Super Cool Stuff!

What’s up ya’ll? Sounds like you’re having a good time there with the weather and all that. It sounds like the little kids are having fun playing outside, haha. I’m pumped for all that.

This week we were able to have some super cool stuff happen. We had a great lesson with the M* and it was funny. We were on our way and as we got there we saw that our members were already there and that they had all gone inside and were having a tour of the house and it was super cool. We just went in and set up chairs and then they came and we shared a short message and then we left and the members stayed to eat dinner. Then the M* came to church again this Sunday and one of their girls got up and sang with the young women and it was great. We were super proud of them all. J* also came and was able to feel a lot of peace and we think she is going to keep doing super good. She is going through a lot of really hard things but it seems like she knows she can trust in God to help her through it. It was super cool at church though. We had like 8 investigators that we know come! Haha. One was like by accident. I was trying to call J*, one of our investigators and so I got the phone and called J* but it was a different J*. I called so I invited her to come to church and she was like ‘Ok, I’ll come’ and she did! It was super funny and cool. We are going to be working with her more for sure.

It’s been sweet to get to see some of the blessings that come from just trying our best. Like last week. I felt like I tried so hard to get people to church and just nobody came and we were just kinda bummed out This week as it was getting to be time to go, we were just like ‘well lets go find out if they are coming this week’ and we went and did it again and I really think we were blessed for putting our faith into going out to wake them up even though last week it didn’t work to get them there. This week it did. It’s always interesting to see that it doesn’t matter how good we are at something, that without Gods help it won’t matter. We have to be willing to give all that we have and just put it in His hands and be like ‘God I’ve tried my very best. Will you please take this small thing that I’ve done and make it sufficient’ and that He will do it if we have the faith for it. I know that being a missionary has helped me to see the importance of trusting in God and just believing that things will work out as they should. 

I’m doing really good and I’m having fun with Elder Merritt. He is doing good, little by little his Spanish is getting better. We will see what happens with time.

Well I love ya’ll.

Elder Birks

Pushing to the End!!

Hey ya’ll. It sounds like the weather down there is getting really nice. That’s sweet! Here it has been good as well. We had rain the other day and it’s almost back to the warm nice rain so that’s really cool. I never really mind biking in the rain but when it’s a nice warm rain it sure is a lot easier to enjoy it. Ha.

Well it sounds like ya’ll have been having a good week, always keeping busy doing stuff here as well. I feel like we have been running around a lot and it’s been going good. I have my new companion who is from Riverton, Utah and his name is Elder Merritt and he is a really great Elder, one of those kids that’s super good with computers and is just all and all very smart. The thing that is funny/hard for both of us is that he is just learning Spanish. He was called as an English missionary and has been out for almost 9 months but just got changed this last week to be Spanish. So here we are. It’s funny because he knows all the lessons and can teach really well and he knows how to be a missionary but he has like no idea at some times what’s going on in some of our lessons. Now we do teach a lot of people that speak English so he’s not just chilling all the time but it’s kinda like we are having an MTC experience right now. So that’s been really fun. He is a great guy though and he loves to laugh and has been handling it very well. He had been learning Chinese for the past like 9 months (just for fun) and hoping to switch more that way but God had different plans with that one so it’s been an adventure. It’s helping my Spanish though because now I have to talk all the time in lessons and I have to explain grammar and stuff to him. It’s still been kinda hard to not have Elder Mortenson with me though. He is a super good person and I will miss him but that’s just how it goes sometimes. The funny part is I have to teach Elder Merritt Spanish and get him ready to take the area from me at the end of this transfer (no pressure on him right, haha).

Hey but this week we tried to help those families get to church but they just weren’t able to this week. Next week we will try even harder and who knows, maybe it will just work out better and they will be able to do what it takes to get there. I love the chance to go to church. It’s like an escape from the world and you can just be there and relax and feel the Spirit and think of your week and how you want to improve and how it’s a miracle that through the sacrament you can be made clean and start from new. It’s a little different as a missionary just because you are constantly checking the hallways and the doors to see if your people are on their way or if that less-active member is still sitting there. Sometimes they call you before church and ask you to teach the class. It’s something that makes me grateful for the peace that we get from singing the hymns or from taking the Sacrament. I’m so grateful for the gospel in my life and for the chance I have to serve here. I hope that ya’ll have a great week and I love ya tons. I keep you in my prayers.

Love,

Elder Birks

Pushing to the end!!

Final transfer!

What’s up ya’ll? So the news is (drum roll please) I’m staying in Galveston, but Elder Mortenson is on his way out. It’s really sad. He is a really great Elder and has helped me a lot in just having fun and being a great example of a servant of God. So I will still be here. 

This week has been sweet. We got back to the island on Wednesday and that was great. We were able to go and visit J* (an investigator, super cool we have been with her for a while now) and she ended up coming to church this week. She is having a hard time with her boyfriend but we think it will be worked out and she is really seeing the blessings from trying to live the gospel. We hope to invite her to be baptized some time soon. We also had the familia M* come to church! That was a miracle for sure. We went and woke them up and had a member ready to get them to church but it was super funny because them and the member were running late and ended up showing up just before the 1^st class ended. (We were late too so we missed that class as well, my bad) We didn’t know where to take all the people. There were like 8 people in the hall with us and all of them were just looking at us like ‘Well, where to?’ We just kinda sat there for like 5 minutes until class ended and then got everyone where they needed to be and it was good but man Sunday can be a crazy day when that kind of thing happens. But they all seemed to really like it and have said that they would like to come back so we will see how to help them out with that this next week. All in all it’s been a good week. I’ve been really happy with the way that we are getting around our area and we are excited to be able to work on the island again.

I hope that ya’ll are having a great week and that everything is going good. Good to hear that almost everyone is doing good as far as health goes and I’m excited to hear about when the twins start walking and how hard they are to watch when that happens. Haha. I love ya’ll so much and am so grateful for the wonderful family that God put me in. I love the chance I get to have to be a missionary and I’m going to work hard this last few weeks to do all the work I can and to make ya’ll proud.

I love ya’ll and hope all goes well.

Love,

Elder Birks

"I know that God loves me. Amen."

This week was super strange. We were in our area until Friday but it was kinda slow there. We did get a chance to meet with J* and J* and it was really good to see them and they are needing a lot of help. We are hoping that this week they will be able to make it to church but we will see how that all turns out. We will be able to stay on the island this week so it should be better for us.  Hna R* said that she missed having us there and that made me feel good. I’m pumped to get back to the island and to fight back against all the Marti Gras sin.

We have had the chance to be in the area that covers NASA so that’s been really cool. We have seen some sweet space stuff that they just have around the NASA property and it’s interesting to me to think that people have left this planet and come back and that what they used to do it is now put out as a lawn decoration. Haha.

The Elders I’ve been with are super cool. There were six of us in one apartment and it was like constant craziness and just a good time. We made cookies and that was super sweet (they lasted like half a day) and we were able to work with the Elders by splitting up in groups of three and they have some great members out here and it was super fun to get to meet them.

On Sunday we got the chance to go to church a little early and have some meetings but because me and Elder Mortenson had nothing to do we just went to an English ward and sat in on testimony meeting. Man I love little kids. I love the way they walk up to the front and like pound the mike with their face and it sounds like they are yelling or breathing like Darth Vader. It was so cool yesterday to watch this little girl go up and she (as far as I remember) just said “Hi, I know that God loves me. Amen.”  I was like SPIRIT!! I can say that I know that God really does Love that little girl and that she knows it. How cool is that! That to bear a testimony that will invite the Spirit all you need to do is speak what you know to be true and just have the faith to know that God wants you to say it. It was super cool and I felt the Spirit really strong this Sunday.

Well that’s about all I got for today. I hope that ya’ll do good. As far as I know that family with the little kids that played with the dog have moved to the other area now so that’s sad but the missionaries there are great so they will be taken care of and I don’t really know what happened at church. I’ve been feeling great and am super pumped to get back out and go to work. I feel like my time is ticking and I really need to make the most of what the Lord is giving me. I love ya’ll so much.

Love,

Elder Birks