Sunday, March 13, 2011
Transferred!
March 8, 2011
Hey so transfers were today. I'm in the Roseville area now. It's actually the area right above my last area, they touch at 8 Mile i think. But it's a different zone and it for sure is a completely different place than Mack was down in the city. I'm in a ward, which is pretty nice. And we're in a car area now. We even have a senior couple in our ward. I'm planning on staying here for a while so I guess I'll start making this home. My companion seems like a cool guy, his name is Elder Kitchen. He's been out 9 months, he's from Carlsbad actually. Exciting times ahead. Don't quite know what to expect but I'm looking forward to it. I love you guys, everything's going great. Here's my new address:
20435 Vernier Rd. #1
Harper Woods, MI 48225
Hey so transfers were today. I'm in the Roseville area now. It's actually the area right above my last area, they touch at 8 Mile i think. But it's a different zone and it for sure is a completely different place than Mack was down in the city. I'm in a ward, which is pretty nice. And we're in a car area now. We even have a senior couple in our ward. I'm planning on staying here for a while so I guess I'll start making this home. My companion seems like a cool guy, his name is Elder Kitchen. He's been out 9 months, he's from Carlsbad actually. Exciting times ahead. Don't quite know what to expect but I'm looking forward to it. I love you guys, everything's going great. Here's my new address:
20435 Vernier Rd. #1
Harper Woods, MI 48225
March 7, 2011
Wow lots of exciting things happening with you guys lately. I love hearing about it all, if I were anywhere else I'd drop everything and come party with you guys for all that. Well I probably wouldn't have been invited to kauai anyways, but the cruise sounded good. and some other things, but i don't know if i'm supposed to talk about them...but life sounds pretty exciting right now, i'm pumped for you guys :D
so things have been going pretty sweet here in the big d as well. honestly, there may not be a sweeter place to be to do missionary work. the belle isle branch is growing like never before and the people there are amazing. the work is on fire. the book of mormon class we started has been successful and is taking off. the young mens and young womens programs are really beginning to pick up. the home/visiting teaching programs are being redrawn to become way more effective. and the members are solid. they're sacrificing much to help out with each other and with the investigators. the lord's work is really moving forward right now here in the branch. it will be a ward sooner than later. a stake or two one day. and to top it off, we had 5 baptisms yesterday in the branch. Cinco. It was a sweet experience. 3 baptisms from the Van Dyke elders and 2 from us.
To give you some more understanding of what's happening overall in our Michigan Detroit Mission, here's an excerpt from our weekly mission update: "14 People entered into a covenant with their Heavenly Father this week that will bless them for the duration of their lives upon the earth, and for all eternity. As far as we know there have not been 14 people baptized in a single week in our mission for a really long time, if ever. That is so great! The only thing that limits us from bringing forth “much fruit” is ourselves; the things that are now happening in the mission are a testimony that we are more fully allowing our Heavenly Father to do his work by getting ourselves (our will) out of the way. " and "In February, 23 souls were baptized, a great month! For March there are already 59 on date to be baptized. You are performing miracles with the Lord! We have set a mission goal to for 25 baptisms/month."
and our area has some more baptismal dates set with some really solid investigators for the next couple of weeks in march.
....BUT i'm getting transferred. tomorrow. uggh. oh man i was bummed, elder hoffman and i were pretty caught off gaurd. but i'm feeling better now. the city was the sweetest experience ever. and the work was picking up, and elder hoffman and i had come up with some pretty promising plans for this next transfer coming up. there's a lot of un-tapped territory in our area where we believe the elect are hiding and we have been praying for them and preparing for getting the work started with them this week. so that was tough to hear i'm taking off tomorrow. but i've managed to work through the bitterness of the situation. i'm still bummed, but i'm thankful i was blessed enough to be here at all and to be able to start off my mission here. i'm excited to see where i'm sent. but keep an eye on detroit, there are some big things happening there in the future.
but everything's going great. a lot of exciting things in the mission. i had the opportunity to baptize one of our investigators yesterday, my first baptism experience on the mission, and it was sweet. tyron smith, he's 19 and he's a stud. he's already talking about teaching his mom and his friends and wants to come teaching with us. the other investigator of ours who was baptized yesterday was a 9 year old named Michael. His mom is an investigator too but she can't get baptized until her marriage, so we went ahead and baptized him anyways. he said "i really feel it in my heart, i just need to get baptized in the right church and get the holy ghost!" haha he's a character, and a really sweet kid with a solid testimony and desire to serve Heavenly Father.
I think I'll be able to send you an email tomorrow and tell you my new address and where i'm going to be. President Holmes told me that this next area will probably be a place i end up staying in for a while, so you prob won't have to worry about the address changing for a bit.
oh and i bought a little sd card/usb uploader, so i can send a picture here and there. here's the one from our baptism. michael is the kid next to me, and tyron who i baptized is the guy right next to michael. elder hoffman my companion is the one in the suit. it was a really sweet day.
have a good week,
love ya guys
Wow lots of exciting things happening with you guys lately. I love hearing about it all, if I were anywhere else I'd drop everything and come party with you guys for all that. Well I probably wouldn't have been invited to kauai anyways, but the cruise sounded good. and some other things, but i don't know if i'm supposed to talk about them...but life sounds pretty exciting right now, i'm pumped for you guys :D
so things have been going pretty sweet here in the big d as well. honestly, there may not be a sweeter place to be to do missionary work. the belle isle branch is growing like never before and the people there are amazing. the work is on fire. the book of mormon class we started has been successful and is taking off. the young mens and young womens programs are really beginning to pick up. the home/visiting teaching programs are being redrawn to become way more effective. and the members are solid. they're sacrificing much to help out with each other and with the investigators. the lord's work is really moving forward right now here in the branch. it will be a ward sooner than later. a stake or two one day. and to top it off, we had 5 baptisms yesterday in the branch. Cinco. It was a sweet experience. 3 baptisms from the Van Dyke elders and 2 from us.
To give you some more understanding of what's happening overall in our Michigan Detroit Mission, here's an excerpt from our weekly mission update: "14 People entered into a covenant with their Heavenly Father this week that will bless them for the duration of their lives upon the earth, and for all eternity. As far as we know there have not been 14 people baptized in a single week in our mission for a really long time, if ever. That is so great! The only thing that limits us from bringing forth “much fruit” is ourselves; the things that are now happening in the mission are a testimony that we are more fully allowing our Heavenly Father to do his work by getting ourselves (our will) out of the way. " and "In February, 23 souls were baptized, a great month! For March there are already 59 on date to be baptized. You are performing miracles with the Lord! We have set a mission goal to for 25 baptisms/month."
and our area has some more baptismal dates set with some really solid investigators for the next couple of weeks in march.
....BUT i'm getting transferred. tomorrow. uggh. oh man i was bummed, elder hoffman and i were pretty caught off gaurd. but i'm feeling better now. the city was the sweetest experience ever. and the work was picking up, and elder hoffman and i had come up with some pretty promising plans for this next transfer coming up. there's a lot of un-tapped territory in our area where we believe the elect are hiding and we have been praying for them and preparing for getting the work started with them this week. so that was tough to hear i'm taking off tomorrow. but i've managed to work through the bitterness of the situation. i'm still bummed, but i'm thankful i was blessed enough to be here at all and to be able to start off my mission here. i'm excited to see where i'm sent. but keep an eye on detroit, there are some big things happening there in the future.
but everything's going great. a lot of exciting things in the mission. i had the opportunity to baptize one of our investigators yesterday, my first baptism experience on the mission, and it was sweet. tyron smith, he's 19 and he's a stud. he's already talking about teaching his mom and his friends and wants to come teaching with us. the other investigator of ours who was baptized yesterday was a 9 year old named Michael. His mom is an investigator too but she can't get baptized until her marriage, so we went ahead and baptized him anyways. he said "i really feel it in my heart, i just need to get baptized in the right church and get the holy ghost!" haha he's a character, and a really sweet kid with a solid testimony and desire to serve Heavenly Father.
I think I'll be able to send you an email tomorrow and tell you my new address and where i'm going to be. President Holmes told me that this next area will probably be a place i end up staying in for a while, so you prob won't have to worry about the address changing for a bit.
oh and i bought a little sd card/usb uploader, so i can send a picture here and there. here's the one from our baptism. michael is the kid next to me, and tyron who i baptized is the guy right next to michael. elder hoffman my companion is the one in the suit. it was a really sweet day.
have a good week,
love ya guys
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Feb. 28, 2011
Sorry, this will probably be a little shorter.
It still weird me out with how fast the time flies out here. This is the last week of transfers. I've been out for three and a half months and i'm going into my 3rd transfer. and it feels like it's been a really long weekend. time flies when you're working hard and having fun. i'm trying to make sure i'm doing both. and it's awesome how much you learn and grow, without a doubt i've learned more things than in any other 4 month period. missions are without a doubt the sweetest things.
but the real reason a mission is important is because it's the lord's work. you'll grow as a person at unblievable speed. but that's not what really matters. it's about the people you're helping.
shoot i have ten seconds on my timer.
love you guys
Sorry, this will probably be a little shorter.
It still weird me out with how fast the time flies out here. This is the last week of transfers. I've been out for three and a half months and i'm going into my 3rd transfer. and it feels like it's been a really long weekend. time flies when you're working hard and having fun. i'm trying to make sure i'm doing both. and it's awesome how much you learn and grow, without a doubt i've learned more things than in any other 4 month period. missions are without a doubt the sweetest things.
but the real reason a mission is important is because it's the lord's work. you'll grow as a person at unblievable speed. but that's not what really matters. it's about the people you're helping.
shoot i have ten seconds on my timer.
love you guys
Feb. 21, 2011
Subject: Don't Let the Bed Bugs Bite...
Hey family. Happy President's Day! Turns out I got my Valentine's Day kiss after all. I was on an exchange in Hamtramck with one of our Zone Leaders Elder Smith (side note, his companion is the other zone leader and his name is also Elder Smith) and we stopped by one of their potential investigators for 5 min or so. Their potential was this lady who wasn't all quite there I'm pretty sure, she was older, didn't have any teeth. Well as we were leaving the lady asked me what my name was and after I told her she said "Well come here my little lamb!" i held out my hand to shake hers and then she sort of pulled me in for what i thought was just going to be a hug. She ended up plopping a big wet one on my neck...it was terrible. Elder Smith was cracking up. Ha the next half hour or so afterwards was the weirdest I've felt in a long time. So...not necessarily a high-light of a week, but definitely a moment that stood out. Spread the love, Happy Valentine's Day!
Detroit was a different place last week. It was up in the 50s I think, I heard the 60s from someone. It only lasted a few days, but they were for sure a good few days. The snow melted completely and there was grass everywhere that made Detroit look so much better. Elder Hoffman and I did some tracting and we only had to wear sweaters - no beenies or gloves or big coats or double/triple layers of socks. I'm pumped for the spring. Pumped. ...It was short-lived though, last night a snow storm came in and dumped a bunch of fresh snow and it's back to being cold. But it's all good in the hood, spring gets closer every day. Pumped.
So two other real quick adventures. Apparently Detroit is #3 on the list for the city with the most bed bugs in the nation. I had no idea what they really were until I came out here. They're nasty. They moved into our apartment not too long ago and they're not welcome. I slept on the floor for most of last week ha. But a senior couple from the mission office dropped us off bed bug mattress covers and some bed bug bombs. We're probably going to take care of that tomorrow. One more story - Elder Hoffman and I were driving our big van around one day with some spare miles. There was a club in the car that didn't have a key, but we'd lay it across the steering wheel just to make it look like it was locked. Well this one time it ended up locking somehow. Still don't know how that even happened. We ended up walking to our apartment to grab a hack-saw from Dooey the building's maintanence man. We walked back to the car and went to work. 4 hours. Ha it was rediculous, the biggest waste of time we've had on our mission. But we made the most of it, we'd switch off with the saw and the other person would call potentials and set up appointments for the week. Well we eventually made enough cross cuts in the club that we could pull apart the lock and slide the club off. A bummer was the more progress we made, the harder it would get because the blade became more and more dull. It was super rediculous, but in the end we were pumped. We call it the Parable of the Club - no project is too big or too difficult, we'll be as patient as we need to be, our goals will happen. People of Detroit beware, we will baptize you.
I'm still teaching primary bytheway. It's pretty fun. I'm at 6 weeks or something like that now. It's usually 2 kids, but yesterday other teachers weren't there and the class had 9 kids there. Anywhere from 6-11, some were visiting and may not even be members of the church. Not easy to keep their focus. Believe it or not, teaching primary has helped me practice for teaching some grown people out here. Marlin helped me teach the class yesterday.
Out of time, I wanted to tell you guys about Marlin. Sorry to leave you hanging like this, but I just don't want to forget so remind me to tell you about him. Awesome kid, awesome story.
Love you guys lots. All's good in the hood.
Elder Lamb
Subject: Don't Let the Bed Bugs Bite...
Hey family. Happy President's Day! Turns out I got my Valentine's Day kiss after all. I was on an exchange in Hamtramck with one of our Zone Leaders Elder Smith (side note, his companion is the other zone leader and his name is also Elder Smith) and we stopped by one of their potential investigators for 5 min or so. Their potential was this lady who wasn't all quite there I'm pretty sure, she was older, didn't have any teeth. Well as we were leaving the lady asked me what my name was and after I told her she said "Well come here my little lamb!" i held out my hand to shake hers and then she sort of pulled me in for what i thought was just going to be a hug. She ended up plopping a big wet one on my neck...it was terrible. Elder Smith was cracking up. Ha the next half hour or so afterwards was the weirdest I've felt in a long time. So...not necessarily a high-light of a week, but definitely a moment that stood out. Spread the love, Happy Valentine's Day!
Detroit was a different place last week. It was up in the 50s I think, I heard the 60s from someone. It only lasted a few days, but they were for sure a good few days. The snow melted completely and there was grass everywhere that made Detroit look so much better. Elder Hoffman and I did some tracting and we only had to wear sweaters - no beenies or gloves or big coats or double/triple layers of socks. I'm pumped for the spring. Pumped. ...It was short-lived though, last night a snow storm came in and dumped a bunch of fresh snow and it's back to being cold. But it's all good in the hood, spring gets closer every day. Pumped.
So two other real quick adventures. Apparently Detroit is #3 on the list for the city with the most bed bugs in the nation. I had no idea what they really were until I came out here. They're nasty. They moved into our apartment not too long ago and they're not welcome. I slept on the floor for most of last week ha. But a senior couple from the mission office dropped us off bed bug mattress covers and some bed bug bombs. We're probably going to take care of that tomorrow. One more story - Elder Hoffman and I were driving our big van around one day with some spare miles. There was a club in the car that didn't have a key, but we'd lay it across the steering wheel just to make it look like it was locked. Well this one time it ended up locking somehow. Still don't know how that even happened. We ended up walking to our apartment to grab a hack-saw from Dooey the building's maintanence man. We walked back to the car and went to work. 4 hours. Ha it was rediculous, the biggest waste of time we've had on our mission. But we made the most of it, we'd switch off with the saw and the other person would call potentials and set up appointments for the week. Well we eventually made enough cross cuts in the club that we could pull apart the lock and slide the club off. A bummer was the more progress we made, the harder it would get because the blade became more and more dull. It was super rediculous, but in the end we were pumped. We call it the Parable of the Club - no project is too big or too difficult, we'll be as patient as we need to be, our goals will happen. People of Detroit beware, we will baptize you.
I'm still teaching primary bytheway. It's pretty fun. I'm at 6 weeks or something like that now. It's usually 2 kids, but yesterday other teachers weren't there and the class had 9 kids there. Anywhere from 6-11, some were visiting and may not even be members of the church. Not easy to keep their focus. Believe it or not, teaching primary has helped me practice for teaching some grown people out here. Marlin helped me teach the class yesterday.
Out of time, I wanted to tell you guys about Marlin. Sorry to leave you hanging like this, but I just don't want to forget so remind me to tell you about him. Awesome kid, awesome story.
Love you guys lots. All's good in the hood.
Elder Lamb
Feb. 14, 2011
Subject: Happy V-day, from D-town
Happy Valentine's Day! Since I'm a single elder, you guys can be my valentines. Hope that's alright?
How's everybody's week been? What have you all been up to? Dad, do you have a romantic dinner planned for you and mom? Turns out I don't have any dates planned for tonight so I'll probably just end up doing some missionary work instead, but I'll keep looking ;) ha jk.
A cool thing that happened this week was I got a haircut. Usually nothing cool to talk about i know, but getting a haircut in the streets of dtown is more exciting than fantastic sam's. We went to a place called "Da' Barber Shop". inside were these 5 black guys who were crackin' jokes, blastin rap on their radio, playing a bball game on xbox for their downtime, and snackin on some Little Ceasar's from next door. It was a good time. So I got a thug-cut. Don't worry, no old-english D's buzzed in the side of my head or anything. Oh and Elder Hoffman and I started driving a 12-seater Chevy Express van. It's temporary, i think, because other missionaries recked their car and need ours for now. Elder Hoffman is van-certified so we're riding dirty in that. Kinda tricky in the snow. I hear it's supposed to be in the 40s this week though. man that's good to hear.
So the mission is on fire. When I said that before I realize that I was saying that because we started to realize the potential that we were dealing with, but last week things have actually started happening. Miracles. And it's kind of crazy, nothing is for sure because we are working with people who have their agency to choose. But things have happened that I personally wouldn't be able to shy away from if I were preparing for baptism or considering coming back to church.
And it's not just with our investigators, the mission itself is seeing a lot of exciting things. Our zone has some pretty awesome goals and we're all kicking butt trying to make these things happen. The mission has 38 people on date to be baptized in the next couple weeks of February. There's only like 80 or 90 missionaries out here, so that's pretty huge. Elder Hoffman and I have 5 people on date right now and some more we can put on date real quick. And our set dates are for a few weeks coming up. So we're working harder than before, praying harder than before, and my understanding of faith has really changed. Our zone leader sent us a text just a min ago while I was writing this email that sort of explains the things I'm talking about - the text is a quote from President Monson: "Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers, pray for powers equal to your tasks." Nothing's impossible. And we have to honestly believe that the things we're praying for WILL happen. Before, my prayers were sort of like "i need this thing to happen, but if it doesn't than i know it's your will", now it's like "i need this to happen, i'm going to do what you need me to do to make it happen, so please take care of the rest to make it happen" and of course if it doesn't happen then it wasn't God's will. But if we need something to happen, we can't afford to doubt the power of prayer.
so that is my spiritual thought i guess. nothing i'm trying to lecture anybody on or anything but it's just something i've really gained a testimony of this week.
oh and check out this talk ( http://lds.org/ensign/2006/06/the-profile-of-a-prophet?lang=eng ) It's called "Profile of a Prophet" by President Hugh B. Brown. The church is true, there's no question about that. It just comes down to whether or not we choose to embrace it.
Love ya guys, have a good week,
Elder Lamb
Subject: Happy V-day, from D-town
Happy Valentine's Day! Since I'm a single elder, you guys can be my valentines. Hope that's alright?
How's everybody's week been? What have you all been up to? Dad, do you have a romantic dinner planned for you and mom? Turns out I don't have any dates planned for tonight so I'll probably just end up doing some missionary work instead, but I'll keep looking ;) ha jk.
A cool thing that happened this week was I got a haircut. Usually nothing cool to talk about i know, but getting a haircut in the streets of dtown is more exciting than fantastic sam's. We went to a place called "Da' Barber Shop". inside were these 5 black guys who were crackin' jokes, blastin rap on their radio, playing a bball game on xbox for their downtime, and snackin on some Little Ceasar's from next door. It was a good time. So I got a thug-cut. Don't worry, no old-english D's buzzed in the side of my head or anything. Oh and Elder Hoffman and I started driving a 12-seater Chevy Express van. It's temporary, i think, because other missionaries recked their car and need ours for now. Elder Hoffman is van-certified so we're riding dirty in that. Kinda tricky in the snow. I hear it's supposed to be in the 40s this week though. man that's good to hear.
So the mission is on fire. When I said that before I realize that I was saying that because we started to realize the potential that we were dealing with, but last week things have actually started happening. Miracles. And it's kind of crazy, nothing is for sure because we are working with people who have their agency to choose. But things have happened that I personally wouldn't be able to shy away from if I were preparing for baptism or considering coming back to church.
And it's not just with our investigators, the mission itself is seeing a lot of exciting things. Our zone has some pretty awesome goals and we're all kicking butt trying to make these things happen. The mission has 38 people on date to be baptized in the next couple weeks of February. There's only like 80 or 90 missionaries out here, so that's pretty huge. Elder Hoffman and I have 5 people on date right now and some more we can put on date real quick. And our set dates are for a few weeks coming up. So we're working harder than before, praying harder than before, and my understanding of faith has really changed. Our zone leader sent us a text just a min ago while I was writing this email that sort of explains the things I'm talking about - the text is a quote from President Monson: "Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers, pray for powers equal to your tasks." Nothing's impossible. And we have to honestly believe that the things we're praying for WILL happen. Before, my prayers were sort of like "i need this thing to happen, but if it doesn't than i know it's your will", now it's like "i need this to happen, i'm going to do what you need me to do to make it happen, so please take care of the rest to make it happen" and of course if it doesn't happen then it wasn't God's will. But if we need something to happen, we can't afford to doubt the power of prayer.
so that is my spiritual thought i guess. nothing i'm trying to lecture anybody on or anything but it's just something i've really gained a testimony of this week.
oh and check out this talk ( http://lds.org/ensign/2006/06/the-profile-of-a-prophet?lang=eng ) It's called "Profile of a Prophet" by President Hugh B. Brown. The church is true, there's no question about that. It just comes down to whether or not we choose to embrace it.
Love ya guys, have a good week,
Elder Lamb
Feb. 7, 2011
Subject: lamb-chop doggie treats
Hey familia - Thanks for everything. Everyday I'm reminded of how much you guys rock. You guys are really the best, somehow I got lucky. And I'm not just saying this because of the nice birthday package you sent me, although that was really appreciated too. Thanks for that, actually mom I was thinking about Reese's Puffs cereal right before i opened up that package. we go to this local grocery shop called Aldi and we get cereal from knock-off name brands and i was wondering if actual reese's puffs tasted better than the stuff we're buying now. and i opened your package the next day, mother's intution goes a long way. or maybe it was just another reminder from the lord that you guys are awesome. i believe in coincidences less and less these days. but the bday was good, i got packages and letters from everyone and i'll have to write them back and thank them when i get a chance. one guy we're trying to start teaching gave me two cough drops he had in his pocket when he found out it was my bday. ha only in detroit.
oh and reese's puffs cereal, it's a lot better than the knock-off brand.
so this week i got chased by a dog. i had been wondering when it would finally happen. it was a little more intense than i thought, i was on bike and the dog was fast. and to make it worse, i was on a back road in a neighborhood so the road was covered in un-plowed snow. one wrong move and i'd be down. riding at a normal speed is hard enough to stay up in the snow. ha i've never been more focused on riding a bike so perfectly. in the end i pumped out some old water polo power in my legs and got some distance on the dog. there was a second dog there too but it was smaller and wasn't as much of a problem. elder lamb - 1 / dogs of detroit - 0. to be continued.
missionary work has gone up a level. my comp who's the district leader spent 2 days in farmington at the mission leadership meeting. the guy who did most of the meeting was one of the guys who helped write preach my gospel and did The District 2 dvds, aka he knows what's up. so elder hoffman came back with a whole bunch of new, tougher, more effective ways of doing everything. for one thing, the whole mission is changing its approach on the planning and studying side of things. right when i got even more pumped about personal study, we start this new completely selfless way to do our personal study based off of the lessons we have planned for the day. so...just reading jesus the christ, the new testament, the old testament, cool stuff like that i've been pumped about - not going to happen quite like i expected.
but it's going to be sweet, things are going to pick up around here. we have to put more of our heart and strength into the work which will stretch us and be tough at times, but when you think about it, that's what we're out here for - to help others. it's like, why weren't we doing this in the first place? also, in district meeting on wednesday another missionary committed us to find something we could give up so we could better help the Lord's work. i couldn't think of anything for a few days, and boom, personal study change-up. it's all good though. things will only get better out here.
well it's time to go, some more pretty cool experiences out here this week but i don't really have time to write anymore, sorry :( but i'll try and remember them for next week, but if i forget i don't doubt some sweet things will keep happening.
love ya,
elder lamb
Subject: lamb-chop doggie treats
Hey familia - Thanks for everything. Everyday I'm reminded of how much you guys rock. You guys are really the best, somehow I got lucky. And I'm not just saying this because of the nice birthday package you sent me, although that was really appreciated too. Thanks for that, actually mom I was thinking about Reese's Puffs cereal right before i opened up that package. we go to this local grocery shop called Aldi and we get cereal from knock-off name brands and i was wondering if actual reese's puffs tasted better than the stuff we're buying now. and i opened your package the next day, mother's intution goes a long way. or maybe it was just another reminder from the lord that you guys are awesome. i believe in coincidences less and less these days. but the bday was good, i got packages and letters from everyone and i'll have to write them back and thank them when i get a chance. one guy we're trying to start teaching gave me two cough drops he had in his pocket when he found out it was my bday. ha only in detroit.
oh and reese's puffs cereal, it's a lot better than the knock-off brand.
so this week i got chased by a dog. i had been wondering when it would finally happen. it was a little more intense than i thought, i was on bike and the dog was fast. and to make it worse, i was on a back road in a neighborhood so the road was covered in un-plowed snow. one wrong move and i'd be down. riding at a normal speed is hard enough to stay up in the snow. ha i've never been more focused on riding a bike so perfectly. in the end i pumped out some old water polo power in my legs and got some distance on the dog. there was a second dog there too but it was smaller and wasn't as much of a problem. elder lamb - 1 / dogs of detroit - 0. to be continued.
missionary work has gone up a level. my comp who's the district leader spent 2 days in farmington at the mission leadership meeting. the guy who did most of the meeting was one of the guys who helped write preach my gospel and did The District 2 dvds, aka he knows what's up. so elder hoffman came back with a whole bunch of new, tougher, more effective ways of doing everything. for one thing, the whole mission is changing its approach on the planning and studying side of things. right when i got even more pumped about personal study, we start this new completely selfless way to do our personal study based off of the lessons we have planned for the day. so...just reading jesus the christ, the new testament, the old testament, cool stuff like that i've been pumped about - not going to happen quite like i expected.
but it's going to be sweet, things are going to pick up around here. we have to put more of our heart and strength into the work which will stretch us and be tough at times, but when you think about it, that's what we're out here for - to help others. it's like, why weren't we doing this in the first place? also, in district meeting on wednesday another missionary committed us to find something we could give up so we could better help the Lord's work. i couldn't think of anything for a few days, and boom, personal study change-up. it's all good though. things will only get better out here.
well it's time to go, some more pretty cool experiences out here this week but i don't really have time to write anymore, sorry :( but i'll try and remember them for next week, but if i forget i don't doubt some sweet things will keep happening.
love ya,
elder lamb
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