Hey family. I didn't know if I'd get an email off today. Our day is pretty busy. The new missionaries are coming today and we're taking the 9 of them to go out proselyting tonight. I'll be with 2, Elder Davis will take 2, and the rest will be a couple other missionaries in their areas. And we have a bunch of other stuff going on. Not to mention I still have to pack.....
But I had a quick minute and wanted to send something short.
I love the Savior Jesus Christ and I love His gospel. Whether we know it or not, or whether we are striving to live it or not, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is why we chose to come down to earth. And once we see that, everything changes for the better and life is sweeter and more fulfilling.
In Elder Bednar's talk from the last general conference he talked about this: "God blesses us with a testimony of these things, and as we work to strengthen our testimonies and act on them, we become more and more converted unto the Lord. A testimony is spiritual knowledge of truth obtained by the power of the Holy Ghost. Continuing conversion is constant devotion to the revealed truth we have received—with a heart that is willing and for righteous reasons. Knowing that the gospel is true is the essence of a testimony. Consistently being true to the gospel is the essence of conversion. We should know the gospel is true and be true to the gospel....... Conversion is an offering of self, of love, and of loyalty we give to God in gratitude for the gift of testimony."
In the past 2 years I have learned a lot of new things. Things I needed. But learning things in studies and trainings isn't enough unless we act on it and share it with others. Actually going out and helping other people is how we become better people ourselves. I definitely have a long ways to go, but I've become a better person than I was 2 years ago. I'm still me, but I'm just more converted than I was before I left. And hopefully 2 years from now I'll still be moving in that direction.
The Gospel life is the good life. And life's been soo good in the hood! I'm going to miss everything out here. Thankfully we've been really busy these past few weeks so I haven't had a chance to dwell too much on it. But as much as I'll miss all of this, I'm excited to see you guys :) Just another day and a half or so. Crazy crazy.
Thanks for everything you guys do. I love you guys!
For the last time with this name,
Elder Lamb
Monday, November 26, 2012
November 19, 2012
Last week in the MDM
Hey! I probably will get an email out next Monday, but I'm not sure how busy we'll be that day, so this might be the last email home. That's weird to think about.
This week has been pretty busy. We had 4 days of Specialized Training. Elder Davis and I instructed on the role of the Book of Mormon in conversion, it turned out good so we were relieved. So there was a lot of focus in the meetings on that as well as working with members and wards/branches more effectively. It was a really productive set of meetings, I think things are going to raise to a new level in the mission if we can all act on the things we've been taught.
This Friday night we went to the temple with the Baldassarras! It was their first trip to the temple for baptisms. It was a great trip. The other set of elders in the ward also came with one of their recent converts for her first time too. And to top it off, I ran into someone else at the temple. Elder Clark and I baptized a guy named Dave Martin about a year ago in Flint, and I haven't seen him since I left - but he happened to be going through the temple for his first time that same night and was in our same session for baptisms. So I got to catch up with him and be there for his first session. It was so cool. It was a simple tender mercy of the Lord, little things like that are nice reminders that the Lord is aware of us and wants us to enjoy this life.
I'll try to send something short next Monday. If I can't...then the next time I talk to you guys will be in person! :)
I love the Savior Jesus Christ.
And I love you guys.
Elder Lamb
Last week in the MDM
Hey! I probably will get an email out next Monday, but I'm not sure how busy we'll be that day, so this might be the last email home. That's weird to think about.
This week has been pretty busy. We had 4 days of Specialized Training. Elder Davis and I instructed on the role of the Book of Mormon in conversion, it turned out good so we were relieved. So there was a lot of focus in the meetings on that as well as working with members and wards/branches more effectively. It was a really productive set of meetings, I think things are going to raise to a new level in the mission if we can all act on the things we've been taught.
This Friday night we went to the temple with the Baldassarras! It was their first trip to the temple for baptisms. It was a great trip. The other set of elders in the ward also came with one of their recent converts for her first time too. And to top it off, I ran into someone else at the temple. Elder Clark and I baptized a guy named Dave Martin about a year ago in Flint, and I haven't seen him since I left - but he happened to be going through the temple for his first time that same night and was in our same session for baptisms. So I got to catch up with him and be there for his first session. It was so cool. It was a simple tender mercy of the Lord, little things like that are nice reminders that the Lord is aware of us and wants us to enjoy this life.
I'll try to send something short next Monday. If I can't...then the next time I talk to you guys will be in person! :)
I love the Savior Jesus Christ.
And I love you guys.
Elder Lamb
Monday, November 12, 2012
Elder Oaks!
The weekend was SO cool. Elder Oaks came...and it was awesome. I think I explained in a previous email what he was doing here, but I'll break it down just in case I really didn't. He was here partly because he was doing some training with the temple workers at the Detroit Temple, and then he was also given the assignment while he was here to preside at the Westland Stake Conference this weekend, and then he offered to have a quick meeting with the mission. As a missionary serving in this mission as well as in the Westland Stake, I was pumped. So Saturday morning was the mission meeting, it was an hour and half - so too short if you ask me, but it was awesome. Before the meeting started he had everyone line up so he could shake our hands. You can feel the good in him just when he walks in the room, but shaking his hand was next level great. That was my favorite part of the weekend actually. He talked to us about a lot. He told us we're not here to baptize, but to establish the Church. He talked about real conversion, how we all need to seek after real conversion beyond simply having a testimony. Simply baptizing people who feel good about the experience of baptism but aren't repentant and committed to staying on the path just adds burdens to the bishops and stake presidents. It was a good message for us as members and for those we're teaching. I don't have my notes in front me, but he talked about a lot in the few meetings I heard him at. We took our investigator Gary on Saturday night to the Adult Session of Stake Conference and again on Sunday morning to the normal session of Stake Conference. At the Saturday night session, Elder Oaks was a little more casual because it wasn't a Sabbath day meeting he said. And he was hilarious. I'd always pictured him as very stern and serious from watching him at General Conference, but this was a fun side to see of him. A member of one of the quorums of the Seventy was also with him for the two stake conference meetings, his name was Elder Archibald. They both gave great talks. Elder Archibald gave a talk on the Atonement that was incredible, and after Elder Oaks said that Elder Archibald gave one of the best talks on the Atonement that Elder Oaks had ever heard. So watch out for Elder Archibald speaking at a general conference in the near future ;)
This whole weekend was unreal. Not just because I got to shake hands a couple times and talk with an apostle. But I know without a doubt that Elder Oaks and the rest of the Brethren are prophets of the Lord Jesus Christ. The way he carried the Spirit about him, and the way I was able to be so edified from the experience helps me know that. We actually had a pretty awesome experience too. On a quick side note, Gary is the investigator who is just doing awesome. He's the one who's completely been off smoking for a few weeks now after coming down from 40 a day. He's the one who's been reading everything like crazy in the scriptures and other Church books. Just a completely different person. But he's also had a very rough life. He's been waiting for approval to be baptized from the First Presidency and just a few days ago he got word in the mail that he needs to wait 6 months to have his situation re-evaluated. We thought for sure his baptismal service would be happening any day now. Gary was pretty upset. but after the Saturday night conference, President worked it out so that we could have Gary talk to Elder Oaks briefly to receive some counsel. Not knowing Gary at all, Elder Oaks gave counsel that was perfect. He said things that Elder Davis and I could never think of saying despite how well we knew Gary. And just the fact that Gary was given this opportunity was incredible. Really the whole timing of him getting the letter a day before Elder Oaks comes was absolutely orchestrated by the Lord. The Lord is very aware of our situations. If we ask Him to and allow Him to, He will give us the strength we need and allow us to feel of His perfect love for us.
Here's a scripture Elder Oaks shared with Gary: "Nevertheless, Jacob, my first-born in the wilderness, thou knowest the greatness of God; and he shall consecrate thine afflictions for thy gain." (2 Nephi 2:2)
Love you guys,
Elder Lamb
November 5, 2012
mafia to mormon
Hey. This week has been busy, but I don't even remember what all we did. Just give me a sec... So we had a missionary go home this week so we were working out exchanges and had some missionaries staying with us for a couple days as we worked that out. But the missionary who went home is planning on coming back out asap, so that's really good. We also went to a fireside this week down in Detroit. Mario Facione (sp?) was the speaker. He's a member of the Bloomfield Hills Stake in our mission, and he has an incredible conversion story. He's the author of a book called "From Mafia to Mormon", just to give you an idea. At the fireside he told his story of how he was in a very sticky line of work (Elder Ballard - ya, the apostle - had given him counsel to not be too specific on what kind of work he was up to), and Brother Facione explained how the missionaries knocked on his door. Bhadda bing bhadda boom. It's an awesome story though. There's no one too far off the path for the gospel to heal them and get their lives in order. He's been a temple president in the detroit temple and has sent his children on missions. Gian-Carlo our recent convert (who is Italian) came and so did Gary. I probably have told you this, but Gary is on fire. He's a gospel studying machine - he's read Preach My Gospel, Gospel Principles, BOM, D&C, Pearl of Great Price, Teachings of George Albert Smith, and the list is growing. He's just finished Our Heritage. And he's on like Day #12 of having quit smoking after years of 40 cigarettes a day. Baptism = soon. Stay tuned.
Halloween was pretty plain, I was on an exchange and we had appointments. But I got your guys' package, thanks! I'm still working on the cookies, there were a lot in there.
This weekend is going to be epic. Elder Oaks is coming. He's here to do some training at the Detroit Temple, but he's also coming to the Westland Stake Conference. That's my stake, so we get to see him Saturday night at the Adult Session and Sunday morning at the normal session. And then he decided to have a quick meeting with our mission Saturday morning. It's a rare opportunity for him to be here, we've had a couple of elders from the Seventy come out since I've been out here, but apostles don't generally come out to state side missions from what I've heard. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes next Monday ;)
Other than that, that's about it. I have a black eye right now. We've been doing district work-outs once a week, where we play ultimate frisbee with our district for morning work-outs. Something Elder Adamson and I started almost a year ago when I was in Plymouth. But I took a disc to the eye a couple of days ago. It's nothing serious, but it makes me look more like a G.
Have a great week. Love you guys.
Elder Lamb
The weekend was SO cool. Elder Oaks came...and it was awesome. I think I explained in a previous email what he was doing here, but I'll break it down just in case I really didn't. He was here partly because he was doing some training with the temple workers at the Detroit Temple, and then he was also given the assignment while he was here to preside at the Westland Stake Conference this weekend, and then he offered to have a quick meeting with the mission. As a missionary serving in this mission as well as in the Westland Stake, I was pumped. So Saturday morning was the mission meeting, it was an hour and half - so too short if you ask me, but it was awesome. Before the meeting started he had everyone line up so he could shake our hands. You can feel the good in him just when he walks in the room, but shaking his hand was next level great. That was my favorite part of the weekend actually. He talked to us about a lot. He told us we're not here to baptize, but to establish the Church. He talked about real conversion, how we all need to seek after real conversion beyond simply having a testimony. Simply baptizing people who feel good about the experience of baptism but aren't repentant and committed to staying on the path just adds burdens to the bishops and stake presidents. It was a good message for us as members and for those we're teaching. I don't have my notes in front me, but he talked about a lot in the few meetings I heard him at. We took our investigator Gary on Saturday night to the Adult Session of Stake Conference and again on Sunday morning to the normal session of Stake Conference. At the Saturday night session, Elder Oaks was a little more casual because it wasn't a Sabbath day meeting he said. And he was hilarious. I'd always pictured him as very stern and serious from watching him at General Conference, but this was a fun side to see of him. A member of one of the quorums of the Seventy was also with him for the two stake conference meetings, his name was Elder Archibald. They both gave great talks. Elder Archibald gave a talk on the Atonement that was incredible, and after Elder Oaks said that Elder Archibald gave one of the best talks on the Atonement that Elder Oaks had ever heard. So watch out for Elder Archibald speaking at a general conference in the near future ;)
This whole weekend was unreal. Not just because I got to shake hands a couple times and talk with an apostle. But I know without a doubt that Elder Oaks and the rest of the Brethren are prophets of the Lord Jesus Christ. The way he carried the Spirit about him, and the way I was able to be so edified from the experience helps me know that. We actually had a pretty awesome experience too. On a quick side note, Gary is the investigator who is just doing awesome. He's the one who's completely been off smoking for a few weeks now after coming down from 40 a day. He's the one who's been reading everything like crazy in the scriptures and other Church books. Just a completely different person. But he's also had a very rough life. He's been waiting for approval to be baptized from the First Presidency and just a few days ago he got word in the mail that he needs to wait 6 months to have his situation re-evaluated. We thought for sure his baptismal service would be happening any day now. Gary was pretty upset. but after the Saturday night conference, President worked it out so that we could have Gary talk to Elder Oaks briefly to receive some counsel. Not knowing Gary at all, Elder Oaks gave counsel that was perfect. He said things that Elder Davis and I could never think of saying despite how well we knew Gary. And just the fact that Gary was given this opportunity was incredible. Really the whole timing of him getting the letter a day before Elder Oaks comes was absolutely orchestrated by the Lord. The Lord is very aware of our situations. If we ask Him to and allow Him to, He will give us the strength we need and allow us to feel of His perfect love for us.
Here's a scripture Elder Oaks shared with Gary: "Nevertheless, Jacob, my first-born in the wilderness, thou knowest the greatness of God; and he shall consecrate thine afflictions for thy gain." (2 Nephi 2:2)
Love you guys,
Elder Lamb
November 5, 2012
mafia to mormon
Hey. This week has been busy, but I don't even remember what all we did. Just give me a sec... So we had a missionary go home this week so we were working out exchanges and had some missionaries staying with us for a couple days as we worked that out. But the missionary who went home is planning on coming back out asap, so that's really good. We also went to a fireside this week down in Detroit. Mario Facione (sp?) was the speaker. He's a member of the Bloomfield Hills Stake in our mission, and he has an incredible conversion story. He's the author of a book called "From Mafia to Mormon", just to give you an idea. At the fireside he told his story of how he was in a very sticky line of work (Elder Ballard - ya, the apostle - had given him counsel to not be too specific on what kind of work he was up to), and Brother Facione explained how the missionaries knocked on his door. Bhadda bing bhadda boom. It's an awesome story though. There's no one too far off the path for the gospel to heal them and get their lives in order. He's been a temple president in the detroit temple and has sent his children on missions. Gian-Carlo our recent convert (who is Italian) came and so did Gary. I probably have told you this, but Gary is on fire. He's a gospel studying machine - he's read Preach My Gospel, Gospel Principles, BOM, D&C, Pearl of Great Price, Teachings of George Albert Smith, and the list is growing. He's just finished Our Heritage. And he's on like Day #12 of having quit smoking after years of 40 cigarettes a day. Baptism = soon. Stay tuned.
Halloween was pretty plain, I was on an exchange and we had appointments. But I got your guys' package, thanks! I'm still working on the cookies, there were a lot in there.
This weekend is going to be epic. Elder Oaks is coming. He's here to do some training at the Detroit Temple, but he's also coming to the Westland Stake Conference. That's my stake, so we get to see him Saturday night at the Adult Session and Sunday morning at the normal session. And then he decided to have a quick meeting with our mission Saturday morning. It's a rare opportunity for him to be here, we've had a couple of elders from the Seventy come out since I've been out here, but apostles don't generally come out to state side missions from what I've heard. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes next Monday ;)
Other than that, that's about it. I have a black eye right now. We've been doing district work-outs once a week, where we play ultimate frisbee with our district for morning work-outs. Something Elder Adamson and I started almost a year ago when I was in Plymouth. But I took a disc to the eye a couple of days ago. It's nothing serious, but it makes me look more like a G.
Have a great week. Love you guys.
Elder Lamb
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
happy halloween
October 29, 2012
Hey! Yesterday was AWESOME. The baptisms happened. Kimi Berry was baptized, and so were Cathy and Madelyn Bladassarra. And it was an awesome day. Church was from 1 - 4 (we had 7 investigators there), and then there was a "Linger Longer" from 4 - 5, and then the baptisms at 6. It made for a huge turn-out. It was a really neat experience seeing the Baldassarra family last night. Gian, who was baptized a month ago, baptized his wife and 11 year old daughter. The Gospel blesses families, and God's plan goes beyond the individual. He wants to see families building on the rock of Christ, and really does have a perfect plan for each individual family. The Baldassarras were cool to watch through the experience because everything just fell right into place all at once for them as a family. In a year their 7 year old son can be baptized and they can all be sealed in the temple as well. And Kimi's cool stuff too. She's 20, others in her family were baptized a couple months ago. Kimi didn't feel ready back then but she's turned herself around and is on fire right now.
Something we're pretty excited about is we've come up with a pretty cool gameplan for helping keep these new members active and bound to the ward. We created these folders for the ward to use to track their progress in their new member lessons and assigning different ward members to teach these each week, and also tracking their progress in getting home/visiting teachers, callings, working towards the temple a year from now. the wards want to help new members but sometimes need a push, and we want to give that push more than we know how too, but the ward jumped at this idea. it came out based off of some other ideas from other missionaries, and some brainstorming with our ward mission leader.
out of time. love you guys. happy halloween.
elder lamb
snowballin, shot callin
October 24, 2012
I have to be quick today. We were suppose to get snow this week but the forecast has changed. But the snow is on its way. I just had an epiphony - snowball pass along cards. I'll take a pass along card and cover it in snow and throw these at doors as we drive by. The work is hastening.
This weekend two more of the Baldassarras will be entering the waters of baptism. Gian (baptized about a month ago) is going to baptize his wife and 11 year old daughter. Everyone's excited in the ward, especially the Baldassarras. Church gets out at 4, and there's going to be a "linger-longer" from 4-5 where the ward's going to mingle and have a small pot luck, and then the baptisms will be at 5. It'll be a fun day. And we're hoping another investigator we're working with, Kimi, will be baptized that same night. This past Sunday at church, Gian helped with blessing the sacrament for his first time. He was sporting a new suit for the day.
Another investigator we've been working with is doing AWESOME. His name's Gary. He's a machine. He's read the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, the Gospel Principles manual, Preach My Gospel, the George Albert Smith teachings manual, and whatever else he can get his hands on. This has all been in the past 2 months or so. And on top of that, he's come down from 40 cigarettes a day to 3 a day for the past couple weeks......to quitting yesterday! He's doing great. Hopefully his baptism is soon.
Gotta go. Hope you guys have a good week. Look for opportunities to do missionary work. Our brothers and sisters need it!
Love,
Elder Lamb
Monday, October 15, 2012
transfer 17
hey family, sorry for leaving you hanging with the updates last week. i made my tall companion pass up shooting hoops right now so we could come in to the office and email. how are things in california, utah, and idaho? michigan's starting to get cold but nothing that bad yet.
today is day one of the last transfer. 6 weeks left. it hasn't really hit me as weird yet, but i'm anticipating waking up one day and feeling pretty strange. we've had a pretty busy day today. the new missionaries came in from the airport and we went over with President and Sister Holmes to go pick them up. So we were getting things ready and helping out a little at the mission home. Tonight we're splitting them all up and going out teaching with them for a few hours. We don't have a lot of appointments tonight so i'll have to rely on that new missionary fire to bring about some miracles in our finding with whoever i'm with. and then they'll all spend the night at our apartment (we have a bunch of beds for this reason). and then we'll take them all to the meeting in the morning to meet their trainers and we'll all go to the Transfers Meeting. I don't know if i've explained this to you before, but since our mission is pretty small geographically (four stakes), all of the missionaries who are getting transferred come to the transfer meeting with their companion. they get a call a few days before and are told they're getting transferred but aren't told where. and then at the transfer meeting there's a power point that goes through all of the areas and they find out that way where they're serving and with who. always a fun meeting.
so elder bednar came last night to the ann arbor stake.....but we didn't get to see him :( his son is in the ann arbor stake, and is actually the ward mission leader there. so he was in town to visit family and go to the U of M football game at the Big House ha. so for one of the nights he put together a fireside for all of the young single adults. president asked if missionaries could come with investigators, but elder bednar wanted us out working. that was rough, but understandable. but we sent our investigator kimi to go. and kimi loved it. kimi's on date for the 28th and is doing awesome. the rest of her family was baptized not too long ago but she struggled a little to get motivated and focused. she had to overcome some obstacles with her lifestyle, but is recently doing awesome. once she accepted a baptism date she came alive. so she's doing great. i'm a little bummed we couldn't see elder bednar........but elder oaks is coming next month! and we CAN see him! elder oaks is coming to our stake conference, so we get to see him there (we might camp out the night before to get good seats). but he wants to have a meeting with our mission so we'll get to see him there. possibly meet him. that's the weekend of the 10th and 11th of november.
remember gian who was baptized a few weeks ago? he is still doing awesome. and his family is too! his wife accepted a date for the 28th! and gian's going to baptize her! and it looks like their daughter is probably going to join her and get baptized that day too. just an incredible family. we had such a wonderful lesson with them this week. we brought a great couple from the ward to the lesson, we read from 3 Nephi 27 and taught the gospel, and extended the date. i can't explain it all, but it was a miracle. she had talked to her mom earlier that day about coming to her baptism basically on that date (which took some faith, her parents - like gian's - weren't very happy they were coming to the Mormon church in the first place), and when we extended the invitation after praying about on our own end, it just fell into place. that might not make sense, it's hard to explain, but it was cool ha. and without bringing it up in the lesson, they asked about getting sealed in the temple (we had a lesson on eternal marriage in gospel principles a few weeks back). so...i might have to make a trip out to michigan next october.
so we have some baptisms coming up. and hopefully a few more not long after those ones. the gospel is so good. the world needs it badly. and when people find it for the first time and start embracing it, it's a good experience :)
love you guys,
elder lamb
ps. conference was incredible huh?
today is day one of the last transfer. 6 weeks left. it hasn't really hit me as weird yet, but i'm anticipating waking up one day and feeling pretty strange. we've had a pretty busy day today. the new missionaries came in from the airport and we went over with President and Sister Holmes to go pick them up. So we were getting things ready and helping out a little at the mission home. Tonight we're splitting them all up and going out teaching with them for a few hours. We don't have a lot of appointments tonight so i'll have to rely on that new missionary fire to bring about some miracles in our finding with whoever i'm with. and then they'll all spend the night at our apartment (we have a bunch of beds for this reason). and then we'll take them all to the meeting in the morning to meet their trainers and we'll all go to the Transfers Meeting. I don't know if i've explained this to you before, but since our mission is pretty small geographically (four stakes), all of the missionaries who are getting transferred come to the transfer meeting with their companion. they get a call a few days before and are told they're getting transferred but aren't told where. and then at the transfer meeting there's a power point that goes through all of the areas and they find out that way where they're serving and with who. always a fun meeting.
so elder bednar came last night to the ann arbor stake.....but we didn't get to see him :( his son is in the ann arbor stake, and is actually the ward mission leader there. so he was in town to visit family and go to the U of M football game at the Big House ha. so for one of the nights he put together a fireside for all of the young single adults. president asked if missionaries could come with investigators, but elder bednar wanted us out working. that was rough, but understandable. but we sent our investigator kimi to go. and kimi loved it. kimi's on date for the 28th and is doing awesome. the rest of her family was baptized not too long ago but she struggled a little to get motivated and focused. she had to overcome some obstacles with her lifestyle, but is recently doing awesome. once she accepted a baptism date she came alive. so she's doing great. i'm a little bummed we couldn't see elder bednar........but elder oaks is coming next month! and we CAN see him! elder oaks is coming to our stake conference, so we get to see him there (we might camp out the night before to get good seats). but he wants to have a meeting with our mission so we'll get to see him there. possibly meet him. that's the weekend of the 10th and 11th of november.
remember gian who was baptized a few weeks ago? he is still doing awesome. and his family is too! his wife accepted a date for the 28th! and gian's going to baptize her! and it looks like their daughter is probably going to join her and get baptized that day too. just an incredible family. we had such a wonderful lesson with them this week. we brought a great couple from the ward to the lesson, we read from 3 Nephi 27 and taught the gospel, and extended the date. i can't explain it all, but it was a miracle. she had talked to her mom earlier that day about coming to her baptism basically on that date (which took some faith, her parents - like gian's - weren't very happy they were coming to the Mormon church in the first place), and when we extended the invitation after praying about on our own end, it just fell into place. that might not make sense, it's hard to explain, but it was cool ha. and without bringing it up in the lesson, they asked about getting sealed in the temple (we had a lesson on eternal marriage in gospel principles a few weeks back). so...i might have to make a trip out to michigan next october.
so we have some baptisms coming up. and hopefully a few more not long after those ones. the gospel is so good. the world needs it badly. and when people find it for the first time and start embracing it, it's a good experience :)
love you guys,
elder lamb
ps. conference was incredible huh?
Monday, October 8, 2012
General Conference!
October 4, 2012
hey there,
things are starting to get chilly out here. i'm hoping things hold off until december since i sent my winter gear home. the nice part is the leaves are starting to change colors, which is awesome in michigan because there are a ton of trees.
this past week has been good. on tuesday we went to New Missionary Training, where the new missionaries and their trainers come together and we discuss how the first month of their mission experience has been, do some practices, do some instructions, and give them a good boost to set them back on their way for the next 2 years. this was a really good batch of new missionaries. it was a great meeting. and sister holmes made taco salad, which is a favorite for any member of the lamb family, so life was good. today we have ZLCM (zone leader council meeting) at the mission home. always a fun meeting too. and sister holmes will have something for lunch too, so again life will be good.
we had an awesome lesson with the baldassarras (gian was baptized a couple weeks ago). his wife is also just an awesome person. she has a busy work schedule so we haven't gone over as much with her, but the whole family has been consistently coming to church every week since gian started meeting with the missionaries. so we were going over the plan of salvation with gian and kathy and the spirit was strong as kathy was soaking everything in. we asked her about baptism and she said she believes everything we've taught her and gian....and plans on getting baptized when she gets some more reading in! gian got excited when she said that, we all did. this past sunday gian was confirmed and received the aaronic priesthood so they're both excited already for gian to baptize her. just an incredible family. we cover parts of detroit in our area here, and they're in a pretty rough part of town, but still able to find happiness and be good people regardless of their circumstances and environment.
yesterday we were walking back to our car (we drive a dodge grand caravan, nothing wrong with that) after finishing up a lesson. and this guy was walking down the sidewalk and we stop to give him a card, turns out he met with missionaries in the past and....he raps about the gospel! he just started rapping some of his stuff, it was AWESOME! i actually remember the previous missionaries telling me about him when i was in this area on a exchange a long time ago, we were going to see him on the exchange but he had to cancel the appointment. so i was pumped to see him. we set up to go see him later today. i'll try and get a video or a cd or something. and baptize him. the restored doctrine and principles of the gospel will not only bless him and his family forever, but will also give him way more material than he ever thought possible.
i'm pumped for general conference. i'm trying to prepare for it the best i can, i want to soak in the words of the prophet and apostles as much as possible. their words are gifts from God, and it gives us the vision and strength we need for the next 6 months till they speak again. and something they say can bless us beyond 6 months and make an impact on us for the rest of our lives. Last year in General Conference Elder Holland said, "If we teach by the Spirit and you listen by the Spirit, some one of us will touch on your circumstance, sending a personal prophetic epistle just to you". i'm excited, i hope you guys have a good general conf weekend too. president holmes invited us over to watch a session at the mission home and we've invited the baldassarras. it'll be good.
Check out this quick video, it'll pump you up for General Conference:
https://www.lds.org/prophets-and-apostles/unto-all-the-world/general-conference-has-something-for-you-b?lang=eng
gotta go, love you guys. the church is true, the gospel makes us happier. shall we not go on in so great a cause?
love,
elder lamb
hey there,
things are starting to get chilly out here. i'm hoping things hold off until december since i sent my winter gear home. the nice part is the leaves are starting to change colors, which is awesome in michigan because there are a ton of trees.
this past week has been good. on tuesday we went to New Missionary Training, where the new missionaries and their trainers come together and we discuss how the first month of their mission experience has been, do some practices, do some instructions, and give them a good boost to set them back on their way for the next 2 years. this was a really good batch of new missionaries. it was a great meeting. and sister holmes made taco salad, which is a favorite for any member of the lamb family, so life was good. today we have ZLCM (zone leader council meeting) at the mission home. always a fun meeting too. and sister holmes will have something for lunch too, so again life will be good.
we had an awesome lesson with the baldassarras (gian was baptized a couple weeks ago). his wife is also just an awesome person. she has a busy work schedule so we haven't gone over as much with her, but the whole family has been consistently coming to church every week since gian started meeting with the missionaries. so we were going over the plan of salvation with gian and kathy and the spirit was strong as kathy was soaking everything in. we asked her about baptism and she said she believes everything we've taught her and gian....and plans on getting baptized when she gets some more reading in! gian got excited when she said that, we all did. this past sunday gian was confirmed and received the aaronic priesthood so they're both excited already for gian to baptize her. just an incredible family. we cover parts of detroit in our area here, and they're in a pretty rough part of town, but still able to find happiness and be good people regardless of their circumstances and environment.
yesterday we were walking back to our car (we drive a dodge grand caravan, nothing wrong with that) after finishing up a lesson. and this guy was walking down the sidewalk and we stop to give him a card, turns out he met with missionaries in the past and....he raps about the gospel! he just started rapping some of his stuff, it was AWESOME! i actually remember the previous missionaries telling me about him when i was in this area on a exchange a long time ago, we were going to see him on the exchange but he had to cancel the appointment. so i was pumped to see him. we set up to go see him later today. i'll try and get a video or a cd or something. and baptize him. the restored doctrine and principles of the gospel will not only bless him and his family forever, but will also give him way more material than he ever thought possible.
i'm pumped for general conference. i'm trying to prepare for it the best i can, i want to soak in the words of the prophet and apostles as much as possible. their words are gifts from God, and it gives us the vision and strength we need for the next 6 months till they speak again. and something they say can bless us beyond 6 months and make an impact on us for the rest of our lives. Last year in General Conference Elder Holland said, "If we teach by the Spirit and you listen by the Spirit, some one of us will touch on your circumstance, sending a personal prophetic epistle just to you". i'm excited, i hope you guys have a good general conf weekend too. president holmes invited us over to watch a session at the mission home and we've invited the baldassarras. it'll be good.
Check out this quick video, it'll pump you up for General Conference:
https://www.lds.org/prophets-and-apostles/unto-all-the-world/general-conference-has-something-for-you-b?lang=eng
gotta go, love you guys. the church is true, the gospel makes us happier. shall we not go on in so great a cause?
love,
elder lamb
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
golfing and baptizing, keeping busy
Sept. 24, 2012
Hey! Sorry for the late letter today, we just got back from golfing with President Holmes. He called us up this afternoon and asked if we wanted to go with him and his son who had half day at school. Elder Davis is pretty good, his dad was pro for a little bit. President and his son were good too. The only other time I've played was with that one game Sean and I played in Canada a few years back. So I wasn't so good. But it was a really fun day. Not typical, President hadn't taken missionaries out before, so golfing isn't part of the assistant package. It was a nice occasion today.
In other exciting news, yesterday we had a baptism! Gian-Carlo (sounds like john) entered the waters of baptism last night, it was an awesome program. he's the coolest guy. they had found him a little before i came to the area so i wasn't here for all of the teaching progress. it's a pretty cool story of how they found him, there was a missionary in the area for the day on an exchange and he said they needed to knock on houses with red bricks. the first one they found was gian's, and instantly he was awesome. was drawn to the joseph smith story instantly. he got hit with some anti and overcame it too. just a really good guy. earlier last week we told him "gian, you're ready for baptism". his response was "i know, i've been ready for a while, i was just waiting for you guys to come knock on my door." he's elect. and his wife and two kids have come to church with him every week and love church too, it's just been hard to get everyone together for lessons because of work schedules. so just gian was baptized last night, but hopefully soon the rest of the family will join them. he's already looking forward to baptizing them when it happens.
i'm out of time. but i'm having a blast out here. it's a lot of fun. it's a tender mercy to be finishing the mission this way for the next couple months.
love you guys. god is good. if you need a reminder, just ask him to give you one. have a great week.
elder lamb
ps, happy be-lated rosh hashanah. if anyone's interested, this is a SWEET article from the ensign. you'll never look at a rosh hashanah again. it should be renamed Book of Mormon Day and should be celebrated by latter-day saints.https://www.lds.org/ensign/2000/01/the-golden-plates-and-the-feast-of-trumpets?lang=eng&query=golden+plates+trumpets
In other exciting news, yesterday we had a baptism! Gian-Carlo (sounds like john) entered the waters of baptism last night, it was an awesome program. he's the coolest guy. they had found him a little before i came to the area so i wasn't here for all of the teaching progress. it's a pretty cool story of how they found him, there was a missionary in the area for the day on an exchange and he said they needed to knock on houses with red bricks. the first one they found was gian's, and instantly he was awesome. was drawn to the joseph smith story instantly. he got hit with some anti and overcame it too. just a really good guy. earlier last week we told him "gian, you're ready for baptism". his response was "i know, i've been ready for a while, i was just waiting for you guys to come knock on my door." he's elect. and his wife and two kids have come to church with him every week and love church too, it's just been hard to get everyone together for lessons because of work schedules. so just gian was baptized last night, but hopefully soon the rest of the family will join them. he's already looking forward to baptizing them when it happens.
i'm out of time. but i'm having a blast out here. it's a lot of fun. it's a tender mercy to be finishing the mission this way for the next couple months.
love you guys. god is good. if you need a reminder, just ask him to give you one. have a great week.
elder lamb
ps, happy be-lated rosh hashanah. if anyone's interested, this is a SWEET article from the ensign. you'll never look at a rosh hashanah again. it should be renamed Book of Mormon Day and should be celebrated by latter-day saints.https://www.lds.org/ensign/2000/01/the-golden-plates-and-the-feast-of-trumpets?lang=eng&query=golden+plates+trumpets
Sunday, September 9, 2012
super short
Sept. 5, 2012
Really low on time. We're walking out the door now. But real quick update:
New transfer this week. I'm serving in the Livonia North area with my homie Elder Davis. We're reunited. So pumped. And he and I are the assistants to President Holmes. So things are very busy. We have to get going to drop off some departing missionaries.
But the church is true! And I'm jealous you got to see the Aquabats. They're super rad.
love ya,
elder lamb
Monday, August 27, 2012
hello
hey, not a lot of time. we're going to the temple this thursday as a district, so we have a normal proselyting day today. but it was another good week in ypsilanti. i got to go on an exchange with elder davis, my 6 foot 8 friend who i served with here in ypsilanti back in march. he is a missionary stud, and it was fun having the duo back for the day. and it was an incredible exchange, a lot of miracles in finding and teaching. he and i have a good companero vibe.
and big marcus and mike both received the priesthood! i almost got to ordain big marcus, he asked me to because his buddy who baptized him wasn't at church at first, but we called him up and he came down and was able to do it. i would have loved to do it, but what matters is that he got it. both of them! and we're planning on going to the temple this friday to do baptisms with them and a couple of other recent converts. we also have zone leader council meeting on friday morning. and it's the last week of the transfer. so it's going to be a wild week. i'm not saying i'm feeling like i'm going to get transferred, but i HAVE been in ypsilanti for 6 months now....just pointing it out.
but it was a great week. we have 7 people committed to a date at the moment, and we're finding some awesome new people. and the awesome people who were recently baptized are still awesome. this week we gave elizabeth a preach my gospel (she's wanting to go on a mission one day) and we had her teach us the plan of salvation. she's got the skills, and the spirit. and really everyone is doing great in their own ways.
it's fun.
love ya guys, have a great week,
elder lamb
Monday, August 20, 2012
knock, knock, knockin on ypsi's do-o-ors
Sorry for leaving you hanging on the email last week. I was sabotaged by the computer timer. And I actually don't have much time today either. Our ward mission leader brother jensen, awesome guy, is taking us and the belleville elders to the Henry Ford Museum. And we're meeting him in just a little bit. I've been before, but it's a neat place. I've taken pictures of most of the cool stuff, but I'll see if I can still find some good pictures to send you guys. Our preparation days have been busy ever since I've come to Ypsi, and the next few weeks of this transfer are just as busy. Next week we're going to the temple with our district, and the week after that we're having a zone activity. It'll be a lot like the one Elder Adamson and I put together in Westland - ultimate frisbee, dodgeball, and other games at our stake center. So mission's are both fulfilling and fun!
This week was great, we got to do more finding than we have been in a couple of weeks. We've been pretty busy with teaching that it's been hard to find. Which is a good problem to have, but you start to hunger after those tracting sessions, believe it or not. Not to mention all of the strange experiences that can come from tracting, it's like russian rullet (sp?) because you never know what will happen on the other side of the door. Just the other day a guy came to the door with a pistol. He calmed down when he found out who we were. Wasn't interested though. We've had some really neat experiences in finding this past week too, where the Spirit whispers to us where we need to start knocking doors. There was one experience a couple of days ago, we had no idea where we needed to go but we eventually ended up on a street and felt that it was the right place. I was thinking about which side we should start tracting and the first thought I had was to knock on the right side of the street. But then I noticed that the left side had three or four times as many cars parked out in front - so it made sense to me that we should go down this side where there would clearly be many more people to talk to. But just to be sure, I tried to discern between the two and decided on the first impression to tract the side with less cars. Then we started our tracting session off with a prayer, and after the prayer I felt the confirmation that the thought to tract the right side was definitely a prompting. And sure enough, we tracted into an awesome guy. We were lead to him for a reason. It's neat to see that the Lord really will do all things to help us if we give Him the chance to speak and if we trust in His directions.
This week I went on an exchange with Elder Clark, my son! He just came into the Ann Arbor Zone this transfer. I've seen him at meetings every once in a while but it was the first time I've really worked with him since his days of being trained in Burton. It was fun being his companion again for a day or so. Crazy that was almost a year ago. He's been out of Burton for a while too now, but he was just on the phone with another missionary serving there and got an update on Bill.
Well out of time. But have a grrrrreat week! Love ya guys!
Elder Lamb
(sorry this was from last week, but the computer logged me off before i could send it)
Hey family,
This week was busy. We had two days of Specialized Training. Elder Johnson and I gave an instruction on planning, it turned out pretty good. The meetings were awesome. I don't know if I've talked much about President Holmes' spiritual guru skills, but he's got them. Every time he instructs it's powerful. He has taught me things on my mission that have changed my life. He's so in tune with the Spirit and he understands complex things and can break them down so simply, and he understands what I have always considered to be simple things and expounds on them in ways I've never even known how to think about doing. Aka, he's the man. He gave some great instructions this week on faith, on receiving the spirit, the week before he instructed on zion at our zone leader council meeting. Good stuff.
I'm low on time with the computer's timer so i'll be brief. today we're having our district activity, we're going to the institute to play ping pong and other games. that'll be fun. we also have to plan for another meeting coming up, zone training meeting, it's new, it should be fun.
this week was a good week. big marcus was confirmed yesterday. we're trying to get everyone to the temple really quick for the first time so that's our next step for these awesome people we're working with.
This week was great, we got to do more finding than we have been in a couple of weeks. We've been pretty busy with teaching that it's been hard to find. Which is a good problem to have, but you start to hunger after those tracting sessions, believe it or not. Not to mention all of the strange experiences that can come from tracting, it's like russian rullet (sp?) because you never know what will happen on the other side of the door. Just the other day a guy came to the door with a pistol. He calmed down when he found out who we were. Wasn't interested though. We've had some really neat experiences in finding this past week too, where the Spirit whispers to us where we need to start knocking doors. There was one experience a couple of days ago, we had no idea where we needed to go but we eventually ended up on a street and felt that it was the right place. I was thinking about which side we should start tracting and the first thought I had was to knock on the right side of the street. But then I noticed that the left side had three or four times as many cars parked out in front - so it made sense to me that we should go down this side where there would clearly be many more people to talk to. But just to be sure, I tried to discern between the two and decided on the first impression to tract the side with less cars. Then we started our tracting session off with a prayer, and after the prayer I felt the confirmation that the thought to tract the right side was definitely a prompting. And sure enough, we tracted into an awesome guy. We were lead to him for a reason. It's neat to see that the Lord really will do all things to help us if we give Him the chance to speak and if we trust in His directions.
This week I went on an exchange with Elder Clark, my son! He just came into the Ann Arbor Zone this transfer. I've seen him at meetings every once in a while but it was the first time I've really worked with him since his days of being trained in Burton. It was fun being his companion again for a day or so. Crazy that was almost a year ago. He's been out of Burton for a while too now, but he was just on the phone with another missionary serving there and got an update on Bill.
Remember Bill? He's the "old time Baptist preacher" as he'd call himself, who we were working with for a long time and ended up getting baptized. He's the guy who had that issue with smoking that Pres Holmes had to figure out with the area authorities. But Bill the old time Baptist preacher is now a Mormon priest! He's been a Mormon for a while now, but he just got the Aaronic Priesthood apparently. That man is incredible.
Well out of time. But have a grrrrreat week! Love ya guys!
Elder Lamb
(sorry this was from last week, but the computer logged me off before i could send it)
Hey family,
This week was busy. We had two days of Specialized Training. Elder Johnson and I gave an instruction on planning, it turned out pretty good. The meetings were awesome. I don't know if I've talked much about President Holmes' spiritual guru skills, but he's got them. Every time he instructs it's powerful. He has taught me things on my mission that have changed my life. He's so in tune with the Spirit and he understands complex things and can break them down so simply, and he understands what I have always considered to be simple things and expounds on them in ways I've never even known how to think about doing. Aka, he's the man. He gave some great instructions this week on faith, on receiving the spirit, the week before he instructed on zion at our zone leader council meeting. Good stuff.
I'm low on time with the computer's timer so i'll be brief. today we're having our district activity, we're going to the institute to play ping pong and other games. that'll be fun. we also have to plan for another meeting coming up, zone training meeting, it's new, it should be fun.
this week was a good week. big marcus was confirmed yesterday. we're trying to get everyone to the temple really quick for the first time so that's our next step for these awesome people we're working with.
Monday, August 6, 2012
Big Marcus's Big Baptism!
First of all.. Happy B-day Arin! (here's your shoutout) Enjoy your day, have fun, make Sean take you roller blading or something awesome like that :)
Yesterday Big Marcus was baptized! It was great. There was a lot of ward support, people love that guy. And the Belleville elders (the other companionship in the ward) baptized a lady and her daughter who they had been working with for a while. So it was an exciting day for the Ypsilanti Ward. It was a good program. Big Marcus was baptized by his friend Boone who's in the ward. Boone and his family played a big role in helping Marcus get to this point so it was neat to have Boone be the guy to do the job. And it was extra exciting to watch since Boone is a pretty small guy compared to Marcus as you can see from the picture ;)
Marcus' mom isn't a member and hasn't been interested in taking any formal discussions but came to the baptism and seemed to enjoy everything. Earlier in the week, Marcus told us he was interested in going on a mission maybe. That was awesome, we were PUMPED. And then at church after the baptism program he asked his mom what she thought about him going on a mission one day, she said she'd have no problem supporting him. Look out Babylon! That was so sweet to hear! He's 18 now so it won't be long. He's a good guy, a good example for myself. I'm excited for him.
I don't even remember what all happened this week. We had zlcm (zone leader council meeting) at the mission home, that was a great meeting. and the missionary program is starting a new meeting church-wide called Zone Training Meeting. We still don't know how it'll play out exactly, but it basically is a big zone-wide district meeting for those of you who know what a district meeting is. but we have it once a month after zlcm to relay a lot of training ideas that were discussed at zlcm to the rest of the missionaries. and it's different than a zone conference because president and the assistants don't come and put the meeting together, it's basically put together and ran by the zone leaders. so elder johnson and i are putting that together in a couple weeks, we'll figure it out....probably :) we're also putting together a zone activity this transfer. so we're keeping busy. i'm starting to appreciate "being busy" more, the days of looking forward to sitting around and relaxing are starting to fade away and i'm starting to be ok with that. which is good as long as i don't burn myself out. but the Lord gives us strength out here if we want it. but don't be surprised if i come home and take a big nap for a few days.
Things are still good out here in Ypsi. We have specialized training tomorrow and thursday, so elder johnson and i are putting together an instruction all day today.....on something. we're at square one right now so we'll pray for guidance. so that's what our p-day is looking like right now. hope you guys are having a great week and having fun.
love ya,
elder lamb
"How could a person possibly become what he is not thinking? Nor is any thought, when persistently entertained, too small to have its effect. The “divinity that shapes our ends” is indeed in ourselves, It is one’s very self." -Spencer w. Kimball
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
The OC
July 30, 2012
New transfer! I'm here in Ypsilanti still, and my new companion is Elder Johnson from....Irvine, CA! Gotta love that OC spirit. He's great, I've served around him before, he was a district leader in the westland zone when i was a zone leader there. he and i know some of the same people too. and he has some good ideas for the zone that we'll feel out, he was a zone leader in the bloomfield hills zone for the past few months. and it's been a fun week, we've seen lots of good things happen. just yesterday a lady called us up and said she really needs spiritual guidance. it was a lady elder pedersen and i talked to about a month ago and gave her a card. when we taught her yesterday for the first time she had a lot of research done already on the mormon church and was ready to just soak in as much as we could give her. we had another experience where there was a lady helping her father, who was in his 80s and had dimensia, out of the car and he ended up collapsing on her and fell to the ground. we ran over from across the street and helped get him into the house. he seemed ok, we got him set up on his coach and helped her calm down. she said she had things under control, so we left her with a plan of salvation pamphlet and our phone number. it was pretty intense, very scary for her.
i think the highlight of the week was going to the temple. we went on saturday with elizabeth (baptized last saturday) and cyaira (baptized in may) to do temple baptisms. it was their first time going and it was a great experience. elizabeth probably set a new record for the quickest temple trip for a new member after their own baptism. the credit goes to the young women leaders in the ward, they jumped right on that and put together the trip for them. it was the first temple baptism trip i've been on since i've been out here too, we helped out with some of the ordinance work too.
i'm low on time, we went to help some people move this morning and we still have some things to do before 6 when p-day comes to a close. but life is good! hope everyone is doing good over there on the west side of the states. have a great day.
New transfer! I'm here in Ypsilanti still, and my new companion is Elder Johnson from....Irvine, CA! Gotta love that OC spirit. He's great, I've served around him before, he was a district leader in the westland zone when i was a zone leader there. he and i know some of the same people too. and he has some good ideas for the zone that we'll feel out, he was a zone leader in the bloomfield hills zone for the past few months. and it's been a fun week, we've seen lots of good things happen. just yesterday a lady called us up and said she really needs spiritual guidance. it was a lady elder pedersen and i talked to about a month ago and gave her a card. when we taught her yesterday for the first time she had a lot of research done already on the mormon church and was ready to just soak in as much as we could give her. we had another experience where there was a lady helping her father, who was in his 80s and had dimensia, out of the car and he ended up collapsing on her and fell to the ground. we ran over from across the street and helped get him into the house. he seemed ok, we got him set up on his coach and helped her calm down. she said she had things under control, so we left her with a plan of salvation pamphlet and our phone number. it was pretty intense, very scary for her.
i think the highlight of the week was going to the temple. we went on saturday with elizabeth (baptized last saturday) and cyaira (baptized in may) to do temple baptisms. it was their first time going and it was a great experience. elizabeth probably set a new record for the quickest temple trip for a new member after their own baptism. the credit goes to the young women leaders in the ward, they jumped right on that and put together the trip for them. it was the first temple baptism trip i've been on since i've been out here too, we helped out with some of the ordinance work too.
i'm low on time, we went to help some people move this morning and we still have some things to do before 6 when p-day comes to a close. but life is good! hope everyone is doing good over there on the west side of the states. have a great day.
much love, elder lamb
July 23, 2012
Baptized and Baptized
Elizabeth and Mike were baptized! It was a great baptism service, the spirit was very strong. Elizabeth was in tears when she was standing in the font. And Mike was just so at peace for the whole thing. It has been an awesome experience working with them both. It seems like helping others learn about the gospel is also an experience to learn things yourself, and these two were no different. And just unbelievable miracles took place that anchored my own faith more in the Lord. This is His work, we just are helping Him.
The baptisms were absolutely the highlight of the week. And something much less significant, but still fun, was the baseball game we went to on Thursday. Angels vs Tigers. The Tigers won. Rachel and Kristena drove us and the Belleville Elders (Kristena was baptized in March and Rachel was baptized in June), so it was fun to go with them. And we ended up seeing a lot of other missionaries there.
So there are some pictures from the game and also of Mike and Elizabeth. They're the ones in the front of the picture in between Elder Pedersen and me. The two in the back are members of the ward who baptized them. Bro Higham has the beard and he's one of the ward missionaries, awesome guy. He helps us a lot with teaching and has become a good friend of Mike. And the man with the glasses is Cyaira's grandpa (who also baptized Cyaira in May). Elizabeth is a close friend of Cyaira and her family. And Elizabeth's mom is in the middle. And then there's also a bonus picture I threw in, it's me in Grinch footy pajamas. Swagger, huh?
That's about it I think for the week. The new transfer starts today. Elder Pedersen goes home tomorrow so I'll be getting a new companion. We're meeting up with some other missionaries and some members today to play some games at the church. It'll be a fun day. Elder P's doing good it seems like, still focused and having fun. Not too weirded out with going home.
Well gotta go, love you guys. Have a great week.
Love, Elder Lamb
Baptized and Baptized
Aloha.
Elizabeth and Mike were baptized! It was a great baptism service, the spirit was very strong. Elizabeth was in tears when she was standing in the font. And Mike was just so at peace for the whole thing. It has been an awesome experience working with them both. It seems like helping others learn about the gospel is also an experience to learn things yourself, and these two were no different. And just unbelievable miracles took place that anchored my own faith more in the Lord. This is His work, we just are helping Him.
The baptisms were absolutely the highlight of the week. And something much less significant, but still fun, was the baseball game we went to on Thursday. Angels vs Tigers. The Tigers won. Rachel and Kristena drove us and the Belleville Elders (Kristena was baptized in March and Rachel was baptized in June), so it was fun to go with them. And we ended up seeing a lot of other missionaries there.
So there are some pictures from the game and also of Mike and Elizabeth. They're the ones in the front of the picture in between Elder Pedersen and me. The two in the back are members of the ward who baptized them. Bro Higham has the beard and he's one of the ward missionaries, awesome guy. He helps us a lot with teaching and has become a good friend of Mike. And the man with the glasses is Cyaira's grandpa (who also baptized Cyaira in May). Elizabeth is a close friend of Cyaira and her family. And Elizabeth's mom is in the middle. And then there's also a bonus picture I threw in, it's me in Grinch footy pajamas. Swagger, huh?
That's about it I think for the week. The new transfer starts today. Elder Pedersen goes home tomorrow so I'll be getting a new companion. We're meeting up with some other missionaries and some members today to play some games at the church. It'll be a fun day. Elder P's doing good it seems like, still focused and having fun. Not too weirded out with going home.
Well gotta go, love you guys. Have a great week.
Love, Elder Lamb
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
upcoming baptisms
July 16, 2012
Hey,
This week was pretty awesome. Some great things happened. Things have come together for both Mike and Elizabeth to be baptized this upcoming saturday. I can't explain it all but miracles have just been taking place that has made everything possible. It's clear to see the Lord wants people baptized just as much, and more, than we do. He has been involved in these conversion processes throughout it all and without a doubt before the lessons even began. Much prayer and fasting, hard work, Elizabeth and Mike's own faith, and the Lord's divine intervention has made things possible. Experiences like this solidify my knowledge that the Lord is alive and involved in our lives. Whether we realize it or not - and when we realize it and turn to Him, He can and will do even more for us.
We had another awesome experience yesterday. One of our investigators texted us and told us he had some good news he wanted to share with us and his member friends whose house we teach him at sometimes. We went over for a lesson at the members' house and he told us he's been praying about baptism into the Mormon church and got his answer that he should! His name is Big Marcus. He's the man. We've been working with him for a few weeks and he's been thinking about baptism, saying he would if he got the answer to, and said that he hopes he gets that answer. And now he finally has that answer. So he's on date for a few weeks out from now. It was great, there was a great spirit in the lesson and we were all really happy for him, he was happy himself.
This is less miraculous but still exciting, but this week we're going to watch some baseball! We switched our preparation day from today to Thursday because we got tickets to see the Angels play the Tigers down in Detroit. Don't worry I'll root for the Angels. This will be the first game I've been to, and tickets were like 9 dollars I think. So that'll be fun. We still came in to do emails today but we're going out to teach once we're done.
I think that's about it for the week here in Ypsi. This is week 6 of the transfer and Elder Pedersen's last week of his mission. Crazy. We're going all out.
I hope you guys have a great week. Enjoy Batman and Spider-man.
Love,
Elder Lamb
July 9, 2012
like a fire is burning
July 9, 2012
July 2, 2012
Happy 4th!
June 25, 2012
June 18, 2012
June 11, 2012
new transfer:
hola! how's everyone doing? makenzie's prob pretty pumped, congrats on making it through high school. have fun at your graduation this thursday! everyone's out of school out here i think. this week is the first week of the nex transfer. elder pedersen and i are both staying here in ypsi. this is his last transfer too, so we're going all out. i guess we're suppose to go all out every transfer anyways, but regardless we're going hard these next 6 weeks.
Hey,
This week was pretty awesome. Some great things happened. Things have come together for both Mike and Elizabeth to be baptized this upcoming saturday. I can't explain it all but miracles have just been taking place that has made everything possible. It's clear to see the Lord wants people baptized just as much, and more, than we do. He has been involved in these conversion processes throughout it all and without a doubt before the lessons even began. Much prayer and fasting, hard work, Elizabeth and Mike's own faith, and the Lord's divine intervention has made things possible. Experiences like this solidify my knowledge that the Lord is alive and involved in our lives. Whether we realize it or not - and when we realize it and turn to Him, He can and will do even more for us.
We had another awesome experience yesterday. One of our investigators texted us and told us he had some good news he wanted to share with us and his member friends whose house we teach him at sometimes. We went over for a lesson at the members' house and he told us he's been praying about baptism into the Mormon church and got his answer that he should! His name is Big Marcus. He's the man. We've been working with him for a few weeks and he's been thinking about baptism, saying he would if he got the answer to, and said that he hopes he gets that answer. And now he finally has that answer. So he's on date for a few weeks out from now. It was great, there was a great spirit in the lesson and we were all really happy for him, he was happy himself.
This is less miraculous but still exciting, but this week we're going to watch some baseball! We switched our preparation day from today to Thursday because we got tickets to see the Angels play the Tigers down in Detroit. Don't worry I'll root for the Angels. This will be the first game I've been to, and tickets were like 9 dollars I think. So that'll be fun. We still came in to do emails today but we're going out to teach once we're done.
I think that's about it for the week here in Ypsi. This is week 6 of the transfer and Elder Pedersen's last week of his mission. Crazy. We're going all out.
I hope you guys have a great week. Enjoy Batman and Spider-man.
Love,
Elder Lamb
July 9, 2012
like a fire is burning
hotter than a mug. that's what they say in the D. I've never learned what mug really means, I've been told it means something pretty bad, but other people say it doesn't really mean anything. so maybe be careful who you say it around, but even the locals don't really know what it means so you're probably safe. but it has been hot. in the triple digits, and the humidity bumps the heat index up even higher. and if you remember from my last email, our AC had been off. It was off for about a little over a week. it took a few days for them to figure out what the problem was. it turns out my companyero did it. he kicked my sky ball you guys had sent me and it hit the thermostat and broke it off the wall. and in the chaos of all that the wires got fried so it wouldn't connect to the water heater. but they didn't know that at first and thought it was the water heater, so they replaced that, which meant they had to turn off the water for a about a day and a half. ha it was an adventure, but it's alright because it builds character. also, we went on two exchanges this week and i left the area each time :) but at any rate, it's all good in the hood! we got the AC back on on Friday morning during weekly planning.
and thanks for the package! the bacon chocolate was pretty neat, tasted a little strange, but very cool. and the shirt is awesome. hope you guys had a happy 4th and delaney i hope you had a bumpin' b-day! i can't believe you're 13! it sounds like you guys are having fun and keeping busy.
this week was pretty awesome.
Some major miracles happened. We've been teaching this awesome investigator for a few months now, she's very converted to the gospel. She's 16 and she's already planning on going on a mission one day. She has very close friends in the ward, she's the girl I've told you a little about who came up to us at Cyaira's baptism and told us she wants to get baptized. so we've been meeting with her regularly and she's been doing just awesome. her mom is a really nice lady and has been sitting in on a lot of the lessons and has been really supportive in driving her to church each week and lessons and mutual. she's been holding off on giving her daughter permission to be baptized until December to make sure she'll have enough time to learn everything and to see if she's really committed to it all. So we've just been teaching and helping her regardless of when she's getting baptized, and we've been doing a lot of praying. And we even fasted with Elizabeth (the daughter) and some other members in the ward this past Fast Sunday. And then last night her mom texted us asking us what would have to take place to prepare for her baptism if she was to give her permission to be baptized this month. And then Elizabeth texted us today telling us she's getting baptized on July 21st! That is in every sense of the word a miracle. Only the Lord could have directed this situation from where it was to where it is now.
And then another miracle took place yesterday at church. We're working with another awesome guy who's on date for baptism also. The ward has been really helpful with rides and fellowship, he doesn't have a car right now. It hasn't been the easiest situation for him in meeting with us also, some of his roommates are giving him a hard time and his mom has been a little upset with him too. But yesterday in sacrament meeting he got a text saying his mom is going to just give him her car. Miracle!
So it's been an awesome week. I barely remember the heat. Things are good. There was an area in our zone shut down a couple weeks ago so we went to clean out the apartment today with some other missionaries and then went to lunch at a place in downtown Ann Arbor called Krazy Jim's Blimpie Burger. It was good, really greasy. It's been on the food network or some sort of show like that.
Gotta go. Have a great week everybody.
Here's a cool quote. "Nothing is going to startle us more when we pass through the veil to the other side than to realize how well we know our Father and how familiar his face is to us." - President Ezra Taft Benson.
Much love,
Elder Lamb
July 9, 2012
I haven't heard a word about my return date yet. Elder Pedersen goes home in about two weeks and he told me that his family got the itinerary info a few weeks ago. So you'll prob get it about 4-6 weeks before I come home. So you'll probably find out the date sometime in October?
July 2, 2012
Happy 4th!
This week was warm. Which didn't help when our AC stopped working a few days ago. So my blankets are a thing of the past. We're going to figure it out with the maintenace man hopefully today. He's a cool guy. He gives us spiritual thoughts whenever we see him. He's an elder himself, ordained when a local bishop layed his hands on his head, just from a different church...and so a different authority. Awesome guy though. We gave him a Book of Mormon a few months ago. Nothing has come of it yet. But one day it'll happen!
We went to the mission fireside this week and brought one of our investigators. His name's Big Marcus, he's a close friend of an awesome family in the ward. We've been working with him for a few weeks now. He seemed to get a lot out of the fireside. There were some great recent convert testimonies. And at the fireside I saw a kid named Esclon who I was teaching the whole 6 months I was in Roseville. Awesome kid, he's 17 now, just never had a way to get to church. That was all he ever needed to get baptized. Knew the church was true the whole time, just never could get to church and his family wasn't very interested. So I haven't seen him in almost a year and I saw him this past Thursday, and he told me he was getting baptized the upcoming Saturday. So he got baptized this weekend! That was a tender mercy to be able to talk to him there a few days before his baptism. You never know when someone's going to accept the gospel and eventually enter into that covenant, we just have to keep planting and nurturing those seeds.
This week should be fun. We're going to a BBQ on the 4th at the institute building down in Ann Arbor. Our district is putting it together so all of those missionaries will be there with hopefully a ton of investigators and recent converts. We've got a few people planning on coming from our area already.
That's about it for the week. Have a fun 4th! The missionary handbook says we can't play with fireworks so set off a ton of extra ones for me, the more the better :)
have a great week, love you guys
elder lamb
June 25, 2012
general authorities in ann arbor:
Good morning :) how was new york? did you spot any celebrities? i hope you all had fun. and happy almost anniversary mom and pops!
this week we had elder per g. malm from the 2nd quorum of the seventy come out to tour the mission. he came to speak to us when i was at the mtc too, and i was looking through my notes from both meetings and it turned out he shared a lot of the same stories each time i saw him speak. but that's not to complain, this meeting was awesome. he's an awesome man. he's from sweden, he's pretty funny and at the same time there's no doubt he takes his calling very seriously. he talked about personal accountability and integrity and about acting in faith. pretty typical topics, but i got a lot out of it that i needed. it was probably the most revelatory experience i've taken away from a mission meeting, which is saying a lot because they're always jam packed with the spirit and give you an awesome boost of momentum. it was a blessing having him come, no doubt he's a very inspired and righteous man. just talking with him and especially when you look into his eyes you can tell he's called by God.
things are still good here in ypsi, we're staying busy. we've been improving our finding and we've found some awesome people we've already had a couple powerful lessons with. and we're still working with elizabeth who is still doing incredibly well. she's the friend of cyaira who came up to us after her baptism telling us she wanted to be baptized. she's pretty much been taught everything but her mom is still wanting her to wait a while before she's baptized so we're just helping her build her faith even more at this point. her mom's not a member of the church, so it's understandable to be a little cautious. but she's doing great, the ward loves her and it seems like her yw leaders are really impressed with her. she and kristena both went to youth conference this weekend and really liked it. they're both planning on going to young womens' camp this summer too.
weather's really nice today. we might play some volleyball with a couple other companionships and some members. we might go get some lunch with some other missionaries too. should be a good week coming up.
have a great week and enjoy your summer. hit up the beach for me if you can :)
love, elder lamb
June 18, 2012
new couch:
Happy Father's Day dad! Hopefully the girls made you breakfast in bed or something nice like that. It's probably even cooler to have breakfast in bed made for you when you're vacationing in New York City. Jay-Z would approve. Hope you guys are having a fun trip. If you get a chance and if you're in the mood for burgers, you should try a place called the Shake Shack. Have fun :)
This week has been good. We got a couch the other day from the smiths. We were ecstatic. Missionaries still haven't been in this apartment for very long so really the only furniture it's had are some wooden chairs and our beds. Not to complain, other missionary apartments might even have less, but it's been nice to have this couch. The bad part about all this is that Elder pedersen set his glasses and name tag down in our hallway when we were moving the couch up the stairs, and when we came back out they were gone. someone must have snagged them. sort of a bummer. he likes the couch a lot though, so we're not too upset.
this week elder per g. malm of the seventy is coming to tour the mission. he spoke at the mtc when i was there, he's a cool guy from sweden. that's tomorrow and that will be fun. this week we found a lot of new people and we're feeling good about this new transfer. there are a lot of good things going on. we're so blessed to have the restored gospel of jesus christ in our lives. we have it so good. the more we immerse ourselves in the gospel, the happier we are. the gospel life really is the good life.
love you guys a lot. have a great week in the city!
love,
elder lamb
June 11, 2012
new transfer:
hola! how's everyone doing? makenzie's prob pretty pumped, congrats on making it through high school. have fun at your graduation this thursday! everyone's out of school out here i think. this week is the first week of the nex transfer. elder pedersen and i are both staying here in ypsi. this is his last transfer too, so we're going all out. i guess we're suppose to go all out every transfer anyways, but regardless we're going hard these next 6 weeks.
something new that's going on out here is there's a new senior couple in the ward. they're here for 18 months, they were called to work in the singles ward that meets in the same building and with the institute program, but they also agreed to help out the ypsi ward. so we're pumped, they're going to be a lot of help for some people we're working with. they're names are elder and sister tingey. they're cool. a highlight of the week was that we took kristena tracting. by the way, kristena found the link to this blog somehow, so if you're reading this kristena, stop creeping on my blog :) jk, you can keep reading. but as i was saying, we went tracting with kristena one day in her neighborhood to give her a little sample of the missionary life. we actually didn't get very far because we told her that tracting is what we do when members don't invite their friends to meet with us, and so she called up her friend who actually lived on that street and he said we could come by and teach him. we haven't heard back from him since, but it was a neat experience. kristena also spoke in sacrament meeting this week, she told her experience of starting to meet with the missionaries and working towards baptism. it was prob the best talk i've heard in sacrament meeting in a while. everyone was paying attention and the whole ward was feeling the spirit really strong. i wouldn't be lying if i told you i ALMOST got a little teary eyed. but just almost.
things are great though. it's al ittle rainy today, we were thinking about playing some ultimate at the church with some other missionaries and members but we'll see. i think that's about it for the week. that's about it for time though.
by the way, word is spreading that i was on yo gabba gabba. pssh i feel for elder david archiletta.
love you guys. thanks for all you do. keep being a great example to me and everyone else around you. the church is true!
love, elder lamb
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