Hey everyone, This week was pretty interesting.
We did our regular P-day things and dinner with the Hills on Monday. The Hills are a part-member family that we have been working with for a little while. The nonmember family members have been a bit apprehensive to our visits in the past so we have to be a bit cautious when we are there not to offend or be too forward. It was a good visit and we also got to do a free load of laundry while we were there. Not a bad deal.
Tuesday was a bit rough. We got dumped about 6 inches of snow which wasn't too bad.
We went and saw a guy named Don who we found on Facebook. It turns out that previous Elders had seen him in the past and he had interest in discussion. We went over to his house and it became pretty apparent that he had no intention of keeping commitments or learning more beyond what is scholarly. Hopefully his heart will be softened in the future.
After Don we drove down to Littleton to see the Watts. Brother Watts is a minister of another faith. He and his wife feed us almost every week. They love the work that we do and they even love the Book of Mormon and the other standard works; they just don't really "get it" it has been somewhat frustrating but they are wonderful people and we simply want them to feel the joy that only the gospel can give.
Other than that not too much went on, Austin and Justin were out of town for Thanksgiving so we weren't able to see too much of them, however we were able to video-call Justin over facebook to prepare him for baptism. We saw and helped Albert a little more. He is struggling with quitting smoking right now. That's his vice at the moment. I know that he can do it though.
For Thanksgiving we went over to Sister Donovan's house in Littleton. She made a pretty traditional meal with the turkey and potatoes etc. She made a sweet potato casserole that was pretty similar to ones that I have had in the past, of which I was very excited. I really appreciate them for having us over.
On Saturday Justin got home from his Grandmothers house for thanksgiving and we all jumped in a van and drove to the Joseph Smith memorial for the live nativity and the lighting. It was pretty cool. Justin had a great time and he got to meet President and Sister Blair which was fantastic!
I know that this turned out to be a bit of a wall, but I wanted to share my thoughts about trials
I think a lot of the time we have the tendency to only have gratitude AFTER have overcome difficulty. I have found that what is even more valuable to me is, when I am feeling particularly burdened, to thank Heavenly Father for this trial and for the knowledge that I can accomplish anything that he needs me to.
I know that this work is true, I love you all, have a great week!
-Elder Connor Starr
Monday, 26 November 2018
Wednesday, 21 November 2018
November 19, 2018
Hello everybody. We had a pretty great week this week!
Monday was a normal work day because of transfers coming in. As I expected, Elder Johnson and I are staying together. We met with Al and talked a bit about Temples and what we do in them, why they are important, etc. Tuesday we had a pretty crazy snowstorm that dropped almost 1 foot of snow on the ground. That, and it has been rather cold outside lately. It seems that winter has come in full force a bit early.
Other notable things is that we had to cancel all of our appointments one day in littleton NH due to the weather, that was hard but we made it through better. We had to do district council over the phone on Friday morning because we were grounded and couldn't use the car. Later that day we were shoveling out people's driveways for them for service and finding. We got referred to this man who has ALS that wasn't able to Shovel his own porch. After we shoveled it for him it turned out that he was actually a less active member that had not been to the church in many years. He had fallen away due to a crisis of faith. He was pretty well set on his stance but I couldn't help feel that regardless of his current faith, our contact has greater significance than I could recognize on the surface.
On Saturday. Austin and Justin were interviewed by the Zone Leaders and they passed! They will be baptized on December 1st. We are super juiced about it. They have both come quite a long way.
On Sunday we went to the Lefolls for lunch and I met a baby goat. One of the other goats had taken an interest in my hand as it was covered in juice from an orange that I had eaten earlier. My careless attitude about the attentive goat quickly changed when it's licking became more... Forward and it chomped hard on the end of my index finger. I had to pull my finger out between its teeth. Lessons learned.
I hope that you all have a wonderful week. I know that as we wait in patience and do what we are asked. (i.e. Reading scriptures, meaningful daily prayer, meaning partaking of the sacrament etc.) that we will overcome difficulty with not just a surviving, but a stronger knowledge of the truths that we have been given.
Love you, hope you have a great week!
Elder Connor Starr
Small photo dump
1 pondering
2 bring planking back from 2012
3 walking
4 sketchy suspension bridge in Littleton
5 baby goat
Monday was a normal work day because of transfers coming in. As I expected, Elder Johnson and I are staying together. We met with Al and talked a bit about Temples and what we do in them, why they are important, etc. Tuesday we had a pretty crazy snowstorm that dropped almost 1 foot of snow on the ground. That, and it has been rather cold outside lately. It seems that winter has come in full force a bit early.
Other notable things is that we had to cancel all of our appointments one day in littleton NH due to the weather, that was hard but we made it through better. We had to do district council over the phone on Friday morning because we were grounded and couldn't use the car. Later that day we were shoveling out people's driveways for them for service and finding. We got referred to this man who has ALS that wasn't able to Shovel his own porch. After we shoveled it for him it turned out that he was actually a less active member that had not been to the church in many years. He had fallen away due to a crisis of faith. He was pretty well set on his stance but I couldn't help feel that regardless of his current faith, our contact has greater significance than I could recognize on the surface.
On Saturday. Austin and Justin were interviewed by the Zone Leaders and they passed! They will be baptized on December 1st. We are super juiced about it. They have both come quite a long way.
On Sunday we went to the Lefolls for lunch and I met a baby goat. One of the other goats had taken an interest in my hand as it was covered in juice from an orange that I had eaten earlier. My careless attitude about the attentive goat quickly changed when it's licking became more... Forward and it chomped hard on the end of my index finger. I had to pull my finger out between its teeth. Lessons learned.
I hope that you all have a wonderful week. I know that as we wait in patience and do what we are asked. (i.e. Reading scriptures, meaningful daily prayer, meaning partaking of the sacrament etc.) that we will overcome difficulty with not just a surviving, but a stronger knowledge of the truths that we have been given.
Love you, hope you have a great week!
Elder Connor Starr
Small photo dump
1 pondering
2 bring planking back from 2012
3 walking
4 sketchy suspension bridge in Littleton
5 baby goat
Monday, 19 November 2018
November 13, 2018
Hello everybody!
Earlier this week we met with Justin at his place. Since he doesn't have a job or really any responsibility we have been seeing pretty late at night, (like 8:30) it has been pretty good. We are helping him quit smoking so that he can progress to his baptism date on the first of December. It will be close but I think that he will make it, and if not it will help him to be more prepared to make and keep the promises that are made at baptism.
We also talked about how the spirit is more inclined to dwell in places that are bright and clean. Giving the temple as an example. Basically we were telling him in a nice way that he should probably vacuum and do the dishes more often.
Lately we have been trying to work a lot more with the members of the ward to find people to teach and to strengthen the people that we are teaching to begin with. It is really awesome and These wonderful people have such strong testimonies of the gospel that will benefit us greatly.
I went on exchange to Newport VT this weekend and it was awesome! It is a beautiful place with lots of really cool things and wonderful people. Right in the middle of nowhere. They even had a Walmart super store!
I don't remember if I told you this last week or not, but one night while we were walking, Austin texted us and told us that after his prayer and consideration that he wanted to be baptised on the first of December! its going to be awesome! Beyond that, not too much has happened. We got our first good snow-storm of the year and it dropped about 8-10 inches on the ground where we live in Lyndonville. We were walking in a winter wonderland, that's for sure.
We got transfer calls today and as I expected, Elder Johnson and I will be staying together for my last transfer. It is going to be awesome. I know that this work is true and I know that as we turn our hearts and our time and talents toward our Heavenly Father that He will be able to make more of us than we can ourselves.
I hope that you all have a great week! Love you!
-Elder Connor Starr
November 5, 2018
Hey everybody. We had a pretty excellent week this week. Monday was fairly normal, not too much going on there. The following day we went to the Nuffer's for dinner. After dinner they had us help their kids carve pumpkins for the porch. That was pretty cool and tons of fun.
For those that don't know already. In our mission we have a tradition that on Halloween everybody gets to go in to the apartment at 5 and then we get to clean the apartment until nine. It has affectionately named "Deep Clean Halloween" so that is what we did for 4 hours on Wednesday. It wasn't bad, our apartment definitely needed it.
The weekend was pretty good, I taught district council about how we can make baptisms a great finding tool. President Blair promised that if we are to make baptisms a really spiritual and memorable experience for those in attendance, and if we bring at least 2 nonmembers, that we will baptise every transfer. Pretty important stuff.
We are teaching a man named Albert that came to church for the first time yesterday. He is doing awesome! He is on date for the 8th of December. I also heard word that yesterday Mary Sargent from Canterbury was confirmed! that's so amazing! I know that although we often don't see the immediate reward for our actions and our hard work, that being diligent and noble will bring the greatest peace and joy in our lives.
It reminds me of Elder Renlund's talk that he gave this last October. If God simply wanted us to be obedient, he would immediately punish or reward our actions. He wants us to choose to be obedient and to be patient. I have come to be very grateful for recognising this principle in my life.
I hope that you all have a fantastic week. Love you!
Here is a photo of me with a large flowing hat that I found.
-Elder Connor Starr
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