Hello Friends and family.
This week was interesting to say the least. To begin with a little context the district has had a little trouble finding new people to teach. Upon counselling with the Zone Leaders and the Sister Training Leader Trainers we decided that in order to boost the Morale of the other missionaries we needed to find a few people really early on in the week and tell them all about it.
With that in mind we began the week with a pretty average p-day. We did all of our stuff that we needed to and than the Sansoucie's fed us for dinner. Basically to make a long story short, we were asked to make a facebook event for Owen's (their son's) upcoming baptism so that we could invite investigators and less actives more easily etc. It took about 90 min to figure out how to get it set up and we had to teach Owen some stuff so we were basically running mega-late for our planned finding time. We quickly drove back to where our apartment and looked around in desperation as there was only about 5 minutes left until 9:00, when we have to go in. Elder Smith and I looked around for people all over the place around our apartment building and we saw 2 different groups of people on their balcony. One was lit up and they looked like they were partying, the others were just sitting in the dark and smoking. We decided that we were not feeling like party people that evening so we went (ran) over to the unlit balcony and offered to help them stop smoking. They said "sure" and we picked them up as new investigators. We will be seeing them later this evening. It would have been really easy to go in early or find something less productive to do, but Elder Smith and I wanted to make some miracles happen and we did! That was a really cool experience and it really helped the other missionaries to feel that they too could make miracle happen with diligence and hard work.
Other than that it was a pretty normal week. We spent thanksgiving at the Weech's home. Sister Weech is the relief society president and she is super cool. Those in attendance were the Elders and the Weech's and sister Baker and her mother-in-law. The food was really good and so was the company. I am really grateful that I did not have to make my own food for thanksgiving. It would have been really sad. I am grateful for such strong members that are willing to help whenever they can, from inviting investigators to their child's baptism, to feeding the Elders on Thanksgiving. I think that I have learned a lot about the attributes of Christ from them and I hope to be as noble as them.
That's pretty much all I have for this week. I hope that you all have a great week.
love you!until Next Week!
-Elder Connor Starr
Wednesday, 29 November 2017
What a week - November 20th, 2017
Hello Family and Friends.
Elder Smith and I had a pretty awesome week. First off, we started off with P-day. not much to mention just did some shopping at Walmart and got some stuff to prepare for the coming Christmas season *photos to follow.
The beginning of the week went well. We go and see an older returning less-active family, the McNairs. Their house burned down back in July and right after that their only car got totalled in a pretty serious accident, leaving Brother McNair with some pretty serious neck injury. They were living in a motel for the time being. Sister McNair was prompted by the spirit that if she and her husband wanted help in their difficult time that they needed to return to church and renew their covenants and keep the commandments more fully so sister McNiar quit her job that kept her working on Sundays to make a long story short, The McNairs have been to church every Sunday for almost 2 months straight. Seeing the increase of their testimony in the restored gospel has helped grow my understanding of the Lord's hand in our lives. We are truly blessed when we make things that are important to the Lord important for us.
Skipping now to Friday I got to teach district meeting. accept it was more like a zone meeting because everybody in the zone was there with the exception of the Assistants to the President and the Sister training leaders. It was a lot of fun and really effective. I was stressing this meeting for over a week and studied quite a few hours to make it an effective training. I know that I personally left feeling uplifted by the spirit. When Elder Bednar was with us a few months ago, he told us that we know when we are teaching by the spirit when everybody in attendance learns something new and we take that knowledge and truth and use it to change our lives.The power of the Holy Ghost is real and has the power to redirect us toward Christ.
That same day Elder Smith and I made a point to talk to everybody that we ran into. The contacts that followed were really amazing and we were able to teach and testify because of them. Not only that, but we ran into an older Gentleman that called us over to him. At first we thought he was just going to bible-bash us like crazy, but it turns out that actually needed help. The man's name was Dick and he had just been given about 6 Months left to live. He just wanted somebody to talk to and Elder Smith and I were there to help him because we did what we needed to to be put in his path. We talked to Dick for a while and we gave him our phone number in case he every wanted to talk again. We talked mostly about how hope in the Savior diminishes our fear of leaving this life. He thanked us for our talk and we parted ways
I don't know if every will call us again, but I do know that our Heavenly Father answers the prayers of others through those that are willing to do His work. I hope you all know that I love you and that as we are noble and diligent that we will become the answer to somebody's plea to our Heavenly Father.
Have a great week and an amazing Thanksgiving.
I am thankful for all of you!
until next time
-Elder Connor Starr
Elder Smith and I had a pretty awesome week. First off, we started off with P-day. not much to mention just did some shopping at Walmart and got some stuff to prepare for the coming Christmas season *photos to follow.
The beginning of the week went well. We go and see an older returning less-active family, the McNairs. Their house burned down back in July and right after that their only car got totalled in a pretty serious accident, leaving Brother McNair with some pretty serious neck injury. They were living in a motel for the time being. Sister McNair was prompted by the spirit that if she and her husband wanted help in their difficult time that they needed to return to church and renew their covenants and keep the commandments more fully so sister McNiar quit her job that kept her working on Sundays to make a long story short, The McNairs have been to church every Sunday for almost 2 months straight. Seeing the increase of their testimony in the restored gospel has helped grow my understanding of the Lord's hand in our lives. We are truly blessed when we make things that are important to the Lord important for us.
Skipping now to Friday I got to teach district meeting. accept it was more like a zone meeting because everybody in the zone was there with the exception of the Assistants to the President and the Sister training leaders. It was a lot of fun and really effective. I was stressing this meeting for over a week and studied quite a few hours to make it an effective training. I know that I personally left feeling uplifted by the spirit. When Elder Bednar was with us a few months ago, he told us that we know when we are teaching by the spirit when everybody in attendance learns something new and we take that knowledge and truth and use it to change our lives.The power of the Holy Ghost is real and has the power to redirect us toward Christ.
That same day Elder Smith and I made a point to talk to everybody that we ran into. The contacts that followed were really amazing and we were able to teach and testify because of them. Not only that, but we ran into an older Gentleman that called us over to him. At first we thought he was just going to bible-bash us like crazy, but it turns out that actually needed help. The man's name was Dick and he had just been given about 6 Months left to live. He just wanted somebody to talk to and Elder Smith and I were there to help him because we did what we needed to to be put in his path. We talked to Dick for a while and we gave him our phone number in case he every wanted to talk again. We talked mostly about how hope in the Savior diminishes our fear of leaving this life. He thanked us for our talk and we parted ways
I don't know if every will call us again, but I do know that our Heavenly Father answers the prayers of others through those that are willing to do His work. I hope you all know that I love you and that as we are noble and diligent that we will become the answer to somebody's plea to our Heavenly Father.
Have a great week and an amazing Thanksgiving.
I am thankful for all of you!
until next time
-Elder Connor Starr
Tuesday, 14 November 2017
Hello
This week was kind of strange.
To start off we did our normal p-day things. We did the laundry, cleaned the apartment, bought food, etc. The day following we picked up Elder Frostad from Concord 1 area, his companion went home and Elder Staley and I got to hold on to him for a couple of days. We did exchanges with the zone-leaders the following day so there were 5 missionaries working our area at once. It was awesome!
That day, Elder Frostad, Sadlier, and myself were doing work in Pembroke when we saw a lady walking her dogs. We did a fast walk towards her to chase her down but she was too fast and we saw an old guy that was raking his leaves that wasn't running away, so we figured that we would talk to him instead. His name was Frank and he was super nice. It turned out that he served as a bomber in WWII in the European conflict. He was 94 years old. He told us that the secret to living a long time was that you have to get good exercise, like raking leaves.
On Thursday I got my new companion Elder Smith. He was trained by Elder Hansen, one of my previous companions. So far we are having a blast and it is going great.
Today, we got our first glimpse of snowfall. It has been pretty cold, about 28 degrees. but today it has just been dumping snow. I am actually pretty excited for the winter. I have missed the cold and the snow. We'll see how long it lasts.
I am so grateful for all the wonderful blessings that I have been given here. This is our Father's business and I am serving his children. I am thankful for the opportunity that I have now to declare good tidings of great joy. Christ lives, that this is His church, and that He leads and guides us today.
Love You! Until next time!
-Elder Connor Starr
To start off we did our normal p-day things. We did the laundry, cleaned the apartment, bought food, etc. The day following we picked up Elder Frostad from Concord 1 area, his companion went home and Elder Staley and I got to hold on to him for a couple of days. We did exchanges with the zone-leaders the following day so there were 5 missionaries working our area at once. It was awesome!
That day, Elder Frostad, Sadlier, and myself were doing work in Pembroke when we saw a lady walking her dogs. We did a fast walk towards her to chase her down but she was too fast and we saw an old guy that was raking his leaves that wasn't running away, so we figured that we would talk to him instead. His name was Frank and he was super nice. It turned out that he served as a bomber in WWII in the European conflict. He was 94 years old. He told us that the secret to living a long time was that you have to get good exercise, like raking leaves.
On Thursday I got my new companion Elder Smith. He was trained by Elder Hansen, one of my previous companions. So far we are having a blast and it is going great.
Today, we got our first glimpse of snowfall. It has been pretty cold, about 28 degrees. but today it has just been dumping snow. I am actually pretty excited for the winter. I have missed the cold and the snow. We'll see how long it lasts.
I am so grateful for all the wonderful blessings that I have been given here. This is our Father's business and I am serving his children. I am thankful for the opportunity that I have now to declare good tidings of great joy. Christ lives, that this is His church, and that He leads and guides us today.
Love You! Until next time!
-Elder Connor Starr
Monday, 13 November 2017
Wednesday, 8 November 2017
Transfers
Friends and Family,
Another 6 weeks has passed. We got transfer news yesterday. Elder Staley will be leaving for Randolph NH my first area. I will receive Elder Smith who is coming from Randolph and was trained by the man, myth, and legend himself *former Elder David Hansen. My old companion. Elder Smith has been on a mission for almost 6 months now. We are going to have a great time! I am excited to hear of the work that Elder Staley does in Randolph. It is so great to know that we are all on the same team working for the same goal. I also want to mention that I will try to keep the letters a little more "focused". It seems that they can get away from me sometimes and I will try to make them more interesting.
With the change in time comes the change of the sun. This is bad news because now it gets dark at about 4:45 and darkness is detrimental for a myriad of reasons, mostly people are less willing to talk to you and it makes knocking on doors harder, etc. Its just one of those things that comes with the territory. The great thing about the Holiday Season is people's hearts are generally more open to the promptings of the spirit; to confirm the truthfulness of the saviors gospel to them. We have alot of cool plans involving parades and singing and all kinds of stuff. I'll let you know more later.
I have been thinking about remembrance lately. It is certainly a key to the gospel as Christ taught. When we take the sacrament, we renew the promise that we made to "always remember Him". To remember his example to us, his teachings, his service, and his power unto the redeeming of our souls from death and sin. Not only do we need to remember Christ, we need to remember ourselves. Not in a narcissistic way but in the way that we remember our actions, our thoughts, and our deeds. This is what makes us who we are. In the gospel we have to remember. What the savior has done in our lives, and what we have done. Making constant corrections to draw our persona to His divine nature. If we forget we decline ourselves the introspection that allows us to repent of our sins, and we deny ourselves the power of the sacrifice of the savior in our lives.
I am so grateful to be here. To be serving in this capacity with all of these wonderful Elders and Sisters among Heavenly Father's children. This is His work and His glory.
I love you.
Until Next time!
-Elder Connor Starr
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