March 26, 2012

Things here in the Arvada 1st ward are still rolling along. We have had a few interesting setbacks with our investigators but by in large things are grand. Tina Acosta accepted our invitation to be baptized, but is in Kansas all this week. She was not comfortable setting a date for baptism, but it was an awesome step for her to say that it is what she wanted. Carmen was finally able to meet with us after about a month of conflicts.We had a good lesson and I think that things will get back on track from here but it is clear that the adversary is working over time on her. Things are becoming more complicated with Juanita as her husband is more and more interested and we thing he is going to be the one to lead them into the gospel. The trouble with them is the language gap and deciding who is going to teach them and which ward they will go to. I would rather have this problem over them not being interested at all. Aside from that, we are still  finding and getting things to a completely healthy level and the ward leadership being supportive is really helpful.

Elder Jones is almost functioning as my senior companion. He is planning  all the lessons we teach, taking the lead in finding and he has been the driving force behind our plans and activities. He is getting very capable with his leading and while it is clear that he still needs more practice at of the some skills I am asking him to use I am sure they will come as he goes along. When he speaks in a lesson it is with power and authority and it is wonderful to see I just need to help him be more confident in his finding and things will go well for him from here on out. I don't know if he realizes it yet, but he is all around happier and confident as well which I am thrilled about. Ultimately I am not the one who makes that kind of call, but I would say that he is darn close to achieving  his goal of being senior companion.

March 19, 2012

Things are going great here in the 1st ward! We got 4 new investigators this week and we have a lot of teaching appointments in this coming week. Carmen is still a bit in a funk but she is pulling out of it. Juanita has been keeping her commitment to read the BoM and her husband seems to be very much more interested than I thought at first. We are trying to decide where this mixed up language family needs to go, but I am happy they are progressing on way or another. A lot of our new investigators are still on the fence and we have to decide if they are really going to progress or not but that is ok by me. We're keeping up the finding efforts so I am not worried that things will dry up, but it is nice to be teaching again.

A Tender Mercy From Sister Garfield

Last night I received a text with a picture of Reid, his companion and the district leader, Elder Mena. They were out to eat at a Chinese restaurant. It was a lovely surprise! 

I asked who sent it and the reply was President and Sister Garfield. (Not the mission pres.) I thanked her for the picture because Reid is such a terrible picture taker. I have wanted a pic of Elder Jones for several weeks now.

Elder Jones, Elder Mena and Elder Taylor

Sister Garfield sent me another text with this picture and said, "Remember this from almost exactly a year ago?? Same restaurant, same table, same corner table, same overhanging tree! ...same us...same cute Elder...(different companions)."  Of course I remembered it! I can't believe she still had it on her phone.

About a 1/2 hour after the first exchange I received another text and picture from Sister Garfield.

"Elder Taylor just shared a powerful and tender testimony with us from Helaman 10:4-5. He has continued to mature spiritually in the year since we last visited. You can be even more proud of him. It was too sacred a moment to snap the picture I wanted you to see him teaching from his open scriptures. Here he is just after the closing prayer. We sure do love him and are grateful you've shared him with us."

I have been so touched by Sister Garfield's love for my boy and will be forever grateful for her pictures and texts. 

March 12, 2012

Success! Elder Jones and the area are improving!

Elder Jones decided that he was on board with the whole "Become a Senior Companion" challenge that the president has for him. We are working on helping him build his self-esteem, confidence and changing his habits of not saying anything and not making any decisions. He has set a goal to make more decisions each day, have an opinion when I ask for it and to change his expectations about himself and the way he works. I have him doing the positive self-image trick that I used to help myself build confidence and hope it does the same thing for him. 

As far as the work in the area is concerned, things are picking up. We continue to find more and more people who are interested in the gospel and that is great. Add to that, the fact that Brother Bird, the new WML, is on fire and intent on setting the ward on the same course and we are in good shape.

Got a chance to talk to a preacher in training and it was interesting to see how close he was to right just by studying the Bible. He wasn't interested but we did commit this open minded man to read the Book of Mormon when he had some time. I would like to see him have the realization.

Got to teach a new investigator named Juanita Rodriguez. She speaks about as much Spanish as I do and has a husband that speaks only a little English. It was funny to learn that and I laughed at the fact that his name is Eric! It is all a little mixed up, but they are interested in learning more and the whole BOM being from the Americas was cool for them. Now we just have to hope that a testimony will get her over years of agoraphobia.

March 5,2012

How has it been in your new digs? Nice actually, Almost like Laramie. They gave us a heater so the temp is good and I don't mind basements in the first place.

How is your companion? Quiet. But I am getting to know him and he seems to trust me which is good. I have been working on building his confidence and making him talk in lessons and such. It is actually going pretty well.

Have you taken a picture of him? Don't be silly Mom, you know I forgot that. :)

This has been a good week. We have been getting more and more referrals from the Spanish missionaries and finding on our own. We just got a new ward mission leader and he seems to be solid. Brother Bird is going to be a real asset as he knows how to work with and motivate organizations from his job and that is what the membership needs.

I have also seen some progress making Elder Jones feel more confident. (Thanks Dad for the suggestions.) I will apply them and am happy to say that I already was doing a lot of that. It is interesting for me to work with Elder Jones as I feel like he is just experiencing exaggerated forms of the the problems that I have already overcome personally. This has helped me to get into his head a little bit and be able to say the right things and connect with him. He trusts me and that is a boon. I think that this is going to be good for me and him and I am grateful for this chance.