Week 19 (Week 2 in Michigan)

Look! Jesus is watching over us!

Hey everyone! I hope you are all doing well! This week has been an interesting one for sure. On Wednesday we got some exciting news that we will be moving into Phase 1 in Michigan, meaning our missionary work has opened up just a little bit! This means that we can now have other meetings with missionaries in person, like district councils, zone councils, and district P-days. We can also meet with our investigators in person now, however, we still need to set them up over the phone and use masks and social distancing for any of our meetings. Nonetheless, our options are expanded now, and we are super excited to have permission to do more now! In fact, on that same day (before knowing all the rules behind doing visits) we drove down to Harbor Beach towards the edge of our area to track down someone who was being taught months ago, Josh, that would not answer any of our calls. And trust me, we called him many times. But Elder Palmer really liked this guy and had a good feeling we needed to get back in contact with him. When we arrived at his address his father answered and said he had moved and gave us his address. We then had some small talk with the father and gave him a Book of Mormon to which he responded "all I'll do is read it you know, that's all I'll do", and we were thinking "um yeah, that's all we ask of you to do actually". Then we drove down to Josh's new address and he was home! We had a nice chat with him and his brother Noah, and they agreed with a lot of the things that we said and asked if we would be holding church services. Unfortunately, this Sunday we would still only be having a test sacrament meeting in person, but we invited them to join our meeting over Zoom, until they could attend in person the following week. Afterwards, we felt super good, especially the other Elders who haven't been able to contact people in person like that for months.

This week was also my birthday, and let me tell you, I was quite spoiled. On my birthday after I had just gotten done cooking up some chicken for a Caesar salad, we got a call from Sister Richards, who usually brings us dinner on Sundays, and she said she had a cake for a birthday boy. I think Elder Palmer had mentioned that my birthday was this week, on Sunday when we last saw her, but I definitely wasn't expecting a cake from her! When we came outside we discovered that, not only had she made us a cheesecake with some sliced strawberries, but she also had gotten us McDonald's including 3 Big Mac's, fries, and vanilla milkshakes. It was SOOO nice of her, and we thanked her many times for it. The same day I got a package from my parents with some candy, popcorn, goldfish, and more razors, which was also a sweet surprise. And then the following day, a member named Byron took us out to get some Ben and Jerry's ice cream, and then we ate it at his house and shared some spiritual thoughts amongst ourselves. Apparently, Byron is an amazing member missionary and, though I haven't seen him fully in action due to the pandemic, I'm excited for the future to be able to work with him more! All around I was very blessed on my birthday, and I am very grateful for that!

Cheesecake and McDonald's Sister Richards got us.

Best birthday ever!

That same night, after we finished sharing with Byron, we decided to walk home, instead of get a ride back, since it wasn't too far and it was a beautiful night. On the way back, we said hello to an older man named Dick, whom we had a nice conversation with. Turns out he almost always takes walks early in the morning, before it gets too warm, but today he decided to take his walk at night instead. It was either a huge coincidence that we ran into him, or it was inspired, and I'm betting on the latter. He agreed with everything we said, and recognized that he hadn't done a lot right in his life, but was trying now to make up for poor choices he had made in the past. He gladly gave us some of his contact information and was happy to talk with us again.

This week we also got our transfer calls! Since I came midway through the transfer, our actual transfers are happening tomorrow. Elder Christiansen and I are going to be staying in Bad Axe, and our other companion, Elder Palmer, is going up north to Traverse City. I'll admit, I'm sad to see him go. He's a great guy, and already in such a short time I've gotten quite close with him, but I'm sure he's gonna love his new area! Bad Axe was actually his first area, which he had been at for about 5 months, so it was about time he changed areas.

On Sunday, we also had the privilege to test out in-person sacrament meeting with our Branch Council. It was definitely weird to bless and administer the sacrament with gloves and masks on, but the spirit was still there, that much I know! Elder Palmer actually gave a talk too, and he was given this assignment before we found out he was leaving, so if that isn't inspired, I don't know what is. But it was nice to finally get back to church and to meet some of the members in person as well.

Anyways, that's pretty much been my week! I just wanted to share a scripture I really enjoyed this week, Alma 32:21, which says "But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words." This scripture from the Book of Mormon is Alma preaching to the poor of the Zoramites, but I think it is also a call from Christ to us. When we receive the words of Christ, if all we can do is put forth a particle of faith, that is enough. That inkling of faith, that small desire to believe will work inside of us until we believe. Truly believe. And as we continue to exercise our faith, we will come to know of the truth and divinity of Jesus Christ.

Thank you all for your love and support and I hope you have a wonderful week!

~Elder Lightheart