August 29, 2011

 

Hey Mom,

this week was really super busy it was kinda out of control. it blew my mind. First off i went to an area in my district on Monday and Tuesday. i was able to go with an elder that has only been out for about 2 transfers, and is still green. It was really fun, even tho he has been struggling and is on the verge of going home. we had an awesome time i was able to talk to him for quite a while and helped him do those things to get the spirit of missionary work. it was really fun. During that exchange i don't think that i have ever rode a bike so much in my life i was so so saddle sore after that it wasn't even funny. but all in all we had a great day. On Wednesday i went to a leadership conference and when we got there i found out that Elder Lynn G. Robbins was there and was going to talk to us. it was amazing he was so awesome and we had a great conference and i learned alot from it. He talked the whole conference about taking 100% responsibility. It was great. Thursday we had district meeting and i am falling into the groove as i give more trainings. This one went alot smoother than the last one i thought. after that we went and did some service at the horse place and stacked hay! it was great again. i have grown to love plainfield so much its been one of my favorite areas thus far. On Friday we had another conference and it was great as well elder robins was there as well that was amazing. on Saturday we took the day and we went as a zone to Indianapolis and helped with the special Olympics it was alot of fun i have a different out look for those people. they are still children of god. This week we started the new member lessons with gabby. it was alot of fun we talked about the priesthood and the auxiliaries. it went well. We are rocking this town we have a baptism date every Saturday of this month except for the third but the tenth, the seventeenth, and the twenty fourth are all taken with an investigator. we are really excited for this month. other than that nothing really exciting really happened but it was still a great week. we still got alot accomplished just didn't teach that many lessons. but it was great. i love you all!

August 22, 2011

 

Hey Mom,

This week was amazing! Everything went very well. Gabby's Baptism was exceptional. She had the best ward support there ever. there were so many people that the service had to take place in the chapel in order to sit everyone. The service its self was amazing she had the "Mormon Glow" in her face. It has been a true pleasure to see some one start the lessons and to be able to follow through till baptism. That has been the best thing so far on my errand for the lord. I am so grateful that the lord has allowed me to stay here long enough to see that conversion take place. This week has been great we have been super duper busy we have been looking like crazy to find a new apartment the mission gave a 30 day notice on Monday, and thus far we are not finding anywhere to live. But oh well. This week i went on my first exchange as a District leader. it was awesome i had Elder Brooke come here to Plainfield. It was great we had a very good time and some very great lessons. We were able to teach Jessica. it was sweet. We taught the Plan of Salvation and put the emphasis on the Atonement, it was amazing the spirit was super strong and was very, very effective. We were in awe, it was one of the most spiritually lessons that i have ever partook in. Jessica now has a baptism date for September 24, we are very happy for her she is super solid. we also have another new investigator Deborah, she too is solid. She was a referral from our zone leaders, she is cool she will have a baptismal date Tuesday for September 17, she is great. Yesterday we had a total of 4 investigators that attended church, and crazy enough they all stayed all 3 hours. We had Jessica, Deborah, Andrew, and Bob, they are all progressing and doing really well and they are having great things happen to them as they keep our commitments. This week is going to be super crazy we have exchanges today and tomorrow, a leadership training on Wednesday, Thursday we have district meeting and weekly planing, Friday we have zone conference, Saturday i have to conduct a baptism interview. busy, busy week. and we might be moving this week as well. but it should be great, i am stoked. i am grateful that all is going well back home my prayers are always with you all.

I Love You All

August 15, 2011

 

Hey Mom,

Hey thank you for the package it was great. I really appreciate them. District Leader is over kill. All it is relaying messages to the district from the zone leaders, i Have to present 1 training a week to the district and to the zone leaders. i am still kinda nervous about that but i have buckled down and already have prepared my training. Last night we had a very long talk with the zone leaders on the phone explaining my concerns for the district and all that cool jazz. it was good to just talk to some one about problems...NOT! i wish they would focus more on the good and not so much on the bad its kinda depressing, but that is where we make the best missionaries. Elder Wise and myself had a great week we got so much accomplished it was amazing. We were able to have some super sweet lessons, we had one with Gabby, we talked about the Atonement and just got things ready for her baptism on Saturday. we are stoked for her. The Simpson Family are the best things that could happen for her they have taken her under their wings and have helped her so much its super awesome. We also had an amazing lesson with Bob this week. we focused alot on the Atonement and the Sacrament with him. We were able to teach him in the chapel and to help him feel the spirit. It was AMAZING. The spirit was so strong we watched a short film called Lamb of God, it goes through the last few hours of the life of Christ and really protrayes the love and the sacrifice that he made for us. it was amazing. We got a Head Quarter Referral this week, her name is Jessica, she is amazing we have had 2 lessons with her this week and she came to church and like it, she even signed up to feed us in relief society. Saturday in the lesson with her she was asking us what she needed to do to be baptized and all that cool jazz. she is really prepared its cool. She will be baptized some time soon. The Hickman family is doing great their sons are still retaining everything that we teach and are rapidly progressing to be baptized on September 17. The ward here is amazing they are so missionary minded especially the youth. Most of the people that we are teaching are youth age and we should be getting about 10-11 more referrals from the youth submitting names to the missionaries in nauvoo. we are so excited its amazing. Its kinda sad we are loosing a great ward missionary in September ironically she is going out to rexburg for school. but oh well we will have to train the rest of the youth.

These next 2 weeks are going to be nuts for us we have district meeting on Wednesday, thrusrday we have president interviews, Saturday we are helping a family move and Gabby's baptism, Sunday church, Monday-Tuesday i have exchanges with some in my district, Wednesday we have leadership training, Thursday i have some more exchanges, Friday is zone conference Saturday i conduct a baptism interview. and its just as crazy the week after that. it will be great.

We are doing great we hopefully will be getting a new apartment some time soon. we have a rodent problem and a mold and rotting problem and much more so we talked to president yesterday and we are going to be moving some time soon.

Elder Wise and myself are doing great we are getting alot accomplished, i am very grateful that i have the opportunity that i have to serve with him another transfer. even tho he makes fun of me for being so old. the whole airplane joke is getting old.

Thanks for everything i love you all.

On Sun, Aug 14, 2011 at 7:26 PM, Lori Bair <taberrose@yahoo.com> wrote

August 8, 2011

Hey Mom,

Well Today is the day we once again got a transfer call. instead of the assistants calling, it was actually President Collins... Elder Wise and my self are both staying but i was issued a call to be a district leader. I am so Nervous, I have to give an hour training every week and all that good stuff. So as a heads up this letter might not be as good as usual, i have a lot on my mind.

This week, was an amazing week for Elder Wise and myself we are still teaching Gabby Janisch, she is awesome she is going be a sweet member we are having a lesson with her today at the Simpson's, we are going to get the program all established for her. i don't know who is more excited her or elder wise. its pretty crazy. she is doing so awesome, we are truly excited for her to be dunked. We had an amazing lesson with Bob Vaught as well. he is still doing really well and is still making some sacrifices to quit smoking. we will continue to straighten him. We are goin to have a lesson with him tomorrow at the church, we are going to talk about the Atonement and the sacrament and watch a little video about the atonement all this in the chapel so that he can feel the spirit super strong, its going to be excellent!! We are still teaching and preparing Andrew Hickman. He is a stud, lately every time we go over to teach him he is able to teach us what we taught him the week before. its been an amazing experience for me to see him grow and develop. its just as cool to see his parents grow and develop their testimonies as well. The Triangle Effect is happening with them. This week we were able to get 3 new investigators. they are all pretty sweet, and pretty solid. The First is Katrina Reilly, she is 15 years old and has been going to the LDS church since she was 5, her grand parents are members, but her parents are not, when we got there to teach her, she taught us! It was amazing, she so desires to be baptized but her mom doesn't want her to jump into it yet. we will continue to meet with her and to help her mom understand this important covenant. We also picked up 2 former investigators that seem ready to be taught again. they are pretty sincere about this this time. hopefully something great will come out of it.

This week we helped 3 families move. The Matt Johnson Family, The Phile Family, and a non-member family. lets just say the ward didn't help with any of them and i am stiff! we had dinner with the Johnson Family last night, it is the same family that was in Plymouth when i was there. they are so awesome. i love that family. Everything else has been going really swell for us. the area is prospering and blooming into something great i am vey grateful that i get to serve here and to witness this area develop so much.

I am glad that the family is doing well and that you had great fun this week i hope and pray that all will continue to be enjoyable for all. i love you all!!!

August 1, 2011

Message body

Hey Mom,

This week has been a good week, a slow one but also a good one. From last week Elder Wise and my self were able to commit one more person to baptism this week. his name is Andrew Hickman. he is a 12 year old and we committed him to baptism for September 17. all is going well for him its been great to teach him and his family they are coming out of inactivity and they have the strongest testimony its amazing. Gabby is still doing great she is SO excited to be baptised we might move it up. she has the strongest testimony as well its so cool to see the change in her life as she accepts the gospel in her life. she gave us a written copy of her testimony that she typed up to give to her former pastor and it touched my heart it was great. Yesterday she let us know who is doing what at her baptism. Elder Wise will be doing the ordinance and i will be confirming her, we are both excited. Bob is still doing well. despite the awful gospel principals teacher that we have. we are having to reteach everything that is taught and bob is very patient with us and with the church. this week he is making some drastic changes in smoking he is really taking some big steps to quit, we are excited for him and will continue to pray for his success in quiting the smoking.
This week tracting we felt really inspired to tract a street right next to ours that we live on and we followed the spirit, while tracting i had my testimony confirmed by the spirit. we tracted in to a John Bair... He is now a potential investigator. hopefully we can help him understand the importance of the restoration. i know that heavanly father lead us to that street to visit john. i was soon reminded of my ancestor John Bair. and i pondered that for a long with and i came to the conclusion that all the Bair's needed the Celestial Kingdom even if we don't know them. it was a really neat experience.

Yesterday elder wise and i gave talks in sacrament, for the first time i was the concluding speaker. it was weird i felt like i knew what i was doing. i was asked to speak on a talk given be Elder L. Tom Perry "Bring Souls Unto Me" the talk itself was a rebuking talk so i followed the spirit and had a little fun with it. they both turned out good and the members were really receptive of it we received 2 referrals from it. it was nice.

I am grateful that Adam did a great talk, he will make an amazing missionary. he has that mentality of going to get something done.

All has been great its been great serving here in plainfield. i hope i don't get transferred again. transfers are next week and we will get a call on Monday letting us know. but i love you all.

July 25, 2011

 

Message flagged

Monday, July 25, 2011 8:36 AM

Message body

Hey Mom,

This week was indeed hot. during the week the heat index got to the high of 120, there is a heat advisory for the next week as well. President Collins has made it a rule that we cant be out and about more than an hour at a time. After tracting for a good thirty minutes it is a well awaited break. Despite the Horrid heat we had a very great and event full week. Our investigator's are doing great. we were able to set a baptismal date with Gabby for Aug 20. she accepted and is eager to be baptised. because she is 17 she had to get parental permission. and thankfully her parents gave us a written consent with a signature, It was great. We have the best fellowshipper and friendshippers for her. The Simpson family, they are great, i love that family to death. we had a ward party on Friday for pioneer day. sis Simpson was in charge of it, since she found out that we were relatives she kinda makes me be the guinea pig for everything. at the party i was roped into a cream pie eating contest. it was horrible. i am now not a big fan of pudding pies anymore. Bob Vaught is still doing great he is starting to recognize the blessing that are in his life. and is realizing that that is coming from the holy ghost, he is still struggling with acting on the answers that he is receiving. he is slowly cutting down on the whole smoking situation. and is starting to feel better from doing that. Mike is starting to get a glow to him he still has a bunch of struggles that is restricting him and such but he is liking what he teach him. unfortunately he was unable to come to church yesterday, it kinda upset us but it helped us realize that is not ready to take upon such a commitment , he probably will not be baptized on Aug 13, like he is scheduled to be. Everything has been going super well. Elder Wise is a superb missionary i have learned a lot from him. its been really great. Yesterday i found out that my Buddy Matt Johnson and his family are going to be moving into the ward next Thursday. the lord must thing that we are not done work together. i am super excited for this week. This week Elder wise and myself have been working on a sweet goal that we set. we made a goal to bear testimony of the restoration of the gospel before we give any commitment. it has been amazing to see the success that it bring. The spirit is always so much stronger and it just makes thing flow so much better. it has truely been amazing.

It is great to hear that the family is still doing great that is always a blessing to know that heavenly father is watching out for everyone, i have to get going, our district is going golfing today. i love you all.