Halloween in the snow

Monday, November 3, 2014

Good Morning!!

It has been another great week here in Holt, MI. There are so many things that happened this week that I am excited to tell y'all about.

Me and Elder Call spent a lot of time door knocking again this week and we are starting to find and meet with some pretty great people. I am excited to be able to see what happens with several of these people. We weren't able to meet with Marcus this week but we were able to meet with Beau again. Beau is the guy that we met a few weeks ago (I think I told y'all about him) he has a braided pony tail that goes all the way down his back and he is into some kind of religion that has to do with reincarnation and being connected to the Earth. He has really enjoyed everything that we have shared and I think that he will really start to progress.

Wednesday we lost the car and so we were on bikes both Wednesday afternoon and Thursday. Friday, on Halloween, we were told that we were going to experience rain that turned into snow. Me and Elder Call decided to get bus passes and to take the bus to the appointments that we had in South Lansing. It worked out really good. The only bad part was that we hadn't gotten the bus schedule down and so we ended up barely missing two of the buses so we ended up having to wait 30 mins each time for another bus to come. While we were waiting on a bus to go to lunch, a pretty sketchy guy walked up to us asking to use our phone. We told him that we weren't allowed to allow people to use our phones. He started yelling at us calling us "Fake Christians" and then he was pretty upset. After a minute or two he came back up to us told us his name was Dan and started asking us religious questions. We had 2 or 3 other homeless looking people walk up to us and start shooting questions at us that were off the wall. Dan then told us about how he has had 12 felonies and been in prison 15 years and that he is about to go back to jail for a few more years for "ruffing up a cop" but he said it wasn't his fault. It was a really interesting experience and I think that I am going to really enjoy talking to the interesting people on the bus in south Lansing. Friday night we weren't allowed to go out after the Trick or Treaters started coming out so we went over to a member's home and had dinner (they had BBQ so I really enjoyed that) and we played Apples to Apples for the rest of the evening since we couldn't go back out and work. It was a lot of fun.

Saturday we went and saw Ed. Ed is the deaf recent convert that me and Elder Bass baptized about 2 months ago. He is in the hospital. I love that man so much. He is so funny and has such a great heart. A member and her husband who know ASL and the Sister missionaries were with us and Ed kept giving me a hard time. I was the only missionary that knows ASL and so he kept talking to me and giving me a hard time. He asked me and Elder Call to give him a blessing. It was a really great experience. As we were about to leave I told Ed that he needed to make sure that he was nice to the nurses. He told me that he would try and that he couldn't make any promises. Then he signed to me, "Don't be sad for me. Go out and work hard. I pray for you everyday." It was a really tender moment as I was really able to feel the appreciation that Ed had for the work that we did and it really made me realize just how grateful I am to be out here doing the Lord's work!

Yesterday morning we were able to borrow the other Elders' car that go to church in the same building as us just at an earlier time. Since they were going to be at church from 9-12 they let us borrow their car to go see AJ at 10. Me and Elder Norton (the district leader) met AJ when we were on trade-offs Monday and Tuesday. Honestly I wasn't expecting this visit to be that promising since he never answered our text trying to confirm the appointment. We went in and had an amazing restoration lesson with him. The Spirit was so strong there and he loved everything we taught him. We committed him to be baptized on November 22nd and he prayed at the end of the lesson for the first time in a long time! It was so awesome and he seems to really want to get back on the right track. Him and his fiancé have 5 kids and he really has a desire to strengthen his family and he seems to really see that the message that we share will help him with that.

My studies in the mornings have been really great this week! I have been able to really see Heavenly Father speak to me. I finished the Book of Mormon again this morning and it was a great experience. I flipped back through the whole Book of Mormon and pondered on the things that I had been taught this last time reading it through. I am so thankful for the teachings that are in the Book of Mormon. It has helped me to understand the Bible so much more and I am grateful for a volume of scripture that does not take away from, or contradict the Bible but allows us to better understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ that is in both the Bible and the Book of Mormon.

Me and Elder Call have an exciting week planned this week and I am excited to see what the Lord has in store for us. I am truly grateful to be a missionary and to be serving the people of Michigan! I wouldn't trade this experience for the world. I see people everyday that need the peace and joy that the gospel of Jesus Christ can bring them and it is humbling to be able to be a full-time missionary for His church!
Thank you for all of the love, support, and prayers. They make more of a difference than you can imagine and I am grateful for all of you!

 

-Elder Bloskas

Cale on Halloween