¡Hola Fonzfam!
Wow January just flew by didn't it! One thing you know it's the end of Christmas break and the next you're ready to celebrate Valentine's Day. Fortunately a lot has happened in this past month that has made being a missionary even more exciting. Looking back at what I have experienced thus far into the mission has been an eye-opener. From the thousands of people my companions and I have talked to, you can tell when the gospel is right around the corner for them in their life. There is a thing that each person will need somewhere around seven contacts before they begin to investigate the church, this is something I've mentioned in previous letters.
It's always so exciting to be that seventh contact, being able to harvest the fruit that was planted so long ago. But what I've come to learn is that that first initial contact is so crucial. With out number one, number seven is unobtainable. We've been blessed with a lot of those chances to provide someone with a BoM for the first time, or to tell them that their questions CAN be answered through it. It doesn't matter if they tell us that they're Christian, Baptist, Catholic, Buddhist, Muslim, or Atheist, we still promise them the same thing: "You will find truth when you take this book and ask the creator of the universe himself, if it is true. And we promise that the answer you will receive WILL change your life forever."
This past week has been a week of extreme ups and downs. Overall I appreciate the things that I was able to experience, and I really cherish the miracles that God trusts my companion and I with. Usually at the beginning of the week we have a pretty filled schedule from talking with people before and setting stuff up. As soon as Tuesday hit most of our planned stuff fell through as we tried to confirm them. With empty spaces of time to plan we filled our days with contact attempts, hoping to share a message or at the least set something up in the future. Unfortunately nothing solid came from it as people's schedules, especially Latinos, are unplanned or irregular. By Friday we were both pooped and super excited for the weekend. But God had miracles up His sleeves.
Everything started off Friday night when we got a call to give a blessing to a girl who is in a lot of pain from breaking her ankle. We get to the house and talk with her for a little bit (the family is less active) and give her a powerful blessing of comfort and health. We then talked with the mom who asked if we could find a wheelchair for her daughter to be able to go back to school since she loved it so much. Crutches were way too difficult for her daughter to use (she was a little on the hefty side). We promised that we would find something as soon as possible. During the visit this girl needed to use the bathroom, which meant having to get off the couch with help of her mom and brother and hobble over to it. Because she was still in a soft wrapped cast, she felt a lot of pain while moving around. Trying to simply stand up made her scream and cry with pain. It hurt to watch but there was little we could do at that moment. We knew the wheelchair was important for this girl.
Saturday we had a service project helping a different less active couple, who's been having some rough times, tie down tarps on their roof to cover leaks. In their house they had at least three wheelchairs, so we told them the other situation and they were happy to let the girl use one until she recovers. We quickly delivered it to the other family and the mom was so happy to receive this little miracle. Neither of us thought that we would find a chair that fast, but luckily the Lord blessed us with the opportunity.
That afternoon we had a whole hour of contacts, people who we haven't seen in a while or followups on how their progress is doing. With our very first contact we didn't expect much, maybe a "we're too busy, how about a different time" response. But not this time. We had talked with the father outside before but the wife didn't know us. She answered the door and let us in where we sat down with she and her husband and their two kids. They asked us questions about who we were, why are we here, and how did we learn Spanish. They were fascinated by the LDM and how it could help them. They each took a copy and the wife asked us when and where church was. We gave them the direction and they said they'd try to clear their schedule to come this week or the next. The whole time the Spirit was so strong and afterwards Elder Montague and I gave thanks to Heavenly Father for blessing us with that opportunity.
One of the most progressing people is Rosa and her family. She and her three kids were able to come to a baptism Saturday for a convert of different missionaries. Elder Montague translated it for her and her kids were really good during the whole thing. The next day they came to church! We help settle her two youngest in Junior Primary and her older in Senior Primary. His name is Eddie and he's Brady's age. The members of the branch were so kind to her and invited her to an FHE next week and a different one the following week. Rosa even signed up to feed us next weekend. We are so excited for her and have seen so much change in she and her family. This week we pray to be able to set a specific date for her baptism either at the end of this month or the beginning of March.
Holy Cow I wrote a lot, and it is only the tip of the iceburg! I want to thank you guys for your Valentine's package and I also wanted to let Bridger know that I got his awesome letter with the cool house he drew. Nice 3D bud! I love and miss you all so much!
Con Amor,
Elder Fonnesbeck
Wow January just flew by didn't it! One thing you know it's the end of Christmas break and the next you're ready to celebrate Valentine's Day. Fortunately a lot has happened in this past month that has made being a missionary even more exciting. Looking back at what I have experienced thus far into the mission has been an eye-opener. From the thousands of people my companions and I have talked to, you can tell when the gospel is right around the corner for them in their life. There is a thing that each person will need somewhere around seven contacts before they begin to investigate the church, this is something I've mentioned in previous letters.
It's always so exciting to be that seventh contact, being able to harvest the fruit that was planted so long ago. But what I've come to learn is that that first initial contact is so crucial. With out number one, number seven is unobtainable. We've been blessed with a lot of those chances to provide someone with a BoM for the first time, or to tell them that their questions CAN be answered through it. It doesn't matter if they tell us that they're Christian, Baptist, Catholic, Buddhist, Muslim, or Atheist, we still promise them the same thing: "You will find truth when you take this book and ask the creator of the universe himself, if it is true. And we promise that the answer you will receive WILL change your life forever."
This past week has been a week of extreme ups and downs. Overall I appreciate the things that I was able to experience, and I really cherish the miracles that God trusts my companion and I with. Usually at the beginning of the week we have a pretty filled schedule from talking with people before and setting stuff up. As soon as Tuesday hit most of our planned stuff fell through as we tried to confirm them. With empty spaces of time to plan we filled our days with contact attempts, hoping to share a message or at the least set something up in the future. Unfortunately nothing solid came from it as people's schedules, especially Latinos, are unplanned or irregular. By Friday we were both pooped and super excited for the weekend. But God had miracles up His sleeves.
Everything started off Friday night when we got a call to give a blessing to a girl who is in a lot of pain from breaking her ankle. We get to the house and talk with her for a little bit (the family is less active) and give her a powerful blessing of comfort and health. We then talked with the mom who asked if we could find a wheelchair for her daughter to be able to go back to school since she loved it so much. Crutches were way too difficult for her daughter to use (she was a little on the hefty side). We promised that we would find something as soon as possible. During the visit this girl needed to use the bathroom, which meant having to get off the couch with help of her mom and brother and hobble over to it. Because she was still in a soft wrapped cast, she felt a lot of pain while moving around. Trying to simply stand up made her scream and cry with pain. It hurt to watch but there was little we could do at that moment. We knew the wheelchair was important for this girl.
Saturday we had a service project helping a different less active couple, who's been having some rough times, tie down tarps on their roof to cover leaks. In their house they had at least three wheelchairs, so we told them the other situation and they were happy to let the girl use one until she recovers. We quickly delivered it to the other family and the mom was so happy to receive this little miracle. Neither of us thought that we would find a chair that fast, but luckily the Lord blessed us with the opportunity.
That afternoon we had a whole hour of contacts, people who we haven't seen in a while or followups on how their progress is doing. With our very first contact we didn't expect much, maybe a "we're too busy, how about a different time" response. But not this time. We had talked with the father outside before but the wife didn't know us. She answered the door and let us in where we sat down with she and her husband and their two kids. They asked us questions about who we were, why are we here, and how did we learn Spanish. They were fascinated by the LDM and how it could help them. They each took a copy and the wife asked us when and where church was. We gave them the direction and they said they'd try to clear their schedule to come this week or the next. The whole time the Spirit was so strong and afterwards Elder Montague and I gave thanks to Heavenly Father for blessing us with that opportunity.
One of the most progressing people is Rosa and her family. She and her three kids were able to come to a baptism Saturday for a convert of different missionaries. Elder Montague translated it for her and her kids were really good during the whole thing. The next day they came to church! We help settle her two youngest in Junior Primary and her older in Senior Primary. His name is Eddie and he's Brady's age. The members of the branch were so kind to her and invited her to an FHE next week and a different one the following week. Rosa even signed up to feed us next weekend. We are so excited for her and have seen so much change in she and her family. This week we pray to be able to set a specific date for her baptism either at the end of this month or the beginning of March.
Holy Cow I wrote a lot, and it is only the tip of the iceburg! I want to thank you guys for your Valentine's package and I also wanted to let Bridger know that I got his awesome letter with the cool house he drew. Nice 3D bud! I love and miss you all so much!
Con Amor,
Elder Fonnesbeck
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| Thank you for the Valentine's Package! Your love is felt here in Portland:) |
Love at 425* is the way I like it. Papa Murphy's is the best!
Thank you for the gift card!
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| Nothing like a Cup of Noodles to keep you fueled for a day of service. |
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| This beautiful art piece was drawn by Eddie and his siblings, Rosa's kids, on my tablet during Sacrament Meeting yesterday. |
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