Immanuel "God is with us" ft: Alexandria (An Epistle to Friends and family) 12-9-2024

Ayeee welcome back yall. Monday was chill we went to dicks sporting goods, played some basketball, and then went to a sports pub and got half off burgers and they were buss. That night we had a lesson on the atonement surrounding Christmas season and it was very spirit filled and then later that night I got a call from one of the mission presidency asking if I could train. Actually hyped! There is a a chance I'm white wash training or staying one or the other. Tuesday was pretty chill we had district council which was not that productive. We have some brainrot Elders in our district and it's the end of the transfer. We have two missionaries from china and the N word means "that" in Chinese and one of them just kept saying "that" in Chinese. We then went to have a buss lunch of bison burgers and then went back at it and had a miracle of a lesson knocking and got her so invested in church and it was amazing to see because people don't care about coming to church here but she did. We also had a lesson with our recent convert Dominique over zoom with bishop which was much needed and got into a members home I have been dying to get inside of. She made zupa Tuscana upon request and it made me happy. A little taste of home for sure. That night transfer boards finally dropped and I'm white wash district training they also combined two areas into one and made it a biking area. Meaning there is so much work to do they had 4 Elders running around the city of Alexandria now its just me and whoever im training it's so cold I'm gonna freeze plus the area is twice as big and it's a city everything is a lockout. President wasn't kidding when he said if there was a hill he needed climbed he'd send me to do it. Im 15 minutes away from my og area which is nice I can have some familiarity. The craziest part is if you get a leadership opportunity to serve such as training or district leading they will call and ask you if you are up for it and let you know. They never called about district leading so that was a fun surprise I'm excited cause clearly the lord has a plan for me. My comp is now companions with Elder Wilkey my MTC trio companion so that will be interesting to see especially since they are 15 minutes away I'll get to be in the same zone still. Wednesday was a wild day so crazy I had to turn in my red cross vest it was so sad and I had to say bye to Elder tuala he got transfered out of the Zone. I had a meeting that morning for training during service, then went to a thrift store on the military base. It's only open on Wednesdays and Fridays so I had to go. Man I got two brand new pair of dress shoes better than the ones I came out with for 30 bucks and 2 brand new sweaters for proseltiting and a Washington DC hat for 10 bucks all in all 40 dollars total! For all that I was a happy man. We then had dinner with the old stake president who knew so much about my new area and he filled me in on some stuff and jt made me feel better. We also said bye to some cool family's and had a w meal with a member and it was so nice. Later we had a miracle lesson and were able to teach a sweet old lady about salvation. She has an autistic non verbal son and we were able to teach and testify of the resurrection and salvation and she just started crying. The spirit was so strong. Later I Said by to the Venezuelan family and they just got back from church activities. It was their first time in over a year attending and it was so amazing to see leaving the area. Overall and amazing last day Until.....We got some phone calls and the Zone leaders informed us that they were taking our car in mount vernon and we're giving It to me in my new area. It caused so much complications for no reason and I just took no part in it. My companion was so heated and to be fair it's winter time and not very ideal for my last area mount vernon to be a biking area My companion asked the Aps for a reason as to why to take the car and give it to me and they said since my new area is being combined it is now the best area in the whole mission and that I need a car for it to be more effective. Talk about throwing all the pressure on me. In my new area we have 5 people on date, 13 people progressing, 14 people who are interested, and 4 recent converts. So much work to do. Wow wow wow wow I am so exhausted. Went to bed at 12 because packing, woke up, packed, left, had a fat meeting, got a trainee, whitewashed the area with Google calender, called some members, did district leader things, was the coldest day of my life, got lost in tye city, cleaned the apartment by myself, found freinds, had a member meal, and so on. Life is crazy right now I literally was so busy I forgot to drink water. Plus our new crib doesn't have a water filter so it tastes slightly like sulfer. President threw everything at me. President and his wife came up to me early that morning before even saying hi and just shook my hand, looked at me and said "You got this" Such words of encouragement despite everyone telling me I have the potential to baptize a record number this transfer in the mission in my new area. Life is just so crazy. I got lost in the city it's a whole new world even though It's ten minutes away from my old area. We are still seeing miracles though! First person who's door we knocked we had a lesson taught her the atonement and got a return appointment. Pray for me. Friday wow I feel like a coal that's being shaped into a diamond I'm under so much pressure for real. That morning I woke up and hit the ground running. I continued to clean, and then I got synced into area book finaly so I messed around with that for a fat minute, had a zoom meeting, then immediately drove 45 minutes in the city to run a trio exchange with all the new Distric leaders and Drove another 40 minutes, had a 2 hour meeting, and was given more charge and responsibilities all while I forgot to eat breakfast cause I ran out of time. I'm sure now more than ever that the Lord has plans for me and he's sending me into the furnace to be refined under the forgers fire when I finally got out of those meetings and back with my comp I was so hungry I had to stop by Chipotle. I was on such a time crunch we had a baptismal interview in half an hour and by the time we got out of Chipotle it was a 27 minute drive with heavy traffic so I put my burrito in my pocket and went. I ended up being in my suit coat all day but it was chill. We just sat in McDonald's, me in a suite Coat and contacted people for two hours taught my kid how to report stuff and all that he's getting better after all of that phone work lol. We actually had so many miracles happen during those two hours!! The Lord is making things happen. Never been more tired but also never been more pumped Wowza I am exhausted but I see the lords hand eveyday, Saturday was busy busy. I had zone leadership meetings, then immediately walked 2 Miles to a huge Scottish parade in old town Alexandria and talked to sooo many people soo many. Literally thousands of people It was crazy. We had like 5 sets of missionarys including us and taking advantage just running around inviting everyone to church ended up getting stuck in crowds and had to rush back to the apartment to grab our car and miss lunch and drive to a baptismal interview, during the interview with our friend Ellie (who is on date to be baptized December 14th BTW) we taught her friends whole family the restoration of the Gospel and it was hype. We then did a crap ton of phone work again because there are sooo many people on our new area so many. It has been super hard because my companion is still learning how to use areabook and he's getting cooked. He can't keep up with the reporting at all so I am teaching him and he learns the exact opposite way I do💀 Just a couple miracles though first off during the parade we met a couple amazing people just in the middle of a huge crowd. Another is we set up a lesson with a less active part member family. A personal favorite mini miracle is I can feel the lord giving me strength throughout the day as I consecrate myself to him. We also had a lesson with a recent convert my buddy Elder Banner, now Luke banner happened to be at with his mom (who grew up in NWA) and dad and it was so amazing! We also got 4 people confirmed for church and 2 set up rides with members way hype!! GOD is so good and I am so tired. A little about my new trainee though...his name is Elder Taylor, he is pretty tall from Orem Utah is a vegetarian (we are working on that one) he loves the Savior and is great at talking to people. Things I struggle with is teaching urgency, how the heck do I teach that I have just been an example but I have definitely learned a ton of patience already and I can tell I'm going to learn a lot more for sure. Something awful that happened after transfers Is the only thing I have been able to eat Thursday-saturday is 5 bowls of chilli from two different members, on differnt days, and a Chipotle burrito with extra beans and extra rice. We didn't have that much food at the crib and I payed a huge price for a terrible diet, a huge price. Sunday came around and wow this ward is amazing. I have never seen a more locked in group of people. We even had one of them give our friend a ride which BTW was a miracle she was there. We also have member meals set up in advance for us and a calling for a member in the ward to coordinate rides for us missionaries friends. So many cool members in this ward I am excited! And we actually had a great service. We got two friends at church and it was awesome! Straight manna from heaven for real. During contacts we reached out to this one lady named Isha who the previous Elders have had a hard time meeting with in person and she mentioned she was sick so We asked her If we can go over to her house and give her a blessing of healing and comfort that day and she said yes!! We then pulled up and she actually was feeling better so we just taught her the restoration and the doctorine of baptism. The spirit was so strong as we testified to her and something that I thought was so special is she has previously been baptized in a differnt chuch, but as we extended a date for her to be baptized on December 28th she accepted and bore testimony to us how God led her to this church and us missionaries. She mentioned she has never heard of our church before when she lived in Africa but that she believed God led her to the U.S and to his church! I then showed her a couple pictures of Gus in Liberia baptizing literally a whole village and she got super even more excited since she is from west Africa and it was a testimant to her!! GOD is so good it just shows what a little desire and commitment will do. I have never worked so hard or been so obedient and had such a desire as I do now. We then had dinner with bishop and it was so amazing! They got connections to bentonville arkansas and were at the temple dedication a year ago!! Bishop then commissioned us to baptize a family before I leave and I got so pumped up. Another amazing miracle is in my last area lil Luis from the Venezuelan family came to church for the first time in like almost two years and met our recent convert Salifu who is the same age who I have been trying to get him to meet for 4 and a half months and they finally met and are best friends now. They even exchanged fortnite and roblox usernames. Yall words cannot express how crazy this week has been but how divinely inspired it has all been. I feel changed...I feel Jesus Christ walking with me. Everynight I plead for strength and I receive it. God hears and answers prayers as we exercise our faith in him with commitment..."Faith without works is dead" James 2:20 New Testimant "And according to his faith there was a mighty change wrought in his heart. Behold I say unto you that this is all true" Alma 5:12 Book Of Mormon Shoutout to My dad his birthday was the 6th. Shoutout to everyone who reads these. Love yall shoot me an email or two. My birthday is next week and there is nothing I'd rather be doing than serving God children "Stay Sweet"-Elder Williams