Week 29

February 06, 2022

Week 29

Monday, August 23, 2021

Week 29

Good Morning everyone!

As I sat down to write my email, I realized I have no idea what happened! It flew by so fast! I will just share a few highlights with you all. We had a multi-zone conference with Elder and Sister Bennet (general authority), we found 4 new people to teach, and we have a few wild stories to share.

I will start with the Bennet's! That whole day was wild. In the morning, we did our personal study and then we went and picked up a free couch (I will tell that story later). Then, we went to Midland for the Conference. It was so cool!! Elder and Sister Bennet shared some really cool things with us. I felt the spirit so strongly and I learned so much from them! Elder Bennet shared a lot, but one thing I will share with you all is he said that our mission was pretty special. Apparently the Quorum of the 12 and the Worldwide Mission Department have been watching our mission closely. The way we work with ward members is pretty new, and we have seen a lot of success as we have built relationships with the members. The Bay City Ward really trusts Elder Clouse and I, and we have some people we will start teaching soon because the members have been referring them to us. It is awesome!

Elder Clouse is an absolute stud. I am so grateful I have such a wonderful trainee. He is hardworking, extremely diligent, and super coachable. What else could a trainer ask for??? He is also a hoot! This man fires me up!! It has been special for me to watch him because it is literally like watching myself as a new missionary. He has so much passion for this work and he is an incredible missionary. I can't wait to watch him develop his skills and become the missionary I know he can be. He is such a fun guy and he holds me accountable and pushes me to be better everyday!!

Lately, we have been trying to "dignify" our language and not use slang terms. Sister Heap has really been pushing it in our mission. So, Elder Clouse and I decided that when each of us says a slang term we have to do 5 push-ups. And they don't count for our daily push-up goal! (At the beginning of my mission, my Father and I have done one more push-up everyday than the day before. So, today I have to do 199 push-ups). These pushups for using slang don't count. The funniest part though is we have come up with different words to use instead. So you will hear us yelling in our apartment BLAST, DRAT, or YOU ARE DENSE. It is pretty funny stuff, and it has made me realize how much slang I use everyday without even knowing!

We found 4 new people to teach this week, and all 4 of them were from Facebook. Elder Clouse found 3 of them on his own. Don't worry, he reminds me about it ;) they are all really solid. It was fun because two of them do not live in our area. One of them lives in Pennsylvania actually! I got to videocall my good friend Elder Greene this week because I thought our friend was in his area. Sadly, he was in a whole different mission. Elder Clouse and I have witnessed miracles, and I know we will continue to witness them.

I have two stories to share. One of them is a cool miracle, and one of them is really funny.

Funny Story this week:

Elder Clouse found a couch off of Facebook marketplace this week. We went to the lady's house and it took us an hour to move it from her basement. She had her son do it with us, and he was really mad he had to do it. While we were moving it it started scratching up the walls and breaking stuff and I was like "maybe we should stop" and he was like "it is fine" so I was like okayyyyy and we DESTROYED their wall and bunch of these plants the lady had. I felt so bad. The worst part was this is not a small couch. It is a full sectional and we were certain we could fit it in our car. We were wrong. The lady's husband was nice and followed us with his truck to our apartment and helped his bring it over.

The funny part of the story was that the couch is absolutely disgusting. So, we went to Goodwill and got some sheets to cover it. I got the highest in demand Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle sheets and we all have designated spots on the couch now. We also all picked out fat ties that cost a dollar and we are going to wear them to the next Zone Conference. Bring back fat ties!!! It was awesome!

Elder Clouse and I went out "Preaching By the Way" this week. It is the new way we go door knocking. We go to a person we haven't been in contact with in a while, knock on their door and then knock on doors we feel prompted to knock on surrounding it. We usually just go 15 minutes before a lesson and knock on doors nearby. This week, we were doing this. We knocked on a few doors and didn't have much success. (One of the people's excuse was, he came to the door, and said one second. Then he came back and said, "sorry we are naked.") I was like uhhh you are clearly not sir lol. But as we were heading back, I felt prompted to walk across the street right then and talk to this guy. A car pulled up as we were talking and distracted the man. We were disappointed, and went back to our car. As were about to pull out the car pulled up right next to us!! We started talking with them, and they asked us about the Plan of Salvation. They had just come from a funeral! We gave them a copy of the Book of Mormon and our number. As they were leaving, she saw my Covid bracelet I got from getting the vaccine and she asked "Can I have your bracelet? It will be a symbol that God lives and I will show everyone." I was like, ummm sure! It was pretty cool.

Long story short, I want you all to know that this was a testament to me of the divinity of this work. We were in the exact right place, at the exact right time. So many different things happened so we would meet with them at the perfect time. The Lord micromanages his missionaries. This is His work and I am his humble servant.

I love you all! Have a good week!

Elder Elliott

Here are some other highlights from this week:

I led my first district council!

we went to a wedding celebration of a recent convert

we said goodbye to our ward mission leader