Week 45...I think!

Not too much happened this week.  We taught Denise and she is well on her way to baptism!  Halfway through the lesson, she said she wanted to quit smoking.  It's amazing how the spirit works so we are going to be teaching her about the word of wisdom this upcoming week!  We also have a bunch of sisters from the ward that is going to pick her up for church on Sunday so she doesn't have to come alone!  The Holt ward is amazing!

We taught Zac the Plan of Salvation this week and he loved it and he really enjoyed the concept of everyone getting a chance to accept Jesus Christ in the spirit world!  We were trying to nail down a date but he wasn't able to pick a specific date.  We are planning on sometime in October.  Kinda far out but that is okay!

Pictures
-Out riding our bikes
-Riding past the house Malcom x grew up in

Transfers and "On Date"

We got transfer calls on Friday and my new companion is Elder Larsen.  He is from Fruitland Idaho. He is a super cool energetic guy who loves to work and have fun!  I was a little worried because it is his last transfer and he is one and done here in Holt.  We talked on the way back to Holt and he said he wants to go out with a bang so I am confident we will have a good transfer together!

Besides transfers, we were able to put Denise on a baptismal date for September 21st!  It was an amazing lesson the spirit was so strong we read from the Book of Mormon the story of Alma Baptizing a bunch of people then we invited her to be baptized and she said yes! 

Besides that we went to a bunch of members homes and Elder Anderson said good buy to a bunch of members.  That was my 3rd time running around with a companion saying goodbye to people.  I will be in this area for at least 7 and a half months!

We stopped by Tremell on Monday and he was showing us his Mustang and he has it completely torn apart and he has all kinds of cool things he is planning on doing with it.  twin turbos, cold air intake, and other stuff that sounded fancy.  We were getting a ride from one of the priests in the ward and he thought it was pretty cool it was kinda fun to be able to work with the youth a little bit.

Fire Flies

The night before the 4th of July we drove out to a member's home that was having a get-together and a firework show.  We got special permission to stay out til 10:00 but unfortunately we still weren't able to see any fireworks.  That being said I got to see fire fly's for the first time.  It was fascinating!  The following day for the 4th of July we went down to Mason and went to a car show and we talked to a bunch of people most of them weren't too interested, but it was still a good time.  Following the car show, we went to a Bbq with a member and we played a game of Kubb.  Long story short me and elder Anderson got our tails whooped after one game.  We headed back down to Mason after that and went to the parade.  It was kinda cloudy when we got out of the car but by the time the parade started, it was a torrential down pore.  We were hoping to wait it out under a tree by an elderly couple but we still got drenched.  The elderly couple ended up giving us a ride to our car. I felt bad because we got the inside of their car soaked.

We had Zone conference this week and we learned all kinds of interesting stuff about missionary work.  We got training about bridging the gap between different faiths and how we need to try and find similarities to build on instead of pointing differences.  It was really fun I was able to see all my MTC buddy's and Elder Eckersell and Elder Pancheri.  It was like a family reunion.

We had tons of success this week as far as missionary work. Specifically, Denise accepted a baptismal invitation!  All we have to do is get over a couple of small hurdles to get her to church and we will be home free.  We finally were able to sit down with a referral we got about three weeks ago by the name of Zac.  We have been messaging him back and forth for about 3 weeks now, but when we sat down he brought up baptism.  We talked about it for a little bit then we invited him to be baptized and he said "yes"!  I felt like I was living an episode of the district this week with how well our week went!

We also got back in contact with "granddad."  If you forgot Granddad was the one that we helped move about 2 months ago.  We sat down with him and talked about the Book of Mormon with him and he accepted a copy.  He had lots of great questions for us.  Before we left he fed us ribs and brats.  He had smoked them and made his own Bbq sauce and let me tell you they were amazing!  He said when we come back in a week he was going to fry up some bass for us!

-Me and President Brennan
-Drenched at the Parade
-A steam engine at the parade
-At The Parade
-Ribs and brats

What a Week!

On Thursday we went and met with Denise.  We had planned to teach her the Gospel of Jesus Christ but we got a little off track and we ended up talking about church.  We were able to resolve her concerns and answer her questions about church.  She said she will come this upcoming week.  We were about done with the lesson and we were asking her a little bit more about her Book of Mormon and her reading and we asked her how she felt when she was reading.  She responded and said she feels peaceful.  When she said it you could tell she meant it!  That is half the battle is getting people to recognize the spirit and she did it!  It's amazing to see the peace that the Book of Mormon brings into peoples lives just by reading it!

We had 2 people at church on Sunday!  I've never had that happen before.  The two people we had at church were Zac and Tramell.  It was really amazing to see all the members seeing them and remembering their first time at church and being able to relate to them.  We had some awesome fellowship, to say the least.  

I Crashed My Bike!

We were riding back from our church building on a bike trail that leads to our apartment.  We stopped and talked to a guy about the Book of Mormon for a little bit.  The only problem was he made us late for our dinner appointment.  So we were riding back to the apartment as fast as we could.  When we got to the apartment I went to ride up the steps like I always do, but this time I hit them going a little too fast.  Long story short I made it up to the first step successfully.  The second one I didn't pop my front tire up quick enough and I planted it.  It sent me over the handlebars.  With some expert crash maneuvering, I managed to just tumble and roll and I was just fine.  We were also only 5 minutes late for our meal appointment!

About 2 months ago we helped some nonmembers move.  We got a call from their friend that is a member saying that they needed help again.  We helped them move on Tuesday, and come to find out they had all the big stuff this time, like pianos and dressers.  We were really missing Elder Pancheri on this one.  Somehow some way me and Elder Anderson single handily moved a piano all by our selves.  Don't know how we did it we definitely had some angels lifting with us.  The awesome part was they accepted a copy of the book of Mormon and they both asked for a blessing!  It was really cool getting to give a nonmember a blessing. They offered to take us to Texas Roadhouse on Tuesday.  We are going to be enjoying some good food tomorrow night!

On Saturday we drove down to Mason to work for the day.  We started with stopping by Jason because we have had a hard time getting in contact with him.  He ended up being home and we talked for a little bit tried to set something up but he was pretty busy the next week and we couldn't get something set up.  Elder Anderson ended up asking him if we could help him with some farm chores around the farm.  He ended up saying yes.  We brought a pair of service clothes just in case so we changed and we went out and helped him cut wood for 2 hours.  It ended up being really good we were able to talk about the gospel and some of his concerns.   He actually ended up knowing some members of the ward already.  Which was a major perk! 

We implemented our lesson calendar this last week and it ended up working out really well.  We put the emphasis on the lesson part of meal appointments and lessons with members.  The 3 or 4 we had this last week went really well we were able to talk to members about how to be member missionaries.  Since we have done this lesson calendar we have had some great appointments with members and we have already had 1 or 2 referrals from it!  So be member missionaries!

We taught this really cool guy this week named Robert.  We knocked into him about 2 weeks ago and he told us to come back.  Elder Anderson stopped by him on trade offs and taught him the restoration.  We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  It was an amazing lesson the spirit was so strong.  Its amazing what the spirit can do for you when you prepare for a lesson!

-Elder Compton

Never Ending Rain and Santa School?!

17 June 2019

Yesterday we were riding our bikes around South Lansing stopping by some people in our area book.  It was sprinkling when we started, but it just started dumping while we were out.  Long story short we both got drenched from head to toe.  It was kinda funny we were riding past a member's home and they were out and they looked at us like we were crazy! 

On Saturday we had a Barbecue at Bro Knighton's home.  We invited Allen one of our friends and he actually showed up!  It was awesome we were able to get some good fellowship.  Allen told us all about how he use to play Santa and how there is a renowned Santa school here in Michigan.  Bet you never knew that!  We had some amazing BBQ chicken and hot dogs. 

We had an awesome miracle happen this week on Thursday.  We had a media referral that wanted to attend the Addiction Recovery Program the church offers.  She didn't show up at 7 so we gave her a call.  She ended up talking to the group leader sister Flannery and she was able to connect really well.  Me and Elder Anderson ended up stopping by and dropping of the addiction recovery pamphlet and a copy of the Book of Mormon.  The spirit was so strong at that moment she is so ready to change!

We were able to finally meet with one of our bible requests this week.  It was an interesting lesson she asked a lot of really good questions.  We were able to ti most of them into the restoration of the gospel.  She even said that she would like to come to church the following Sunday! 

Also, I went on my 7th trade-off in a row with Elder Duffin.  This will be the last one though because he is going home -- sad day.

pictures!

-Drinking a slurping while waiting for the other elders to let us in the apartment
-taking a picture while riding a bike!(sounds like a great idea)
-getting caught in the rain on bikes

Service for Days!

10 Jun 2019

Tuesday after 6 we went out with our ward mission leader stopped by a bunch of members.  On Wednesday morning I woke up and I had a sore throat. None the less we went out.  We rode our bikes around town a little bit and on our way back I thought I was going to die.  I was so tired and my throat was sore but somehow I survived.  That evening we taught Allen and he had some concerns about the one true church and authority.  I think with some effort and time we will be able to answer his questions and help him understand everything.  He talked our ear of though this time.  I thought at about an hour we were about done but after 2-ish hours we finally left.  That made things quite interesting.


On Thursday we had dinner at our ward mission leaders home.  After dinner, we had a lesson we were hoping to take him to.  His wife needed the car so we gave him a ride.  It was conveniently my day to drive.  And oww Man was our ward mission leader nervous about us giving him a ride.  He was on my tail if I was one MPH over the speed limit or if he didn't think I was braking soon enough.  With the help of some back seat driving, we made it to Denise's safely.  At Denise's, we were able to have a great lesson on the Plan of Salvation and we were able to answer all of her great questions she had! 

On Saturday we were crazy busy!  We started out the day at a baptism for a members kiddo.  and that pushed study's and everything back an hour or two.  Then we had a bunch of teaching appointments one of them was at a less actives were we taught the Plan of Salvation.  It was an awesome lesson the spirit was so strong right at the end.   It just about knocked our socks off!  But at 4:00 we went and helped Jason with some farm chores.  We ended up helping him haul hay!  It super fun we were using old school pitch forks and this old school barn to store it in.  It was an experience I will never forget.  More importantly, we got to meet his wife and children.  They were all super nice and appreciative of the service.  We are hoping to start teaching the entire family soon!  After a few other things we were finally able to get some dinner at around 7:30.  Needless to say, it didn't matter what it was it tasted good!

Transfers!

04 Jun 2019

We had a crazy week!  On Thursday we went to an appointment that was kinda not solid.  She ended up not answering the door.  On our way in we overheard a conversation about moving.  Elder Pancheri asked if we could help and [the person] said, "yes."  It also just so happens that he had 3 people cancel on him [that were going to help him move].  It also just so happened that we were in a trio.  So we were able to Help Bob out!  He later admitted that he was praying that someone would show up to help him out.  It's amazing to get to see the power of prayer.  I have had so many prayers answered and now I was able to help answer an old man's prayer for help!  After we finished up Charles who was also helping Bob move took a picture with us and said he was going to hang it up in his public art gallery! 

On Friday we got our transfer calls and I am staying in Holt with Elder Anderson.  Elder Pancheri is headed up to Midland.  After we got our transfer calls we went and had lunch with Don.  Don was someone I was teaching up in West Branch.  He came down to Lansing for a Sams Club run and he decided to take me and my companions out to lunch while he was at it!

We had an awesome sacrament meeting this week.  It was fast Sunday and one of the ward missionaries that I had taken on splits to teach Allen got up and bore his testimony about missionary work.  It was amazing.  The spirit was strong.  It was exciting to see that the ward is finally excited for missionary work because the ward members when I first got here would hardly talk to the missionaries.  It's been a total 180 [turnaround].