Elder Galvin's email from February 2, 2015
Holy Cow this week has been crazy! I am so tired its not even funny. This week has been the craziest and the most productive week of my mission. I have seen so many blessings its not even funny. Put it this way, I'm going to share some key indictors of progression from two weeks ago versus last week. Total lessons, Two weeks ago: 16, last week: 22. Lessons taught with a member present, Two weeks ago: 4, Last week: 9. People with a baptismal date, two weeks ago: 0, last week: 3. New investigators, two weeks ago: 1, last week: 8. And the crazy thing is we haven't really even been doing much differently. We have just been so blessed.
After last weeks P-day was over we had a dinner appointment with the C's. Well, at least we thought we had a dinner appointment. Since we had no car we had an 18 year old ward member who has his mission papers in drive us up there since he is really tight with the son, M. Well, D, the 18 year old missionary to be, ended up telling the dad, that he was coming over too. But somewhere in the conversation he also told said Dad that it wasn't a dinner appointment but just a regular teaching visit. So when we show up were expecting food and are all like "let's eat". Then Dad just looks at soon to be missionary and was all like "you told me this was just a teaching visit" and D just starts freaking out because Dad is a pretty scary looking dude. He has tons of tattoos and is super jacked because he's a lumberjack. Well, we diffused the situation and taught M, then D took us to Cookout. It all worked out. Speaking of Cookout, I must have just jinxed myself because I just got barbecue sauce on my shirt. Good thing it's laundry day. Anyway, it all worked out.
Oh, funny story at Cookout with D….So we're just sitting there talking about what he can do to prepare for a mission when some random guy sits at our booth and drops two fishing reels on the table. He says they are worth $300 and he will give them to us for all our cash. He said he was desperate for money because he lost his wallet and needs gas money. I had $6 in my wallet but as a missionary I couldn't give it away. So D gave him $3 and told him to keep the reels and we gave him a pass along card. Missionary work! :)
So now I have to tell you about the biggest miracle of the week. So Tuesday ago we dropped by the home of a guy named, R. The Sisters tasked Elder Dortch and I with dropping off three copies of the Book of Mormon at his request. They would have done it themselves but they didn't feel safe going back there, I'm just going to leave it at that. When we knocked on the door a woman opened it up and invited us in. In the home we met M, M, A, and A. One of the M's is an inactive member and married to one of the A's and they have a one year old daughter. They are living with R, who is M's Uncle. The other A is R's girlfriend and the other M is a friend. Are you confused yet?:-) We ended up teaching them all about the restoration and committed them to baptism. They have been reading the Book of Mormon together and R has been such a great help in guiding them to the knowledge of the truth. We met with them again and taught the plan of salvation up to and including the Atonement. We talked about how we can be forgiven of our sins and reemphasized the importance of baptism. We were then able to commit the two A's and the one M (who is not a member) to be baptized on March 1st!. It got pretty crazy with some of them so we couldn't see some of them after that, but we did get to meet with A and M, the married couple, two more times and they came to church on Sunday with R and loved it. It was at their appointment on Saturday that the police showed up. The police just walk in and are standing around while we're teaching and then are like "we'll just wait outside" and I'm like “ so...repentance" it was such a crazy appointment they even asked us to re-teach that lesson because there was a lot of drama at the complex that day. They just moved here like a week ago from Texas and should be getting their own place soon so we can teach them away from all the crazy.
Having them at church was so wonderful. "A" loved everything, even the visiting teaching seminar she went to for Relief Society. She loved testimony meeting and is even trying to adopt Mormon vocabulary. She called herself Sister and called us Brothers. She wants to sign up to feed us when they get their apartment. She is so elect and will get baptized.
So Wednesday we went to Bojangles with Brother L after visiting Sister H with him. While we're eating some chicken this random guy asks Elder Dortch and I if we are a part of the Mormon tabernacle choir. Long story short, we end up teaching the first discussion...well Brother L ends up teaching the first discussion really. This guy was a Methodist and Brother L was too so he's telling this guy all about why and how he converted. It's was amazing. He wants us to drop by later and get a DVD of the “Messiah" production the church put on.
We got to teach this guy we bumped into at Walmart. He lives in the nicest house I have ever seen. It was right out of gone with the wind. I half expected Scarlet O'Hara to open the door, I'm not joking. He is this eccentric rich dude who inherited a fortune and a mansion from his uber rich doctor parents. He was telling us all about how he backpacked half the world just like his favourite authors did, and all about the books he has written. We didn't get much doctrine in but we did get a tour of the house so that was a plus. He said he'd like us to come back. I just think he is lonely and loves to talk.
During district meeting on Wednesday (which we had to walk an hour to...don't even get me started) I had to give a training session! It was so good and so much fun. I made handouts. It was on language and everyone loved it. I opened up by saying "It's so awesome to be here with a group of such cool missionaries" which made every freak out because ‘cool' and ‘awesome' are banned words in the mission. It's all a part of the sanctification process for missionaries. But I talked all about ‘careful' versus ‘casual' language and made fun little word/language cards for everyone.
On Thursday the Sisters had to borrow the car because they went on exchanges after district meeting. But we thought that they were just driving straight to Morganton then straight back. So we just got a ride to the church with Zach, a recent convert, and met with him there and figured we could just get dropped off at the Sisters when we were done and wait the little but for them to get back. As it turns out they had teaching visits to do before but they forgot their phone at home so there was no way to find all that out so we ended up spending two hours weekly planning in a sketchy little convenience store waiting for the car.
Dinner on Saturday solidified to me that I'm getting fat on my mission (though surprisingly I am the same weight as when I left). We went to a place called called AJ's steakhouse which is essentially redneck buffet. I ate so much barbecue and fried chicken it's not even funny. My plan was just eat so much that I didn't even get hungry during Fast Sunday. It worked. We got to teach the husband of one of our ward missionaries who isn't a member. He is the nicest guy and loves missionaries and the church. He just needs to decide to get baptized. Though I don't think I could be the one to do it. He is about a foot taller than me and weighs about three times as much as me. Though faith can move mountains so you never know.
Well that's about it for me me this week, hope everybody had a good week and has an even better one next week.
Love ya,
Elder Galvin
Holy Cow this week has been crazy! I am so tired its not even funny. This week has been the craziest and the most productive week of my mission. I have seen so many blessings its not even funny. Put it this way, I'm going to share some key indictors of progression from two weeks ago versus last week. Total lessons, Two weeks ago: 16, last week: 22. Lessons taught with a member present, Two weeks ago: 4, Last week: 9. People with a baptismal date, two weeks ago: 0, last week: 3. New investigators, two weeks ago: 1, last week: 8. And the crazy thing is we haven't really even been doing much differently. We have just been so blessed.
 |
| Elder Galvin and Dortch in their apartment |
After last weeks P-day was over we had a dinner appointment with the C's. Well, at least we thought we had a dinner appointment. Since we had no car we had an 18 year old ward member who has his mission papers in drive us up there since he is really tight with the son, M. Well, D, the 18 year old missionary to be, ended up telling the dad, that he was coming over too. But somewhere in the conversation he also told said Dad that it wasn't a dinner appointment but just a regular teaching visit. So when we show up were expecting food and are all like "let's eat". Then Dad just looks at soon to be missionary and was all like "you told me this was just a teaching visit" and D just starts freaking out because Dad is a pretty scary looking dude. He has tons of tattoos and is super jacked because he's a lumberjack. Well, we diffused the situation and taught M, then D took us to Cookout. It all worked out. Speaking of Cookout, I must have just jinxed myself because I just got barbecue sauce on my shirt. Good thing it's laundry day. Anyway, it all worked out.
Oh, funny story at Cookout with D….So we're just sitting there talking about what he can do to prepare for a mission when some random guy sits at our booth and drops two fishing reels on the table. He says they are worth $300 and he will give them to us for all our cash. He said he was desperate for money because he lost his wallet and needs gas money. I had $6 in my wallet but as a missionary I couldn't give it away. So D gave him $3 and told him to keep the reels and we gave him a pass along card. Missionary work! :)
So now I have to tell you about the biggest miracle of the week. So Tuesday ago we dropped by the home of a guy named, R. The Sisters tasked Elder Dortch and I with dropping off three copies of the Book of Mormon at his request. They would have done it themselves but they didn't feel safe going back there, I'm just going to leave it at that. When we knocked on the door a woman opened it up and invited us in. In the home we met M, M, A, and A. One of the M's is an inactive member and married to one of the A's and they have a one year old daughter. They are living with R, who is M's Uncle. The other A is R's girlfriend and the other M is a friend. Are you confused yet?:-) We ended up teaching them all about the restoration and committed them to baptism. They have been reading the Book of Mormon together and R has been such a great help in guiding them to the knowledge of the truth. We met with them again and taught the plan of salvation up to and including the Atonement. We talked about how we can be forgiven of our sins and reemphasized the importance of baptism. We were then able to commit the two A's and the one M (who is not a member) to be baptized on March 1st!. It got pretty crazy with some of them so we couldn't see some of them after that, but we did get to meet with A and M, the married couple, two more times and they came to church on Sunday with R and loved it. It was at their appointment on Saturday that the police showed up. The police just walk in and are standing around while we're teaching and then are like "we'll just wait outside" and I'm like “ so...repentance" it was such a crazy appointment they even asked us to re-teach that lesson because there was a lot of drama at the complex that day. They just moved here like a week ago from Texas and should be getting their own place soon so we can teach them away from all the crazy.
Having them at church was so wonderful. "A" loved everything, even the visiting teaching seminar she went to for Relief Society. She loved testimony meeting and is even trying to adopt Mormon vocabulary. She called herself Sister and called us Brothers. She wants to sign up to feed us when they get their apartment. She is so elect and will get baptized.
So Wednesday we went to Bojangles with Brother L after visiting Sister H with him. While we're eating some chicken this random guy asks Elder Dortch and I if we are a part of the Mormon tabernacle choir. Long story short, we end up teaching the first discussion...well Brother L ends up teaching the first discussion really. This guy was a Methodist and Brother L was too so he's telling this guy all about why and how he converted. It's was amazing. He wants us to drop by later and get a DVD of the “Messiah" production the church put on.
We got to teach this guy we bumped into at Walmart. He lives in the nicest house I have ever seen. It was right out of gone with the wind. I half expected Scarlet O'Hara to open the door, I'm not joking. He is this eccentric rich dude who inherited a fortune and a mansion from his uber rich doctor parents. He was telling us all about how he backpacked half the world just like his favourite authors did, and all about the books he has written. We didn't get much doctrine in but we did get a tour of the house so that was a plus. He said he'd like us to come back. I just think he is lonely and loves to talk.
During district meeting on Wednesday (which we had to walk an hour to...don't even get me started) I had to give a training session! It was so good and so much fun. I made handouts. It was on language and everyone loved it. I opened up by saying "It's so awesome to be here with a group of such cool missionaries" which made every freak out because ‘cool' and ‘awesome' are banned words in the mission. It's all a part of the sanctification process for missionaries. But I talked all about ‘careful' versus ‘casual' language and made fun little word/language cards for everyone.
 |
| Walking to District Meeting?? |
On Thursday the Sisters had to borrow the car because they went on exchanges after district meeting. But we thought that they were just driving straight to Morganton then straight back. So we just got a ride to the church with Zach, a recent convert, and met with him there and figured we could just get dropped off at the Sisters when we were done and wait the little but for them to get back. As it turns out they had teaching visits to do before but they forgot their phone at home so there was no way to find all that out so we ended up spending two hours weekly planning in a sketchy little convenience store waiting for the car.
Dinner on Saturday solidified to me that I'm getting fat on my mission (though surprisingly I am the same weight as when I left). We went to a place called called AJ's steakhouse which is essentially redneck buffet. I ate so much barbecue and fried chicken it's not even funny. My plan was just eat so much that I didn't even get hungry during Fast Sunday. It worked. We got to teach the husband of one of our ward missionaries who isn't a member. He is the nicest guy and loves missionaries and the church. He just needs to decide to get baptized. Though I don't think I could be the one to do it. He is about a foot taller than me and weighs about three times as much as me. Though faith can move mountains so you never know.
Well that's about it for me me this week, hope everybody had a good week and has an even better one next week.
Love ya,
Elder Galvin
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