This past week has been a really great week and we have been able to set some really good goals that have allowed us to achieve more in the Lords strength. We set goals at start of the week to tract at least 30 minutes a day everyday. We feel that it will give us the opportunity to talk with more people and allow us to testify of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Monday we had a really great p-day. We were able to spend some time with allot of the Theodore elders. We were able to get all of the things that we needed so we could keep our time focused on the Lord's Work. We had dinner that evening with the Hearns which went really well. We tracted before we got there so we could talk with allot of people and testify of the restoration.
Tuesday we had a really great day. We started off at district meeting and had a really good meeting. We were able to have some really good discussions and were also able to have some really good role plays that helped prepare us for things we would do later on in the week. We had some open time after we tried to visit with Martha Tucker. We tracted for a couple hours near Bishop Parkes home. We had a great time talking with as many people as we could. We were able to testify of the Restoration to 6 people and were also able to ask for referrals from each of them. We stopped by and visited with the Parkes for a minute and helped them with a few things. We then traveled to Institute and had a really good time. We were able to talk with Brianna who is attending institute but isn't a member. She is really enjoying being able to learn about the Book of Mormon at this time and we are hoping that we will soon be able to have the lessons with her.
Wednesday we had a great visit in the morning with the Campbell's. We are still working on getting to know Brother Campbell and working with his grandson in having him come back to church. Brother Campbell is not quite ready still for a commitment to baptism and we are allowing the High Priests to work with him. We also talked with Sister Binkerd. She has had some down time this past week because of the Multiple Sclorosis. She has been really under the weather and we were able to give her a bit of an extra boost. After Lunch we had a great visit with Chiquita Tucker. She had allot of great questions that directed us to teach her the Plan of Salvation. She found allot of peace and comfort in what we had shared with her. She committed to read and pray about what we had taught her was true. We had a great lesson with Kimberly Evans. We have continued to teach her about Church History and have been following up on her commitment of reading the Book of Mormon which has been going well for her. We had dinner with the Blackmon family which went well. They are a part member family we are working with and their granddaughter came to church which was really great. Sister Blackmon has been working with her to come to church and she was happy that she came. We finished the night with the Etiquette Dinner for the youth. They were able to invite a few friends which was really great. The youth have started to invite their friends which has been really great.
Thursday we had a really great time planning. We were able to continue to fill out the progress record and update all the teaching records that needed to be updated. We were able to follow the steps in Preach My Gospel which helped us to be more prepared for the goals of which we set last week and the goals that we have set this week. We had a great lesson with Mary Tucker after planning. We shared with her the Word of Wisdom and she committed to stop drinking coffee and tobacco. We will be teaching her the stop smoking program this next Saturday. She has great desires to make the changes of which she needs to do. We're still working on finding a ride for her so she can come to church. We visited with a few referrals that we had and were able to set up an appointment with John Pugh. We left him with the Restoration pamphlet to read. We then went and continued to tract near Bishop Parkes home. We were able to Testify and ask for referrals from 9 different people. Even though at this time no one has been interested I feel awesome throughout the day and the spirit has continued to increase as we have been striving to talk with everyone and ask for referrals. We had a great dinner with the Odom's and followed up with them on the Commitment we left them to Pray to know who they could give a Book of Mormon to. I love childlike faith because of the great example it is. Their daughter gave two Book of Mormons out to her friends with her testimony in them. Her parents were very happy and I feel that it has motivated them to be more committed. We visited with Brother Serrano to end the night. He is doing really well with his missionary work. At work he has been a great example and many of his co-workers have been asking him questions. He has also faced ridicule from others and as he continued to be the example and turned the other cheek it really impressed those who were criticizing him and they have now stopped.
Friday we had a great lesson first thing with John Pugh. He started off by sharing with us some of the feelings of which he had from reading over the Pamphlet. He asked us about how to know who has the proper authority to Baptize. He had recently been baptized into another church but felt that it had not been done properly and has left him questioning. We were able to teach the Restoration and the spirit answered those questions of which he had. He found allot of peace and comfort in those things that had been shared. He committed to read and pray about what we had taught him was true. We left him with Alma 32 to read and will be following up with him this Wednesday. After lunch we visited with Sister Fairchild to see how her family was doing. They have had allot of different illnesses floating around. We tracted around her home before Elder Bawden's doctors appointment. We were able to testify to 5 different people and ask for referrals when we had the opportunity. After his Doctors appointment we went up to the Kelly's home and had a great visit with them. We were able to spend sometime with the kids which was really good. We were able to visit with Sister Kelly and her husband Tim and get to know them better. Since the passing of her sister times of been hard but with us being able to go up and visit them every week things have become allot better for them. We are hoping to teach Tim and her son Mathew who is 9. Keith her other son came to church which was really great.
Saturday we went and helped out at the Bishop's Storehouse which was really great. We were able to serve those who were in need and also uplift one another spirits in this great cause of the Lord's Charity. After we went over and dropped of a few extra things to Bishop Parkes and found out they had been having some pipes leaking under the house. It was great being prepared to help them and we were able to do that service for them and help them with those problems. By the end of it we were able to fix the pipe and were also able to fix a few electrical problems that they needed help with. I love those opportunities that allow us to be able to serve those who need our help. We had a great visit with Brother Campbell and have some one on one time with him. He showed us how to make egg rolls and we were able to discuss allot of the gospel with him. He is coming around little by little but I really think it will be the High Priests and members that bring him into the church. We finished the night with activity night which went really well. We had a few families show up and we were able to have a great time playing some volleyball and basketball. We are hoping that this will propel them to bring more of their friends and invite there neighbors to come and join us.
Sunday went really well for us. We had a great meeting in PEC and had the opportunity to discuss different needs in the ward. We were able to set up a few goals that as a group we are going to work on. Church went really well and Keno and Valentine Johnny were at church with there family. We had a great lesson with them on the importance of scriptures. They committed to read as a family for five to ten minutes every night out of the Book of Mormon. We were also able to set a date for them to get married by and they committed to baptism on March 27th. They are really excited and we are now working on finding out all the details so they can be married in two weeks. After church we visited with the Madison family and asked them about one of his co-workers who is not a member but is very dedicated in helping him as a cub scout instructor. We were able to get some more background and will hopefully be able to start sharing the gospel with him and his wife. We had an early dinner with the Hearns and had a really great time. We were able to learn allot of new things to help some of the members we are focusing on as well as be uplifted spiritually as we were there. We traveled up to Saraland that evening and visited with Brother Peoples. He has still been struggling with allot of things that have been happening and home. He has now set up some goals to help him get him and his family through the hardships. The greatest goal that he has set is to follow the commandments so he will be able to make it to the temple before the year ends. We had a prayer with him which was very spiritually uplifting. We finished of the night by trying to visit with a few other less active members.
This week has been really a great week of service. I have been uplifted by His spirit as we have strived to magnify our callings and become more dedicated in his service. Throughout the week we counted up the total of 20 different people we were able to testify of the Restoration to and also able to ask for referrals. This has really uplifted me so much and we are going to keep this goal set now each day week in a week out.
Love You
Elder Regan Hansen
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