Oct 1, 2012

Dearest family and friends,

I love you all so much. I know I say that right away almost every time, but I feel it is the first thing that comes to mind, and the first thing I want you to read. I just hope you know this is no vain repetition, but straight form the heart every week. 

Here is my letter to president,

Hey President,

 
This week was great. The key indicators for my area are still not set up so I will just tell you in the order listed in our planners 004135315415 and our goals next week are 00647440753. We were also able to visit 5 active families this week and our goal is the same next week. Hopefully next week you can get it set up.
 

This week was great. We saw many miracles. I was so happy. The miracles we saw include after one day of finding hard all day with no new investigators found, our zone leaders said that they found two new investigators for us. Another great experience was we went to a member’s house and shared a message, and asked for a referral and they told us about a family they think is prepared and have plans to introduce them to us, then I felt to be as PMG directs and ask, "if there is anyone else?" and they gave me another family and another friend who they think were interested.  It was amazing. Also once at a stoplight I had a really good feeling toward a mother with a toddler boy, but had already engaged another man, so I told my companion to talk to her and told him, "I feel great about her." So he did and she pulled over at her family’s bakery and gave us moon cakes and  milk and said she is really interested in Christianity. We were able to have a prayer with her and in the end she said, " I want to learn more about this." and set up for the next day. I have never really worked with members before and am seeing the help it can be. Having visited 5 families really helped at church to feel more welcomed. I feel both wards are totally willing to support us. I am so excited for this new area and honestly believe it will be thriving in a few weeks.

 Anyways about my companion, Elder Thornley's, progress--he is doing well. He is starting to talk to people without me telling him to and he is starting to understand more. We are working on contacting together, and are getting used to the area and each other so things are going better all around.  He is still having a hard time talking to strangers and often doesn't know what to say in contacting or in a lesson. I think that is because he’s never had a father, he is a little different than most missionaries and is having different problems than most. But his heart is pure and his faith strong. I think he will be a great missionary. Our relationship is getting better I believe.
 I am studying the New Testament which is so great. I am loving it. Thanks for the invite.
 My language is still coming along. I hope to pass phase 3 soon.
Thanks for everything, Elder Sabey

 

So yeah, things are going well. My trainee is very open with me which is so great. His personality is more introverted, and he has a hard time doing some missionary things but is a great guy and working hard to overcome the natural man.

This week was so cool, I am starting to find by the spirit better. This week there were two people when I saw them I felt like I had to talk to them, one of them I talked about in the above letter the other seemed hihao (fine) but in the end when I asked for his number he gave it to me. So we will see what happens. This week we visited both the bishops and they both gave me a list of names to go visit. Yesterday we went to visit the names and took a wrong turn, saw a family BBQing and contacted them, and the dad invited us to eat some shrimp, then I was able to share a simple message and set him up for Tuesday. Then found the right place and met a less active who hasn't been to church or prayed or read scriptures for a year, and set him up, then ran into a lady with a husky on the way to the next person’s home, and she committed to come to English class. Then we made it to another less active family and they were super excited to see us and we also set them up. Then went to visit the other bishop and told him about this experience and so he went and gave me a much better list of people to contact. I am so excited. Visiting the bishops was an invite from the president and working with members was also another invite. It was cool to see the miracles of following his invites.

Spiritual thought of the week: When Christ died the veil of the temple was rent from top to bottom. I never realized that if there were no rips from top to bottom we could not go through the veil and enter into the celestial presence of god. Only in and through the atonement of Christ is it possible. I am so thankful for temples and the truth they bring to our minds and joy they bring to our lives. In nearly every letter I received you all talked about temples. In my study notebook I have a "Church/Temple" section and the weird thing is most of the entries are on the temple. I thought it would be the other way around. I am so glad to have a church that has temples.

 

Love you all,

Elder Sabey