New letter 3/31/2014

Hey all!

 

This week we saw some really cool stuff go on. I'll get right to the best part.

 

On Thursday we found this one kid named Brody who was standing by a creek by himself, so we started talking to him. He asked us what the difference between Mormons and Muslims were, so we told him, and then he told us that he was looking for some kind of purpose in life. So took him to the chapel which was right down the road, taught him the restoration, and committed him to be baptized in April. It was sick! We all felt that God had sent us to him. He said, "This just feels right. I guess this is where God wants me to go." Probably one of the coolest miracles I've ever seen on my mission.

 

Another cool experience we had this week was we talked to a long-time less active member on his doorstep. He hasn't been to church in 40 years, and he doesn't believe it's true anymore. He told us the Book of Mormon was wrong, that the Bible says there will be no more scripture given, and that the Holy Ghost was telling him to tell us that what we're teaching is wrong. It was pretty intense. So we told him that although the Book of Mormon isn't flawless, it was written by prophets of God, and it was brought to us by the power of God, and that we knew it was true by the power of the Holy Ghost. The Spirit slapped us all super hard like a roundhouse kick to the heart. The man we were talking to wasn't convinced, but we left on good terms. It was a powerful learning experience for me. I don't know all things, but I do know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I actually finished reading it today, and I prayerfully asked God if it was true. Once again, the Spirit confirmed to me that it is true. Its message is that God speaks to us, His children. He has done it for centuries, and beginning in 1820, He is speaking to us through his prophets again.

 

Hope you all have a great week!

 

Stay penitent.

 

Elder Gillie

Last week of March

This week we probably biked about 120 miles. I'm in better shape than I think I've ever been. Wahoo!

 

On Monday we had our zone activity (basketball, soccer, sand volleyball, smores, burgers) and it was sick.

On Tuesday, we biked a lot, talked to a lot of people, and ate some good food.

On Wednesday we taught a couple less actives and one of our investigators.

On Thursday we taught a couple less actives and our other investigators. We also added a new investigator in his driveway.

On Friday we planned, and that felt like all we did.

On Saturday we biked about 25 miles in Deer Ridge, a super hilly neighborhood. It was hot, and I was super tired, and it was by far the best day of my week. The Lord put tons of prepared people in our path, and we have some great potential investigators.

On Sunday we met with members ate more terrific food.

 

This week has been pretty awesome. I've been learning about increasing our faith to do the work. As we've prayed and asked God to place people in our path, our ability to talk to people increases.

 

God is good! I love Him, and I love Brentwood. Roll tide.

 

Stay thirsty, my friends (Matthew 5:6)

 

Elder Gillie

March 17, 2014

So here's a list of things that happened this week-

 

• My companion's bike kept getting goofed up, and we've been hitching rides for a couple days.
• On Tuesday we taught two lessons on the street and added them as investigators.
• A nice lady gave us See's chocolate on Thursday.
• On Wednesday we had zone conference, and we learned a ton about working with members.
• On Saturday we helped move an old couple to a retirement home...except the old couple didn't know they were moving until soon after we left. That was fun.

Sorry that this week's email is going to be boring. We were pretty busy, but not a lot of notable things happened.

 

Spiritchal quotation of the week: "The Gospel brings happiness to all who come unto Christ. We must have faith in Him and repent, and as soon as we repent, we are sanctified by the Holy Ghost. Do this, because it brings lasting happiness to your life." -Elder Gillie

 

Hope you all are doing great!

 

Stay fantastic.

 

Elder Gillie

 

First week in Brentwood photo

Brentwood is awesome!

It's been another incredible week!

 

Being in a bike area is just so great. We bike around 15-20 miles a day. Sometimes we're racing to get to our apartment by 9:00 and when that happens we can't walk straight once we get inside. Every night and every morning I'm super sore, and I love it!

 

Elder Willis and I are focusing on improving two key things this transfer: talking to more people and working with members to find. It's been so exciting to see how our efforts to work on these have brought miracles! Woot.

 

This week we've worked really hard on getting more OYMs (open yer mouths). This week we talked to 81 people on the street, a huge step up from 33 last week. This week we're shooting for 140. We also made a big effort to talk to everyone that we saw. There's not a lot of people out and about in Brentwood, so we drive around the neighborhoods and find people who are in their garages or working on their lawns. This week we've found a few awesome potentials just by offering service. We even helped this one guy clean out his garage, and he took us for a drive in his Bumblebee-themed Camaro. It was sick.

 

It's amazing that as we've demonstrated our faith by opening our mouths, Heavenly Father has placed people in our paths who are prepared to hear the Gospel. We haven't added any new investigators, but we've been blessed with the Spirit and with the opportunity to share the Gospel with others.

 

The members in the ward are fantastic! They really like missionary work, and tons of members already invite their friends to church. We've had the chance to meet with a couple families this week and set goals for them to pray specifically for the opportunity to invite people to meet with missionaries, and we're excited to follow up next week.

 

Here's my spiritchal thought of the week-

 

The first principle of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We must believe in Jesus Christ. We need to trust Him, trust His commandments, trust His power and His promises. I often get caught up in my spiritchal to-do list and forget to trust my Savior. If we believe in the Savior, then we can find hope in a challenging world. Even though many people here don't want to talk to us, I have a Savior who is happy with me when I open my mouth. I've really learned a ton this week about the importance of faith. If believe that the Savior will bless us with happiness, then keeping the commandments is a lot easier! Have faith y'all.

 

Brentwood is super great. The mission is great. The Gospel is soooo good. I'm going to try to send some pictures if I get a chance to use a different computer. Until then have a good life!

 

Stay terrific.

 

Elder Gillie

Brentwood Is Awesome

Hey guys!

 

Brentwood is awesome! It's absolutely nothing like my old area. Here are some cool thing about Brentwood:

 

1. It's flat. So even though I'm on bike, I'm not dying yet.

2. The church is really strong here! Even though it's a small community, there are 3 wards in Brentwood.

3. The area has been tracted out a few times, so everybody knows us.

4. The members are feeding us so well...

5. It has Elder Willis in it, who is my companion. He's way cool.

 

The work here in Brentwood is going to be a lot different than South City. We're shifting our focus towards working with members because the members are so awesome. There's also lots of youth, and we're thinking about working with them to find people to teach. Pretty cool, right? I thought so too.

 

My new companion, Elder Willis, is way awesome. He just finished his second transfer, but he's a boss. Our senior companion, the Spirit, is even more boss. We're really excited for this transfer.

 

I'll end with an awkward story. We knocked on the door of a less active and a 20s-ish guy answered the door. Elder Willis and him started talking at the same time, and then it was silent for a few seconds. So I thought I would say something, but then Elder Willis and I started talking at the same time. Talk about awkward. Then he told us the member we were looking for didn't live there, and then it was awkward again. Definitely not the best door contact ever.

 

Spiritual lecture for the week- faith is pretty important. Many times we members of the church get caught up in little details of our Gospel living and we lose sight of the big picture. We keep God's commandments because we know He expects us to, but we sometimes lose faith that through Christ we can become spiritually healed. So don't do that. Put your faith in Jesus Christ and believe that He will heal you as you come unto Him.

 

Well, things are going well. I'll attach a couple pictures of missionaries being cool at the transfer van.

 

Stay triumphant.

 

Elder Gillie

 

PS The pictures may not have worked. Or they may have been the wrong ones. Maybe next time.