Week of 12/19/11

Hey,
I can't believe that it is already almost Christmas time. Really crazy. It is raining out now and doesn't really feel like Christmas. But it seems that it might snow by Christmas here which would be sweet. This past week has been good. We got to see a good number of people. Then we had a ward Christmas dinner and party that was really good and got to see a lot of people, that we invited, come to it. SO that was sweet. Then the other day we had an Elders Quroum white elephant party. It was nice. Since missionaries are cheap, our gift was 2 pieces of chocolate, one of those little games where you flick balls into U-shaped things with scores on them (except ours didnt have any balls in it), and a 1/2 bottle of used nyquil. They got a kick out of that. So, sweet week of hanging out with members and helping out some people this week. We really need to work harder though when it comes to finding investigators and getting them to progress. That has been a problem in this area forever. Plus it is really hard this next couple of weeks with Christmas and ppl out of town and all that jazz. But we are optimistic that things will get better as we work alot harder. Our missionary mutual thing this Wednesday with the youth in our ward was really good. They got excited to pass out Book of Mormon's and pamphlets and stuff. Always nice to get some ward support in missionary work. Elder Miller is nothing like my last companion so it is different getting adjusted to his teaching style, personality, etc. But it should be good. We both want to work hard and just need to plan right to meet our goals and do all we can to keep working. Funny that I almost forgot this week we get to call home. Kinda weird thinking that I can talk to my family. It hasn't felt too long. But I am excited to call and see how things are and talk to y'all. Everything has been really good here and doing well. I am finally getting over a cold that I have had for like a week now but its chill.
Can't wait to talk to everyone on Christmas. Hope everyone else has a good Christmas and take the time to remember what Christmas is about and slow down the commercialism of Christmas and reflect on not just the birth, but the whole life of the Savior and what He has done for us all. May we all keep Christ in Christmas.
Love you all. Thanks for the many prayers.
Elder Roe

P.S.-Good news! Elder Roe got his Christmas tree and trimmings! It was in the office of his apartment complex!
Here's a few pictures....more to come!

This is Elder Roe and his MTC companion.



The BOM is the BOMB!



Elder Roe and Elder Palmer with Cameron at his farewell party. Cameron left for his mission. He will be serving in Raleigh, NC.

Week of 12/12/11

Family,

This past week was transfers. I stayed in Wichita & Elder Palmer left. My new companion has been out for a while and his name is Elder Miller. He is a pretty chill guy. Miller is from Lehi, UT. I think we will have a really good transfer. His main goal is to baptize and I think we can do it if we really work hard. So I'm pretty excited. But other than transfers, it was a relatively slow week. We didn't get a whole lot of stuff done with transfers and all that stuff going on. We tried to go out the other day for a couple hours but it was way too cold and I was getting sick and just not a good combo with the wind and stuff. This week with the car should be a lot better. I can't believe it is already 2 weeks away from Christmas. Time has flown. We have our work cut out for us with lots of people we need to see and to find new investigators. Yesterday Elder Miller and I had to give talks in Church. I thought it went very well. We really helped the ward realize the grave importance of missionary work and the wards role in helping us out. Plus we have a missionary mutual this coming Wednesday so I am pretty stoked for that too. So not a lot to report on. Chill week and really looking forward to working hard with the people we have now to boost the work in this area. Hopefully Elder Miller and I can really baptize in this area which has had a rough past in missionary work.
Love you all,
Elder Roe





P.S. (from Lorraine) Elder Roe also reported that he is sending us some pictures this week. They should have been mailed yesterday! YAY! I have been begging/bugging him about pictures! I will post those as soon as I get them. Also, I was bummed to find out that he never received the Christmas tree and trimmings that we sent him. The delivery confirmation says that is was delivered on Dec. 5th. I hope it went to a good home.

Week of 12/5/11

Hey,
So this week has been a tough one. We really had all of our appointments cancel on us this week, people not answering, dodging, etc. Not that exciting. My companion and I both realized how we have people to teach and meet goals and such but none of the investigators are progressing really or solid. They are just nice people that let us talk to them. None have a desire to actually change their lifestyles. So we are going to have to work extra hard to keep teaching and finding new investigators that the Lord has prepared. I had my first encounter with a "Do Not Contact" on the ward roster. There was a family we didn't know about and knocked on their door. Kids answered saying the parents weren't there but to try back later. Elder Palmer said he had a "good feeling" about the family. The ward didn't know anything about them so we went a different time to go see them. We knocked and immediately I got a really bad feeling. We go upstairs to this really small attic place where the husband was smoking and playing some computer dragon thing. Tried small chat (obviously he was less active with the smoking) but he didn't buy it. He started ranting about anti stuff, how God doesn't exist, psychology justification and all this other junk. I understood what he was saying with my experience in psychology classes, but he had very extreme points of view that have no evidence or anything. We tried to invite the spirit in the home, but it wasn't happening. I just sat and listened, asked a couple questions to make sure that he didn't have any other concerns just that he had crazy philosophy. So that was a really sweet experience I thought bc I got to deal rather well with someone heavily opposed to the church. I didn't freak out, I wasn't disappointed, I bore my testimony, invited him to read the Book of Mormon and he declined. Missionary work is filled with times where people don't want to change or do the things you invite them to do to come closer to Christ, but I can walk away knowing that I did my part as a missionary to preach the gospel and allow people to use their agency. So that was an interesting experience that went better than it could have and we won't be visiting him anymore. So this week has been slow and no real progress made on investigators. We just need to keep working hard to help out the ward, find people who are prepared, and teach with the spirit. I felt that we have helped a couple struggling recent converts this past week. A few have ran into problems and don't have that fellowship or friends in the church to want to come to church or have worries about coming to church. Many are really attached to the missionaries, but when 1 leaves, they get really sad and don't want to come bc they have no other friends in the church. It is so key to welcome investigators and recent converts into the church so they feel that they have a friend. Get them hometeachers and visiting teachers. They need someone that they can lean on and ask questions about the gospel when the missionaries have moved on or just cant see them as often. We have been working a lot with that this past week. It is getting better for a couple of them.
It is no longer warm here. Just cold, and windy all the time. Tomorrow is a low of 15 so I am excited for that. We have bike week this week too so that should really cool to walk in the freezing cold. Thanks for the winter clothes bc I will need it. I just realized that I am almost 5 months out on my mission. This has been pretty dang quick. But I have really enjoyed my time so far and look forward to more time in this area hopefully. Transfers is this Thursday so I am really curious to see what is going to happen. I am pretty sure that I am staying here and Elder Palmer is leaving. He has been in this area for 9 months. All I know is that one of us is definitely leaving. Don't find out until tomorrow so everyone in this area is biting their nails bc it is so unpredictable.
I love you all. Thanks for the love and support!
Love,
Elder Roe