Hometown Reunion

Hey Everyone,

This has been a really great week, a blur, but a great week regardless. We had a great District Council on Tuesday followed by me going up to CYSA for exchanges with Elder Musonda. He is so awesome, he just has a way with people that is an absolute pleasure to watch. We had a lesson with a relatively new member, he was baptized when Elder Graff was here, while we were still in training, so I had heard about him all the time from Elder Graff, so it was awesome to finally meet him. The evening was interesting though, because it was really when our two styles clashed. He really likes just picking an apartment complex and knocking every door, floor after floor, until we have to go home for the night. I've never liked that, I've always found it monotonous and inefficient, and ever since my exchange with Elder Palmer back in April, I haven't done that because he taught me a different way of working. He taught me that if you're just picking a spot and saying that you're going to knock that whole neighborhood (or apartment complex), then who's will are you actually doing? I'm not knocking (no pun intended) the style of knocking every door, some missionaries love it and they have their own reasons for it. But Elder Palmer taught me that if the Lord has someone in that complex who is ready for the gospel, he will guide us to them. So he taught me to have a greater reliance on the Spirit and as I'm going through the complex to listen as best I can, and knock on a door as I feel prompted. As I'm sure you can guess, we ended up having a mini companionship inventory so we could figure out how we can work best together. After talking it over, we came to a compromise. We decided that we would spiritually pick a building and a floor, then knock both doors on that floor, then either pick the next floor, or the next building. When we stopped trying to push the other to do it our own way, we started seeing the miracles. We knocked on one door and a younger mom opened up. We talked to her for a few minutes before she asked us to meet her somewhere else the next day, because her kids were bouncing off the the walls. We also had a very tall man from Uganda open the door and invite us in. He and Elder Musonda got along very well because he is originally from Zambia and both of them spent time in England. The man told us about how he is Catholic, but he listened attentively to the Restoration and took a Book of Mormon and told us he would read it. 

After we exchanged back on Wednesday, Elder Mitchell and I met the Sisters at the Library so we could talk about the Zone Blitz more. We spent a good 2 hours ironing out any details we could and planning who we wanted to see who in the ward and the area at large. We are looking forward to how it is going to play out on Saturday. We were also supposed to have a meeting with Todd, but he texted us and said he wasn't going to get home from his trip until about 20 minutes before we met, so we said we didn't have to meet this week because he was going to be too tired. But he asked us if we could just meet on Thursday instead, which was awesome.

Thursday we got a text that we were getting a change to our weekly planning, again. They changed it up back in February to focus more on the people and included a ton of prayer. Now they directed us to go back to the old way, but to incorporate elements of the new way as we feel prompted. We also had a lesson with an awesome guy who is so ready for the Gospel. We were talking to him about the restoration and he told us that he feels a genuine excitement when he sees us, which is a feeling he said he hasn't had before. Sadly, he wasn't able to make it to church, but baby steps. We were also able to meet with Todd and talk about 2 Nephi 2, which is one of my personal favorites. 

Friday and Saturday were pretty normal days, but it was Sunday that is the reason for my subject line. Sister Walburger invited us over for a late lunch with a member who use to be in the ward a year ago, and one of her old college friends. I knew beforehand that the Walburgers used to live in Salem, and we had figured out a few mutual friends, but what I didn't know is that the guy who used to live in the ward also lived in Salem, and that the college friend is the cousin of one of the members in the Battlecreek ward. So we all had a great time talking about people and generally laughing at how small the world is, especially within the church. 

Also, cool experience from last week that I totally spaced on. We had this dude in our area book, not a member, who had a note for us to go by. So we went by and it turns out that this guy knows more about church history than I do. He's a former member of the RLDS church and did his Master's paper on church growth in Wales in the 1800s. We had a wonderful conversation about church history then he brought out the coolest things I've ever seen in my life! I don't quite remember all of it, but he has an original style of the Book of Mormon, like the ones you get in Palmyra, the same type of thing for the Book of Commandments, an original print from Orson Pratt, A Voice of Warning I believe, and by far the coolest thing, an original first edition copy of the Book of Mormon in Welsh, printed in 1852. By far the oldest book I have ever held in my life. He was an amazing guy but didn't feel like it was his time to unite with the Saints just yet.

I love you all and wish you all the best,

Elder Howell