Hey everyone,
I'm sorry this email is going to be so short. This week is transfer planning for President Miller, so my report to him this week was longer then usual. This was an amazing week though! Because of how close my time is to expiring I will just jump right in by telling a great experience, and then as many more as I can fit in the next couple minutes...
We were at the family's home again that I told everyone about a couple weeks ago this Sunday for dinner and a lesson. They are the family that bore testimony of our powerful teaching and spirit during testimony meeting. I don't remember if I said anything about their neighbor though. She had been over for our Easter lesson with them and accepted the invitation to meet with us and read from the Book of Mormon. We are very close to her as well as the family, so meeting again was no big deal for them since they love having us over. This time we all sat around the table and began by reading through the introduction to the Book of Mormon, and taught bits and pieces of the restoration along the way. When we related the first vision we brought out the pamphlet with the picture of it and the spirit entered strongly.
She looked a bit confused after we finished with the vision and asked why it showed two personages standing above Joseph Smith if they are one, referring of course to the false concept of the Trinity. We explained that they are not one in body but in purpose, and I told her a little about my dad and his questioning of that concept growing up, and that he is now an active strong member of the church. At this point she looked like she was going to cry and she grabbed the pamphlet, held it tightly to her chest, and told us that this means more to her then she can explain. She told us she knows why we are meeting with her right now in her life, and that our teaching is answering all of her questions and bringing her greater joy. She excitingly looked back at the Book of Mormon and told us that we need to keep reading because she needs to find out what else it holds. I don't remember ever seeing anyone as excited as she was at that time! Sadly we were already late for cerfew and had to tell her that we needed to pray with her and then leave. She told us that would be fine because she was going to stay there and read it with the family since she was not ready to stop :-)
It is amazing to see how the Spirit prepares people for this message and then testifies so powerfully of its truthfulness. We were also able to teach a very humble man from Central Africa who by the end of the lesson bore testimony to us that Joseph Smith is a Prophet of God, and told us how thankful he is for the revelations he received for us. He does not live within our boundaries so we are transferring him to some other elders, but it was great seeing his excitement as well. And earlier in the week we had dinner with some members in the University ward who had a friend come over to meet us. We taught the first part of the restoration and he is wanting to meet with us again on Tuesday to learn more. The Lord has prepared the hearts of so many people, and it is so much fun meeting and teaching them!
Love,
Elder Inman
Monday, May 16, 2011
Sunday, May 15, 2011
2 weeks in one...again
(written May 9th)
Hola Everyone,
This week I was able to Skype home and see my family gathered around our dining room table to talk to me for a few minutes, so I am basically on cloud 9 right now. It was amazing to see all of the changes that have taken place in such a short amount of time, with the girls hair growing out so much, Enoch talking (a little) and counting, Harrison looking more built then ever, and just how grown up everyone seems. I love my mission so much and would not want to be anywhere else, but also look forward to being with my family again. Activities like family movie night, FHE, Chuckie Cheeses with Danni girl, going to the YMCA with dad and mom, scripture study in the morning, jumping on the trampoline while its wet and soapy, celebrating birthdays, taking Tawny and Harrison out with friends, and apple smear are very treasured memories that make me so thankful to have an eternal family. Just imagine the mega group dates that can happen when I get back and Tawny, Harrison, Eve and Aurora are all able to date (plus Cody and Ashley, lol)!
So now that I am done talking about home I guess I can do a little updating on life in the mission :-) Elder Karren and I are absolutely loving working here in Las Cruces, and we both agree that it is one of the best places to be in the mission. We had Mother's day dinner at the Bluth's home and ended up outside cooking marshmallows over a fire and discussing with their mom and neighbor some of the beliefs of Latter Day Saints. Their neighbor accepted a Book of Mormon and promised to read a good amount of it before we come over this coming week to talk about it with her and the the Bluth's mom. They are one of the coolest families I have met on my mission and am so excited for them.
We are meeting with a guy from college who has not attended church in 3 years, and is now in the hospital not knowing what is causing him immense pain. We have given him a blessing and will be going back today or tomorrow to see how he is doing. We are also working with our down stairs neighbor (who loves to throw some pretty noisy parties), a girl at a nutrition shop close to us, a guy who is dating someone in our ward, a couple who just had a baby (2 nights ago), a guy who is preparing for re-baptism after he left the church 12 years ago, some guys who we met at a member dinner a week ago, a girl who has a brother in Utah that is a member and referred her to us, a guy on the cheerleader team at NMSU, an amazing part-member family who we have grown very close to, two guys working their way back to activity, a members neighbor, and a few other people. The work is going so well and I wish I could sit here for hours and tell you all about each one of them and how incredible they all are! But of course, my time is already out and I have to get going.
Have an amazing week!
Love,
Elder Inman
This week I was able to Skype home and see my family gathered around our dining room table to talk to me for a few minutes, so I am basically on cloud 9 right now. It was amazing to see all of the changes that have taken place in such a short amount of time, with the girls hair growing out so much, Enoch talking (a little) and counting, Harrison looking more built then ever, and just how grown up everyone seems. I love my mission so much and would not want to be anywhere else, but also look forward to being with my family again. Activities like family movie night, FHE, Chuckie Cheeses with Danni girl, going to the YMCA with dad and mom, scripture study in the morning, jumping on the trampoline while its wet and soapy, celebrating birthdays, taking Tawny and Harrison out with friends, and apple smear are very treasured memories that make me so thankful to have an eternal family. Just imagine the mega group dates that can happen when I get back and Tawny, Harrison, Eve and Aurora are all able to date (plus Cody and Ashley, lol)!
So now that I am done talking about home I guess I can do a little updating on life in the mission :-) Elder Karren and I are absolutely loving working here in Las Cruces, and we both agree that it is one of the best places to be in the mission. We had Mother's day dinner at the Bluth's home and ended up outside cooking marshmallows over a fire and discussing with their mom and neighbor some of the beliefs of Latter Day Saints. Their neighbor accepted a Book of Mormon and promised to read a good amount of it before we come over this coming week to talk about it with her and the the Bluth's mom. They are one of the coolest families I have met on my mission and am so excited for them.
We are meeting with a guy from college who has not attended church in 3 years, and is now in the hospital not knowing what is causing him immense pain. We have given him a blessing and will be going back today or tomorrow to see how he is doing. We are also working with our down stairs neighbor (who loves to throw some pretty noisy parties), a girl at a nutrition shop close to us, a guy who is dating someone in our ward, a couple who just had a baby (2 nights ago), a guy who is preparing for re-baptism after he left the church 12 years ago, some guys who we met at a member dinner a week ago, a girl who has a brother in Utah that is a member and referred her to us, a guy on the cheerleader team at NMSU, an amazing part-member family who we have grown very close to, two guys working their way back to activity, a members neighbor, and a few other people. The work is going so well and I wish I could sit here for hours and tell you all about each one of them and how incredible they all are! But of course, my time is already out and I have to get going.
Have an amazing week!
Love,
Elder Inman
Howdy ya'll,
This has been such a wearing and fun week as a missionary! We had the opportunity to do something a little unusual with a recent convert and an investigator this last Saturday. Elder Karren and I went to the college regional finals rodeo :-) It was so much fun, and the recent convert we went to support took 1st in the region for bareback bronc riding, and his brother did the best for the night in bull riding (this is more for mom- a girl rode a 16.07 in barrels to win it). Plus, it gave us a lot of time to talk to his father in law, who we are teaching right now on a consistent basis. We were also able to take time today, preparation day, to go golfing with them. Missionary work is fun in so many ways!
We had an incredible experience this last Sunday as well when a sister bore her testimony. She is a convert to the church, married with 2 kids, and her mom lives with them and is not a member. We go over periodically to have dinner with the family and share a message, and we have been able to build up a really good relationship with the entire family, including her mother. We were at their home for Easter and had an amazing lesson with them, their neighbor, and a good family friend, in which we testified many times of the Book of Mormonand the reality of the Restoration through the prophet Joseph Smith. The spirit bore strong witness and everyone in the room felt the power of our message.
When she stood up to bare her testimony in sacrament meeting she told everyone that she was going to wait until relief society to do it but realized two people really needed to hear it, and then said those two people were the missionaries. She told everyone about us teaching in their home and testified of how powerful our teaching is, as well as how much they feel our love. She then told everyone that if they have not had us in their homes to teach then they need to change that right away! She also said in her testimony that since our Easter lesson with them her mom has brought us up in all of their conversations, as well as all of her phone calls to other friends and family, and that she keeps asking when we are coming back over. After she finished her testimony three other people bore testimony and talked about how great of missionaries we are, which led to someone coming up to us after the meeting to tell us that she is ready for us to teach her non member sister (who we didn't know before).
Then in the University ward a sister came up to us and said that her boyfriend, who we have shared a couple messages with recently, said that he thinks he wants to become a Mormon and asked to take the lessons.
We had Zone Training this last week and we felt prompted to train on the joy of missionary work, with or without success measured by baptisms. The training went amazing, and I have seen even more how much joy really is part of this great work. The field is white and already to harvest, and we are being blessed so much for thrusting in our sickles!!
Love,
Elder Inman
This has been such a wearing and fun week as a missionary! We had the opportunity to do something a little unusual with a recent convert and an investigator this last Saturday. Elder Karren and I went to the college regional finals rodeo :-) It was so much fun, and the recent convert we went to support took 1st in the region for bareback bronc riding, and his brother did the best for the night in bull riding (this is more for mom- a girl rode a 16.07 in barrels to win it). Plus, it gave us a lot of time to talk to his father in law, who we are teaching right now on a consistent basis. We were also able to take time today, preparation day, to go golfing with them. Missionary work is fun in so many ways!
We had an incredible experience this last Sunday as well when a sister bore her testimony. She is a convert to the church, married with 2 kids, and her mom lives with them and is not a member. We go over periodically to have dinner with the family and share a message, and we have been able to build up a really good relationship with the entire family, including her mother. We were at their home for Easter and had an amazing lesson with them, their neighbor, and a good family friend, in which we testified many times of the Book of Mormonand the reality of the Restoration through the prophet Joseph Smith. The spirit bore strong witness and everyone in the room felt the power of our message.
When she stood up to bare her testimony in sacrament meeting she told everyone that she was going to wait until relief society to do it but realized two people really needed to hear it, and then said those two people were the missionaries. She told everyone about us teaching in their home and testified of how powerful our teaching is, as well as how much they feel our love. She then told everyone that if they have not had us in their homes to teach then they need to change that right away! She also said in her testimony that since our Easter lesson with them her mom has brought us up in all of their conversations, as well as all of her phone calls to other friends and family, and that she keeps asking when we are coming back over. After she finished her testimony three other people bore testimony and talked about how great of missionaries we are, which led to someone coming up to us after the meeting to tell us that she is ready for us to teach her non member sister (who we didn't know before).
Then in the University ward a sister came up to us and said that her boyfriend, who we have shared a couple messages with recently, said that he thinks he wants to become a Mormon and asked to take the lessons.
We had Zone Training this last week and we felt prompted to train on the joy of missionary work, with or without success measured by baptisms. The training went amazing, and I have seen even more how much joy really is part of this great work. The field is white and already to harvest, and we are being blessed so much for thrusting in our sickles!!
Love,
Elder Inman
(For the next couple of posts I'll include Elder Inman's address in case someone wants to send him a birthday wish ((July 13th - he'll be 21!)) he says he doesn't need anything, but he'd a Happy Birthday sentiment!)
Elder David K. Inman
New Mexico Albuquerque Mission
4400 Presidential Dr. NE Ste. E
Albuquerque, NM. 87109
New Mexico Albuquerque Mission
4400 Presidential Dr. NE Ste. E
Albuquerque, NM. 87109
Email: david.inman@myldsmail.net
Monday, April 25, 2011
Quenton L. Cook!
Hola,
This was an incredible week, and one that will never be forgotten. Our entire mission had the blessing of coming together to hear the words of an Apostle, 2 members of the Seventy, and a member of the Presiding Bishopric. I might spell their names wrong but we spent an hour with Elder Quentin L. Cook, Elder Costa, Elder Keele, and Bishop McMullin. There are several things that stood out to me that I would like to share:
- Elder Cook made an amazing promise to us. He started by saying that he was making the unique promise as a Special Witness of Christ. He said that there were some of us who have siblings struggling with activity, parents getting ready to lose a home to foreclosure, and other trials occuring at home, and that we may wonder why we are serving a mission instead of going home to help those we love. He then gave us a blessing that our family will receive greater blessings for our service as a missionary and there is no where else we could help them more. He continued the blessing by adding that not only our family, but everyone we love will begin receiving greater blessings because of our missionary service. And then he finished it by powerfully saying that for the rest of our lives everyone we come in contact with will be blessed as well.
- Elder Costa taught me something that I did not know. He testified that the United Sates is the BEST and MOST fruitful part of the Lords vineyard, and then added that missionary work here is easy. He said that this is where he would have wanted to be called on a mission.
- Bishop McMullin taught us missionaries that we are out here to share a unique message with the world, that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored through the prophet Joseph Smith. If we do not testify of the first prophet of this restoration we are not fulfilling our call.
- Elder Cook taught us that while testifying of the prophet Joseph Smith to investigators is crucial, it is even more important when teaching less actives.
- Elder Cook mentioned that a missionary is responsible for lifting the spirituality of the entire ward they serve in, and that we should be such good examples that more young men want to serve missions.
Love!
Elder Inman
This was an incredible week, and one that will never be forgotten. Our entire mission had the blessing of coming together to hear the words of an Apostle, 2 members of the Seventy, and a member of the Presiding Bishopric. I might spell their names wrong but we spent an hour with Elder Quentin L. Cook, Elder Costa, Elder Keele, and Bishop McMullin. There are several things that stood out to me that I would like to share:
- Elder Cook made an amazing promise to us. He started by saying that he was making the unique promise as a Special Witness of Christ. He said that there were some of us who have siblings struggling with activity, parents getting ready to lose a home to foreclosure, and other trials occuring at home, and that we may wonder why we are serving a mission instead of going home to help those we love. He then gave us a blessing that our family will receive greater blessings for our service as a missionary and there is no where else we could help them more. He continued the blessing by adding that not only our family, but everyone we love will begin receiving greater blessings because of our missionary service. And then he finished it by powerfully saying that for the rest of our lives everyone we come in contact with will be blessed as well.
- Elder Costa taught me something that I did not know. He testified that the United Sates is the BEST and MOST fruitful part of the Lords vineyard, and then added that missionary work here is easy. He said that this is where he would have wanted to be called on a mission.
- Bishop McMullin taught us missionaries that we are out here to share a unique message with the world, that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored through the prophet Joseph Smith. If we do not testify of the first prophet of this restoration we are not fulfilling our call.
- Elder Cook taught us that while testifying of the prophet Joseph Smith to investigators is crucial, it is even more important when teaching less actives.
- Elder Cook mentioned that a missionary is responsible for lifting the spirituality of the entire ward they serve in, and that we should be such good examples that more young men want to serve missions.
Love!
Elder Inman
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Tough one
Hello again,
Well, the Lord saw fit to try us this week, which I am confident means there are some amazing blessings just around the corner. I do not want to go into detail about the trials because some of them probably should not be posted on the internet, but it was one of the more spiritually trying weeks of my mission thus far. Sunday afternoon I felt very worn and wanted to find a place alone, which is impossible as a missionary, and just cry for a little while because of things that happened with investigators that I really care about. I started being very critical of myself and tried to criticize every thing I did to find out why certain things had happened but I kept running into a wall because it seemed out of my control. I have worked hard and been dedicated, but I could not help trying to root the the sad events to something I had done. Finally that feeling faded and I knew that everything that had happened was in the Lords hands. I felt peace wash over me as I sat and listened to our Stake's Easter Music production, and reflected on the events of Christ's life.
There were some really great things that happened this week as well though. I got my new companion and he seems like a great missionary. It is taking our ward's a little while to get used to seeing me with another missionary, but so far it seems they are warming up to him quickly. We had some amazing experiences that are helping both of us grow and become better missionaries. He just hit his 18 month mark so this is a great time in his mission to have trying experiences to test what type of missionary he is, as well as who he wants to be going home in 6 months. I look forward to this coming transfer with him as we learn from each other and bless the lives of many people in Las Cruces!
Love,
Elder Inman
(from April 11th)
Bitter Sweet
Hola everyone,
We got transfer news this morning and my companion Elder Yardley is leaving to Abq again :-( We were doing so well together, and in the area, so I am not real sure why he is being transferred away after just 3 transfers in this area. The University ward is doing so well right now that we have almost no time to work in the other ward because of all the teaching appointments we have each day, along with the training we are doing with missionaries in our zone. Our investigator pool has grown by at least 5 fold in the last transfer compared to many transfers before. But I am confident the transfer is inspired so I look forward to whatever is in the future. My new companion, who I will be picking up on Wednesday, is Elder Karren(who I know nothing about). I will be training him how to be a new Zone Leader, and Im sure he is very excited about where he is coming considering his very first half day here is packed with appointments during every hour of the day, and the zone is doing great.
This was another week of miracles and a lot of fun being a full time servant of the Lord. For the first time in this stake, and mission for all I know, we are holding a stake training for all ward mission leaders and missionaries combined, so we spent some time this week preparing for that with the high counselor over missionary work. We also hit a new high for new investigators in this zone and stories of miracle findings are spreading to create even greater excitement. The weather is great, we are teaching lots of amazing people, members are coming back to activity, miracles are happening about every day, and there is no where I would rather be. This is such a great feeling!
Love,
Elder Inman
Well, the Lord saw fit to try us this week, which I am confident means there are some amazing blessings just around the corner. I do not want to go into detail about the trials because some of them probably should not be posted on the internet, but it was one of the more spiritually trying weeks of my mission thus far. Sunday afternoon I felt very worn and wanted to find a place alone, which is impossible as a missionary, and just cry for a little while because of things that happened with investigators that I really care about. I started being very critical of myself and tried to criticize every thing I did to find out why certain things had happened but I kept running into a wall because it seemed out of my control. I have worked hard and been dedicated, but I could not help trying to root the the sad events to something I had done. Finally that feeling faded and I knew that everything that had happened was in the Lords hands. I felt peace wash over me as I sat and listened to our Stake's Easter Music production, and reflected on the events of Christ's life.
There were some really great things that happened this week as well though. I got my new companion and he seems like a great missionary. It is taking our ward's a little while to get used to seeing me with another missionary, but so far it seems they are warming up to him quickly. We had some amazing experiences that are helping both of us grow and become better missionaries. He just hit his 18 month mark so this is a great time in his mission to have trying experiences to test what type of missionary he is, as well as who he wants to be going home in 6 months. I look forward to this coming transfer with him as we learn from each other and bless the lives of many people in Las Cruces!
Love,
Elder Inman
(from April 11th)
Bitter Sweet
Hola everyone,
We got transfer news this morning and my companion Elder Yardley is leaving to Abq again :-( We were doing so well together, and in the area, so I am not real sure why he is being transferred away after just 3 transfers in this area. The University ward is doing so well right now that we have almost no time to work in the other ward because of all the teaching appointments we have each day, along with the training we are doing with missionaries in our zone. Our investigator pool has grown by at least 5 fold in the last transfer compared to many transfers before. But I am confident the transfer is inspired so I look forward to whatever is in the future. My new companion, who I will be picking up on Wednesday, is Elder Karren(who I know nothing about). I will be training him how to be a new Zone Leader, and Im sure he is very excited about where he is coming considering his very first half day here is packed with appointments during every hour of the day, and the zone is doing great.
This was another week of miracles and a lot of fun being a full time servant of the Lord. For the first time in this stake, and mission for all I know, we are holding a stake training for all ward mission leaders and missionaries combined, so we spent some time this week preparing for that with the high counselor over missionary work. We also hit a new high for new investigators in this zone and stories of miracle findings are spreading to create even greater excitement. The weather is great, we are teaching lots of amazing people, members are coming back to activity, miracles are happening about every day, and there is no where I would rather be. This is such a great feeling!
Love,
Elder Inman
Sunday, April 10, 2011
GC Weekend!!!
Hello from the Windy City :-)
I am finding out that spring in Las Cruces is extremely windy, but I still wouldn't trade our 80 degree, windy, days for the icy rain I hear many others are getting right now. Plus, General Conference marked the end of suit season, so now I get to enjoy the weather without a suit jacket. Its amazing how much spending some time in the sun can help lighten moods and put smiles on peoples faces, which makes meeting people on the street much more enjoyable.
This has been an amazing week since I lost wrote. Since there are so many stories I would like to share Ill just go ahead and start:
It has been recommended that we take any extra time we have during the evenings, when we have NOTHING else to do, to go night tracting. Two weeks ago we had one such evening so we went out knocking, which is not something we regularly do anymore. We drove out into the country side, picked a random street, and began. We knocked for a good amount of time with no success, meaning no one even opened the door or showed any signs of life, and then we saw a couple people walking down the street. We approached them and had a fun conversation, but they showed little real interest in our message. One of them said that he had taken the lessons long ago when his girlfriend was a member and she has since "married in the temple for eternity and then divorced". Before we left we asked if we could come by on Sunday to drop off a video we had talked about, and they accepted. That Sunday was unusually busy and we forgot about them, probably because they showed little promise in actually listening to the message. Yesterday after Conference we rememberd them and decided to at least drop off the video, and they surprised us by inviting us in and telling us they will watch the video this week and would like for us to come back next week to talk about it with them.
Another great first lesson happened this week with a young girl in college here. When we first knocked on her door she answered looking slightly unhappy that we were standing there. My companion started in with the usual intro about who we were when all of a sudden I felt strongly that we needed to do this approach differently. I cut in and began talking to her about her high school basketball team, college, and a couple other friendly topics. After a few minutes she had visibly relaxed and I told her that we have an amazing message to share and that we would love to stop by some time and talk to her about it. She accepted and set up a return appointment, and we taught her for the first time last Wednesday. She is friends with a member in our ward and he told us that she wanted to close the door on us from the get go but decided that would be mean and left it open out of courtesy, and that we were just " way to nice to say no to". In our lesson she confirmed that about the only reason she invited us back was because of how nice we seemed :-)
I wish I had more time to continue telling you about everything happening here and with my mission, but there are so many other things I need to do today so I better close this one out. I am praying for you, and am very thankful for your prayers on my behalf!
Love,
Elder Inman
Temple Trip!
Hi everyone,
I meant to upload some pictures today but I forgot my camera so I guess you will have to wait for that. A good friend I am teaching in the University ward looked me up on her phone to facebook friend me and showed me my profile picture so now I am in an even bigger hurry to get some new pictures sent off! Well as always, time is short so Ill go ahead and tell you about as much of my week as I can.
Yesterday we had another mission temple trip!! It was an incredible experience and now I am even more revved up to go forward in this great work. President Shumway, the temple president and past mission president and general authority, stood up and spoke to us about the wonderful blessings available to our family through our service. I thought over some of the miracles I have heard about from home and felt very thankful for my service so far, and that I still have another year to help my family receive even more :-)
There have been some very trying experiences I have gone through lately and stress seemed to be ebbing away at me so I prayed for help. I have still loved my mission, but stress was having some bad effects and I was hoping for direction on how to rid myself of it. I felt prompted to take the following week and simply thank God for all of my blessings in my prayers and not ask for anything more, so that's what I did (minus 4 or 5 exceptions for my investigators). At first it was really hard and I cheated a little. I would say "thank you for helping me tomorrow" instead of "please help me tomorrow". But as the week continued and I pondered on my prayers throughout the day, I realized more fully how much I am really thankful for and how blessed I am. Praying like that for a week brought me so much more joy and the things I had been stressing so much about seemed to fall into place. There is so much God is doing for me and those I love that I seem to look over in my day to day life.
We ended up spending 15-20 hours throughout the week serving that lady I talked about in my last letter. She had been falling really far behind and we were the answer to her prayer to get her pecan fields irrigated. She is a little, old Chinese lady who is attempting to attend school full time, take care of her grand-daughter, and grow 120 pecan trees by herself. Two days before we got the call to help her we found a Chinese Book of Mormon in our apartment and she was very happy to receive it. We are also going out to her farm with one of the top agriculture professors in the nation, who we are good friends with, to give her a little more guidance.
Time is short :-)
I love you all!
Elder David Inman
I am finding out that spring in Las Cruces is extremely windy, but I still wouldn't trade our 80 degree, windy, days for the icy rain I hear many others are getting right now. Plus, General Conference marked the end of suit season, so now I get to enjoy the weather without a suit jacket. Its amazing how much spending some time in the sun can help lighten moods and put smiles on peoples faces, which makes meeting people on the street much more enjoyable.
This has been an amazing week since I lost wrote. Since there are so many stories I would like to share Ill just go ahead and start:
It has been recommended that we take any extra time we have during the evenings, when we have NOTHING else to do, to go night tracting. Two weeks ago we had one such evening so we went out knocking, which is not something we regularly do anymore. We drove out into the country side, picked a random street, and began. We knocked for a good amount of time with no success, meaning no one even opened the door or showed any signs of life, and then we saw a couple people walking down the street. We approached them and had a fun conversation, but they showed little real interest in our message. One of them said that he had taken the lessons long ago when his girlfriend was a member and she has since "married in the temple for eternity and then divorced". Before we left we asked if we could come by on Sunday to drop off a video we had talked about, and they accepted. That Sunday was unusually busy and we forgot about them, probably because they showed little promise in actually listening to the message. Yesterday after Conference we rememberd them and decided to at least drop off the video, and they surprised us by inviting us in and telling us they will watch the video this week and would like for us to come back next week to talk about it with them.
Another great first lesson happened this week with a young girl in college here. When we first knocked on her door she answered looking slightly unhappy that we were standing there. My companion started in with the usual intro about who we were when all of a sudden I felt strongly that we needed to do this approach differently. I cut in and began talking to her about her high school basketball team, college, and a couple other friendly topics. After a few minutes she had visibly relaxed and I told her that we have an amazing message to share and that we would love to stop by some time and talk to her about it. She accepted and set up a return appointment, and we taught her for the first time last Wednesday. She is friends with a member in our ward and he told us that she wanted to close the door on us from the get go but decided that would be mean and left it open out of courtesy, and that we were just " way to nice to say no to". In our lesson she confirmed that about the only reason she invited us back was because of how nice we seemed :-)
I wish I had more time to continue telling you about everything happening here and with my mission, but there are so many other things I need to do today so I better close this one out. I am praying for you, and am very thankful for your prayers on my behalf!
Love,
Elder Inman
Temple Trip!
Hi everyone,
I meant to upload some pictures today but I forgot my camera so I guess you will have to wait for that. A good friend I am teaching in the University ward looked me up on her phone to facebook friend me and showed me my profile picture so now I am in an even bigger hurry to get some new pictures sent off! Well as always, time is short so Ill go ahead and tell you about as much of my week as I can.
Yesterday we had another mission temple trip!! It was an incredible experience and now I am even more revved up to go forward in this great work. President Shumway, the temple president and past mission president and general authority, stood up and spoke to us about the wonderful blessings available to our family through our service. I thought over some of the miracles I have heard about from home and felt very thankful for my service so far, and that I still have another year to help my family receive even more :-)
There have been some very trying experiences I have gone through lately and stress seemed to be ebbing away at me so I prayed for help. I have still loved my mission, but stress was having some bad effects and I was hoping for direction on how to rid myself of it. I felt prompted to take the following week and simply thank God for all of my blessings in my prayers and not ask for anything more, so that's what I did (minus 4 or 5 exceptions for my investigators). At first it was really hard and I cheated a little. I would say "thank you for helping me tomorrow" instead of "please help me tomorrow". But as the week continued and I pondered on my prayers throughout the day, I realized more fully how much I am really thankful for and how blessed I am. Praying like that for a week brought me so much more joy and the things I had been stressing so much about seemed to fall into place. There is so much God is doing for me and those I love that I seem to look over in my day to day life.
We ended up spending 15-20 hours throughout the week serving that lady I talked about in my last letter. She had been falling really far behind and we were the answer to her prayer to get her pecan fields irrigated. She is a little, old Chinese lady who is attempting to attend school full time, take care of her grand-daughter, and grow 120 pecan trees by herself. Two days before we got the call to help her we found a Chinese Book of Mormon in our apartment and she was very happy to receive it. We are also going out to her farm with one of the top agriculture professors in the nation, who we are good friends with, to give her a little more guidance.
Time is short :-)
I love you all!
Elder David Inman
Monday, March 21, 2011
Humbled
Hi from Las Cruces,
This has been a very eventful week, starting with
last Preparation Day when we went mountain bike riding. We showed up to A Mountain and
read the sign at the entrance saying that the bike trails were not suitable for beginners and grew
even more excited about our coming adventure. It was so rocky and steep that we
were not even able to bike up most of it and had to carry the bikes on our backs
for the majority of the incline of the mountain. When we finally reached the top
we celebrated, took pictures, prayed, and prepared for our descent back down the
mountain. Most of the missionaries at that time decided they were not up for the
ride down and took a side road instead so they did not have to mess with the
rocky trails. Since I used to mountain bike I assumed, for some odd reason, that
I would still be good at it and didn't think twice about going the easy way.
I pridefully began riding down with the only two other Elders that
agreed to take on the trails and very shortly hit a good sized rock going way to
fast and flew over my handle bars. I slid a couple feet after hitting the ground
and then collided head first with another large rock, immediately very thankful
for the helmet rule. My head whipped sideways pretty hard and two of my teeth
were hit and chipped in the accident. We continued our ride after I got myself
together again and after our return home I nursed my wounds, cleaned myself up,
and we went out ready to work. Thankfully there is a member chiropractor and
dentist near our area so I am all fixed up now with a crazy story to carry with
me :-)
We also had a very successful week with missionary work. Our trust with the
members in the area has continued to build and is now resulting in quite a few
member referrals and new investigators. It is really excited to have our days
filled with meeting new people, teaching appointments, and supporting and
training the other missionaries in our zone. This past week we were referred to
a college student who after talking with us decided that we truly are sent from
God to help him and agreed to come to church and continue with the lessons. Even
though much of our ward was gone with spring break he loved being there and
wants to continue learning more. I wish I could write about all the people we
are teaching right now and the miracles that are happening, but we are spending
the majority of our preparation day helping another referral dig trenches for
her pecan trees and we need to get over there soon.
I love you all and
am so thankful for the support I have as a missionary!
Elder Inman
This has been a very eventful week, starting with
last Preparation Day when we went mountain bike riding. We showed up to A Mountain and
read the sign at the entrance saying that the bike trails were not suitable for beginners and grew
even more excited about our coming adventure. It was so rocky and steep that we
were not even able to bike up most of it and had to carry the bikes on our backs
for the majority of the incline of the mountain. When we finally reached the top
we celebrated, took pictures, prayed, and prepared for our descent back down the
mountain. Most of the missionaries at that time decided they were not up for the
ride down and took a side road instead so they did not have to mess with the
rocky trails. Since I used to mountain bike I assumed, for some odd reason, that
I would still be good at it and didn't think twice about going the easy way.
I pridefully began riding down with the only two other Elders that
agreed to take on the trails and very shortly hit a good sized rock going way to
fast and flew over my handle bars. I slid a couple feet after hitting the ground
and then collided head first with another large rock, immediately very thankful
for the helmet rule. My head whipped sideways pretty hard and two of my teeth
were hit and chipped in the accident. We continued our ride after I got myself
together again and after our return home I nursed my wounds, cleaned myself up,
and we went out ready to work. Thankfully there is a member chiropractor and
dentist near our area so I am all fixed up now with a crazy story to carry with
me :-)
We also had a very successful week with missionary work. Our trust with the
members in the area has continued to build and is now resulting in quite a few
member referrals and new investigators. It is really excited to have our days
filled with meeting new people, teaching appointments, and supporting and
training the other missionaries in our zone. This past week we were referred to
a college student who after talking with us decided that we truly are sent from
God to help him and agreed to come to church and continue with the lessons. Even
though much of our ward was gone with spring break he loved being there and
wants to continue learning more. I wish I could write about all the people we
are teaching right now and the miracles that are happening, but we are spending
the majority of our preparation day helping another referral dig trenches for
her pecan trees and we need to get over there soon.
I love you all and
am so thankful for the support I have as a missionary!
Elder Inman
Monday, March 14, 2011
Another crazy one
Hey everyone,
This is going to be another super fast and short email
because I am getting my haircut today and then going biking again, but this time
with the zone, so my time is short. Im sorry my emails have been so pitiful
lately, but it seems like the longer I am out the less time I have to get
everything done in a day. Each day of the week seems to be growing shorter and
the list of things to get done continues to grow larger. Somehow it always ends
up working out great though :-) So here goes my highlight reel:
- We went
to Catholic Mass yesterday with one of our investigators in the University ward.
When we invited her to our church she asked if we would be willing to go to
her's as well to see what it is like, which of course we were OK with. So last
night from 7:30-8:30 I sat in my fist Mass. The Spirit was very noticeably different there, and with
all of the ceremonial procedures that they do I was not able to ponder about
Christ very much at all, but it was still a good experience to meet new people,
and I think many of those close to us felt the spirit we carried. During the
session the Father even took the time to come down and personally and shake our
hands, which our investigator said has never happened to her. Then afterwards
we(our investigator and us) were invited by some girls we met at a recent
University activity about religion to take a tour and they mentioned how cool it
is to be around Mormons :-) They were way fun to talk to and we decided we are
going to try to organize a LDS/Catholic activity some time soon, which has to be
some kind of anomaly.
- We had an incredible spiritual experience this
week that made me even more thankful for the companionship of the Holy Ghost, and my calling as a missionary. A couple
nights ago after dinner I felt a little sick to my stomach and we thought it
would be best to call it a night early and get some rest considering how
non-stop we had been going all day. As we neared our home I felt like we needed
to go visit a potential investigator that we have not been able to contact for a
while, so we turned around and drove out to her house instead. We walked up to
her door in the dark and she was standing outside waiting for us already. She
told us she did not have much time to talk but asked if we could give her a
blessing(we still don't know how she knows about those). We brought a chair over
and gave her a very powerful blessing in her front yard and then afterward with
tears streaming she said that she couldn't believe we actually came. She had
prayed us to her home! Over and over she kept saying how amazing it was that we
showed up and asked if we could continue working with her.
Miracles
continue to happen and I wish I had enough time to tell about the many more that
I have witnessed just this last week. Being a missionary is so
incredible!!!!
I love you all,
Elder Inman
This is going to be another super fast and short email
because I am getting my haircut today and then going biking again, but this time
with the zone, so my time is short. Im sorry my emails have been so pitiful
lately, but it seems like the longer I am out the less time I have to get
everything done in a day. Each day of the week seems to be growing shorter and
the list of things to get done continues to grow larger. Somehow it always ends
up working out great though :-) So here goes my highlight reel:
- We went
to Catholic Mass yesterday with one of our investigators in the University ward.
When we invited her to our church she asked if we would be willing to go to
her's as well to see what it is like, which of course we were OK with. So last
night from 7:30-8:30 I sat in my fist Mass. The Spirit was very noticeably different there, and with
all of the ceremonial procedures that they do I was not able to ponder about
Christ very much at all, but it was still a good experience to meet new people,
and I think many of those close to us felt the spirit we carried. During the
session the Father even took the time to come down and personally and shake our
hands, which our investigator said has never happened to her. Then afterwards
we(our investigator and us) were invited by some girls we met at a recent
University activity about religion to take a tour and they mentioned how cool it
is to be around Mormons :-) They were way fun to talk to and we decided we are
going to try to organize a LDS/Catholic activity some time soon, which has to be
some kind of anomaly.
- We had an incredible spiritual experience this
week that made me even more thankful for the companionship of the Holy Ghost, and my calling as a missionary. A couple
nights ago after dinner I felt a little sick to my stomach and we thought it
would be best to call it a night early and get some rest considering how
non-stop we had been going all day. As we neared our home I felt like we needed
to go visit a potential investigator that we have not been able to contact for a
while, so we turned around and drove out to her house instead. We walked up to
her door in the dark and she was standing outside waiting for us already. She
told us she did not have much time to talk but asked if we could give her a
blessing(we still don't know how she knows about those). We brought a chair over
and gave her a very powerful blessing in her front yard and then afterward with
tears streaming she said that she couldn't believe we actually came. She had
prayed us to her home! Over and over she kept saying how amazing it was that we
showed up and asked if we could continue working with her.
Miracles
continue to happen and I wish I had enough time to tell about the many more that
I have witnessed just this last week. Being a missionary is so
incredible!!!!
I love you all,
Elder Inman
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