This past week has been really great and we were able to witness of the truths of the Plan of Salvation. With Brother Olsen's passing it brought sadness, but it also brought hope to many of those people who were needing the understanding of gospel truths and reassurance.
Monday we started off the morning by doing some service for Brother Curtis. His son was picking up a few things and taking them back to Louisiana, so we helped them pack all of it up. We then continued our day with cleaning the apartment and making sure that we had everything planned out and ready for Elder Bawden's surgery next week. We had a great dinner with the Hearn's and Mason and set up a time to do some service for the Mason's. We finished the night by visiting with the Byrd family. Sister Byrd has been feeling really ill lately and we were able to help her out a bit. We are working on finding her a ride to church because her husband works so much that he rarely gets a day off.
Tuesday we had a really great district meeting. As a group we were able to keep our thoughts and actions focused on the true meaning of the Atonement and strive to become a better group of missionaries. We were able to have some great role plays and focus a bit on our goals and what we are doing to work effectively throughout the week. After lunch we continued the day with tracting which went really well. We were able to talk with quite a few people that were willing to give us some referrals. We also talked with Frank Watts and set up an appointment with him. We visited with a few less active families in between and invited them back to church. We had dinner with the Fairchild's that evening which went really well. We're keeping our focus on Brother Fairchild so we can be guided on how to encourage him to act and come back to church. We finished the night with Family Home Evening with the Parkes family which went really well. We showed there family how to mark the promises in the Book of Mormon and committed them to continue every day.
Wednesday we went early to the Doctor so Elder Bawden could have his pre-operation appointment. All went well and everything is still continuing to go as planned. We came back and had studies which went really well and we learned a lot of great things but more importantly we have continued to learn how to be continually consistent. We went and visited with Sister Evans and had a really great lesson with her. We have been working on helping her to be consistent in involving her husband in more gospel discussion when he is at home. We then visited with Sister Colvin which was really great. She has been dealing with a lot of different things lately because of her mother have kidney cancer and multiple tumors but she is doing as good as projected. We're hoping that we can get everyone in the ward involved in helping her out during these trying times. We finished the night by going to the young men and young women's combined activity which went well. We invited a few less active youth earlier throughout the week and a few of them were able to make it which was awesome.
Thursday we started off the morning by cleaning up the church before Brother Olsen's wake and funeral. Sister Singleton has had a lot of different things that she has been having to do, so we figured we could help lesson the burden which has been upon her. It was really great being able to do all of that for her and for the Olsen family. We then did a lot of planning and really focused on what we were going to do this next week because it is the week of Elder Bawden's surgery. We were able to set up with individuals that we are focusing on having daily contact with but also those we are hoping to set up appointments for later on in the week. We went and visited with Brother Felton after and he is doing really great. He has done some Chemo treatments but it is just a precaution even though he is cancer free which is awesome. He shared with us that he has been able to watch part of conference from the sessions that he recorded. We finished of the night with Brother Olsen's wake and funeral. The spirit was very strong and you could really feel the love that was there. Brother Olsen has really been a great example to me and really everyone that he has ever associated with. As it says in Elder Cook's talk at General conference "The symbol of Christ for the Latter-day Saints will be found in the meaningful expression of our faith and the way we live His gospel." This is what I know by heart what Brother Olsen did each and everyday of his life.
Friday we had the opportunity first thing to do service for Brother Mason. We were able to remove a lot of things from their yard including plants, cement, and other odds and ends that needed to be removed. It was really awesome being able to do that but not only the service but being able to spend time one on one with Brother Mason and talk with him about what pushed him away from church. This time has really allowed us to figure out how we can help him recognize for himself to come back. After lunch we had a great visit with Joe Hickman and we shared some scriptures that really helped him out. We are now going to stay in daily contact with him and give him something new to read everyday and he committed to it. We went and visited with Brother Baylor who isn't a member. He shared with us about Brother Olsen's service and how he thought it was really nice. He invited us to come back sometime for dinner with the family which is great because only 2 out the six family members are members of the church. We finished off the night after tracting by having activity night at the church. We had a decent turn out and are really hoping to invite more people and get the members more involved by inviting their friends.
Saturday we started off the morning by doing the Bishop's Storehouse. It went really well and on the way back home we dropped off some food for some members whose car broke down on the way to the chapel. After getting cleaned up and having lunch we went and visited with Sister Gover which went really well. We were able to get a new number from her and also we are working on pin pointing a date for her to come to church and she is really excited about that. We then visited with Sister Byrd and found out that she has to work on Sunday but she is hoping that soon she will get her work schedule figured out so she won't have to in the future. That night we had dinner at the Mason's home with the Hearn's which was great. We were able to here a lot of different stories of both Brother Mason and Brother Hearn's missions.
Sunday we started off the day by going over to the Fairchild's and helped administer a blessing to their son Tyler. We then went to PEC which went really well and we are now working on refocusing on 20 members to work with. We had the Johnny family at church which has been really great and we also had Mathew along with his family. It has been great seeing the Kelly family come back to church and being able to teach Mathew. After church we visited with the Johnny's and helped them fill out some paper work for their application to move to a new apartment. We were able to talk with the kids for a bit and offer service. We were also able to visit with the Millers, Jeffrey Booth, Sister Hall, and Sister Binkerd. It was amazing to see that even when things looked dim that we continued to press forward and we were able to visit with quite a few members and have some great spiritual thoughts with them. We also visited Laura Teague and will be teaching her this coming week.
This week has brought me more growth within my own testimony especially even as I had said last week, that as we press forward and work throughout the week consistently we will continue throughout the week strong. I feel that we started off this week with a bang which propelled us into finishing our week with a bang. Oh, how I love this work and the consistency that it brings into my life.
Love You
Elder Regan Hansen
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