Tell the World I'm Coming Home!!!

This week was insane!  On Tuesday night we spent all night finishing up Zone conference prep.  On Wednesday we had our first [face to face in a quite a while] zone conference and it was so much fun being able to get together with the zone even if it was only half of the Zone.  It was so nice to be in person.  After the zone conference we drove home and we had Elder Arnette and Elder Powell drop us of at one of the local tracks.  We went all the way to the top and got a time lapse of the sunset for a video that we have been working on. 

On Wednesday we had our second zone conference and it was exactly the same as the previous one, but it was still a ton of fun.  Afterwards we went to get some Mexican food.  We decided to go through the drive through and that was a big mistake.  They would only take one order at a time so we had to go back around 4 times so we could all get our food.  In hindsight we should have just gone inside and sat down.  

Besides that we were able to teach the Mangums and another family on Saturday.  It was an incredible week of hard work and teaching!

Also see y'all on Wednesday! 

Pictures

Thunder storms and adventures!

 We had a crazy week this week and we stayed nice and busy!  To start out this week we met with Denise on Tuesday.  We were able to have an awesome lesson where we talked about praying and scripture study.  We were also able to reschedule her baptism for October 17.  She is still on track, but she is getting a surgery done.  She can't be submerged in water for about 6 weeks so we have to bump it back a few weeks.  

We also were able to receive a referral from some Elders in California for a guy by the name of Nate.  He is pretty cool and we were able to have a brief lesson with him over Facebook messenger the other night.  

On Wednesday night we had stake missionary coordination.  It always amazes me how much work it takes to get ready for that.  We have to call all the areas and we have to find out how their ward councils are going. Do they have ward mission leaders.   It's a ton of work, but we were well prepared and the meeting went really well for us!

On Saturday we went bike riding!  We left our apartment at 12 and we rode to a busy intersection in our area to get a time lapse.  We then trekked to the other corner and we had a lesson at Jefferson's home where we helped Denise get set up on family history. By the way, the Jeffersons are amazing members.  We had to leave so we could get dinner before our next appointment and they told Denise that she could stay as long as she would like!  After dinner we rode our bikes another half hour and we had a lesson with a part member family that we have been working with.  We were able to teach the Mangum family the first half of the Plan of Salvation.  The lesson went well and we were able to help address their concerns.  We then rode another half hour home.  Long story short we were really tired by the time we got home! 

Friday night we had a crazy lightning storm so we set up Elder Bennions GoPro up and we did a time lapse all night.  We set the shutter speed at a half a second and we were able to get some really cool photos during the night while we were sleeping!    

Photos

A Week of Driving to Say the Least!

 On Wednesday we drove out to Spring lake to attend their district council. Then we drove all the way back to Wyoming.  Then we drove all the way back down to Holt on the South side of Lansing.  Now you're probably wondering why on earth did we drive to Lansing?  If you remember from about a year and a half ago I was able to help Bob and Julie move some furniture.  Or should I say a lot of furniture.  We were able to visit them from time to time and we would share short messages with them.  Long story short Bob passed away and we drove down for the viewing.  It was a powerful experience being able to talk to his wife and to testify to her that this life isn't the end.  There is more after this.  The members who referred them to us were able to talk to Julie about eternal families.

On Friday we drove back to Spring Lake to do our final trade offs.   The transfer and my final trade offs of my mission.  It was amazing we had a ton of fun, but we worked hard.  We were able to make 3 videos between the 4 of us.  It was an incredible experience getting to work with these Elders. They had an incredible desire to do the work.  

On Sunday we were able to have our second in person lesson with Denise and it was amazing.  We ended up getting like 4 members who joined and the Sister missionaries.  We were worried it was going to be overkill, but Denise loved it and she took 2 pages of notes.  I love watching people who are just excited to learn more and to act on the message that we share!  

Friday night we got permission to stay out a little later to get a time lapse of Lake michigan for a video that we are going to make for the Facebook page and it was incredible.  We stayed until it was dark and we were able to get some amazing profile pictures.  And no, that was not done with a green screen.  It built my testimony that God is real that he is really aware of our lives because he has given us some beautiful things to enjoy in this world.

-Elder Compton

A Week of Miracles

 It was an amazing week. We had two exchanges and we picked up two new people to teach. We also got Denise on baptismal date for Sep 5!  It was actually pretty cool how it happened.  Elder Bennion had pushed pretty hard to put her on date on trade offs, but she didn't fully commit one way or the other.  Last night we were meeting with her again. We were asking how her week went and she said she received an answer that she was ready.  In her exact words she said the holy ghost told her if not now then when.  She agreed to September 5 and all we need to teach her now is the commandments and get her to church a couple more times!

We were also referred to this fellow by the name of JR this week.  He has been a wild ride to teach to say the least.  He has read almost all of the Book of Mormon and he said this book more clearly explains Jesus Christ than the Bible!  That was pretty sweet, but he got caught up on 2 Nephi 6:9 because he believes in the Trinity.  He thinks we have two "Jesuses".  We are now working to overcome that concern.

It has been incredible these past couple of months figuring out how to do missionary work from the apartment. We usually spend the day making videos and posts and then 6-9 we message people over Facebook. It has been incredible seeing the miracle that have come from Facebook.  I was actually able to place my first Book of Mormon the other night using Facebook! We are even starting to get people to church that were found on Facebook.  I'm honestly kinda bummed I'm leaving just as we are getting this Facebook thing figured out.  The goal pre-quarantine was to have 10 meaningful contacts every day and it's still the same thing in quarantine. It's just over Facebook and doing calls. I'm betting we will soon be having people baptized and confirmed who were found through Facebook!  It's definitely not come without the bumps along the road, but we are figuring out a new way of doing missionary work!

Pictures.

-Elder Bennion burned his fingers cutting peppers so he put them in milk trying to cool them off.

-Elder Bennion and I with the whole green screen set up!

Friend at Church!

Denise is amazing!  On Saturday we had a lesson with her on the restoration and it was amazing.  She practically taught us the restoration.  On Sunday after church we were able to have our first in person lesson with her.  I didn't realize how out of practice I was at teaching in person.  I kept catching myself looking at my phone looking up scriptures and not looking at her.  We were able to teach her about the sacrament.  She really enjoyed church and she is excited to keep learning more.  

We were also able to have a district council in person for the first time in 5 months.  It was so relieving to be able to get together with the district rather than seeing each other as a 2 inch square.  

Pictures

-District council

We Rode Our Bikes 14 Miles on Accident

On Sunday we had a lesson with our friend Denise and she said she wanted to be baptized sooner than later.  We weren't able to nail down a date, but She did agree to pray about a baptismal date.  She said she would like a physical copy of the Book of Mormon.  The only problem was we didn't have the car so we hopped on our bikes and went for a ride.  We accidentally put in the wrong address and we ended up being at the wrong corner of our area.  Long story short, by the time it was all said and done we rode our bikes about 14 miles on a fast Sunday.  Dinner was definitely a reward that night.  A really cool miracle though with dropping the Book of Mormon off to Denise was she just opened to a random page.  It ended up being 2 Nephi 31 Which is the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It was pretty cool to see how that all worked out. 

We also had transfers this week and I picked up Elder Bennion.  It was a long day though.  I started in Spring lake and I drove to Grand rapids and from Grand Rapids we drove back to spring lake and back to Grand Rapids. Finally we were able to drive home.  We did not get home till about 9:00 o'clock. It was a lot of driving and dropping off.  Then to top it all off, on Thursday we drove to Lansing and back to pick up Elder Arnette's trainee. 

Week One of My Final Transfer

Wednesday Morning we got a call and President Heap asked if he could talk with me privately. I said "yes."  I found out my new companion is going to be Elder Benion.  The reason we got transfer calls early is because Elder Caldwell is the new vehicle coordinator.  He needed to be trained for a couple of days before the old vehicle coordinator got transferred out.  In the meantime I've been with the Spring Lake Elders in their area till transfers on Tuesday!  

We saw many miracles this week. The main one that comes to mind was a referral we got from church headquarters.  We gave her a call and she was super enthusiastic to talk to us.  We were able to set up a time to talk with her over the phone.  When we had that lesson she told us she wanted to join the church.  So we taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ and invited her to be baptized!  She said absolutely she just had some concerns about the timeline of it all.  

I really wanted to share a Facebook miracle we had this week.  We have been messaging a lady that we met on Facebook for quite a while and for some reason we started exchanging recipes.  She started talking about her Italian background and how she wanted to learn more about her family.  We gave her instructions of how to download the family history app.  Hopefully we can get  her connected to her family!  

Second Facebook miracle.  We have been messaging this guy by the name of Andrew for probably two weeks now.  We were able to get an invitation to church extended and he said yes!  So keep y'alls fingers crossed that he makes it to church on Sunday!  

Okay a funny story from this week!  Yesterday we went to film a video where we reeled in a Book of Mormon with a fishing pole.  And when Elder Taylor first casted all we had was a bare hook and two weights.  While he was reeling it in he said, I caught a fish!  Elder Cardona and I were like there is no way, but sure enough there was a fish darting around in the water.  He caught a bass on the first cast with no bait and no lure!  What are the odds?

-Elder Compton