9/19/2011

Hey All Y'all,

Here is a little about the mission and the work in general here in Philly.

The mission really is full of crazy and wonderful experiences. It is hard to type and write in details about things, so I have started to keep an audio journal on cassette tapes. I have only done that for two days so far, and I plan to listen to it and write it in my journal the next day after I record again. That way I will have an audio recording of it, and a transcribe of that. In Priesthood at church we have been talking about Family History work a lot (and really, that is part of missionary work) and I have been more and more impressed upon to keep a journal. I haven't been good about it so far in my mission. I think I missed 1 day while in the MTC but after that, it's been pretty sporadic entries. So I figure the audio thing will work out better. Random side note... did you know that Wilford Woodruff wrote in his journal every day after he joined the church? That is a lot of writing.
My day to day process.... As far as tracting goes, we haven't done a lot here. Actually... we haven't done any. Since the Doctor doesn't want Elder Belden getting sweaty, that kind of stops us from walking around much. Though in my training area with Elder Redmon, we tracted quite a bit. President Tucker would rather have us 5,5,5 then tract. When we go to a house (either for an appointment, to contact a referral, or to see a former investigator, or member or any other reason) instead of just leaving after and going from place to place, we are supposed to knock five houses to left of the house we are visiting, then five houses to the right, and five across the street. And if we have already done that, then we need to expand more and go further then 5 away. The Lord has guided us into that area for a reason, and it may not always be the person we intended to see. So we 5,5,5! It is effictive too, especially around members, since that means there is already someone close by to help fellowship anyone that we find. In Long Beach, we actually found a guy who was already a member by doing that. He had moved from California, and hadn't had his records moved or hadn't made any effort to contact the church there. We found him and taught him the Restoration. That was right before I left to come to Philly.

The Branch here helps a lot more then you might expect. Brother Muse (the 2nd counsler) usually goes out with us at least once a week. Brother Wrich (the Branch Mission Leader) goes out with us once a week (both Brothers Muse and Wrich leave 30 minutes away from us in Union). President Boyles (the Branch President) will go out with us if we give him a couple of days notice. And we are teaching Brother Oaks wife (part member families are the best!), and they have us over usually every Friday to eat and then we have a lesson after. And they live 20-30 minutes away. Sister Braxton feeds us every Wednesday and her inactive son picks us up and takes us there (surprise! 20-30 minutes away...). So we get quite a bit of help. We are having a General Conference fireside this Saturday, and we mentioned that to President and Sister Boyles when we were at their house, and Sister Boyles suggested having ice cream sundaes after, and she made a sign up sheet for that and a poster for the fireside. She really took it upon herself to make it happen.

To give you an idea of what out goals are each week and what we actually get, here are our numbers from this past week: (goal first, actual second... hope it makes sense!)

Baptized- 1/0
Confirmed- 1/0
With A Baptism Date- 1/0
Investigators in Sacrament Meeting- 3/1
Lessons With a Member Present- 4/2
Other Lessons- 8/11
Progressing Investigators- 2/2
Referrals Received- 0/0
Referrals Contacted- 2/0
New Investigators- 3/1
Lessons Taught To Less Actives- 4/2
BoMs Lent Out- 2/0

That's that. Not the best numbers, but there are people behind them at least. :) And we are getting another case of BoMs at Zone Conference on Wednesday, which is good. And we only have ZC 4 times a year. Every other transfer. Same with interviews.

Life here is great and the work continues to pick up and I continue to improve at being a true servant of the Lord. I strive to do my best, but constantly fall short again and again. I am striving to overcome my laziness though and to be the best I can be! I love you all and am thankful for the support and love!

Love,
Elder Mendenhall