I Get Shocked 10000000 Times 11/11/2019

I feel like I have been shocked 50% of the time that flick a light switch which is getting annoying.

Monday evening we had a lesson with R and finished teaching her the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We then recommitted her to come to D's baptism on Saturday. Later, we had a ministering presentation with a family which was funny because one of the kids kept humming and hawing and didn't want to commit to our invitation. 

Tuesday morning we went and raked leaves for a lady who takes care of her mom. Later we had another Zone Conference singing rehearsal which was painful because it took 3 hours to run through the song 3 times (the song is only about 3 minutes long) which was a huge waste of time. Dinner that night we had Brazilian Stroganoff which was excellent. We crushed potato chips over it and everything. Then we went and contacted someone to set up a lesson but was there for 45 minutes because the mom liked to talk. Later we planned for and had a meeting with President H about bishopric responsibilities, our youth activity and our ward missionary training meeting.

Wednesday we went to the food bank for service. It was a strange day because we had 2 cancelled lesson and not a single person picked up the phone the entire day. We had maybe 2 people call us back later but none when we called. We had a lesson with the guy we set up one on Tuesday. However, we ended up mostly talking to the Mom and we had a pretty good discussion about Jesus and him feeling our pains and sorrows.

Thursday we went on exchanges! Elder G and I were companions for the day. For service we went around one of the wards with a lot of old people and raked their yards. Most of the time the people weren't there which made it even better. We got to talk and get to know each other better. We also had a conversation about which element would be the most useful to be able to bend (for those who don't know, the answer is definitely water bending [reference to animated series "Avatar: The Last Airbender]). We then went and contacted a bunch of people and tried to have a lesson with L. After searching for him for about 30 minutes we gave up. We cancelled our dinner appointment and made a quick mac and cheese which was really good. Then we went to set up a lesson with someone we had set up a lesson with but it fell through. She told us that she didn't want to talk to us anymore which was sad. We also had someone text us that we were trying to set up a lesson with her daughter say that she wasn't ready yet. Then we knocked on a bunch of doors and set up service. Then we had an awesome lesson with R about Patriarchal blessings.

Friday we had Zone Conference! One highlight was that President C told us when the NEW WHITE HANDBOOK comes out (November 15th) and gave us a prevew of it. The other highlight was President M talking about the enabling power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. One of the things that was said was that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, our natures can be changed. Our natural tendencies and attitudes can become holier and more Christ-like. We can't say "it's in my nature to do _____ sin" because our very natures can be changed through the power of Christ. I have seen this power in my own life. For a long time in my life I struggled with a natural tendency to do something that I knew wasn't okay and was hurting my spirit. I tried for the longest time to overcome it alone but only when I turned to Jesus was I able to have my nature changed slowly. It took a lot of work but my nature changed. I know that Jesus Christ is my personal Savior and everyone else's as well. I know that if we allow him to, he can change our very nature until we have "no more desire to do evil".

Service on Saturday we went and moved some branches for a couple then raked their backyard. Then we went to the baptism of someone in the next stake over. I had taught him once on an exchange with Elder C. Afterwards they had a lunch and they had some Buckeyes to eat which are really good. It was a great experience and R and her husband came as well. Later, we had a lesson with her about the Plan of Salvation and put a heavy emphasis on eternal families. At the end we invited her to be baptized. As we did, her eyes got bigger and bigger. I was like oh no inside. Then she squeaked out a yes which was super exciting.

Sunday we went to 2 primary programs (where the kids do the meeting) as well as branch sacrament meeting. R and her whole family came to church and stayed for the entire time. Our dinner was weird. We supposedly were supposed to have dinner with the same people as Saturday so we cancelled because we felt bad. We then called his awesome family who had said multiple times call us if you need a dinner. We called them and she said to come over. The thing was that they were celebrating their dad's birthday. We were like oops but went anyways. I had 2 things of Toblerone so I grabbed one and wrapped it. Later we bumped into R and had a lesson with him later. We finished talking about the Articles of Faith which I rediscovered recently and had never realized how awesome they are.

Miracle of the Week: Someone that we haven't been able to have consistent contact/lessons with moved to a street where we are by all the time and he said we could come over anytime. We went by and set up a lesson with him which will be exciting.

Quote of the Week:"Repentance is a commandment and I can do that one"

Pictures (Hopefully in order):

1. Sunset over the mountains

2. The double tag

3. I ate the Ohio State Buckeyes (take that)

4. A car snorkel

5. Cheese!