Week 9

January 27, 2022

Week 9

Monday, April 5, 2021

WEEK 9

Hello everyone, and Happy Easter!

Whelp, that's a wrap on my first transfer in the mission! (For those of you who do not know, a transfer is a 6 week period in the mission). But wow, it sure flew by. I am so grateful for the time I have had so far in the mission. I am staying with my trainer Elder Corry here in Saginaw for another transfer. The only change we're having is my Zone Leader is leaving to lead another zone. We are sad to see him go. But, I am excited to stay here again. I love this area. My trainer has spent his entire mission in this same area so I hope he is still excited haha. Usually, after 2-3 transfers people go to a different area but he has been here for 5, going on 6 transfers. But, I am excited for the last 6 weeks of my training! Now, let me tell you about my week!

This week, we were so blessed! Like we usually do each week, we served at the soup kitchen twice. But this week was one of my favorite weeks of serving there! The Zone Leaders were doing some exchanges with some other Elders in our Zone and they came to service as well. We took some fun pictures at the Soup Kitchen so I will add those below. But, I find so much joy in doing service! It is almost a break for me in this work. For me, it is a few hours each week where I can really focus on other people and not think about the missionary work that is constantly on my mind. So that was great!

We were really blessed again this week by the members. One family in our ward bought us a ton of food to make for Easter. So, in between sessions we cooked at the Church building. I am sure you can imagine how entertaining it was to watch a bunch of Elders try and cook ham, cake, "cheesy potatoes" and rolls. But, the food actually turned out really good. We were very grateful to the members who fed us and thought about us during the Easter holiday.

This week was also special because it was a General Conference! We had a lot of fun watching the General Conference. The first session, we watched as a District and the rest of the sessions my companion and I watched with the Zone Leaders at the Church building on the TV they have. It was way better than our phones! General Conference was so great for the people we are teaching as well. We sent invitations to lots of people to watch Conference and we had three people who we haven't really taught before say they watched it and want to meet with us! So that is exciting.

Funny moment of the week:

In the car we always mess with Elder Stone, my Zone Leader, and pretend to hit our head every time he breaks. We flail around dramatically every time he takes a turn and yell "SLOW DOWN". It is pretty entertaining. But the other day, we were headed to the church for General Conference and we were acting dramatically as we usually do, when Tiwi (the device that keeps track of our speeding and driving) gave Elder Stone an "Aggressive Driving" warning (usually that happens when you are speeding excessively or something). Elder Stone is actually a good driver, we just give him a hard time whenever he drives. It was just a whole scene and it was pretty funny mostly because we were being so dramatic and he wasn't even driving aggressively. You can imagine he heard about his "aggressive driving" for the rest of the day.

Spiritual Thought:

There were so many great General Conference talks this week, but one thing really stood out to me in Conference. Faith in Jesus Christ. Faith in Christ is so important. It is what keeps me going on my mission through doubt in my ability to teach. President Nelson explained so well what faith can accomplish. Truly, when we have faith even as a mustard seed, we can move mountains. It was so special to read about Christ's ministry on the Earth during Easter this week. It strengthened my testimony a great deal and I hope all of you felt a little bit closer to Jesus Christ during this special holiday!

One scripture about Christ's ministry that stood out to me was Matthew 26: 53-54.

53 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?

54 But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?

Christ performed the Atonement FOR us. All of us. One thing I know, is that through faith in Him we can do all things. He suffered the atonement so he could help each of us with the difficulties we face in this life.

I love you all and hope you had a great Easter. See ya next week!

-Elder Elliott