NEWS
(INVESTIGATOR'S NAMES HAVE BEEN CHANGED TO MAINTAIN ANONYMITY)
NOVEMBER 25, 2013 - Our Real "M" Week. {Mile}
PHEW!!! WHAT A WEEK!
So, as I explained last week, we dropped a ton of our investigators, and so we had a real good look at what we've got to work with, and realized we have absolutely... nothing. So... this week we decided that we're just scrapping the whole thing and starting from scratch. What a good feeling it is to just start over on a clean slate!
I've probably never in my mission been happier than this week simply because FINALLY after ALL THIS TIME. I got my companion to be motivated enough to do some crazy work with me. It feels so good to say that I truly feel like we're starting to use some of our incredible potential here. yay! (For those of you that don't know, one of the things I dislike the most is wasted potential...) Well, despite the freezing cold lake wind here in Genève, we spent entire days working our tails off.
So.. this is how it went:
At the beginning of the week we analyzed everything the President & Preach My Gospel has been telling us would help us find and baptize people. We had been given promises this transfer that were very specific, and we decided to take them seriously to an extreme level. The president promised us that if we had 10 quality conversations with people EVERY DAY, then that would lead us to a baptism every month. Seems easy enough we thought. So we decided to make our own deal with God on top of that promise. We told God this week that we would talk to 1,000 people with as much energy and enthusiasm as we can, and we had faith that if we did that, He would put people in our path that were super prepared to not only hear our message, but to act on it and take that choise to be Baptised. (Yup, we were quite Bold with God this week... But, apparently we have the right to call down blessings or something like that).. With those 2 promises, we set our goals for the week.
1,000 Contacts. and 11 conversations per day. (11 just to be sure).
And that's what we did. And boy does our Heavenly Father follow through on His promises!
We taught 6 FULL lessons on the street to people that had been prepared in some way or another for that moment. And, to top it all off............
WE. FOUND. YOVANA.
Yovana:
Elder Ruiz Garcia and I are contacting every person that we walk past. She was just one of those. She was pushing a baby stroller while holding hands with a little girl. This was our conversation:
Us- Bonjour, est-ce que vous avez déja entendu le message des missionnaires Mormon? (Have you already heard the message that the Mormon missionaries are here to tell?)
Her - (In Spanish.. tells her little daughter to translate)
US- Somos Espanoles! (the rest of the conversation is in spanish but I'll translate for those that don't speak spanish... plus I can't write in spanish very well.. ha)
Her- Good! What's up?
Us- We're Mormon missionaries and we have an incredibly important message about Jesus Christ that we would love to share with you and your family.
Her- So... you visit people's houses and teach them like the TJ's (Jehova's Witnesses)
Us- Well... yeah, we visit people and teach them, but what we teach is a little different.. (not sure really what to say to that)
Her- GOOD. I want that. when can you come over?
Us- UMM... anytime you want. But what exactly is it that you're looking for?
Her- Peace.
Us- Is there a specific question you have that maybe we can help you answer?
Her- Ok... here's the thing. I'm 33. Ever since I was 14 years old, I've asked myself one question over and over, and no one seems to be able to give me the answer. Of all the churches surrounding me, which church is God's church that I should join that has ALL the truth?
Us- (pee our pants)...
Her- Can you come in the morning in 2 days?
Us- Absolutely. (we gave her a restoration brochure in spanish so she could read it before we met.)
Sooo...... that morning we went over to her appartment which she said would have a man there when we got there. (she lives in a group apartment thing. which basically has 4 bedrooms with different families living in each but with a central living room area. she lives there with her sister, and 4 other latino families).
When we get there, there's no man, (depressed) so we tell her we can't come in, but she INSISTED that she NEEDS to talk to us right now. We couldn't go out to a park because the baby was sleeping (she's a nanny. only the little girl is her daughter). So she grabbed 3 chairs from her kitchen, and brought them outside her appartment to the stairwell and said, does this work? She then pulled out a Book of Mormon and said, "why would God tell Nephi to kill Laban if killing is against the commandments?
WHAT?! We were freaking out. haha. We didn't even give her a Book of Mormon! So... we answered her question by reading ahead where it says that it is better for 1 man to die than the thousands that could have because of Laban. and she understood why God would allow that. Then she wanted to know about Lehi's dream, etc... We took a step back, said a prayer, and then listened to what had happened the past couple of days.
Apparently her sister had once ran into the missionaries on the street, and they gave her a book of mormon. It had been sitting in their appartment for 8 months untouched. The day we contacted her, she read the entire restoration brochure and grabbed the Book of Mormon and started reading. She read all the next day too. She said that she just didn't want to stop reading because she just felt this overwhelming peace when she read, and it was just the peace she was looking for. She even told us that she woke up at 3 in the morning and started reading because of how much she loved that peace...
THEN. we taught the restoration to make sure she understood. Which she did PERFECTLY. Then, it that little stairwell we asked her that IF she read the Book of Mormon and prayed to know if it was true, and found out that it was, would she want to be Baptised by someone that holds that Priesthood of God. She said, "I don't mean to flatter you, or impress you, but I already know its' true. I'll never be able to deny that peace I feel when I read this book. Yes I'll be baptised. When can I?
She's getting baptised on the 20th of December. On her Birthday.
I just want you all to know how much I love what I'm doing. I've never in my life felt the spirit quite like I have in that little stairwell with Yovana. I am so incredibly far from being a perfect person, but I think at this point, I can safely say that I know for a FACT that Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father came to Josph Smith in 1820. And the events that followed are the best news that anyone can hope to hear. Because of THAT event, I'm here in windy Geneva. I tell that story an average of 3 times a day. And it never gets old. I could tell it over and over again, because every time, I can see how much that fills people questions in with answers. I know for a fact that God prepares people to hear that message. And I just hope that I can be the person I need to be in order to bring them to the answers they didn't even know they were looking for. This church is true. And it's so cool too.
I love you all. Thanks for your prayers.
I Hope you have the greatest holiday season back home!
Make this Christmas the best Christmas you've ever had, by trying your hardest to become more like our Savior. Be as selfless as you can all the month of December. Do a random act of Kindness EVERY DAY this month. Pray in the morning that God will put someone in your path that you can serve, then report at the end of the night what you did. I promise that if you do that, you will have someone put into your path that you can serve every day.
Je vous aime!
-Elder Lago
So, as I explained last week, we dropped a ton of our investigators, and so we had a real good look at what we've got to work with, and realized we have absolutely... nothing. So... this week we decided that we're just scrapping the whole thing and starting from scratch. What a good feeling it is to just start over on a clean slate!
I've probably never in my mission been happier than this week simply because FINALLY after ALL THIS TIME. I got my companion to be motivated enough to do some crazy work with me. It feels so good to say that I truly feel like we're starting to use some of our incredible potential here. yay! (For those of you that don't know, one of the things I dislike the most is wasted potential...) Well, despite the freezing cold lake wind here in Genève, we spent entire days working our tails off.
So.. this is how it went:
At the beginning of the week we analyzed everything the President & Preach My Gospel has been telling us would help us find and baptize people. We had been given promises this transfer that were very specific, and we decided to take them seriously to an extreme level. The president promised us that if we had 10 quality conversations with people EVERY DAY, then that would lead us to a baptism every month. Seems easy enough we thought. So we decided to make our own deal with God on top of that promise. We told God this week that we would talk to 1,000 people with as much energy and enthusiasm as we can, and we had faith that if we did that, He would put people in our path that were super prepared to not only hear our message, but to act on it and take that choise to be Baptised. (Yup, we were quite Bold with God this week... But, apparently we have the right to call down blessings or something like that).. With those 2 promises, we set our goals for the week.
1,000 Contacts. and 11 conversations per day. (11 just to be sure).
And that's what we did. And boy does our Heavenly Father follow through on His promises!
We taught 6 FULL lessons on the street to people that had been prepared in some way or another for that moment. And, to top it all off............
WE. FOUND. YOVANA.
Yovana:
Elder Ruiz Garcia and I are contacting every person that we walk past. She was just one of those. She was pushing a baby stroller while holding hands with a little girl. This was our conversation:
Us- Bonjour, est-ce que vous avez déja entendu le message des missionnaires Mormon? (Have you already heard the message that the Mormon missionaries are here to tell?)
Her - (In Spanish.. tells her little daughter to translate)
US- Somos Espanoles! (the rest of the conversation is in spanish but I'll translate for those that don't speak spanish... plus I can't write in spanish very well.. ha)
Her- Good! What's up?
Us- We're Mormon missionaries and we have an incredibly important message about Jesus Christ that we would love to share with you and your family.
Her- So... you visit people's houses and teach them like the TJ's (Jehova's Witnesses)
Us- Well... yeah, we visit people and teach them, but what we teach is a little different.. (not sure really what to say to that)
Her- GOOD. I want that. when can you come over?
Us- UMM... anytime you want. But what exactly is it that you're looking for?
Her- Peace.
Us- Is there a specific question you have that maybe we can help you answer?
Her- Ok... here's the thing. I'm 33. Ever since I was 14 years old, I've asked myself one question over and over, and no one seems to be able to give me the answer. Of all the churches surrounding me, which church is God's church that I should join that has ALL the truth?
Us- (pee our pants)...
Her- Can you come in the morning in 2 days?
Us- Absolutely. (we gave her a restoration brochure in spanish so she could read it before we met.)
Sooo...... that morning we went over to her appartment which she said would have a man there when we got there. (she lives in a group apartment thing. which basically has 4 bedrooms with different families living in each but with a central living room area. she lives there with her sister, and 4 other latino families).
When we get there, there's no man, (depressed) so we tell her we can't come in, but she INSISTED that she NEEDS to talk to us right now. We couldn't go out to a park because the baby was sleeping (she's a nanny. only the little girl is her daughter). So she grabbed 3 chairs from her kitchen, and brought them outside her appartment to the stairwell and said, does this work? She then pulled out a Book of Mormon and said, "why would God tell Nephi to kill Laban if killing is against the commandments?
WHAT?! We were freaking out. haha. We didn't even give her a Book of Mormon! So... we answered her question by reading ahead where it says that it is better for 1 man to die than the thousands that could have because of Laban. and she understood why God would allow that. Then she wanted to know about Lehi's dream, etc... We took a step back, said a prayer, and then listened to what had happened the past couple of days.
Apparently her sister had once ran into the missionaries on the street, and they gave her a book of mormon. It had been sitting in their appartment for 8 months untouched. The day we contacted her, she read the entire restoration brochure and grabbed the Book of Mormon and started reading. She read all the next day too. She said that she just didn't want to stop reading because she just felt this overwhelming peace when she read, and it was just the peace she was looking for. She even told us that she woke up at 3 in the morning and started reading because of how much she loved that peace...
THEN. we taught the restoration to make sure she understood. Which she did PERFECTLY. Then, it that little stairwell we asked her that IF she read the Book of Mormon and prayed to know if it was true, and found out that it was, would she want to be Baptised by someone that holds that Priesthood of God. She said, "I don't mean to flatter you, or impress you, but I already know its' true. I'll never be able to deny that peace I feel when I read this book. Yes I'll be baptised. When can I?
She's getting baptised on the 20th of December. On her Birthday.
I just want you all to know how much I love what I'm doing. I've never in my life felt the spirit quite like I have in that little stairwell with Yovana. I am so incredibly far from being a perfect person, but I think at this point, I can safely say that I know for a FACT that Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father came to Josph Smith in 1820. And the events that followed are the best news that anyone can hope to hear. Because of THAT event, I'm here in windy Geneva. I tell that story an average of 3 times a day. And it never gets old. I could tell it over and over again, because every time, I can see how much that fills people questions in with answers. I know for a fact that God prepares people to hear that message. And I just hope that I can be the person I need to be in order to bring them to the answers they didn't even know they were looking for. This church is true. And it's so cool too.
I love you all. Thanks for your prayers.
I Hope you have the greatest holiday season back home!
Make this Christmas the best Christmas you've ever had, by trying your hardest to become more like our Savior. Be as selfless as you can all the month of December. Do a random act of Kindness EVERY DAY this month. Pray in the morning that God will put someone in your path that you can serve, then report at the end of the night what you did. I promise that if you do that, you will have someone put into your path that you can serve every day.
Je vous aime!
-Elder Lago