Week 27
Monday, August 9th 2021
Week 27 JACK DAWSON
Good Morning everyone! I had a wonderful week here in Bay City! We got transfer calls, had a "Sprint Week" again, had B-Dubs twice, I found 4 new people to each, and hit my 6 month mark on the mission!! How excitng right? I feel like I just got here, and it has been 6 months aready! I was talking to a missionaries who was in my first District. When I told him about how I had been out 6 months he was in shock. He remembers vividly when I was in training still... time flies out here!
Let me tell you about transfer calls! We thought we were going to get our call Friday evening. We waited for our call, and heard about other missionaries getting their calls. When it didn't come Friday we both just got stressed because we had no idea what was happening! Haha but finally Saturday morning we got a call from our Mission President and he told me I will be training a new missionary here in Bay City and becoming the District Leader! I am so excited to train! I think it will be so fun to take on a brand new missionary and teach him the ropes! I just hope I am ready... part of me feels like I still have no idea what I am doing! I am positive though, that everything will work how it is supposed to.
The last week of this transfer was miracle filled! Last week I pushed myself to the Facebook limits and got 100 Facebook contacts in a week. Usually, a small number of those are actually interested in hearing our message. And an even smaller number of them actually meet with us. I want to tell you about some of the new people I found to teach! I am just going to tell you about three of them.
Okay this one woman the missionaries in our area had met with previously and she just ghosted them basically. But this week, she reached out and is ready to learn! We had a really cool lesson with her and then she came to church Sunday and loved it! I am so excited for Jazzii
I found a girl about my age on Facebook who lives in a different area of the mission. Now usually, girls my age on Facebook can be sketchy business because they think I am trying to hit on them. So I usually try to avoid them. But I felt prompted to contact her and I did. She is amazing! She lives in Jackson Michigan and is really eager to learn about the gospel. We are working with the missionaries in her area and I am so excited to help Brooklyn learn!
I saved the best for last. DOUG! Oh my gosh, Doug is amazing. I love him so much! We had a videocall with him and he was so eager to learn. He is a very interesting guy. He is kind of hippie a little bit, but he is just go with the flow! He doesn't have a car, but he was telling us about his plan to bike across America to California. He is going to tow his boat and dog behind him! I am not talking about a motorcycle here, oh no no no. We are talking bicycle. He wants to bicycle across America and live in California! So my family/friends in Cali, I will tell you when Doug is on the way! Hahaha. Doug is so eager to learn. We dropped off a Book of Mormon to him and as we drove away he messaged and said "I am already reading". One thing I noticed about him was the Light of Christ in his eyes. If you know, you know. You can tell when someone has that glint behind their eyes that tells you they are a disciple of our Savior. Doug has that glint and I can not wait to continue to work with him!
Since it was my 6 month mark on the mission, I wanted to snag some Buffalo Wild Wings on Tuesday! And then on Thursday, our new ward mission leader took us there with his non-member co-worker. It was a lot of fun! Our ward mission leader is a recently re-activated member and this guy is on fire. He has the Bay City ward in full-force, all-in on this great missionary effort. I love Brother Hemstreet!
Well, I have so many stories I could share. But, as people would say in the Book of Mormon, my record of this week suffiecth me. I will just add a funny story (or two or three) and then a spiritual thought.
In our first videocall with Doug, we became fast friends. I love this guy to death you guys! But as we were closing he says "Elder Elliott, your nickname is going to be Jack" I was like what? Why Jack haha. And he said "Because you look like Jack Dawson from the movie Titanic". So, apparently I look like Leonardo DiCaprio from Titanic. That is seriously the best compliment I have ever gotten in my life and I thought it was hilarious!
If you guys remember the fridge down the hall scenario, these past two weeks we have been waking down the hall to use the fridge every time we need something. We had a lesson with our Bishop, and I was telling him about the fridge. He let us use his dolly and we finally moved the fridge! A few times we have caught ourselves walking out of the apartment and then being like "oh yeah, I have a fridge now!"
On Tuesday, I really wanted to burn a tie to celebrate my 6 month mark! I found an old tie someone leaving gave me, and we climbed up the roof hatch and burned it on the roof. It was sweet!
Well that is all the stories for today. If you've made it this far I would like to quote a cool scripture I found this week.
Hebrews 6:19 "Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil."
What eloquent language to describe faith! I love the scriptures so much. I invite all of you to develop your faith in our Savior. It will hold you steadfast and immovable as the storms of life threaten to rip you off course. I testify that the Lord loves each of you, and is waiting with his hands outstretched for you to turn to him.
I love you all, have a good week!
Elder Elliott
Okay the picture below of the dishes haha. So, my companion and I do all the cleaning in our apartment and I was doing the dishes every day. So, we decided to just not do them and see what happens. After three days, this was the pile up hahaha. We now have a system where everyday we rotate who does them at night. It all worked out!
