Family!!
Alright, here's the thing. I was so excited to email today because we get an hour and a half of email time here... but guess what. The library is only giving me ten minutes because I don't have a library card yet. Dang... but I will be writing some letters today. :)
So, sounds like things are going well back at home. Did everyone enjoy conference? I know we really loved it here. We watched it at a church and at a member's home. There were some powerful talks in there, and I continue to love Elder Holland!
It was so nice to talk to everyone on the phone! I loved that, tell Heather and Brock hello for me too. I hope they are doing awesome! My first days here have been so great. We stayed the night at the mission president's home and they are awesome! They should be sending an email, but who knows if they will! My first area I'm serving in is a city called Leavenworth, Kansas. It's just over the boarder over the Missouri river. The people here are so awesome. My trainer is really good as well. His name is Elder Cisternas. He is such a good example of what a missionary should be. He is so diligent and obedient. I will be sending some pictures soon hopefully, still trying to figure out a good way to do that. I might just go to the store and put them on a CD and send that... I'm not sure.
So, our first day out on the field, Elder Cisternas and I went tracting. It was quite the interesting experience. Nothing like knocking on your first doors! haha... So we knocked a couple doors and gave out a couple pamphlets. Then there were a couple of teenage kids walking down the street so we walked up to them and gave them some pass along cards and told them a little bit about the church, just making casual conversation. As we were talking, some guy who lives across the street came outside on his porch and just went off on us. He called us "j-dubbs" (jehovas witnesses) and just started telling us to get away from those kids, threatening to call the cops and so forth. I didn't know what to do. He was swearing words that I hadn't heard in a long time. But my companion starts walking towards him and it just got worse. Elder Cisternas was like, "Sir, are you a Christian? We have a message we would love to share with you!" He's such a nice jolly person. We eventually walked away. But that was quite the experience for my first day. It did get better though. I've been able to see some really awesome people hear the message.
The next day, we were in our room doing our studies and Elder Cisternas said "We need to go Elder." I was confused, but he is close to the spirit, so we left. He told me he felt like we needed to go down the street, turn left, and turn left again. We did so, and there was a guy outside (the rest of the places we had passed seemed to all be empty). We talked to him a little bit and offered service as he was raking outside. He seemed very open to hearing more from us, so we did set up an appointment. Just in interesting story and example how the spirit leads you to people if you are obedient and willing to listen to the spirit.
We also taught a lady named Stella, who we found. She is an older black woman and has a close relationship with God. She said she prays to him all the time and speaks with the "gift of tongues". I don't know... I'm learing that people all have different beliefs. But the spirit was strong as we spoke with her.
Oh man, what else to say... (they said I could have an extra fifteen minutes! But now i'm down to ten! ;)) I'm just continually having spiritual experiences. There is nothing like a mission. You can hear about it, but can't fully understand it until you actually go on one. And I've only begun! Yesterday we went to an appartment complex and met a lady who at first didn't want us to come in. But we did get in eventually, and sat down and talked to her. I gave the opening prayer and I know she felt the spirit. She listened so carefully to everything we said, I wondered though if she was interested or not. I was able to bear my testimony a few times throughout the discussion. When we were close to leaving, she just kept saying, "I don't know what it is, but something about what you're saying feels good." We told her that's the Holy Ghost.
Anyway, I really wish I could say more. I will send some letters today though. :) I love you all.
Braydon, I'm still thinkin about you! I loved talking to you on the phone, and keep lookin out at the stars! I will too!
Isaac, Ashley, Brynlee, I loved talking to all of you too! I hope everything is going well! Dad, I loved getting that mail when I got here! Thank you all so much!
In closing, I'll just challenge you to do something we were challenged to do in the MTC. When you have a rough day, or just whenever you feel like, get down on your knees and say a prayer of gratitude. Say as many things as you want that you are grateful for and ask for only one thing. And that is "What can I learn from this experience?" or "What can I learn from today?" It's awesome. I tried that with all my prayers for a couple days and it's amazing how you feel. I promise if you do that you will see the blessings from it!
Again, I love you all! You're in my prayers. Thanks for all the support. I know the church is true. :)
-Elder Egan :)
No comments:
Post a Comment