April 15, 2013
Hey Family!!! I love you
all.
This week was good and
interesting, a lot of good experiences.
First and foremost 3
days this past week was in the 80's and 90's plus humidity!!! It was a small
treat of how "great" summer will be haha. It was so hot!! But one
good thing is that all of the trees are officially blooming and blooming
fast!!! We were driving on this one road in the morning and you could see
little green sprouts and then only several hours later when we drove by again
there was a lot more! haha it’s nice.
So this week is
transfers and President already ruined the suprise haha, he emailed me and said
that we'll be staying one more and that’s all. So I'm excited with that. I sure
love President and I think he really likes me too.
So one of our cool
experiences this week was with a lady named Rina. If you can remember the email
how we taught about 8 adults at once and how some of them were just pumped and
on the edge of their seats, well one of them was Rina and had lost contact with
her til this week. We called her and she finally answered and invited us over.
She told us that she's been reading the BOM and really likes it. She is set to
be baptized. Then at the end she told us she wants this feeling for her whole
family!!! It was soo cool. She owns her own little bakery and said she made
some gluten free desserts!!! I told her I'll need to try it out haha. Then on
saturday right before the baptism when we ran over to Rina's real fast and
invited her and her cousin Moises to come and they both did! and loved the
baptism!! Said she felt soo good.
A couple sad experiences
too....Elcy... ha we had a great first lesson with her and put her on date. She's
the girl who said she got chill bumps listening to us speak and that she
knows it s true. Well we got a text from her saying thanks for helping her
realize how much she needs God and that she's just going to start going back to
the catholic church "her family's church"....it was so sad!!! And
then last week remember how we found 4 teenagers and taught them and they loved
it and put them on date...they like Elcy are catholics but haven't been in
years and they texted us and told us they decided to go back because they now
know how much they need God.... so we've been doing less-active work for the
catholics this week...! haha
We were tracting and
went to go check up on a potential and I smelled some brauts being
cooked and started craving them. I thought I'd stop by the store before
going home to buy some for my dinner. But a couple drunk hispanics were having
a small bbq and invited us and they were cooking brauts and they gave us
some!!! It was a blessing because I hadn't had brauts since the last time we
had them as a family! haha so it was a tender mercy. The drunks were really
nice and invited us to come back when they weren't drunk to talk about our
church and God (we went back another day and they were drunk again...might be
difficult! ha)
We got a referral
for this 13 year old kid so we went to check him out. His aunt is a member in
the Fredricksburg zone and is concerned for this kid. Haha, she has good
reason! He’s 13 and is in a lot of trouble with the law, used drugs etc etc but
is ready to change! He's on house arrest so he's always home hahah! It’s
perfect for us to see him whenever!! We taught him the word of wisdom and
he's like "yeah that makes since, last week I did some 'purple kush' and
my head is all messed up still..." me and elder wilson were like whats
purple kush, I guess its a type of weed? hmmmm poor guy. But he said he'll
stop. He is also on date to be baptized may 18!! haha
The other day during
lunch an fbi investigator knocked on the door and I answered and he whipped out
his badge and said that he's conducting an investigation for our neighbors
upstairs and then asked some questions but then I told him I have only been
here for 5 weeks. He was really nice! Just at first I was like great this guy
is here for us! haha jk. It was cool though. Kinda scary how much weird stuff
is going on the that apartment complex haha.
One thing this week that
was very frustrating was a less active member!!! ahhhh!!!! We were trying to
get him back to church and read the BOM but he will not.. he is so twisted its
way sad. First he was making a big deal how the church is racist separating the
english from the spanish, then we explained how they do that so people can hear
and learn in their own tongue. Just kept complaining and murmuring etc
etc...says becasue he's 72 years old he knows everything and that us youngins
can’t teach him, and he said "in fact I'll read the BOM just to teach you
guys!" I was like what is wrong with this guy haha, then he said how the
church isn’t true because they are hypocrites and that the leaders aren't
perfect! We tried so hard to stay calm and just talk but he wasn't letting us.
hahah poor elder wilson was sick so he was on meds and started saying some
stuff! But afterwards felt bad for how he treated him but blamed the meds
haha.
This week at our zone
conference we watched a video/talk called 'His grace is sufficient' by Brad Wilcox.
You should all read it because it will change you, it is really good. I really
learned a lot and it kind of changed my perspective.
Now on to the cool
part! So we got a call from a hispanic member but she goes to the english ward
telling us she has a romanian referral for us. She has been taking them to the
temple visitor center and they love it and that they said they are ready to go
to church. The only problem is that they don’t speak english but that spanish
is super close to romanian and they can understand it! So we went over to this
member’s house and they were there. We were talking in spanish, and she was
replying in romanian. Even though we or her weren't understanding 100% we
could understand most of it. Then at the temple VC one of the missionaries felt
prompted to ask this couple if they spoke romanian and she asked and they said
that they served their missions in romania. So we called them and set up and
appointment for tomorrow so that they can translate so they can understand
better. So all in all it’s just one big miracle story. I hope it all made sense,
it would be better to explain in voice ha.
Also dad at church
yesterday I saw Paul and his family I guess moved here 7 months ago. Which is
cool. He recognized my name and he asked if you are my dad. I told them I
remember going to their big house. They were surprised I remembered. ha. He said
he was going to email you too so heads up ha.
I'm glad everything is
going good. Michael looked good in his tux hahah! I didn’t realize Charley
worked 100 hrs a week! That’s a lot. Yeah we've been emailing. Also I did get a
letter from zach d. He is a good guy! ha. Everything here is really good. No
complaints I started doing a new way to study/use the scriptures haha my comp
calls it "killing the BOM" I learned it from Elder Bednar awhile ago
and then I remembered it again yesterday in an answer to something I fasted
for. So I cut out verses and glue them to index cards and then organize them
into topics. It’s so I can review them and not forget all these great
scriptures I learn. It makes my studies more hands on and I can learn better,
so I'm still working on it. hah don't make fun of me, :)
Then on saturday we had
the baptism of Nancy and Roberto. Brenda hasn't made up her mind. She wants to
marry her novio but he's not sure so we are working on it! The baptism was
really good! I really felt the spirit very strong. It was good because they
choose members to baptize them so they are already part and friends with a lot
of people!!!
Well I love you all soo
much. Today we are going to the cherry festival!!! I'll take some pics unless
they all fell off...then we will just explore. Should be fun!
Con amor,
Elder Andrew Lifferth
PS those buildings are Arlington, and then Nancy
and Roberto and Carlos and Bro Smith who baptized them!!! :)
