26 Oct 2009

Hey family!

This week’s district meeting was a really powerful one. I don’t say this because I want to brag of myself, but actually because I want to brag of my companion. One evening we came home and we were feeling really good about the day’s activities. Elder Pearson after taking a seat began to share his thoughts out loud. Well before he knew it he had monologued for 40 minutes about the power of our calling and our reliance on the spirit. I felt super motivated by the words that he was sharing with me and felt that he should share those same words with our district. So I gave him about 30 minutes of our district meeting to expound upon those thoughts. He did an amazing job. Elder Hill later mentioned that it was one of the best district meetings that he has had on his mission.

We pushed really hard this week trying to get member lessons. Throughout the week we had a total of 6 lessons with a member present set up. Three of them fell through and caused for a scramble yesterday to make it happen. We came to the point where we had nothing else to do but hope that at one of our meetings there would be a random less-active friend of the investigator there that we did not know about. Even though the standard was not reached, we did see an increase, and that increase is our motivation this week to really make it happen.

This next week should be great the Zone Leaders challenged us as a companionship to get 6 member lessons, so that is what we are going to do. The district goal for the end of this week is to have had 8 member lessons and 4 people at church. Hold your thumbs for us, it is going to be a wild ride!

Now for questions:

It looks like it has been kind of rainy, is that correct? yes
Has it already started snowing? a little but then stopped
I noticed that Elder Hill got a New Missionary - what is his name? Vivona
Where is he from? Indiana
What is your direct address? Dukelska 46, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic
Do you have a mailbox? nope
So are you getting settled in your new city? yeah its great
Is it challenging because of the beer production? a little but not a lot
Are the people harder to teach? the same
More receptive than in other cities? nope
Struggle with the Word of Wisdom? always
Is your comp fired up about being there? you bet ya
How long will it take to get a package to you? maybe three weeks possible 4
Do you have any investigators getting close to baptism? 2 are getting close to receiving a date
Are the members supportive of the missionaries and do they get involved with the work? a very very little bit....but it is starting to get better, we had three member lessons this week. we are going for 8 total as a district though
I love you all and am thankful for what you have done to help and motivate me
You are truly the best parents that i could have had.--
With love,
Your son,
Starsi Morgan Nowland