Week 12

  Monday, April 26, 2021

WEEK 12

Good Morning everybody! 

I hope you all had a great week. If you feel so inclined, email me and tell me about yours! 

This week was pretty exciting. To start off, on Wednesday our Mission President called my companion and I and told my companion he is going to his original assignment! He's headed off on May 11! I am excited for him. He is leaving a week before the transfer ends so my last week here I will be living with the Zone Leaders here in Saginaw. Luckily, I will just be moving down the street but it is not for a few weeks. I am sad he is leaving but I am really excited for him. He will do great things. 

Heather and her family missed their mark on baptism. Saturday was supposed to be their day. We still haven't gotten in contact with them. But that is alright! We were able to teach a lot of people this week and I saw some cool mini miracles happen. If any of you remember me talking about my Facebook ad, something cool happened with that. I only got like 4-5 (legitimate non-missionary) responses to my ad and none of them seem super interested in getting a free Book of Mormon. Also, responses slowed down a ton and I was pretty sure no one else would respond. BUT this week, one guy responded and really wanted a copy! He lived in our zone, but outside our area so some sisters dropped off a copy to him. Apparently, he is really interested in learning about it and talked to the sisters for an hour! So, even if just one guy gets a copy from the hundreds of people that have viewed my ad, I still call it a miracle. 

Some fun things happened this week. I learned how to cut my own hair so that was pretty cool. AND it actually looks really good. My companion also gave me the sim card for our phone so I could practice using it for my last three weeks of training. All you missionaries know about that haha. Some Elders in our zone came to Saginaw this week sooo we took some fun pictures with them I will add below.

During service this week, we went to Tyrone's house again and we helped him install some side paneling to his house. I am NOT the handy-man type but Tyrone gave me the hammer and made me go to work while he sat on the side and watched. It was pretty fun actually and he told me I should start my own Construction business. I am sure my little brother Bentley would love that but, I think I will pass on that one. 

Funny Moment:

I had another interesting experience on Zoom this week. One of our investigators (yes the same one who went to the bathroom a few weeks ago) answered with no shirt on. My companion and I laughed a little bit at first just because he had no shirt on. But, when I was asked to pray he moved the phone angle down and we could just see his bare chest and it was so awkward. my companion and I started laughing so hard DURING the PRAYER. It was so bad. I had to get up and excuse myself. Elder Corry held up a white board to cover him up on the screen so we could try and teach him. Maybe you won't think that is very funny but if you saw us trying to hide our laughs/smiles you might think it was. 

This one is not so funny but it is kinda cool. Our mission had the first few cases of Coronavirus this week. Since the beginning of the Pandemic, no missionaries have gotten Covid at all. This week was the first time since it began. Our Mission President told us that we're the only mission in the U.S. and probably the world that this has happened to so that is pretty cool. The missionaries are isolating themselves and are doing very well. Only three cases in over a year! That is pretty good. 

Spiritual Thought:

I made a goal to memorize one scripture a week and this week, I memorized Matthew 7:7. ( I don't memorize the punctuation usually so if this is incorrect punctuation I apologize). 

"7. Ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you"

I love this verse because it is true! One thing I have found is that if we ask God in faith for something, he WILL answer our prayers. It has happened to me over and over again on my mission and my testimony of prayer is so strong. If you want something and you ask sincerely, without malice or ill-intent, the Lord WILL answer you.

Have a great week! 

Love, Elder Elliott 

Yes, Lots and lots of pictures this week. You're welcome.