Biking 'round Ypsi

April 23, 2012

Hey family, Happy Monday. Happy belated Earth Day too - that was yesterday - I hope no one went too crazy in their celebrating.

This week finally got our car taken in to the body shop to get the dent taken out. So we ended up on bike for three days. It felt good to be biking. The weather was great for it too. We actually loved it so much we're planning on setting aside some bike time each week. It was nice to be riding around in the fresh air and getting some exercise, but it also helped us find some sweet people we wouldn't have found if we weren't on bike. This one guy stopped us in his car and said he wanted to start meeting with us, he seems like a sincere guy. We also found a lady who is just a good good lady, we ended up having a lesson with her the next day and went over the Restoration. She has three autistic children, all are pretty young, you can tell she just loves them all. We feel really good about her and her family. We're hopefully seeing her again tomorrow.

This week we had a lot of lessons (15) with members coming out to help. There are some top notch members in this ward, they just want to help out and look forward to us calling them up each week. We even took a new member named Jerard out with us for his first time coming out with missionaries. He was baptized in January, just a good good man. He did great too. We actually took him to a lesson with a new-ish investigator named Dennis - it turned out they're related! Jerard's cousin-in-law is married to Dennis' sister-in-law, so not the closest relationship, but they knew a ton of people in common really well. So that in of itself was pretty cool, and Jerard did a fantastic job at being supportive and bearing testimony.

We also had a neat experience where we were teaching one of our investigators who is working towards baptism on the 13th of May. Her name is Cyiara, her mom is a member. She had a big day of try-outs yesterday for some elite softball team (she takes softball extremely seriously) and her mom made a comment after a lesson that they won't be able to make it church because of the try-outs. Cyiara said "Well you guys don't have to but I'm spending the night at grandma and grandpa's and going to church with them in the morning for at least sacrament". Cyiara's on top of it. So her and her mom and her younger brother ended up coming to Sacrament Meeting yesterday and leaving in time for her to get to her try-outs. That was just awesome to see. Also on a quick side note, Cyiara's younger brother Samuel is 9. He really wants to be baptized too. The tricky part is their dad is actually a member of a different church and hasn't been very supportive about baptism. That's why Cyiara hasn't been baptized until now. So we're teaching Samuel as well every time we go over, and we're praying hard that he'll be able to be baptized too. But if you would like to keep Samuel in your prayers, feel free, he's a good kid who really deserves it to happen sooner rather than later. The dad seems to be a genuinely good person too, he just isn't very open to the church right now.

Well that's about it for the week I think. A great week. I hear the Scotts are coming out soon, either this week or next week I can't remember. I'm pretty sure this week. So that'll be cool. They'll be serving in a different zone but I'll for sure see them at meetings.

Well that's about it for the week. Hope everyone's doing good. Happy Earth Day!

Love,
Elder Lamb

<('o'<) <----- Kirby

April 16, 2012

Hola! How's life in the sunny OC? it's raining here today. we almost took our bikes out the other day but decided against it because we had too many appointments that were too far spread out and wouldn't have made it in time, and the rain just sealed the deal. that's probably just showing how spoiled we might be compared to missionaries who have to go out on bike everyday regardless....so my hat's off to them.last night we went to a fireside at the bloomfield hills stake center, it was neat to see a few investigators i taught about a year ago, moving along slowly but still receiving the gospel line upon line. the fireside was really really good. the speaker was Brad Wilcox, he's on the Sunday School Board of the church and was a BYU professor at one point. he was a pretty funny guy. but the talk he gave was outstanding. he talked about grace, it was a talk that just clears up your vision on things more, it definitely helped me understand God more. Here's a link to a talk he gave not too long ago, it's almost identical to the one he gave last night. i know i put a lot of links in these emails, but this is one you should seriously check out. http://speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=13436&x=59&y=9 

  

Hopefully anyone who reads it will benefit from it as much or more than I did. Needless to say, I'm a fan.

This week went great. Elder Davis and I taught 34 lessons, 21 of them were investigator lessons. That's the most I think I've taught in a week in my mission. We're working hard and having fun. We're still finding a lot of new people, a lot of them struggle to turn into progressing investigators, but it's true that the more work we put into finding, the more people we will find who do progress. We recently found one guy I'm really excited about. His name is Dennis. We had a pretty rough experience where we got thrown out of a house by someone who was baptized a few years ago and has been struggling with some things, it just about broke our hearts. So we pulled over and said a prayer and then we saw Dennis right outside our car and both got a strong feeling to talk to him. We taught him that day and he committed to a baptismal date. He came to church yesterday for the first time and loved it. There's nothing sweeter than knowing and feeling the Spirit's presence in the work. If we seek for that, the miracles are bound to come. We're also teaching a girl who's preparing for baptism now. Her mom is a member but her dad isn't and even though she and her younger brother have been involved in church their whole lives baptism hasn't really been an option, but last week we invited her to be baptized and it was a miracle to say the least. just an awesome girl, her mom is super cool and super supportive too, the dad seems to be a really good guy too, things are just falling into place finally. we also started working with two little kids Collin and Caden, they're actually Kristena's cousins (sort of, cousins is an easier description). we started working with them when Kristena's baptism happened. Their parents want them to get baptized and we had a first official lesson with them this week. today we're going to play some more bball. but all this bball is making me miss h2o polo more than anything else....sigh. but really, i'm focused.

i think that's about it. our maintenance guy in our apartment complex is an ordained elder. just not in our church. he came by this morning to fix our dryer (yes we have a washer and dryer in our apartment, but i already established the fact we're spoiled), we gave him a book of mormon. i'll keep you posted on Elder Boon.

Well much love. Have a great week.

Elder Lamb

Happy Easter from Ypsi

April 9, 2012

Happy Easter from Ypsi! I hope everyone had a good day yesterday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If you haven't had a chance to check out any of the recent Bible Videos that have come out, definitely check these ones out 
 ( http://www.lds.org/bible-videos?lang=eng ) the newer ones are on the Atonement and are especially good. probably the best media the church has ever come out with. 

the spirit was very strong in sacrament meeting yesterday for the easter program. plus kristena was confirmed as well as another lady who was baptized yesterday by the other elders in the ward. a pretty neat experience also happened in the high priest class yesterday. elder davis and i went in for a few minutes with one of the ward missionaries to share a quick presentation. we watched a quick clip called "A Marvelous Work and a Wonder" and bore our testimonies on missionary work. the purpose was to pump up the members in the ward (the other elders gave a similar presentation in the elders quorum, and we're going to do a combined one next week with the youth), and it was successful, the high priests were willing to help. the ward is already super supportive, but the presentation was more to help some of the members who haven't come out to help in a while. but a part that was especially cool was during the presentation one of the members spoke up to share a testimony on missionary work. he talked about how growing up his daughter would bring a friend to church every once in a while but they eventually went their separate ways. but fast forward 20 years to today, that friend recently had missionaries knock on her door and met with them for a few months and then was baptized this saturday with her 9 year old son. turns out i knew exactly who he was talking about because i tracted into her, and elder adamson and i had been teaching her and her son for the past couple months. the last day i was there she had an experience where she knew she wanted her and her son to be baptized. i was hoping to go to the baptism this saturday but it didn't work out because we were on exchanges - so when this member shared that story and i said i was one of the missionaries who knocked on her door, it seemed to add to the spirit of the discussion. the lord works in neat ways.

everything is great right now. i'm having fun and working hard and learning things every day. i feel like i'm especially motivated to work hard and exercise faith because of the opportunities to help people i'm starting to notice right now. the opportunities have always been there - and they will always be there for all of us - but i feel like i'm noticing more ways to serve now more than ever. i think part of that comes from asking the Lord for a vision of what it is He wants us to do. when we ask Him what we can do to help, He will surely point out opportunities to do so. and that's where miracles and true happiness is found. it makes others happy, it brings us happiness as we serve, and more than anyone the Lord is pleased.

time to go, but thanks for everything, you're all in my prayers.

love,

elder lamb

Thomas "the monsoon" Monson

April 2, 2012

Oh man. What a week. I'm pretty low on time too.

I think a highlight first of all was seeing Jennie and Morgan outside of my apartment. That was crazy, ha it didn't really register in my brain so I think I might have seemed a little dazed. It was short but definitely a highlight of my mission. If Jennie or Morgan are reading this, thanks a lot for the fragel and for the surprise. It was great to see you guys.

Another highlight, our investigator Kristena was baptized on Saturday. I don't have my camera with me. But it was a fantastic baptism. Kristena is a really amazing individual. She's 15. A few months back her parents passed away in a car accident, and she started living with her cousin and cousin's husband who are a part member family. And there are a lot of less-active and non-member family members in this family who are really being blessed by her decision to be baptized. At the baptism there was a ton of the family members, and the spirit was felt really strong. we talked to a couple of people who felt the spirit and said they want to start working towards their own baptisms now. just an awesome family, it's really special to be able to be a part of the experience of seeing the Lord pour down blessings upon these people.

another highlight, remember the new ford fusion we picked up last week? we were in a lesson and watched through the living room window as a car backed into it a few days ago. it was a pretty hard back. we heard it from inside and there's a pretty big dent in our shiny new car. since we saw it all happen we ran out the door but the person drove away. dumb dumb dumb. the cops came out, but we didn't have the plate info to give him.

today for preparation day our zone went to U of M for a tour of the Big House. It's the football stadium. gigantic. it was really neat. we got to check out some of the box seats, the locker room, got to hang out on the field for a little bit. i had a 100 yard dash with a few other missionaries from end zone to end zone, i didn't win though. awesome experience though. and then afterwards we and the other companionship in the ward met up with an awesome member family at the church to play some basketball, frisbee, dodgeball and some other games for a few hours. it's been a really fun preparation day. scrambling to finish up at the library right now though before 6:00.

there were some other highlights. but i'm out of time. but i've gotta mention conference. man oh man. how great it is. seriously, there isn't anything like it. hopefully everybody got some good things out of it specifically from them, if not go back and check out another talk or two.

well i'm out of time. love you guys. thanks for everything. have a great week.

elder lamb

first week in ypsi

March 26, 2012

yo! i'm officially transferred. i'm serving in the Ypsilanti Ward (sounds like ipsilantee). i'm a zone leader still but i'm in the ann arbor zone instead of the westland zone. i probably have explained this before, but in the mission each zone is made up of a zone. so there's four zones (four stakes) in the mission - Bloomfield Hills, Grand Blanc, Westland, and Ann Arbor. I've served in the other three zones, but this is my first time serving in this zone.

my companion's cool. believe it or not, the Lord has seen it fit to bless me with michael rex as my companion. their personalities are pretty similar. it's great, but surreal, i feel like i'm back home hanging out with michael. actually he went to SUU and played bball (he's 6'8'', an inch taller than my trainer Elder Berger). his name's Elder Kyle Davis. great missionary, been out about 10 months. i went on an exchange with him once when i was in plymouth and we had a pretty miraculous day on our exchange, and this week has been one of the most powerful weeks of my missions. he and i click pretty well in lessons, powerful lessons. we found 10 new investigators this week and got close to 30 lessons. he's only been in this area a transfer longer than me and the zone leaders were serving somewhere else. so we didn't quite white wash the area (but he white washed it when he came into it last transfer) but we're white washing the zone leading aspect of the area. but i'm excited. word on the street is, this is one of the best if not the best wards in the mission as far as missionary mindedness goes. the members are pumped, come out to help with appointments a lot. this morning we traded in our 96 Chevy Malibu for a 12 Ford Fusion. we're planning on a baptism this saturday before conference. life is good. oh and a couple of families i've met in the ward are good friends with David Fosters' family. I think the fosters used to live in this ward before they came to CA? small world.

so here's the new address:

2277 Grove Rd. Apt #824W

Ypsilanti, MI 48198

Conference is coming. I found this sweet video on lds.org, check it out, post it on fb or something. spread the word!

http://www.lds.org/general-

conference/invite-others?lang=
eng

Well that's about it for now. i'm looking forward to conference. don't forget to prepare for it by praying that the Lord will teach you things you need to learn. without fail there is something there for all of us. gotta go. have a great week.

love you guys.

elder lamb

so long plymouth

March 19, 2012

Well, transfers hit and i'm taking off. It caught us off guard. Elder Adamson's been here in Plymouth for a while now and he only has this next transfer before he goes home, so we thought for sure he'd leave before me and i was planning to be here for a while. so that's still really weird. but that's how it works. ain't no thing but a chicken wing. don't know where i'm going to yet, i'll find out tomorrow morning at transfer meeting.

but on a better note, laura little was baptized on saturday! :D it was awesome, she's just a top notch individual and is going to do some great things. and if you haven't noticed from the picture, that's lil' wayne standing right there. she was baptized by lil' wayne. few can say that. so that in of itself was a sweet experience too. he was baptized a little under two months ago and is already using his priesthood to baptize people. she was just excited to be baptized and didn't have a preference for who did the ordinance so we thought of wayne, he couldn't stop saying how much of an honor it was to use his priesthood. so his family came out to the baptism. and laura's family came out to the baptism, and we had some of our investigators there. when she was changing into dry clothes, elder adamson and i put on a short 15 min movie showing wilfred woodruff's experience in finding the church and getting baptized, it taught about the apostasy and the restoration and brought the spirit. and when the movie ended i bore my testimony. it was a really neat experience, the spirit was really strong and you could tell even the non-members were feeling it.

those are the biggest things from this week. i'm a little bummed i have to go, this has been my favorite area so far, and not to mention there are a handful of people we've been working with who will more than likely get baptized this next transfer which i'd like to be here for. but i'm looking forward to seeing where i'm headed. today's going to be busy, haven't started packing and we've got some errands to run. these past three months have kicked my butt, haven't knocked me down but it's been intense. there's a lot going on all of the time. maybe i'll just get transferred to some remote area in the middle of nowhere with no extra responsibilities? :) we'll find out tomorrow. but have a great week, love ya guys.

elder lamb

ps. sorry i haven't done a great job getting you pictures, i'm hoping to send an sd card to you soon with my winter clothes (it's been in the 70s this week). but there's a pic of me and elder adamson in front of the tigers' stadium when we had our district activity in downtown detroit a few weeks ago.

Gladys

March 12, 2012


Hey. Sorry I didn't get a letter out last week. Last week had a district activity in downtown Detroit and we had to meet everyone in time to catch a bus, and mine and elder adamson's emails to president took up more time than we realized. we looked at the time and realized we were already late so we just had to log off the computers. but it was good talking to you for a few min back and forth mom :)

this weekend was the Gladys Knight firesides. oh man that was sweet. i can't capture how cool it was, so pray that you can see the choir sometime. so there were a total of 7 performances, they added an earlier one on friday. and elder adamson and i got to assist at the friday ones which was really neat. the one at friday was at the palmer park building down in detroit. i don't know if i've showed you a pic of that building already, but it's an old greek orthodox church that we bought out and renovated only a little bit, so it's still pretty sweet. i'll upload some pics of the building i took when i was down in mack last year, we had our district meetings every week in this building. we got to talk to a lot of the choir members when we assisted and they told us they had never performed in a building like this one. for assisting we had to get there at 10 in the morning for training and to set things up, and we stayed for all 3 firesides that day and got back home at about 11:30 that night. but it was fun, we got to watch all three of those too. and we went to one of the saturday firesides with some of our investigators, and the ones on saturday and sunday were at the bloomfield hills stake center (same parking lot as the temple). the music was really good, never knew i was a gospel music fan. when gladys would sing, it was like she was declaring her testimony to the audience. she would sing at the audience rather than to the audience. and she's got some vocals. it was pretty interesting to see how Gladys would present herself differently when she was in detroit and when she was in bloomfield hills. in detroit she let her swaggah flow out a lot more, she sounded a lot like a detroiter, and she threw down on obedience. she said something like "you're not just saved, you've got WORK to do!" ha and all the detroiters would shout "amen" and "thass righ gladys". it was a lot of fun. we were standing and clapping. detroiters were shouting and hallelujah-ing. it's something i probably will never see again inside of a church meeting. and the fireside in bloomfield was sweet too. you could tell that the audience was thinking things through a little more, and the speakers could address things a little more directly with them. On the saturday performance Gladys' husband spoke too (he wasn't there for the friday ones) and he was super direct. he shared his story of how he was good friends with gladys since the 70s but thought she'd lost her mind when she joined the church. but eventually she got him to start meeting with the missionaries and they got married. in his testimony he said "I'm not here to convince you this is the true church...I'm here to inform you this is the true church." good stuff. he also said "if you came tonight to hear gladys knight and the choir sing, you completely missed the point of the fireside." and gladys was just as bold. she spoke for 20 min or so at the end. she shared her conversion story and said "it's no coincidence you're here tonight. you're hear because God wants you in His army. He's called you all here. it's up to you whether you accept that call and enlist though. if you don't, He'll let you go and serve whatever else it is out there you want to serve, but if you want to serve God in His army, this is your chance right now."

this was so cool, a once in a life time experience. we brought a family with us that's been investigating and they loved it. and two other investigators we're working with made it out and went with members. miracles were happening all over the place too. when we were working on friday in detroit, we had some extra tickets, so we started inviting people walking by the church. a couple people ended up coming to the firesides. this one guy named dion came in and we got him set up with the missionaries in that ward because he lives right across the street from the church, and i looked back at him a couple times during the performance and his face was lit up with a big old smile the whole time. our ward did a good job inviting friends too, they got more tickets than any of the other wards in the stake, so that was exciting, and members have been telling us how much their friends enjoyed it. so that alone was cool to see members way more excited about missionary work. i think i explained the request situation, but everyone who came to the fireside got a program with a tear-out request card that the missionaries collected afterwards. if someone filled it out, the missionaries in their area come by to drop off a gift bag with a CD sampler with some of the songs from the choir, a Restoration DVD, and a Book of Mormon. so our job starting tomorrow is to start meeting with all these people. the mission ended up getting about 800 of the request cards, so we should be busy the next couple months. i hope i captured as much of the fireside experience as i could just now. it was a good time, i've had gladys and the choir stuck in my head ever since. word on the street she's going to be on dancing with the stars too, she's got some moves. she was rockin out up there as she directed the choir. not only is the church true, but it's got some soul up in there.

well that was pretty much the highlight of the week. baptism coming up this saturday so stay tuned for that. her name's laura, and she's the coolest. super elect. we found out she's related to porter rockwell too, so that explains why she's got that die-hard faith.

love you guys. let's not forget to thank the lord for the restored gospel in our lives - and to share what we've been given with those who need it so badly. everyone needs it badly.

elder lamb