Hello once again! I'm still trying to adjust a bit from coming here from Lexington, but wow, I feel like I'm where the Lord wants me. I LOVE this place. Grand Island is AWESOME. I am serving with Elder Trevor Morgan, (from American Fork, UT)! He was a year older than me in High School and we didn't know each other before, but we knew each others friends and we have a lot in common. And he has a strong testimony and is a great example to me of humility, so I am really looking forward to serving with him for at least several more weeks.
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| Meet Elder Morgan! (I've got a Jolly Rancher in my mouth so my cheek looks huge! Ha!) |
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| Elder Morgan's previous companion left a bunch of ties for me! |
We are in a Spanish branch and this place reminds me a lot of my 1st area...Sioux City, IA. The members here are incredible! We live in the basement with the branch president, so that makes it nice if we ever need to communicate with him. But yesterday at church, the guy who taught Priesthood was going to teach about the talk from Elder Russell M Nelson that talks about "If you have any questions, ask the missionaries." Well, he decided to teach something a little bit different...about how the members can help the missionaries. haha Elder Morgan and I were like "Wow!" He talked about feeding us like every day, which was cool, but the other part that we were the most excited about was when he said that we need to give the missionaries referrals!! We were like "Nice!" And then last night, this guy that taught the class invited us over for a dessert and they had a family join us as well that aren't members of the church. We got their contact information and they want us to come by again this week! So we were super pumped about that!
The work is going really great here. Elder Morgan and his previous companion really worked hard by the Spirit and are seeing a lot of fruit from their labors, so it's my hope that I can help continue that in some way. Ah, there is so much I could tell you about. This week was just full of miracles, right and left.
I'll just mention one... We went on exchanges with some Elders in Hastings, Nebraska and they had a hispanic family that they wanted us to contact. So I went with another Elder to go see them and they were probably the MOST SOLID hispanic family that I have ever taught on my mission. They were totally prepared to hear the Gospel and that pumped me up so much because this happened just my second day here. We taught this family about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and at the end of the lesson, both of the parents said that they felt so peaceful and they believe everything that we taught. They accepted the invitation to be baptized and then they travelled 20+ miles to church on Sunday! That was so amazing for me to see their love for the Lord and desire to follow Him. The sad news is that they actually are moving to Virginia today. haha So we are hoping that the missionaries out there jump on this referral quick and can help this family towards receiving the Holy Ghost!!
And then there will be two baptismal services this next weekend so that's really exciting. We just need to keep the work going and keep finding new investigators.
I'm grateful for the little miracles that the Lord gives us each day. I know that they happen. We just need to look for them.
This next week is going to be super crazy. Lots of things to do...one of which is I have been asked to give a talk in church this Sunday, and if I remember right, this is actually my first time giving a talk in Spanish... because all of my other areas has been mainly English members, so I'm hoping that that goes well! haha
But I'm grateful to know that we don't have to be perfect, that we have a Savior that has prepared the way for us to be happy in this life and in the next for eternity. I learned the other day that we can receive the Savior's help and peace as we have a broken heart and contrite spirit. So I hope that I can do that so that I can do this work how the Lord wants me to and to overcome my weaknesses so that I can help others more.
I hope that you all had a great New Years! I love you all and thanks for all of your support! Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Vawdrey
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| Last moments with Elder Harker |
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