Fools Gold

Outside in -35 degrees thanks to a fire alarm in their apartment complex

Well,  it was great to receive an email from Ryan to know that he is still kicking after this past week that was extremely cold.  He rode it out like a trouper and even had a few adventures.  On one of the coldest days, the fire alarm went off in their apartment building and they had to evacuate.  I am glad that he remembered his coat since it was about -35 at the time.  But I wish he had also grabbed his hat.  A mother never stops worrying.  Obviously they came out unscathed neither burned or frozen. :)  I will add a few more details from his various emails to family members.

So far Lakeville is treating me pretty well.  As I am still fairly new to this area, there is still figuring out to do and getting it all down, but so far it has been good, it is extremely different from Minneapolis, and a lot less Spanish opportunities, but it has been good!

The cold this week was definitely crazy.  Its cold enough that when you breathe it just feels like you didn't breath a good breath. It is just like light and you feel it all the way to the lungs, and you breath through your nose and it just instantly freezes, so its pretty crazy, but it makes the weather we have right now feel amazing!! But yeah we got home bound for two days this last week, and that was quite the adventure, and there is only so much you can do even as a missionary. We did plenty of calls to different people, made cookies, studies, and had interviews with the president over the phone, so it was different, and a pretty long two days that is for sure. Me and my comp are still getting a long well, so it was good, so it wasn't near as bad as it could've been, and it was a good mental rest from going out in the cold and working all day long.  

The branch is good, it is still really weird just how small it is, and it makes meetings and church feel so much different than I have always been used to, its weird.  But the members are nice. I was getting very used to having Mexican food all the time and with a smaller branch it doesn't happen as often. But hopefully we can get a little bit more while I am here and really help build a relationship with the members and get on the same page and team with missionary work.  

The fire alarm was just someones bad cooking that set the alarm and we weren't outside too long. The fire department did show up and it was just a random little thing, but added something interesting to the day I guess, and yes I still have my ears.  I havens really had a super hard time staying warm, especially now that I have a car, it is so much easier to stay warm and do the work.  But I do miss biking too, I grew to love it a lot. 

So far there isn't a whole lot of work to be done here, so there has been a lot of finding and knocking doors and calls, but hopefully that can change and get better. We are doing are best and hopefully we can see the miracles come from that, and thank you all so much for fasting and praying, I really hope to see the effects of that and see what God has in store. 

Group Email: 

Well everyone, I am still alive and going after the crazy freeze that we went through here in Minnesota that many of you may have seen on the news as of late. We hit temperatures of below -50 this week, and that was very crazy, but needless to say, I survived, and didn't even get frostbite or anything!  Also due to the cold, our mission president grounded us to our apartments for 2 days this week!  We were told not to leave out and go try and do missionary work, as it is, our cars would not have started anyways, so it would not have been an issue.  So we did a whole lot of calling people trying to set up lessons for later in the week, and lots of studying, and it was just a very different missionary experience.  Its hard to find 2 days worth of productive activities in a missionary apartment that is for sure!

Well besides that whole fiasco, we had one other notable experience this week, and sorry for the roller coaster of emotions it might bring to some, believe me, it was for us too.

So it started out, that the missionaries in this area before me, met this guy at a restaurant and he gave them a note just saying he wanted help from them. His mom was sick and he did not want to lose her. So they gave him their number, and called it at that.  They never followed up on it. So when I got here, I saw this and decided to set up a lesson with this guy.  So Elder Nickels and I went and had just this phenomenal lesson with him.  He was asking all sorts of questions and was very interested and it was bizarre, he was super prepared and just really had that desire.  So the next morning we get a call from him, and he tells us that he has been thinking about what we said, and he wants to be a member of our church! That was such a shock, it was like a story you hear about when you think of missions, it was just so unreal. So we invited him to church the next day and went from there.  And there at church, he was there waiting all dressed up nice and ready to go.  And he just loved it! The testimonies seemed to fit right to him and it was just so perfect.  So we were just ecstatic, he was the golden investigator you always hear about, and we were so excited. So it was all good, until that night came, and we get a call from him, and he basically just says that he was talking to some friends, and they don't support him in this decision he is making and he doesn't want to lose those friends. So he told us he is sorry, but he wont be able to keep going to church or listening to our message.  So in the matter of 4 days we met the guy, he told us he wants to be baptized and came to church, then called it off.  So it was fun times here in Lakeville.  

So hope you all had a good week and will have another good one coming up.  Hopefully you are all staying warm wherever you are and keep on going doing the things you should be doing. There are a lot of blessings in life that all we have to do is be willing to reach up and grab them!

Elder Pickering