Just a Week in the Life

Hello again friends and family.

We have had a busy week. We started the week with interviews with President Blair. In Bangor Brewer area. I love interviews because president Blair is so awesome and he gives a lot of fantastic council on how we can improve as missionaries and overcome issues that we may be dealing with. 

It is important that we not only seek the council of the Lord's servants, but that we also apply it within our lives and in our work. They have the restored authority to give us direct revelation from heaven and if that's not valuable I am not sure what is.

After interviews we went On exchange with the Zone leaders in the Bangor /Brewer area. It was really fun  and we got to ride bikes all over the place. The next morning we had a big zonewide district meeting with...well the Zone. Basically it was a small zone conference and there was a lot of training on now we can more effectively plan for the investigators that we have.  By using our study effectively we can more rapidly and accurately find and address concerns and build their Faith in the Savior.

It was fun and a good time to see all those fellow missionaries, despite the drive.  Thursday we got to help this guy that our branch mission leader found on Facebook. We taught him while we  moved bags of feed and helped him build a canvas shelter on his property. (he owns a small farm). He was pretty cool, he built hot-rods in his garage and was open with us about his feelings and what his concerns are.We can't wait to see him again. He gave us eggs and some rabbit meat, which is much appreciated, despite our general lack of ability to make it edible.

The weekend was pretty normal, we had some hot days and that was rough but it will be cold again in 10 weeks so it won't last that long.

The cool thing is that our investigator Cliff came to church for the first time. It was awesome to get him there and have him feel the spirit and partake of the sacrament. The senior missionaries in the area, the LeChiminant's, gave great talks about how our sacrifices lead to blessings, even if they at first appear to be inconveniences. This week we had a record high of 52 people in attendance during sacrament meeting. 3 more people and we literally wouldn't have had enough chairs in our modest chapel to seat them. We had 7 less active members there, 2 recent converts and 1 investigator. It was fantastic. Just 15 years ago this branch was getting about 15 on the average winter sunday. Now we are nearing renovation numbers!

I know that as we work hard, and as we let our light shine, that we will be able to see the windows of heaven open and the miracles and blessings of heaven will be undeniably evident in our lives and the lives of those that we serve.

I love you all and hope that we all do something that requires a little Faith, I know that our Faith will grow and we can be more effective instruments in the Lord's hands as we do so. 

Like I said, Love you guys!

Until next time.

-Elder Starr. 

Mission Tour

Hello again everybody, 

This week has been really inspiring and powerful. I think that the biggest highlight of the week is that we had the privilege to attend a zone conference with Elder Snow of the seventy. 

All 3 of the Maine zones drove down to Augusta to see what had been prepared for us.  Elder Snow talked a lot about how to teach clearly, how to help investigators progress and strengthen their testimonies, and how we can be more bold in our finding to find more people to teach.  He emphasized that finding and eventual converting is like a funnel, you have to find about 100 new people to get 1 of them to build their Faith enough and to be baptized.

This means that we have to be diligent in finding and looking for new ways that we can find those that have been prepared to receive the Gospel in their lives.  It was really cool because as Elder Nicholls and I applied his teachings and as we went searching for old and potential investigators we were able to find a lot of new people to teach this week. Which is nice because we were certainly running low.

Other than that, not much else has happened this week. The weather up here has been really foggy but it also hasn't really gone above 75 degrees which is really nice. It rains a bit more than I am used to but I suppose that is be expected. I know that this area has people that are prepared to receive the Gospel and that if we work hard and with faith that the Lord will lead us to them. I know that this is His work and that we are working to build His kingdom here on the Earth.

I hope you all know that I love you, but I especially want to thank Dad for being such a great example with the power of his testimony and for being so supportive and loving. HAPPY Fathers day. Love you.

Until next week.

Elder Starr

Missing Post June 5th, 2017

Sorry all,  I don't know if this was a blogspot error or mine.  Here is the missing letter from Connor on June 5th:

Hello Friends and family. 

It has been a wonderful week here in the Machias area. The great thing about serving in coastal Maine is that 

the weather is super awesome basically all summer. So far the hottest day we have had was about 85 degrees but most days it is about 60. It is a really welcome change to the 90 degree weather that we were experiencing in NH. 

Machias is a fantastic area to work in and Elder Nicholls and I have been having a blast for the past 2 weeks.

Not much has happened here truthfully. The area is filled with alot of history and so as a result the City of Machias has alot of cool festivals in the summer to commemorate historical events that happened in the town. For instance: Margaretta day is this upcoming saturday. That is the day that the town celebrates the battle of Margaretta, which was the first naval battle of the American Revolution. It happened 200+ years ago right of the shore of the town of Machias. During the festival there will be alot of cool parades and activities going on and we feel that it is an excellent opportunity to talk to alot of townspeople on a more neutral environment compared to somebody's front porch. We figure the more people out and about to talk to the better.

This saturday we also have a scheduled baptism!

James is an investigator that the previous Elders had been teaching for about 5 months and he has

found the truthfulness of the Gospel and is super excited to be baptized. Since our building doesn't actually have a baptismal font, Machias usually baptizes people in the ocean. However James felt it more comfortable to travel to the Ellsworth chapel instead. 

A cool miracle happened yesterday too. yesterday we had a really big lunch due to fast Sunday so we decided that it would be more effective to forgo our dinner hour and keep working, we changed our minds when our two appointments for that evening canceled and we didn't really have anything else meaningful to do. After going back to the apartment and doing nothing for 15 minutes we decided that that was super lame so we went out and did some door-knocking. We were knocking on doors and it was going..."ok" nothing spectacular. That's when we found a lady who said that she wouldn't mind having us back to teach her, her husband, and their 4 kids. 

It is awesome to see that people are prepared everywhere, we just have to do the necessary work to find them.

As I have been on my mission, my testimony of the power of repentance. It is by repentance that we change ourselves to be more than we are, through the power of Jesus Christ's atonement.

It is through him that we find true joy in the constant improvement of our actions and thoughts. I know that this is His living church on the earth and I am glad that I have been given the opportunity to serve in this wonderful mission.

I hope that you all have a great week and know that I love you.

until Next Time

-Elder Starr

Dinner with the Smith Family

In Machias the members are great about taking care of the missionaries.  These showed up on the mission facebook page from the Smith Family.

Another Great Week - Baptism of James

Hello everybody.

This past week has been filled with a wide range of emotions and experiences.

First off on Monday we had exchanges with the district leaders in Ellsworth. It was a lot of fun and I got to work with Elder Butler, our awesome district leader who is going home at the end of this month.

Together Elder Butler and I went and taught a new family of 4 young children and their parents that Elder Nicholls and I had found the previous week. We are really excited to see more of them as we continue to teach them.

Other than that we finished our exchanges on Wednesday after district meeting and continued to go finding and teaching. In this area it seems that getting a return appointment isn't that hard, what is difficult is having them actually be there on the scheduled time and being able to contact them again after the fact.

Starting this weekend the branch did a spaghetti dinner fundraiser for the youth of the branch and they were able to raise a bunch of money and on top of that Elder Nicholls and I were able to get a return appointment for the 3 nonmembers that actually showed up to the event. It was awesome!

Saturday morning is where the story goes downhill. 

Elder Nicholls and I volunteered our time to help the historical society of Machias to out on a parade commemorating the first naval battle of the American revolution which took place in Machias harbor. To get more involved with the public, meet more people etc.

What we had to do was locate a lawnmower that could pull two small parade floats that resembled boats.

A bit odd but not that hard. Brother Brookman, a ,less active, was happy to lend us his riding lawnmower for the parade so that was fine. However, we had to carry by hand the 2 parade floats all the way down from this random lady's house all the way down to main st, like 5 blocks, in our shirts and ties.  That was lame but it was fine, we got them their ok.

So 15 minutes before the parade starts there is nobody to be seen and we don't have the hookups to attach the floats to the lawnmower, so brother Marshall took us to the hardware store and we got some pins quick and came back.  To make a long, drawn out story short, the lawnmower blew a fuse right before the parade started and all of the mornings efforts were dashed before our eyes.

We went back to the apartment and ate our waffles feeling somewhat defeated.

The evening made it better when our investigator James was baptized. He had been investigating for about 2 years and was dropped and picked up a few times before he progressed enough to make necessary changes in his life and enter into the covenant.

It was a cool experience and we had a good turnout of a lot of people we weren't expecting.  I know that as we put our trust in the Lord and work hard that we have the capacity to bless the lives of others beyond our comprehension. All we have to do is put ourselves out there and serve those that we love because we love them.

I hope that you all have a great week!

Until next time.

Elder Starr.

P.S. I am not IN a parade I AM the parade.

With Elder Nicholls