Good Week!

Hello Everyone,

Elder Sessions and I had a very good week. We worked very hard and it defiantly paid off. We went to ward council and they asked for the missionary report. The ward mission leader gave it and the bishop and his councilors just kept doubting everything we did and all the dates we set for baptism. The ward is very hard to work with. The last missionaries put a very bad taste in the mouth of the members. A member walked up to us and said "hey your the new missionaries?" We said yes and the member said "Hopefully you come to church, cause the last Elders didn't." So that's what we are working with. We hope they will start to trust us a little because members are so important. 

 

The lord has blessed us with quite a few people to teach! We don't have the car this week so that will be fun haha! We will be walking around Des Moines. We aren't in the city though our area covers part of down town. 

This week we went on exchanges with the Zone leaders. The zone leaders are Spanish missionaries so they teach only Hispanics! So I was in all of these Spanish lessons and I had no idea what to say. You can still feel the spirit though. Then we had Zone Conference which was very fun! We kinda get to relax as far as relaxing goes for missionaries. We listened to presidents and the assistants train then we watched Ephraim's Rescue. We had meetings from 9 to 4! Super long but they are pretty easy to sit though after a couple you get used to it! Hope all is well!

 Also the church has a video out called "he is the gift". Please watch it and share it with your friends. to view it go to Christmas.mormon.org. Its an awesome video. I'm so grateful that God sent his son to atone for are sins. Have a marry Christmas and remember the true meaning of Christmas! Love you all!

-Elder Lords

 

Im in Des Moines

Well im now in Des Moines, Iowa. We are in the Easter Lake West area. I have a new companion his name is Elder Sessions. He is from Ashton, ID. He has been out about 3 months. I was asked to white wash an area. It is a little stressful. White wash means both Elders are taken out of an area and replaced. Usually one elder that knows the area and people stay but there were some problems. We don't have a lot to work with so we have been knocking a lot of doors.

We have a pretty nice apartment we live in the same complex as some of the other missionaries so that's nice. They live in a building just down the road.

We are trying to get to know the ward and fix some trust issues. The last missionaries were very disobedient and they caused some problems from what I understand. We live very close to the Airport here in des moines. The airport is actually in our area so that's pretty cool! Ill take pictures for next week.

We met a lot of new people this week! We found some new investigators also. We are going to work with a couple less active members also. Im excited to be in a new area. The ward is a lot smaller than Cedar Rapids. That's okay though. Im grateful to be serving a full time mission. We are in a car share hear also. We get the car this coming week so that will be nice. We have a larger area than my last area. We  also cover a smaller suberb of Des Moines called Norwalk. I hope everyone is doing well! Love you all!

-Elder Lords

P.S Picture is with the Masias a member family in Cedar Rapids that did a lot for us. And that is Barbra an investigator that is going to get baptized on the 20th. She is back in Cedar Rapids. 

 

Transfer Week

We received Transfer calls this week and I'm leaving. I'm sad because we have been working so hard and seeing a lot of success. I guess i'm meant to be somewhere else though. Im also excited to see a new area. Ive been here in Cedar Rapids for 4 months! The time is flying by for me. The last 7 week transfer was over in the blink of an eye.

For thanksgiving we ate at a couple of members houses. We were told to continue doing missionary work though. We tried but people arent to receptive on Thanksgiving. We worked hard though none the less. Its been really fun being in a Trio with Elder Gower my original companion and Elder Bouwhuis. We will only be together about 2 weeks total but its been a cool experience. Im sad to leave Cedar Rapids. Im excited to go else where though too! Im putting my guess in for Des Moines or Iowa City haha! 

We meet a really cool guy named Greg this week. He almost yelled at us but he sad he felt different this time having contact with missionaries. He is a Vietnam veteran and he is pretty cool! He is kinda like Grandpa Lords but he swears worse than a sailor! 

I am so grateful for all that im blessed with. I have an awesome family! I have the best friends. Ive been given so much! The song "Because I have been given much" keeps coming to mind. I really do need to give because I have been given so much! Everything we have is because of Heavenly Father. I love the opportunity I have to serve every day! The Lord is hastening the work. We all can be missionaries even if we arent on missions. Referring people for the missionaries is such a blessing! I know that God lives. He loves us all! I know that we have Prophets leading and Guiding are Church. Im grateful for Thomas S Monson. I KNOW he is a prophet of God! I love you all! Have and awesome week! Be careful! 

-Elder Lords 

Pictures are Thanksgiving and the District.

Great Week!

Nov. 24

Hello Everyone, 

We had a great week this week. We are staying busy. As of tomorrow we will have another companion for the week. Elder Ellsworth, one of the missionaries we live with, and one of my closest friends was called to be the Assistant to the President. He leaves for Des Moines tomorrow so we will be in a trio with Elder Bouwius. He is also a cool guy. We will be in a trio until transfers December 4th. I could be leaving Cedar Rapids its about 50/50. 

Shay and Trevayln were baptized Saturday. It reminded me a lot of when I baptized Trevin, it did make me a little homesick. Everyone is asking about are plans for thanksgiving, We are supposed to do missionary work. We will be  going to a members to eat at 12. We will be very busy the next week because we now will cover 2 areas. 

Cedar Rapids 3rd ward which is are normal ward and 2nd ward with Elder Bouwis. We will be in meetings from 7am to 4pm Sunday haha. We have church at 1 and the first ward has church at 9. That will be a long day. 

Walid the man we baptized from Lebanon came up to us at church and said we need to baptize my family. He lives with his mom and Aunt and a couple siblings. We went over after church and taught the first lesson, the restoration. It went very well. He translated for his mom who speaks hardly any English. She is fluent in Arabic and French. Walid is teaching us words in Arabic its pretty cool! I hope you all have an awesome thanksgiving. I'm very grateful. Ive been given so much. I have an awesome family. My family are all members of the church. That is such a blessing. I am thankful i am serving a mission. I love Reading the Scriptures. Love you all have a good thanksgiving. Watch the Seahawks game for me on thanksgiving haha! 

Elder Lords

Crazy Week- Baptism, Interview with Elder Cardon of the 70

Nov. 17
Hello everyone,

Every week on my mission gets busier and busier. Walid did get baptized on Saturday and I was able to confirm him Sunday. It was a really cool experience he is 20 years old and says he is considering going on a mission. He is a great guy. We have another Baptism this Saturday for Shalandria (Shay) and Trevayln. We knocked into them in September. There mom Joanna is a member we found out but we didnt have there records. She was Baptized in Washington 8 years ago then got divorced and went inactive a few months after Baptism. Shay and Trevayln were in the Primary Program last week and Joanna was so proud of them. 

We are teaching a family of 7 from Rwanda. They don't speak very good English so they daughter translates. They are very nice people. They are Seventh day Adventist. They go to Church on Saturday and we are trying to help them get past the Sabbath being on Sunday.

We are also teaching a lady named Lisa. She is trying to quit smoking on is planning to get baptized on January 10th. She fed us dinner last night. Ive learned to eat what im given. She fed us Clams, Salmon, and Muscles. All seafood my mother knows how hard that was for me. I love Salmon though. 

Barbra is planning to get baptized December 13th but she is Catholic and is having some doubts. She struggles with the Plan of Salvation. We got her to give up Coffee and Tea. She is interesting and she talks a lot! 

This week we had a mission tour on Thursday. A mission tour is when a General Authority comes to the mission to see how the mission is running. Then he speaks at zone conference. I had the wonderful opportunity of being interview by Elder Craig A. Cardon of the 70. A general Authority and it was just me and him in a room for 10 minutes. It was very cool. Dont worry though I didnt do anything wrong haha! We got a phone call Wednesday night from the Assistants to the President. That doesn't happen to often haha. They said President Cardon has asked to interview 12 of the missions best Elders and Sisters. They accidentally picked me I guess haha! We just talked about my mission and family. He made me promise to tell my family something he said "tell your family they have raised a valiant,righteous, determined, hard working young man. You love the lord and your parents should be so proud of you. Plus your from Rexburg, Idaho so you can work!" It was a very cool experience he was so nice! Im doing well. I love the work. My testimony of the book of Mormon is only growing! Have an awesome week love you all! 

-Elder Lords

 

Week Before The Baptism

Nov. 10

Hello Everyone, 

This week has been one of the busiest weeks on my mission yet. We have taught a ton of lessons. Our investigators are very spread out, and the weeks we dont have the car they always want to meet more. We love meeting are investigators several times a week. It shows they are committed. 

Walid passed his interview on Friday. His baptism is Saturday at 10 am. He is very excited and so are we. He loves the Ward members so far. Walid is 20 years old and he said something really exciting last week. He said "I keep considering going on a mission". He says "You and Elder Gowers are so happy, I wanna go and help people too!" He is fasenated with the church and the Temple! He loves the temple. He was excited for family history work and we started him on that only to find there are only 3 names since he is from Lebanon. 

We are excited for his baptism on November 15th. We also have an interview for Shay and Trevayln there baptism is on November 22. They are 9 and 11. They are both so excited "to have their sins washed away". The lord is hastening the work.

Member referrals are the best. This week we got one for a man named Ricahrd Duesingamia he is from Rwanda Africa. He is mentally handicape we think. The referral said he wanted a bible. So we took him a bible and taught the restoration to his whole family of 7. They are so awesome! They gift of tongues is real. They have such thick accents and sometimes they struggle understanding but they spirit speakes to everyone! No matter what language we speak. They are an awesome family. We have biked ourselves ragged this week. We are excited to have the car this week. We also saw Barbra several times this week and she came to church. She is a 66 year old widow. She is a catholic and about as stubborn as they come but we love her. She is defiantly Iowan. (meaning she can talk for days) Im so grateful for the chance to serve a mission. Im learning so much. Im thankful for the Holy Ghost. When you bear sincere testimony you cannot discredit they power that comes from the holy ghost! Keep reading and prayinng! I hope all is well! Winter is around the corner! Love you all!! 

-Elder Lords

What A Week

Nov. 3
Hello Everyone,

This week was one of my more stressful weeks haha. It was great though, we taught a lot of lessons  this week. On the 30th we had to be in at 6 for beggars night, which is where people trick or treat in Des Moines. We also had to be in at 6 on Friday. It was hard to do that because Thursday, Friday, and Saturday are the busiest days for us. We decided to play ping pong on are kitchen table. (picture is attached) Ping pong turned into sting ping. On Thursday the Perrys fed us dinner. Brother Perry went to Japan on his mission and he fed us real Japanese food. My favorite were the giozias. 

The most stressful part of the week was Sunday. We had 6 investigators at church and it was stressful making sure they new where to go and what they were doing. It was great to see though. Hard work really pays off. 

We also played basketball with some high school aged kids. Terrel and Brandon and some of there friends. We bet them we could beat them to 21 and if we did we could share a message with them. We did beat them. They then said best 2 out of 3 so we played them again haha. We beat them the second time. we shared a message and they really enjoyed it. It was fun. 

On Sunday we went to another church before are church. It was the Regeneration church. We are teaching there Pastor Tony Cook. They are really nice people and said they would come to church with us if we went with them. It was strange cause they had a band playing music and  other things. They had a lot of truth but are missing the Priesthood and Prophets. 

Its getting colder every day. Things are great here in Cedar Rapids. I hope all is well. Love you all be safe!