7 Months in the Field

Hey everybody!

So in a couple of days, I'll have been a missionary for 7 months. One more, and I'll be a third of the way though my mission.... What??? That is crazy.

Anyways.

This week was pretty good. I went on an exchange with the district leader (An awesome Elder that was in my district in the MTC), and that was really cool. Nothing crazy exciting happened on it. Actually, that's not true. Some weird stuff happened though. And no, I'm not going to elaborate. But there is a reason why I'm not. (Not just to get your imaginations going either) :)

But a sweet thing that happened was that a lady from I think Tennessee called us up and said that her son who is less active and lives in our area, is wanting to come back to church! She set up a ride for him, and she really just wants us to work with him and help him get his life back in order. This was Saturdaynight, and Sunday morning at church, he was there! I did my bestest to fellowship him, and we well be going by later this week! I'm really excited to help him come back to the church!

By the way, the iPad minis won't come for a while longer. I have no clue how soon they'll be here, but at the World Wide Leadership Training Broadcast a little while ago, they said by the end of the year. So who knows? And I'm sure the church has a way figured out to keep silly missionaries from getting distracted by whatever on the iPads too. It will be fun to find out how things will work with them though!

So yeah! I will talk to you all next week!

Thanks for reading :)

-Elder Roderer

The Power of a Personal Witness

 

August 12, 2013

I had a cool experience happen yesterday. We, plus the other missionaries in the Ward were at a member's house for dinner. While the lesson was being given (which was very spiritual. It was sweet), I got this wonderful feeling that I was in the right place. What I mean is that I am in the mission that the Lord wants me to be in, and that this is where I need to be. It was a wonderful feeling, because I hadn't gotten that confirmation yet. Yes, I have been on my mission for over 6 months and I never got a spiritual witness that the Michigan Detroit Mission is where the Lord wants me. I had been asking for that for quite a while, and I guess I just forgot about it and accepted it for what it was. I was super grateful for the witness I received. 

Hey Peeps!

August 19, 2013

Hey peeps!

This week was good! We had a really good Specialized Training meeting with the Westland Zones that was all about helping members become better member missionaries. And it just went in depth about how and what we can help members with. There was a "panel" of members that were invited to come. We asked them a bunch of questions about their fears about why they don't share the gospel more, and learned some really good insights on how we can help members get over their fears and uncertainties. Pretty cool. We also found out that our mission is one of the first that is slated to have the new technology. ie. Ipad minis :)

By the way, my mission president is the bomb.com. He really is. I'm not sure how to explain exactly how or why, but he is :)

Cool story about how boss the bishop is. We went to the his house this week for dinner, and afterwards when we were about to leave, he pulls this monster 50. rifle out of a closet and is like "thought you might like to see this". We were like... What?!? Yeah!! It was sweet. I didn't touch it of course, because that is against the rules, but he said it weighs 32lbs :)

I got sick for the first time on my mission this week! Well, the first time if you don't count having bronchitis as getting sick. Last Monday, and we were driving to a member's home for dinner, I suddenly felt like throwing up. I don't know why, and I ate very little that day, so I don't know what from, but I felt nasty. But I end up throwing up at the member's house (in the toilet, so it was okay) and I felt better for like 10 minutes, and then I felt like throwing up again. But by then we had already left, and we went on an exchange with the Zone Leader. So I was with the ZL's companion in his area for that night and the next day not feeling too good. By Wednesday, I felt pretty good, but somewhere along the line, I got diarrhea. So at Specialized Training, Sister Gerber told be to take some pepto bismol, which I started taking Thursday evening, and by Saturday, I was pretty much fixed. It was pretty weird.

Anyways, that's all for this week! Hope you enjoyed hearing about how I got sick and stuff :)

 

Thanks for reading! :)

A Monster Pothole

August 12, 2013

Hi everybody!

So I'm pretty much loving my new area. I feel like this area is just full of people ready to get baptized! I'm loving Michigan weather a little less though. It's raining pretty good right now. 

Guess what I did Saturday night... I blew out a tire on the car and bent the rim on a monster pothole! I truly hate Michigan roads.. Happily however, they (Bell Tire) were able to fix the wheel, even though it is cast aluminum (I only bent it a little..), but I guess they had to put on a new tire, because they did. I was pretty (super) upset about blowing out the tire. Plus it dinged my pride pretty good.

Aaanyways,

Church was sweet! We didn't have any investigators make it, but we are working with a less-active that is really trying to put her life in order and make it to the temple to get her Endowments! 

It is really nice being in a Ward with a decent amount of active members. The Warren Ward was more like a branch... actually more like a twig. So it's a nice change :) 

We are going to have a "Specialized Training" on Thursday, so that should be exciting. They are always good, plus I will get to hear more from President Gerber! I'm not super sure about his personality yet. At the "Meet the President" meeting, he was super goofy and funny. Other time though, he seems a lot more... somber? ish? I dunno. 

Anyways, I'll talk to you all next week! :)

Opening a New Area

August 6, 2013

     So this last week has been pretty interesting. Opening a new area is a little strange. You don't have hardly anything to work with, because you don't know anybody and your Area Book is empty, so knowing what to do can be frustrating. The other missionaries in the Ward have been super cool though! They have given us some former investigator forums and stuff to put in the Area Book. I was a little unsure about how it would be to have Sister missionaries in the same Ward at first, but these Sisters are super cool! They are also pretty boss at basketball, and pretty much dominated when we played yesterday. It was pretty fun :) The Ward is super awesome too! The Elder that said there are only 100 active members was a little off. There are more like 150-200 (and 400+ less actives, but whatever). There are a lot of great people in the ward, and there are actually quite a few families with little kids! Soo different than Warren. The bishop is over 70 years old, but he is a total boss! And he is super excited about missionary work as well. Plus he loves cars! :) The Ward members are also pretty pumped for missionary work, which is great! They also have a dinner calender for us, and we have about 3 dinners a week planned with members! So far, I really like my new area :) 

     Until next week!