Staying Put

It is transfers but I’m staying here with Elder S*. So that will be good and this was a nice week. I have this sad problem that I never can remember what happened in the day. Haha. They are all the same! We go around looking to help people out and then we bike some more. Haha I like never know what day it is now. Crazy right?

So I liked all the pictures. It looks like you’re all having fun and just playing with lots of babies. On thing that is way cool about being here is that we get to know tons of cool people. The other day we went to go visit this lady and when she answered the door she was holding her granddaughter and man this little girl had so much hair it was crazy and she was just a month old (Spanish people!) but it was cool. We set up another time to go see her but the little baby was way cute. We were able to meet some cool people this week by just really trying to talk to everyone and its been great. I feel like I’ve felt the Spirit stronger for really trying to talk with all the people the Lord puts in my path. I know that God really has a plan for all of us and that He will not lead us to areas where we shouldn’t be. I have felt very safe as a missionary and I know that that’s because the Lord is watching our back. (Psalms 91: 9-12) I think that’s on my plaque right? Well I got to run. I hope ya’ll have a great week and that you enjoy the weather and all that stuff.

Love ya,

Elder Birks

Just Keep Trying

So this week at church we didn’t have any investigators come but we did have less actives come so that was super great. We are really excited to be helping a family prepare for the temple and they have been members for a long time. We went and asked them when was the last time they had gone and they were like “ummmm we never have gone” so we jumped on that! Getting baptized and becoming a member and then not going to the temple is like starting a race and then just stopping in the middle. It makes no sense. So we are helping them to do that and we are excited to see how that will help the family. We also had a member come out with us for the first time and he was so excited. He also has been less active on and off so it was a big step but he told us that he had never done that before so it was great to get to help him out with that and really he helped us a ton.

I love the members. I think it’s so cool how great our ward is. They are just willing to try and take care of us. They don’t always know how to do it but I’m always happy with their effort. I think that’s how God is with us. I was thinking of the talk by Elder Holland. ("Lord, I Believe" April 2013 Gen. Conf.)

I like when he says how God has only ever had imperfect people to work with and how frustrating that must be for him. God knows that we aren’t nor can we be perfect but he sure likes to see us try. He wants to see us put our shoulder to the wheel and push even if we don’t know where we are going. There are blessings that come to those who are willing to have faith in what they have been told to do and then go out and try to figure out how to do it. I love the mission for that. I remember when I got put with Elder B* in Houston and they just were like “well make it work”. We just started wandering around and trying to listen for the Spirit to tell us where to go to find people to teach and because of our effort the Lord blessed us. It’s cool and interesting that God doesn’t always bless us in the way that we expect. Like we could have biked around a neighborhood and not found anyone but then been able to get a call from someone that wanted to see the missionaries. I feel like God just wants to see us work. Our members here are trying to learn how to work and we have been trying to figure out how to help them with that. I know that it will all come together as we keep trying to do our best.

This week has been fun. We got to paint a hallway of a sweet family. I got to have exchanges with both of my zone leaders and that was great. It’s fun to be a missionary.

I really hope that ya’ll have a great week and that you are able to do something to grow your faith. I love ya’ll

Elder Birks

Worth a thousand words!

Recent baptism

Hey ya’ll,

Well I’m doing great. Sorry that Grandma is having a hard time with the mold stuff. For me if it’s in my house and it seems like it’s growing I spray that thing till its dripping with bleach. Haha. It’s always a fun time when we clean the bathroom. I’m a fan of Comet and I feel that a clean house is a happy house. It’s funny if you think of my room back home right? I still haven’t seen pictures of that place yet, haha. What if we do a picture trade? Ya’ll send me some and I’ll send you my card.

As far as my area, we have been able to do really well on finding less actives, I call it LARC hunting (LARC stands for less-active, recent convert) and we have been finding people that are on the list but haven’t been found in a long time so that’s been great. We also had N* come to Church! That was great. I don’t know how she liked it yet but I hope it was fun for her. She showed up and me and Elder S* almost started dancing. It was great. I think the members in the halls thought we were crazy though but that’s ok. They go to the English ward, haha. But it was great.

We also got to go play soccer with this kid named D* and he is so cool! He is a member and we are working with him to help him get ready for a mission. He still has like two years but he rocks and in the past he was less active a little so this has been great.

We are trying to work really hard out here and it is strange to see how we need to change the way that we work in order to make things happen. I’m really striving to learn what the Lord wants me to change in order to do His will. I love the work and I know that God wants me to do well so all I have to do is try and listen and He will tell us what we need to do.

See ya’ll later.

Love,

Elder Birks

Roll Playing

So this has been a good week. We have been doing all kinds of stuff. We have been trying to find less-actives and looking for people to serve and it’s been great. Me and Elder S* are having a lot of fun. This week I was having the chance to prepare a district meeting (So yeah, I’m still District Leader) and I was doing a lot of reading and trying to get ready for it and I realized something so cool. It’s something that I know but it just hit me so hard to think about it. If you look at Alma 18:14-16, 17-20 Ammon is able to discern the thoughts of the king. Now for me I always thought that that was so cool, that the thoughts could just come to Ammon and he could help the king but as I read and prepared for my meeting, I was thinking about this and to discern isn’t just to make something happen right? It’s almost more like having to look into something foggy and find what is really there. So to discern the thoughts of someone is to be able to look at them and with the help of the Spirit be able to tell what they are thinking, to understand how they feel. We have to remember that it’s only through the Spirit that we can do it, right? Well during this meeting we did a roll play and I had all the people think of something that they wanted to be taught, but they didn’t tell the person who was going to teach them. The missionary doing the teaching had to discern the needs of the person and teach to it. I had the coolest experience. I was looking at one of the Sisters (I wasn’t teaching, I was running the roll play so I was just off to the side) but I was watching and listening and as I looked at her and thought about what she needed (as the investigator in the roll play) the thought of eternal families came to my mind so clear and I knew that that was what she needed. I then listened to the Elder teaching her and within 2 minutes that is what he was teaching. At the end I asked her and she confirmed it. How cool is that. Even in a roll play God can guide us to know what to do. It sure helped me out. We are not alone in this work when we look to do the will of the Father.

Well I hope that made sense. I have to go but I love ya’ll and hope you have a great week.

Elder Birks