Monday, July 25, 2016

Mission XP - 25 July 2016 The day after Pioneer day

Hey yall!

So this week was a bit slower. We had a former investigator come to church two Sundays ago on her own but when we asked if we could stop by...she said no :( sad days. One day.

Monday was super funn! Elder Cady and I went and kinda just hung out with a super awesome guy for a good bit of the day. Then we went mini golfing with the district. First time ever going mini golfing and it was a BLAST! Half of us hit a golf ball into the water at one time or another lolz.

Tuesday was district meeting. It was fun. We laughed quite a bit more than normal but role-playing was really fun. Oh also we had to call the fire department because of an eletrical fire in the church building we originally went to. Wasn't worried though...how could you be when you've got 12 of the Lord's annointed in the same building. haha XD Then we went downtown. The last two weeks we've ridden tracts downtown and both times we've just had really cool conversations with people or we've been on tracts when someone needed us. I also met a guy who's nephew or son is serving in the Netherlands which is where a friend from my home ward is serving! So that was cool but still not as cool as this one time when I ran into a guy from my home ward building
who was in Utah for school and recognized my face from my missionary plaque πŸ™ƒ we also taught a recent convert and an investigator who is getting baptized on the 30th!!!!

Wednesday we had a slower day. We did teach someone trying to come back to the gospel. He asked us to teach about the eternal principle of repentance. I little but more in depth. But I felt that it ties in with eternal progression. So we taught that. Simple but sweet goodness.

Thursday we had interviews with our new Mission President. I talked to him first then his wife. That was fun. Side story..there is a Spanish Speaking Sister in our District who covers the Spanish Ward in our Stake and is from Memphis, TN. We always get people to dis where the other is from. I talked to a lady who was visiting with the sisters one night so I told her to just casually say Nashville was better. She had a whole week's worth of dinners text us and say Memphis was better. Anyway so at the end of talking to Sister Lansing I saw that the
Sister were next and so I asked if I could make a note on the paper she had with her and next to the Sister's name I wrote, "Say Memphis is ok but Nashville is better"...she did 😜 BOOM! I think I won πŸ˜‡ we also had Jonathan's  baptisimal interview! Of course he did awesome because he is awesome!

Friday was also good but it was the beggining of a pretty stressful weekend. We had weekly planning for two hours. Lunch with our M.L.S. Missionary Couple. Then a lesson. Then we went back to our M.L.S. Missionary Couple' s house to make programs for Jonathan's baptism on the 23rd. I dont want to talk about that. Needless to say, but I'll say it anyway because that's what people do when they say "needless to say," but we arranged for the Ward Mission Leaders to take care of the programs from now on like every other stake I've served in does.
Honestly it just wastes time for us..anywho. We also made posters for the church buildings. I haven't had a companion who wanted to do that for ages. The CROWNING events were that we had a lesson with all three
of our investigators who are on date to be baptized!

Saturday we ate breakfast with the Stake President and his family, the Sisters (Spanish), and the Blocks (M.L.S. Missionary Couple). Then we prepared for our baptism at 1:00. Then we had our baptism at 1:00 πŸ€— then we went to a lesson that fell through. Then we lost our phone by leaving it in a members car. Then the car was gone all night so we couldn't get it. Then I got extremley stressed out because, well, missionaries without a cell phone is like (insert good analogy here) so you know how I felt. My poor companion. Anywho...

...Sunday was good also. Oh yea I forgot. On Friday when we met with nick (one of our investigators) we thought he'd fallen off date because he did't go to church two weeks ago...but he DID go! He went with his wife's mom to their church! Small awesome miracle. What else happened on Sunday? We had a lesson with Candy who is getting baptized on the 30th. It was going to be an interview but due to the lack of a communication device our district leader could not find us lol...stress...then at 2:20 we got our phone back! And had 11 missed messages but luckily none of them were of extreme importance.


And that was my week! I hope ya'll had an awesome eventfull week also!


Elder Kremer

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Mission XP - 18 July 2016

Oh...hello...I didn't see you there 
  Hey everyone! This week was slower than the last couple. We didn't have as many lessons but this week is already looking great with all the lessons we have planned. Tuesday we went up to temple square. While we were on tracks, two people at almost the same time said they needed us. One lady had just got hit by a car and they drove off and she lost her purse but she asked us for help and I asked what she would like. She said a blessing at first but I explained that because it was so loud on the tracks it would be difficult for me to listen to the spirit exactly and also it was in public. So we offered a prayed. She still felt really good after the prayer. I wanted to stay and chat with her but the other lady needed our help. We went to her. She explained that she was getting really wierd promptings to stop going to church and she wasn't feeling real well. So I asked her two questions first. Have you read your  patriarchal blessing recently (she had) and have you asked for a blessing (she had received a couple) I continued to teach the blessing of going to church but then taught her the difference between prompting from the Holy Ghost and the satan. I pointed out that she was not feeling good at all and that that's how she would feel if satan was trying to lead her a certain way. I said many more things and I know I knew all that stuff but it just came out so perfectly through the Holy Ghost I really wouldn't have been able to teach quite like that :).                                                                     

Elder Cady and I are still getting along great. I feel like we are still learning from each other which is great. Elder Cady is always amazing with always testifying and being able to teach by the spirit at a moments notice.
We have a baptism this  Saturday. Jonathan! And on the 30th Candy is getting baptized! We picked up an investigator this week and extended a baptisimal date for August 6th but he fell off because he didn't go to church Sunday. When we meet with him this Wednesday we will extend the 13th. He will feel more comfortable with that anyway. On Sunday we got texted by a ward mission leader that a former investigator came to church on Sunday. We arrived after sacrament meeting and missed her but we asked a lady who knew her to set up a time we could meet with her. We might potentially pick up two new investigators. If he one who went to church meets with us this week, and the spirit doesnt say otherwise, we will invite her to be baptized on August 6th. We felt like we could find someone to be baptized every week this transfer and I've never felt that before and so we've been praying to find those ready to accept the blessings of the gospel in their lives and so far we've just been seeing cool miracles in answer to our prayers.
  The thing is..if we are praying to find someone who we can help come to the gospel and we truly seek and desire to help others, we will start to notice all these small opprotunities to do just that.
Heavenly father needs us. Don't you think if one of his children pray for an opprotunity to bring someone to his gospel that he would do it. If you find that opprotunity as you pray for it and actingly seek it, it is important for you to also recognize that your Heavenly Father has trusted you. This isnt' a normal trust situation either. This is simply the trust that comes from you keeping your baptisimal covanant and taking upon you Crists name. Always live worthy of that trust.

I love you all, have a wonderful week!
Elder Kremer
((^~^)/)

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Mission XP - Email talk 12 July 2016


I decided since i didn't have time to share how the week went I'd share the talk I gave in sacrament meeting on Sunday. Dad, Kristina forgive me if I cannot fully recollect the events of the stories you were a part of however they served well in bringing the spirit through personal experiences.

STANDING UP AGAINST SATAN AND HELPING OTHERS DO THE SAME

Introduction:
Name
Where I'm from
How long I've been out or not doesn't matter πŸ™„ Brother Halladay called us about a week ago asking if we could give a talk in his ward. Obviously we accepted πŸ˜‰ but he let it be up to our disgression what we'd talk about. My companion and I have prayed everyday as we have prepared for this opprotunity. I pray that each of us will be able to feel the spirit teaching us and testifying to us as we listen.

Often times in life we go through many trails and we face many challenges and temptations. This afternoon I would like to talk about how we can learn and grow and stand up to Satan.

LEARNING TO CATCH MY SELF
 There was a time, and don't laugh I don't share this for humor, when I couldn't catch my self. We found this out one day when I was 7 or 8. My mom and dad called us into there room to have a family meeting. And we all ran in. I was last and as I came into the room I tripped over my feet and feel flat on my face. My parents at first were worried then my dad asked me, "why didn't you use your arms?" I didn't know. I'm not sure how often I had fallen before but it never occured to me to throw my hands in front of me to catch myself. After that he took every opprotunity he could to trip me and I continued to fall until I learned how to catch myself. Of coarse that sounds mean and im sure I wasn't to thrilled about this expirience as it was happening. But what is it that we can use when in life we fall spiritually? Those two arms I used to catch myself are:

FAITH AND REPENTANCE
Faith and repentance. Faith: a strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion/complete trust or confidence in someone or something. The first principle of the gospel is to have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. To have a firm belief that he is the Savior and Redeemer of the world. That it is through His grace and mercy that we can live
with our father in heaven again. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ want us to live with them again. They want us to recieve the blessings and strength that come by having faith. Moroni 7:33-And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me. In preach my gospel chapter 3 lesson 3 it states: 

    "Faith in Christ leads to action. It leads to sincere and lasting repentance. Having faith causes us to try as          
    hard as we can to learn about and become more like our Savior. We want to learn what His commandments 
    are and then obey them. Even though we will still make mistakes, we show our love for Him by striving to    
    keep His commandments and avoid sin."
Faith leades to sincere and lasting repentance. Repentance is the second principle of the gospel. Repentance, put simply, is making changes to bring our lives in closer harmony with god and the teachings of Jesus Christ. As we repent, our view of ourselves and the world changes. As we change, we recognize that we are children of God
and that we need not continue making the same mistakes over and over. As we sincerly repent we can feel the forgivness of our Heavenly Father by feeling his spirit the Holy Ghost stronger. But we are not perfect and we will make mistakes again.

WRESTLING WITH MY DAD
 I remember when I was younger, about the age when you loved your dad so much and you always wanted to see him when he came home and you wanted to spend time with him...you know before your a teenager...and
I remember this age always having those wrestle fights with my dad. I, naturally being 8 or 9 thought that I could easily take on my dad. I knew what he'd do. I'd watched my sisters do this so much before.  I was small very thin but I could only see it as an advantage. You know when you where younger and you'd run around your house as a little child with everything going by fast and you could see in your head, you could see that you were running so fast like the flash. And then as an adult you see your child or a child running back and forth for
no apparent reason, and all you see is that determined and proud face as he runs slightly faster than you walk. That was me, I thought I was so fast and I was small so naturally I was that much harder to grab. My dad is a big man, a giant in my 8 year old eyes. So I figured he was slow and with my lightning speed I could take him on. So I did. My sisters had just finished wresting him. The advantage was mine. He was probably worn out. He didn't have a fighting chance, I came at him, I did the old, you think I'm going to run into you but at the last second I duck under his legs and I'm behind him and I can grab his legs and now he can't walk. And everything was going perfectly as planned except for I didn't get to the ducking part of my plan and within 5 seconds I was hanging upside down by my legs. This happened every single time I'd go up against my dad. It was so frustrating how he'd pin me down a different way each time. Thinking of that spiritually...

DON'T GIVE UP
I don't know if you've ever felt this way before like I have this plan to get back on the right path, to beat Satan. There is a temptation I'm facing that I want so badly to get over, to over come, but I keep messing up. I keep making the same mistake over and over again. I repent and I fall and I repent and I fall and I repent and I fall and finally I just don't want to get up I just don't want to try anymore I can't try anymore. I cant even pray to heavenly father right now because he knows I'm just going to mess up again. There is no way that Heavenly Father could possibly forgive me again...I'm just not worthy of his help or his forgivness. BROTHERS AND SISTERS THIS IS NOT NOW NOR WILL IT EVER BE TRUE. Our Heavenly Father has an unimaginable amount of love for us and desire for us to live with him again, he is always holding out his arms for us ready to embrace us as we simply try to do better. And knows we will do better. He sent us here with a plan for us to continuously progress. πŸ“ˆWe start off here in life πŸ“ˆ and Heavenly Father knows that we're not just gonna progress like this / we are going to mess up \ what do we do when that happens? We repent. We feel sorry for what we've done,
we pray to god for forgivness and strength, we do what we can to make it better, and give it our all to not do it again. But what happens if we do it again?

This is the thought process I used to have of repentance and I think some of us have today. The first time we mess up we eventually get to the point were we know we need to access the Atonement. We do and we
feel an incredible peace and love. Then (IF) we make that mistake for a 2nd and 3rd time we know the Atonement is there for us so we pray again for forgivness and strength, we feel less like it will work as powerfully as the first time but it still gets us back to here. And anytime after the 4th or 5th time we mess up we just give up on asking for forgivness because we've messed up too much and/or we're unworthy.

Brothers and sisters here is the reality of repentance and progression in God's eyes. Jesus Christ suffered, bled, and died for us. He felt all the pain we will ever feel and all the sorrow, fear, and doubt we could ever feel. It does not matter where we are in life or what mistakes we have or keep making. He preformed the infinite Atonement for us because his love for us is infinite. There is not a limit of use of the atonement. When ones desire is to come closer to our Father in Heaven and become better.

I hope you all know what a benchpress is. For those of you who don't it's a bench that you lay on and while you are laying on your back you take a bar with wieghts on it and you push up . People do this to exercise their chest. Usually when one bench presses they will have a spotter or a person who will stand behind them ready to help them if they cannot push the bar all the way up. You usually have enough weight on the bar so you can only push it all the way up by yourself 9 or 10 times. When you finally cant get it all the way up by yourself the spotter will take 2 fingers and apply just a little bit of his strength while you are still using all of your strength. As you continue working out you will gradually put little by little more weight on the bar. So you will still need the spotter because you will consistantly be progressing in the wieght your benching.

In our life, Jesus Christ is our spotter. He is always spotting us because we are constantly learning and growing. We are constantly making mistakes and repenting. But we are also constantly adding weight and endurance skill to our bar of trials and temptations.

Because the Atonement is here for us to use infinatley in our path of progression it doesnt just have the power to bring us back to where we were πŸ“ˆ but it can, if we allow it, bring us here / and if we are constantly trying our best and putting in all our effort and strength, even if we keep going through the pattern of sining and repenting will will have become what God wanted us to become because we have grown and progressed.

STANDING AGAINST MY SISTER
 Eventually as I got older I got taller too. I got a little bigger but not much, I've been a literal stick most of my life. I'm the youngest of three. I've got two older sisters. When I was in 8th grade I was taller than my oldest πŸ™„ I wasn't really tall she was just really short. My other sister, whose in the middle, was still a bit taller than me but skinnier and she was a freshman in high school. And she had joined this army program called JROTC a junior army type of program in high school. And she thought she was big and bad. She was on Raiders, which is the the most physical team in JROTC so she was pretty proud of herself, as well she should have been. And one afternoon I think on a Saturday somehow she and I had gotten into a conversation that led to her saying,"I bet I could beat you in wrestling" with my response being "snort" because she was a girl and my sister. We were close in height now so she definitely wasn't going to take me down. I guess I was pretty proud too, for being the
skeleton that I was. Well, we got in our positions, we were in opposite corners of the living room, which is about the only part of wrestling we really knew, our parents and sister were watching from the couch. I don't know why my parents let us do this, my mom probably was just watching for pure amusement but my dad, you know I'm pretty sure my dad just wanted to see his son taken down by a girl. So my sister and I started. We both came at each other, I wast too focused on what she was going to do I just focused on her leg. When I got there I rabbed it and pulled up. She was on one foot and stumbled and at the same moment I stumbled too and realized she'd gone for the same thing. So now we're both on one foot balancing and trying to knock the other one down.  Eventually we let go and started on our feet again. And she comes at me. It's pretty even but one of two things
arechappening now. Either im standing in a forward leaning position and she just isnt moving me or I keep pinning her down, but she never gave up. And I don't know how she did it but she wiggled herself out of my hold every single time. I'd never completley win. Id' have her in a hold but I could never completley win. She'd come at me, she couldn't knock me down but I did get off balanced and then I'd take her down, thinking it was finally over, finally I beat her.

THE POWER OF SCRIPTURES IN OUR EVERYDAY LIFE
But when your wrestling with someone or something and you got it pinned, you don't stop. You don't say well I've got him down so now I can get up, turn around, and walk away? If there are any current or former addicts of any kind in here you know as well as i do and better than anyone else that you can never allow your gaurd to go down. Because what's going to happen when you turn your back or stop putting all your effort in standing up to satan? Something is going to happen. You give into a temptation, or mabye a death occurs that you weren't ready for, a denial, a layoff, an injury. So what can we do? What must we do to face satan? Spiritual feast upon the gospel. 2Nephi 32:20 "Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life."  The Book of Mormon has been emphasized very strongly. That is because as we pray and study the Book of Mormon we
find for ourselves that it is not only teaches us more about our Savior but we learn of a people who had trials just like we do today. We have been given this record, this testimony of people after people, this journal of experiences, several of which we are familiar with, to learn how to over come; The loss of loved ones, the temptations of lying, stealing, committing adultery and coveting. We can better learn how to access the Atonement of Jesus Christ as we go through depression, anxiety, and fear. We can learn how to better love our
neighbor. To recieve the knowledge that you are a son or daughter of a Father in Heaven who loves you. We invite you to read from the Book of Mormon everyday and pray to know how to apply it to your life. It will bless you. You will feel the spirit. You will come closer to your Savior Jesus Christ. You will learn of the plan that our Father in Heaven has for us.  We find ourselves sometimes forgetting that we came to earth to be tested and tried, to learn and to grow through easy and hard times. But when we are faced with trials and temptation remember to always turn to the lord and have faith in his only begotten Son.

BE A STRENGTH AND SUPPORT FOR OTHERS
We also sometimes forget that it might be harder for others to get through thier trials because they don't yet understand how to access the Atonement. In many of these cases remember that we have been blessed with the knowledge of the gospel and in such is a great responsibility. Mosiah 2:41 is one of my most favorite scriptures. It says, "And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it."
(Talk about it)
What i find intresting is that earlier in this chapter Mosiah speaks of service...
-service for others
-serving them by testifying and bringing them the gospel

Here are three quotes from three prophets to us:

President Joseph Smith (1830–1844)                 
     “After all that has been said, the greatest and most important duty is to preach the Gospel” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [1976], 113).
     “Let the Saints remember that great things depend on their individual exertion, and that they are called to be co-workers with us and the Holy Spirit in accomplishing the great work of the last days”
(Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 178–79).
                                        
President Brigham Young (1847–1877)
    “There is neither man or woman in this Church who is not on a mission. That mission will last as long as they live, and it is to do good, to promote righteousness, to teach the principles of truth, and to prevail upon themselves and everybody around them to live those principles that they may obtain eternal life” (Discourses of Brigham Young, sel. John A. Widtsoe [1954], 322).
                                        
President John Taylor (1880–1887)
    “Our duty is to preach the gospel to all men. … This is what God expects of us” (The Gospel Kingdom, sel. G. Homer Durham [1943], 234–35).

TESTIFY
I give you my representative witness that we do in fact have a Heavenly Father who loves us. Jesus is the Christ and He lives. The Atonement truly is here at the ready for each of us to access as we allow it to change our hearts and lives. As we are receptive to and accept The gospel of Jesus Christ we will be receptive to all the
blessings that come from it. In this i so testify in the name of Jesus Christ amen.


Elder Kremer
(\(^~^)/)

Monday, July 4, 2016

Mission XP - 4 July 2016 - Independence Day

πŸ‡±πŸ‡·THANK YOU TO ALL THOSE MEN AND WOMEN WHO GAVE UP THERE LIVES SO WE COULD HAVE OURS. WE THANK YOU AND WE LOVE YOUπŸ‡±πŸ‡·

Hey everyone! Transfers are today. Elder Ray is leaving and I'm staying. Happy fourth of july! I apoligize for the length of this letter I figure it'll be a bit lengthly but it's not my fault so many AWESOME things keep happening!

Monday we had p-day...surprise surprise...we went bowling as a district (pictures in a diffrent email) then we went out and worked. We had 2 lessons planned but they both fell through but then found 2 families to teach so yay! 2 in all. Our first lesson with Jonathan was at six and it happened through a prompting. We have been trying to contact them forever and after pday we just felt like we should go by so we did and they were home! The lesson went great she is a less active member and he is a nonmember but they have recently gone through things and he is ready to take the step of baptism. He is on date for the 23rd of July! We also had a lesson with a couple who are both nonmembers and I feel like they kinda want to stay that way haha. She just kept pulling out her interesting version of the bible. She would bash with what we said but she didn't really know what she was
saying she was just going off what she heard once. It was cute in the T-Rex waving kind of way.

Tuesday we had a district meeting and 4 lessons! 3 with recent converts one of which was baptized last transfer and she is already going to the temple and doing baptisms for the dead! WHAT!! Super awesome convert! And she already knows how to apply the book of mormon to herself! Im impressed i still struggle. The other lesson was with Adam who has been constantly progressing and has is on date for Saturday!

Wednesday I went on exchanges with Elder Austin in my area. This is were the letter gets lengthy. That morning I had texted an less active we are working with if we could meet the next day and he said sure but for whatever reason I didnt text him what time I just thought I'd do it later. So we went to the apartments and started trying to contact a few people. It was hot (as usual) and I thought lets go by that guy, set up a time, and get some water. So we went to his apartment and we knocked. It was the WRONG door! It was the door beneath the guy I
knew. Anyway a man opened the door and we started talking and he started saying how he and his girlfriend we trying to become more active in the church and this was a sign for him and an answer to his prayers. So we set up a time to come by the next day. Then we left that apartment and headed towards another, completley forgetting to go to the first guys apartment. As we left I realized that and so we turned around and went up to the third floor and knocked. After the first knock the door next to his opened. An older teenager was coming
out with a trashbag and a backpack. So we talked to him. We talked as we went down the stairs and as we hit the last couple stairs we started teaching the four minute restoration. We went to the trashcan and talked there for a couple minutes. When we finished we shared our testimonies of what happened to Joseph Smith and then asked what he was feeling. He said, "honestly...nothing. But I am pretty interested in what you guys were talking about but I have to go pick up my sister. So we closed with a prayer. Our bikes were where he was walking to and its always awkward saying goodbye then walking in the same direction. So we walked the other way. We saw a Tongan man walking kind of towards us. So...we talked to him (haha you might notice a pattern of us seeing people and then talking to them...everyone). He was nice and boy we tried to have a good conversation and ask him questions but I'll be darned if I understood a word that was comming out of his kind mouth. Bless his heart :) he was trying so hard. I understood when he said missionaries but I couldn't tell if he was saying if he'd been taught by missionaries in Tonga for 15 years or if he saw missionaries a lot in Tonga. We asked if we could share a message with his family  #PrayingForTheGiftOfTongues.    And he led us to his home. His wife spoke a bit more English and we found out they were members so we talked for a couple minutes then shared a message with them and let him pray in Tongan for us and we left. That is just the first half of the day...the night was hectic,
mainly because we had a lesson with a new investigator I'd picked up last week on exchanges and needed to teach the restoration to and put on date and at the same time we had a potential investigator we needed to teach. We went out with two ward mission leaders and went to work. Elder Austin did a spledid job teaching and inviting to baptism and resolving concerns. He is a great missionary and I wish I could have taught with him. I had a great lesson too. We helped her understand the need of the great apostasy and a new prophet Joseph Smith, to restore God's kingdom on earth once again. When I invited her to be baptized after sharing the first vision and helping recognize the spirit she paused. It felt like forever and the whole time i was just praying,
"please nobody say anything just wait for her to speak first" I repeated that about 10 times lol and thank goodness no one said anything. She said yes! I feel that this is all true and I'm beginning to understand the I importance of Joseph Smith more. I was so excited! Then I invited her to prepare to be baptized on July 23rd. She said I don't know because I'll be in the hospital from coffee withdawls. Haha She already knew about no coffee. But at first she was hesitant. So I taught her the Word of Wisdom and invited her to follow it. She said
yea but can I finish the pot that's in the kitchen first? It was interesting because I felt impressed to say, I want to say yes but as a representative of Jesus Christ I have to say no because this is what Heavenly Father is asking you to do not me. But he has given you agency so you can decide weather you finish it or not but I promise
you if you don"t you will have more strength to completley overcome it. I'd never said it that way before. Cool. She said in a joking way, "nooooo don't say that and guilt trip me haha" then I invited her whether she finished the pot of coffee or not to obey the Word of Wisdom starting tonight. She said yes!!! And she didn't finish it!

Thursday we finished our exchange with a chess match during lunch! Wow I have lost my skill. I can't remember any tactics or anything. Anyway it was a great exchange. We met with Jordan and Trish (less actives from Wednesday) had a great lesson with them! He has been wanting to come back for a while but she actually had a cool expirience. She was thinking about church one day and she saw some missionaries from her apartment balcony but she was trying to get up the courage to talk to them. By the time she mustard some up they had disappeared. Sadness...but WAIT! She saw them again. So she rushed down the stairs to talk to them and...they were gone again. That was a day or two before we came by so I have no idea what missionaries were trying to
poach from our area but THIS IS MY TURF 😑 I WILL NOT HAVE IT πŸ˜‹ that was my initial thought but I think it was actually us haha. But then she said she'd come home and Jordan was telling her that we stopped by and they are both feeling the spirit telling them it's time to get active and receive these blessings again.

Friday we met our new mission president. President lancing. I am excited but come on everyone misses the Chambers. But I hope the Lancings feel loved as they begin serving in the absolute best mission in the world!
And then we taught Adam and Jonathan Friday night.

Saturday ADAM GOT BAPTIZED! Yay! His wife, Sunday's, parents were there. It was a great day. We also had a lesson with a less active lady that we were led to last week at the same exact time the Bishop was led to her. We taught her about the restoration. Her father passed away a couple weeks ago. She wanted to know where he went and what he was doing. I testified of the plan of salvation. It is perfect and it perfectly shows Heavenly Father's love for each one of us.

Sunday I confirmed Adam in Sacrament meeting! It was a great experience and opprotunity. A less active we have been working with since I got here and since Elder Ray got here 4 1/2 months ago who has had a horrible drinking addiction for a while came to church today for the first time in forever. It was fast and testimony meeting and one of Sunday's sisters got up and bore her testimony and said she has only shared her testimony 3 times in her life but she felt strongly impressed to get up today. She shared her love for the gospel and out of no where started talking about how the church's AA meetigs (12step program) have helped her so much and she testified to the blessings of that. I was amazed and crying. She didn't know that there was someone who had met with the Bishop a week and a half previously and who was giving everything he's got to get better and through her Heavenly Father told him what he needed to do. It made me think (I literally looked around) how many people in this ward alone are struggling and we can't even see it? Who is going through a trial that is eating them up that is putting there life in risk or anything and nobody knows. We NEED to follow every prompting we have. Heavenly Father trusts us and he needs us to help his children who are stuggling. Here was my other thought. Adam had been taught by missionaries before. He had a slightly rough life. He wasn't ready at the time to be baptized even though he had a baptisimal date a couple times. FINALLY, the day he has been prepared by the Lord and our Heavenly Father also HAPPENS to be the exact day this less active man went to church for the FIRST time in 10+ years bringing him and someone else together who has already gone through EXACTLY what he is going through NOW.

I give you each my representative witness that we have a loving Heavenly Father. He is VERY MUCH aware of us and our situations. Don't you ever think He has left you, that he doesn't care about you. He does and He is constantly preparing a way for you to feel His love and rejoice in the many blessings He has in store for you, in this I so testify in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.

Elder Kremer