Week 9: Camdenton, MO Second Transfer

This week was interesting!

Elder Brown left a week early, so the Bishop's son, Josh Skelton, graciously agreed to accompany for 7 days until I get my next companion(who is Elder Morris, my District Leader in the MTC).  This transfer is going to be interesting, since it will be the second transfer for both Elder Morris and myself, and so we will train each other!  Leading the area for a week was definitely a learning experience, it was tough but I grew a lot in my leadership and being comfortable with taking the initiative in lessons as well as in planning.  We have 5 baptismal dates for Sept. 16th, so we're very excited for that!!  We are praying for new investigators, we have been very lacking in gaining new investigators but at the same time we have been blessed with progressing investigators!  

Scripture of the week: Alma 32, 3 Nephi 12, 28

Reasoning: We are blessed for obeying commandments, but we are MORE blessed for not being compelled to obey.  In Alma 32, the people are MORE blessed for choosing to be humble, but they are still blessed for being humble.  In 3 Nephi 12, the people are MORE blessed for being baptized because of the testimony of the 12 apostles, but they are still blessed for being baptized because they saw Jesus Christ.  In 3 Nephi 28, the 3 apostles are MORE blessed because they desire to stay on the earth and do missionary work, but the 9 other apostles are still blessed for their desire to live a life and then die.  Moral of the stories?  If we want to receive more blessings, we need to think in a good>better>best mindset, and obey because of our faith, not because of the trials we face or the hardships God allows us to endure.

I love you guys so much!!

Elder Eliason

Week 8: Camdenton, MO

Received this as a text message this morning (8.24.2017). This would have been after the letter below was sent. 

Hello! This week has been so amazing!!

We went tracting for 1.5 hours, and we had great success! We found a member, C____, who didn't even know there was a church here! He moved here from California, and he's great! In that same complex, we found a great guy, J____, who is totally prepared for the Book of Mormon!! He is amazing!  

08.21.2017

We went to St. Clair, MO for the eclipse Wednesday, hence the late e-mail.  Instead of just watching it, we set up two booths, one in Sullivan, and one in St. Clair(about 30 miles from each other). We printed out all of the pages of the Book of Mormon, and asked people to highlight a page with all of the references to Christ, to show that the Book of Mormon testifies of Christ.  I was sitting on a bench across from the booth, reading from the BOM with Pres. Loveland, my Mission President, when a 26ish year old guy came up to us, sat down, and asked me the question "What's the difference between the Book of Mormon and the Bible?"  Pres. Loveland and I taught him for approximately an hour and a half, ranging from the Restoration, to the Book of Mormon, and even to deep doctrine on the three kingdoms, and how we achieve what we deserve (see D&C 88:22).  His name is C____, and when we testified of the power of Moroni 10:3-5, he said "let's just pray right now", and so we just prayed right there, people swarming around us, and it was one of the coolest things I have ever experienced!! The spirit was so strong, and I know that he felt it too.  He took us to meet his family, and they're the sweetest people ever.  The eclipse was pretty cool, too.  

Last Sunday, the M____ family came to church.  Elder Brown and I made contact with them for the first time on transfer day, the third lesson I ever had.  There is a 32 year old mother, who along with a 14 year old daughter are baptized.  There is a 47 year old father figure, and the mother has two sons, 12 and 10. The children have been coming to church for the past couple of weeks, the father figure was in the process of converting to Catholicism, and the mother worked 8-16 hour shifts 6  days a week at a nursing home as a nurse.  Elder Brown's last Sunday was this Sunday, and the bishopric capitalized on it by having him talk in sacrament meeting, playing the organ, and we taught Gospel Principles AND Relief Society haha.  WE capitalized on this by inviting EVERYONE to hear him speak, and the Lord had many tender mercies to give the M____ family and others to get to church on Sunday.  The mother had a 16 day streak of working planned, because they were short on staff, and her boss told her to take Sunday off, to recuperate.  We didn't know, but the whole M____ family showed up to church, along with many others!!  We had a total of 16 investigators and 9 LA at church, and that isn't even the crazy part!!  The father figure, R____, paid attention in sacrament meeting, and when it was over made a beeline for the stake president and bishop.  He said "I want to be baptized.  Today".  He still has some things overcome, but he is making lots of progress, and we can tell he is in it for the long haul!  

On Tuesday, yesterday, my companion and I spent 3 hours learning how to install laminate, and then Elder Brown had to go to a different area to interview an investigator for baptism, so I was on an exchange.  We decided to visit a referral from that area, and so we did that.  That whole day I had been praying for a new investigator, and I had faith that it would happen.  We got to the house, and the referral wasn't there, but his family was, so we gave them a card with our phone number on it for the man, J____, to contact us.  We left the house, and felt prompted to go tracting.  We went to only one house, but we talked to a man about the Book of Mormon, gave him a copy, and got his contact information.  The first and last house we tracted that day!  We then went to walmart to get some food, because we didn't have time to yesterday with all of the running around we had to do(we woke up at 4:30 am and didn't get back to the apartment until about 9:45 pm) and so we stopped by on our way home.  I had noticed a construction logo on the back of a mustang in the driveway of the referral's house, and in the cashier's line, we saw a man with a bright orange shirt with the same logo on the back.  I asked him if he knew J____, and he said that he was J____!!!  We talked a while with him, and he explained to us how his old church didn't support him at all when he was having a tough time in his life, and his wife is currently looking for a church.  I am so excited to teach them!!  This week has helped me solidify and build my faith in so many areas, and I'm so grateful to be on a mission!!  

Scripture of the week: Enos!

I love y'all!

Week 7: Camdenton, MO

All Along the Watchtower, Princes (of God) Kept the View

This week has been great!!

We had interviews with the MP in St. Roberts, about an hour away, we rode with guy who was German until he moved to America in 1955 at the age of 18. He is the funniest guy you'll ever meet, and he has some awesome stories from his past. Elder Brown and I have been crazy busy the last couple of weeks, tons of splits with ward members and we are doing lots of work with both investigators and less-actives. We have a huge area, and some of our investigators live WAY out in the boonies. Some of the areas that we tract are sketchy, and the people in them are different than what I expected, but as I look at them with a Christlike love, my fears and doubts are overcome. Tracting has been so hard for me, since I am not one to start conversations, but as I have tried to tract and do all in my power to become an effective missionary, I have been strengthened through Christ and we have had some very good successes with tracting. It is very nice here in central Missouri, overcast most days, and in the 70's.  My companion took me to a watchtower last night, and and we set some goals up there, as we were the highest point attainable in the county.  It reminded me of the old testament prophets, when they went up to the highest point to talk with God. We had a very strengthening experience up there, and the Spirit guided our goals.  We set one goal, then prayed about it, and then we both felt that we needed to raise it. As we trust in the Lord, and study things out in our mind, if we pray with a sincere heart, with real intent, and having faith in Christ, we can receive answers to our questions, whether they be spiritual or not.  I have a testimony of that, and every day as my companion and I pray to know if our plans are acceptable to Him, that testimony grows.  It is an exciting time to be a missionary, and I am loving it with all of my heart!! If I can help you in any way, let me know! I love y'all!

Elder Eliason

Week 6: Cambdenton, MO

Hi It's Me!

This week has been crazy busy!! I love my companion, and he loves Pringles, so we have had a blast collecting different Pringle flavors! (picture below).  We have had trouble seeing everyone we wanted to see this week, even when we have splits almost every night with people from the ward.  It's crazy how involved our ward is! 

​Everyone here is so giving, and so kind even if they don't want to hear the gospel. Hell's angels were in town, everyone was scared but they weren't scary.  They were literally wearing helmets.  Come on, guys!  We play disc golf a lot still, but we stopped when it started raining.  It rained about 7 inches this week in about 2 days, and this Fast Sunday we had to shovel a bunch of gravel about 100 yards back into a road that it was washed out from. 

I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is restored onto the earth today, and we can all gain a testimony that it is restored by reading the Book of Mormon. Some scriptures I loved this week are Ether 12:6, 27, and Moroni 7:33.

I love y'all!!

Elder Eliason

An old man gives us 2 dozen eggs every 2 weeks, super nice of him!

Part of our Pringle collection from this week

Elder Brown (From Provo, UT), me, Elder Call (From Colorado Springs, CO), Elder Stevens (From Sidney, MT)