This past week has been a really good week. As we have explored new options and directions that we have received, we have been able to adjust and really understand some great ways to help our investigators to progress better. We have seen allot of great things this past week and also had some trying times that really stretched us individually and as a companionship at times which enabled us to grow.
Monday we had a really great day. We were able to have a great district meeting that allowed us to follow the outline and experience a new mode of understanding and study. We are now a more unified District which has brought us a better understanding or work ethic and desire in His service. We immediately traveled to get the recall fixed on our car and while we were they we talked with a few people and also got a little more study in. We then emailed because of the Mardi Gras commotion with everything being closed for the celebration. We visited with the Johnny family that evening and had a wonderful experience getting to know them, which has opened many doors to help them on there way to Baptism. This week with their family we will be setting a Marriage date with them and also a Baptismal date with Keno and Valentine. We are excited, but they are more excited because it has been something that they let us know they have been desiring for a long time.
Tuesday we started the day by visiting with a few members and investigators. We were able to see Chiquita and followed up with her if she had watched Together Forever. She told us that she was able to watch it with her children and she really enjoyed it. We were able to testify to her and set up another appointment with her. We also stopped by and talked with Brother Baylor who is not a member and invited his family out to the activity night we are trying to start up. We stopped by a former investigator and had a great visit with her. She is going to call us to set up an appointment and we will follow up with her in a few days if we don't her back from her. We had a really great p-day and were able to accomplish allot of great things to prepare us for the rest of the week. That evening after dinner with the Odom's we traveled to the church and had a great Family Home Evening on Prayer. Sister Byrd asked us to giver her a blessing. We were able to be mouthpieces to bring her more peace and comfort into her life.
Wednesday we had a few lessons that ended up falling through in the Morning so we visited with allot of potential investigators that lived near us. Some of them dropped us and others weren't home but it allowed us to progress in the work and move on to new people to focus on. We were also able to do some tracting which really helped us out. After lunch we traveled up and had a great lesson with Kimberly Evans. She is doing really great and has recently begun a new way of studying the Book of Mormon which has enabled her to reach her goals each of setting a consistent pattern of study daily. We had a great lesson with her on church history which she was really excited about and had allot of great questions we were able to help her better understand. We traveled down to the Bromguards and had a great dinner before heading to Sister Diane Coker's funeral. It was very hard to see her go and know that we truly lost someone that we loved dearly. It has left a void is so many people hearts. She was always a kind person and I truly looked up to her because of her dedication in magnifying her callings in the nursery and also as a visiting teacher. Even though she had many hardships in her life she was dedicated to the nursery children. As was said: "She was never able to have children, but she had more children than most people." Her dedicated service will be missed but the Joy of her Life will always carry on in there Hearts of this ward. We were asked to be honorary pall bearers which was really a great honor. She has made a influence in my life that I will never forget.
Thursday we traveled with the Morris's to her Funeral service in Atmore it went really well. We were able to spend time with the family and talk with the Long's and the Kelly's. They are both Part-member families and we are now able to work with them more than we have before. We have grown a great bond that we are hoping with open the doors to a continued friendship that will progress them to enter into the fullness of the blessing of the Restored Gospel. We came back and tracted for a few hours. I was so happy to go out and to continue to testify of the restoration. It has really brought more joy into my life and brought allot of "warm fuzzies". We came back and planned and set ourselves to be ready for the remainder of the week and next week. Weekly planning has helped us so much recently in seeing where we have needed to direct our focus to help everyone. We had dinner with Sister Pacetti and then traveled to visit with Dave and Melinda. They are a part member family and we are hoping to get them back to church. Hopefully, it will soften their hearts and we will be able to teach Melinda.
Friday we started off the day with Elder Bawden getting his CT Scan. We are hoping this will help the doctors know better on how to help in on getting over the sinus problems he has been having. We then went to Walmart for a few minutes. We weren't exactly sure why we were going but we knew we needed to go. As we were there and employee who was stocking some shelves started talking with us about the church. We were able to have a great conversation with her and set up an appointment to visit with her. I've never seen results from store contacting but now I can say that it is possible when you open your heart and allow yourself to enter into the Strength of the Lord. We went to Prichard to visit James Hunter and Shirley Tucker. As we talked with James we found out that he wasn't interested in us teaching him but he was happy to receive and be able to read the Book of Mormon. We talked with Shirley after and had a good visit with her. She was really excited when we deliver the Book of Mormon to her and were able to share a bit with her about the Restoration and Testify of its truth. We were able to set up a return appointment with her and her looking forward to being able to meet more of her family. We traveled up to the Kelly's and had a really good time with them. We were able to bond with her two sons and get to know her husband a better. We were able to set up another appointment with them for this next Friday and we are hoping that we can continue with them week in and week out. We traveled to game night but no one showed up so we helped with setting up the Pinewood Derby tracks that they were setting up for the stake competition they were having the next day.
Saturday we traveled near the downtown area to visit a few referrals that we had and also a few less active members. No one was there at the time but it was great to get down there and try and see them. After lunch we traveled up and visited with the Juarez family. We had a really great visit with them and were able to finally meet all of the children. We were able to invite them to the Etiquette dinner and also to activity night. We stopped by and visited with Sister Gover and she has been really busy. She is a single mom and in school full time. She is hoping to make it to church and we are continuing to encourage her and help her on the pathway back. We visited with the Blackmon family and talked with them for a bit. We were able to invite Brother Blackmon to church. He comes off and on and we are hoping to help home have more consistency within the church. We had dinner with the Curtis's and then went and visited with the Johnny family. We were able to set up a ride to church for them and the family. They are doing really good and we are hoping to set some dates for marriage and Baptism for them this week.
Sunday was a really great day. We had the Kelly's at church which was really great. We also had Keno and Valentine and had a great lesson with them on Obedience in the Gospel Principles class. After church we were able to visit with the Ferrel/Gower family. It was exciting being able to get to know them and find out that we have allot of things in common with them. Brother Ferrel is not a member but knows allot about religion. He only claims to a few core beliefs but through all of the studies and things of which he has done he is strongly pulling towards the LDS Church. He said that he still has quite a few things to read and continue to pray about and we just continued to encourage that he does so. We were able to visit with Ruxundra and find out that she was able to get her plane ticket to Romania and allot or pressure has been lifted off her shoulders. We were hoping to be able to teach her before she left and have the missionaries go and visit with her family but she is not ready. We might still be able to send the missionaries over there to visit her family when she gets back because they could be ready. We tried to visit a few more less active members and were able to talk with a couple of them for a few brief moments.
This week has been full of many great things. My joy is overflowing from the opportunity of being able to serve the Lord here in Mobile. There are many great things that will continue to happen here in Mobile and I look forward to continue to serve here in this part of the Lord's Vineyard. We have been able to see allot of change within the members and have been able to begin to start with some great member commitments. We have asked them to pray to know wh0 they could share a Book of Mormon with. We have two families so far and are hoping to continue. I really love serving here in Mobile and look forward to the Miracles that are continuing to happen each day.
Love You
Elder Regan Hansen
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