Week 3 Service in An Old Car Garage and My Testimony of the BofM

I finally got my Tiwi! I have pretty much driven since then. However, apparently our mission is the highest for mission vehicle accidents, so the day I was allowed to drive, President announced that the next person who got in a preventable accident would lose their Tiwi for the rest of their mission... Makes it kinda stressful, but I've never been in an accident, so I don't know why. I went on another exchange, this time with Elder Mangum, our district leader. It was an awesome exchange. He's not quite as good at talking to people as Elder Markstaller, but again it's awesome to see other perspectives on how to do things. While we were on exchange, we also did a service project cleaning out a warehouse full of classic cars (classic meaning very old, not nice 😆). Carol sadly fell through again yesterday, but sounded genuinely sad she couldn't make it. She asked if we could do it during the week so we wouldn't have to wait until next Sunday, but somehow we are totally booked this week in terms of lessons. We have ten scheduled and two of them are with couples. Now with our luck and lessons we might only teach like 3 of those, but we will hope for 10. I had Elder Jeffery send Keith and Sarah the conference talk "The Need for a Church" by Dallin H. Oaks since they hadn't been coming to church. I had hoped to discuss it with them during our lesson, but Sarah was sick, so they cancelled this last week. I was on exchange and would've missed it anyway, though. BUT they both came to church this week, and we scheduled another lesson. I have not seen the Casey family again since last time, but I hope we can share a message and meet with them sometime. It's crazy, everyone in the ward tells us about how huge the wards used to be, both Spanish and English. Sister Wetenkamp told us they once had a primary of around 60-70 kids, now they have five with three moving away in January. It makes it very difficult to invite other individuals and families to come to church because the meeting seems so empty with such a large building and no people. Also, the kids don't always have a place to go or anyone their age at church. However, the meetings still have a wonderful spirit and beautiful messages. Church is my favorite time of the week. I think I just want to offer people the experience I had and the ward just isn't the size to facilitate that anymore. I believe it can be again, but it will take a lot of work. Besides language study with HaoMing. I also use Skype to practice teaching another Taiwanese person on Wednesdays and Thursdays with Sister Wallace and some other missionary not from our mission. Isaac still doesn't have a house, but we've talked to him on the phone a few times. We'll have to pass him off to the YSA. We're also passing off a guy named Rueben this week. We had our first lesson with him last week, and are doing a pass-off lesson with him and the YSA Elders on Tuesday. We've tried to stop by Eric, but he hasn't been there. We're actually stopping by again tonight. Unfortunately, Aman is as busy as he told us the very first day. He has a lot of exams and work this month. He promised to read before going to bed each day, but wouldn't have time to meet until December. I'm hoping we can stop by and share something with him during the day, but he doesn't have time to schedule out a whole lesson, we'll just have to catch him when he's home and wanting a break from studying. Bertha had to cancel her lesson last week for a doctor's appt. She tells us she's been reading the Book of Mormon whenever she has down time. All of our lesson's with females are hard because we need another adult male with us and they all work during the day (plus we have small ward). It's especially hard with Bertha because she can't meet after seven because of her baby, but a lot of people aren't getting back from work until 5-6 (many work in the bay area). I'm hoping we'll meet with her this week, but don't have a scheduled lesson. I'm sure she's feeling the Spirit if she's reading the Book of Mormon though, so I look forward to seeing her soon. Good News: Sarah and Keith made it to church! Zay and his family came to the ward Halloween party so we finally met them and scheduled a lesson. And somehow we have nine lessons scheduled this week too! Miracle: Got the opportunity to share my experience in gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon to a guy named Luke. He told me it was such a powerful testimony, but I think telling the story was more of a blessing to me than it was for him. It helped me be more bold in sharing the Book of Mormon with others the rest of the week.

Here is the testimony I shared with him: During my sophomore year of high school, I accepted a challenge to read the Book of Mormon for 30 minutes every day. I was very busy at the time with school and wrestIing and struggled with my fair share of temptations. I didn't realize it at first, but after a month of reading the Book of Mormon each day, I looked back and realized I'd been getting my school work done faster, I'd been feeling better and doing better in wrestling, and the temptations I had struggled with hadn't crossed my mind that entire month. I realized that these blessings came undeniably from my commitment to read the word of God found in the Book of Mormon. There are definitely still trials and temptations, but I know God will strengthen me as I take time to study the Book of Mormon. I know those who read the Book of Mormon and pray to know of its truthfulness will receive a witness through the Holy Ghost that it is true, if they pray with a sincere heart, real intent, having faith in Christ. This experience helped me be more bold in sharing the Book of Mormon with others because I remembered how great a blessing it has been in my life. Challenge: Facebook finding is brutal for me. Messaging random people is more weird than talking to random people. We're supposed to do an hour everyday and I get so bored. I need to do better at it. Prayers: Aman needs help with Exams and finding time for the gospel. The people of California, Singapore, and Malaysia! One last story. We met Mary who stopped meeting with missionaries because her pastor convinced her it was a bad idea and she said she agreed with a lot of his points. Asked a couple questions to understand her concerns. I was then able to discuss Christ's church during his ministry, the Apostasy, that protestant churches like hers came from good people seeking to correct the flaws in the catholic church but the need for a restoration to fully bring back Christ's church. We talked about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. We mentioned that her pastor is just a man and she needed to ask God if she was ever going to find a true answer. This was all done at her doorstep since her pastor didn't want her having us in, but she listened and agreed with a lot of what we said, promising that she would pray about it. Hopefully she does, and will give us a call or let us in when we stop by. Either way though, once again helped me remember my testimony and strengthened it. Love you all, have a wonderful week! Elder Wardle