Hey everyone!
This past week was pretty… I guess you could say eventful. Ha! We have been working on the "unknowns" in our ward directory. The unknowns are the people in the ward directory that we have no idea who they are. So we go and drop by to see how they're doing and offer any service that we might provide. Most of the time they'll say "no we're okay". So at that point we ask what kind of contact they would like with the church. You know, like if they mind missionaries stopping by or home teachers coming by to visit them... that kind of stuff. Most of the time they're pretty nice about it and just say that they're good with the contact that they have right now (which is very little contact with their home teachers or visiting teachers). But sometimes you get the ones that seem kind of irritated or they become agitated by the fact that we're there, so they (grumpily mind you) say they don't want any contact whatsoever and that they have joined some other church. They will say that they're happy where they are at and with their relationship with Christ.
When they say that, we just ask them if they would like their names removed from the records of the church, because if they don't then missionaries or other church members will most likely stop by again. In case you were wondering, yes, we're allowed to ask that. The process to remove a name from the records of the church is time consuming and lengthy, most of the time during the process they just give up because it's too much of a pain in the butt. So visiting "Unknowns" and checking up on them to see what... I guess you can say... stage that they're at with the church has taken up a lot of our time this week.
Then also this past week we had a wonderful lesson with Erin! We brought Sister Battaglia with us! She is the primary president, so we thought it would be a good idea to bring her along so Erin knows what to expect for her daughter Ky when she's in Primary.
Speaking of which, Erin came to church! We were so happy to see her there. She told us it was really hard for her to do, but we knew that through her own prayers and through the prayers of the members she was able to come to church :). A few days before, she said that she would most likely just stay for Sacrament Meeting and see how that was first, just to take it a step at a time. At the end of Sacrament Meeting we asked how she liked it, and she said she did like it. So then we asked if she would like to go to the next class, which is Gospel Principles. At first he was hesitant and said maybe, but then we are able to talk to her about it, and she decided to stay for the second class. I think she enjoyed it :).
About 15 minutes before gospel principles ended, Elder Manning and I had to leave so we could go teach a lesson in Primary. We asked Erin if she would like to accompany us. She said yes. On the way to Primary though, she said that she was going to go home. So we thanked her for coming and said that we would call her this week to set up another appointment.
As I mentioned above, Elder Manning and I had the opportunity this past Sunday to teach the Primary! It was really fun! We taught the kids how part of Heavenly Father's plan for us was to be separated from him for a time so we could learn and grow. In order to do that, He had to have someplace for us to live, and that place was earth. So we went over the different things on the earth (mostly nature) and things that make us happy, like ice cream, cats, trees, flowers or butterflies and discussed why those things made us happy. It was a great lesson!
Then after we were done teaching Primary, we had to run over to the Relief Society. Before Sacrament Meeting had ended Sister Ray had asked that all four of us Missionaries go to relief society at about 3:30 pm and that we would really enjoy being there if we came. So after primary was done, we went and grabbed Elder Lanham and Elder He and went to the Relief Society room!
We walked in and a sister a stands up and the person teaching the lesson sits down. After standing there for a second, Sister Ray says, "Elders, this past week the Relief Society got together and decided that we would like to give you "sacks of love". We really appreciate the sacrifice that you guys are making to serve the Lord and to share the gospel with those who are here in Maryland. So behind you are sacks full of things that you Elders might need. And they're from all of the Sisters! So we turned around and there were laundry sacks full of stuff for us! They had dish soap, toilet paper, towels, candy, shampoo, conditioner and body wash, cereal, deodorant, new insoles for shoes, and list just keeps going on! We really appreciated what the Relief Society did for us and felt a lot of love from it. So to any of the Relief Society from the Patuxent Ward that might be reading my blog, thank you again very much!
On Sunday night, we had the opportunity to go over to the Watson home! It was really awesome because they had invited their neighbors from across the street to join us for the spiritual thought and the neighbors had were happy to come because they want as much spiritual interaction for their kids as possible. I guess when the kids go over to their mothers house, it's just a kind of free-for-all and she doesn't really care what they do. So when they're at their dads house, he and his wife try to share with them spiritual things to help them stay on the straight and narrow path. We thought it would be appropriate to share with them that families can be together forever. We had an awesome lesson on that and the spirit was very strong. The Watsons are a wonderful family and the spirit really does radiate from them. In the end it was really awesome because they were interested in having more lessons so that their kids can learn more. We kinda think the parents are taking it as "I don't care what's being taught as long as it is about Jesus and in line with his teachings so my kids can learn." We're not too sure that as of right now they're taking it as "Wow! Here is some truth that I had not known before. Tell me more!", kind of thing. We're just going to keep talking with the Watsons and setting up appointments for us to teach their neighbors. Their names are Bruce and Alicia.
Last but not least, today was P-day and zone activity! So our zone and the Anacostia zone got together and played flag football and ultimate frisbee. It was way fun! We probably played four games of each. Oh! Also did I mention that the temperature for pretty much the entire time was between 29 and 30°? Yeah it was pretty cold. I had to take my jacket off while I was playing though because it got too hot! It's funny how that works.
When we were finished playing, we had some delicious pizza from Little Caesars, and everybody slowly just started leaving for home. Overall today was an awesome day!
Well I love you all and I hope that your past week has been awesome and full of the Spirit! Hope all goes well for you this week.
Love,
Elder Gold
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