This week has been a pretty typical week in Elmira. Something good to know is that, for the first time in nine months, I will not be getting a new companion. I'm pretty excited for things not to change. It is a rare thing for me. You know what they say, the only thing consistent in life is change. The other Elders in the ward will not be changing as well so another six weeks with the crew.
We have been teaching Marie for the past couple of weeks and that's been great. Marie's mom, Pam, has started to sit in on our lessons and is becoming more and more interested. At first, when we went over to see Marie, Pam would avoid us like the plague. But one night, Pam came back from walking the dog and sat in on our lesson on the porch. It was awesome because Marie helped us teach her about the Restoration. She has now accepted a Book of Mormon and started reading it. That's the best thing she could be doing. Nothing can match the converting power of the Book of Mormon!
Elder Rasband and I had an appointment fall through this past week right before dinner. We had half an hour so we said a prayer to ask the Lord to take us where he needed his missionaries. Then we drove to a random street, parked the car and got out. Before I even had a chance to get my bag out of the back seat, this guy yelled to Elder Rasband and I, "So you're the new Elders in town." We had parked right in front of this guy's house. He was out working on his car so we went up and got to know him a bit better. His name is Brady, he is a machine fixer, the Elders used to stop by and meet with him, and he believes that he is going to Hell. He is blunt and down to earth, but was very polite to us. We talked for a bit longer but then had to go. We are going to stop by this week some time.
We do a lot of service in Elmira. On Wednesdays, we go to Catholic Charities. Thursdays we go to the public library and Fridays we go to a food bank. We also have other service opportunities that pop up. Each is for two hours. We are encouraged to try and do 5 to 10 hours of service a week because President Rogers wants us to serve around great people that already have the light of Christ glowing in their lives. We were at a dinner at the Farnsworth's this past week when Brother Farnsworth told us a neat experience he had. He volunteers at the library once a week as well and he was telling us how one of the librarians started asking about what missionaries do and why we come on missions. That was cool to hear. I guess you never know how your example affects others.
We haven't been able to meet with Margaret this week because she has been sick, but the ward members missed her at church. That's a good sign. The fall is still beautiful as usual and the weather is still cooling down.
The sky is blue, the Church is true and life is good.
Elder Carlile
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| A Serious Group |
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