

Hey People,

We had a fun week this week. Monday was boring because Elder Zollinger isn’t around. We taught 3 lessons on Tuesday with 3 of the best investigators here. We got to teach Junior the gospel (I had taught him some time ago, when I was first out) and he said he will commit to a baptism date sometime in April, which is awesome! He remembers so much and I actually remember being one of the first missionaries talking to him. We had a lesson with Tiffany, which helped us get most of the lessons out of the way with 10 commitments. She actually chose me to baptize her!  It was sweet. Then when we were teaching Doris we also talked with Raquan and Doris’ daughter, Tyesha.  Tyesha has held onto the pain of losing her brother 15 years ago. I gave her a blessing and I felt the spirit so strong working through me as if I had personally talked to her from the Father. We got fed by a member and later, another member took us out to McDonalds.

Wednesday, we tracted with a member named Jerritt.  We found a bunch of people to talk to next Wednesday about the Book of Mormon.  We had this joke that day where we would say, "You know who else does ____? My mom!" We also talked to a former member and her boyfriend and he asked us what we believe in, so I gave him a 13 Articles of Faith card and explained to him what they meant.

 

Well during the rest of the week we got dropped by a part-member investigator family.  Boo! Bro. Lewis and I picked up my new companion, Elder Chapman, and Bro. Lewis broke him in by playing the Monte Python and the Holy Grail soundtrack.

We had an Easter activity on Friday where we did funny activities. I did pin the tail on the rabbit blindfolded and when the blindfold came on, all the kids started hitting me and Elder Chapman laughed. We also burst balloons and one zapped me hardcore when I sat on it. We had a fun game of Nerf swords with the Kings in their backyard. I was on Nate's team and he hit me right across the face at the end. Really lame. Elder Chapman and Elder Low are really quiet since they have been here, but Elder Chapman has a funny personality once you get it out of him. I guess I just bring people out of themselves when I am their companion. Elder Chapman has been out for 3 months and is from Lehi, Utah.

 For the rest of the week, I gave a bunch of pass along cards to kids with Jesus Christ on them and they love those cards. We did service for Nick Russo by pulling down boards and putting up new, non-rotting ones in their place. We found more people that were interested in listening. Elder Chapman got to throw a football with a small child. On Sunday, we got chastised for having Tiffany commit to baptism because the branch president thought she wasn’t ready and that we were going to baptize her into damnation. Crazy, but amends were made when there was an after church lunch where chili was served.

Cool thing:  a missionary named J.T. returned home from Uruguay.  He loved his mission, but lost a lot of pounds. He is super skinny.

 

Enjoy the email.  I love you all!

Elder McClure

 

 

Service, Zone Meeting, Temple Sealing: Received March 11, 2013

Hello People,

I only have a short amount of time, so I’m going to sum up the week quickly. My trainer companion (E. Carter) came back to Virginia for a really cool event. Sister Seeley, my first baptism in Wakefield, got sealed in the temple to her husband and her parents. Elder Carter came back to work as the proxy for the husband and the spirit was very strong there (according to the Hoskins, who attended the sealing). The temple ordinance worker said it was the most spiritual sealing he’s done and that he felt impressed that S. Seeley's mother was in the room when it happened. It was such a cool experience to hear about for S. Seeley. I was super happy.

 

Well the rest of the week was just lessons here and there. We were able to take a few youth to do splits with us and with one we were able to visit an investigator who wants to be baptized. We share him with another set of elders because he goes up to Charlottesville regularly for work. The other elders are pressuring him to get baptized soon, but we just want him to get baptized when he feels it is right.

 

We did a lot of service on Saturday, which was a clear, sunny day. I even got burnt in the sun which is weird for March. We are helping out more with this particular family because they are a part member family and we are working with getting the family more active. We tore up a fallen tree which was very fun and I had a lot of fun breaking rotten branches and burning them. We also are trying to help out an investigator with service since he doesn’t have a lot of time to do chores. His name is Nick Russo and he’s really contemplating becoming a member of our church since it follows the teachings in the Bible. He'll come around.

 

We had zone meeting which was mainly a bishop of one of my old areas who spoke to use and compared us to brass:  staying bright for other people and helping them.

The transfer situation is that Louisville is getting a third missionary, Elder Chatman. We’re also getting a new District Leader and I’m worried because he doesn’t like to encourage tracting and that’s how we’re getting a lot of our work done in this area right now.  And it’s really the only way we can get work done, since there aren’t many members in the area.

 

Love you all,

Elder McClure

 

 

Member Presents, Fruitless but Funny Tracting, Men's Breakfast

Hi Everyone,

This crappy computer is out to get me. I hate it! Well, with the remainder of time that I have, I’ll tell you about my week, which was pretty good. We had another boring p-day but got to write a lot of letters out to people. The rest of the week was summed up in tracting and member presentation lessons. We had a few random areas in a couple of cities to tract.  The first was Broadnax on the way to South Hill. We tracted so much in this one part and everyone said no. We were actually circled by two dogs, but by walking backwards and threatening them with my keys they kept at bay. We also got to talk to these two older ladies. Elder Low calls everyone brother and sister so they were both Sister Crenshaw. We asked if they had read the Restoration pamphlet and we tried to teach them about it but they just said, “Oh, it’s a nice book. I like it.”  We also went out to La Cross and came across a black Jehovah’s Witness in a wheelchair.

We just have been tracting and trying to find new people. On Feburary 28, we had 100 extra miles so we went to Valentines, Virginia to check it out. There was just a post office, but there were some people taking pictures there because of its name. We went down to Lake Gaston and tracted but everyone was gone there, too. We had a fun time with a member presentation where we brought B. Jones with us to teach Tiffany about scripture study. Her little boy was taking things out of my backpack and giving them to me and when I would put them back in, he would take them out.  Pretty cute!

We brought Marcus to Dorris' and she went off on him about bad influences – for her, she thinks this just indicates weakness. She talks a lot about her life and everything she has gone through – it’s interesting. She also had her fridge break down and then got another one. I was able to give a blessing to a member’s daughter, Daisy, who had some problems with her ear and has mono. After the blessing, S. Pearce, the mom, said she could feel the spirit, which made me feel good. We also got to talk with a less active family, the Raplees, about how they are doing and how we can help them out. The mom came to church the next day and it was pretty sweet.

We had a men’s breakfast, at which there was a lot of food. Not a big turn-out but people came to it. One of the members brought a lot of bacon in order to test his theory that there is such a thing as leftover bacon, but we established it doesn’t exist.  J  

Church was really cool because all these people came:  a few of the less actives and Tiffany (right on, Tiffany!) and she even bore her testimony. It was really cool to see a lot of members at church again. After church, we got to have a cool discussion with a guy named Nick Russo who said if he received a witness he would join the church.  Of course, we hope that he does and that he will.  He’s a great guy.

Anyway, that’s my week!  I love you all!  Thanks for your letters and prayers.

Elder McClure