Week 5 in Indianapolis

Hello Peeps!

This week has been going good. I am learning to just be fine with the outcome of things when I am trying my best. This week I would make lots of great plans and really focus on inspired planning and would make several plans in advance. there was some good stuff that happened this week but about 30% of what I actually planned for came about... So I am just working on patience and trying to stay highly motivated. 

Elder Orr is leaving for Australia on February 10th! I will be sad to see him leave. On Sunday we had a little fireside/sacrament meeting service at a members home cause church was cancelled and they had us all share a 5 minute thought and Elder Orr told them that he loved me and I was his best friend and it really surprised me! haha I thought I was just that annoying old trainer and it just really took me by surprise. So that was really touching. 

Other than that we are really trying to prepare the area for Sister Missionaries and it is coming along pretty well! We have investigators coming out of the wood works and we have one single mother with a baptismal date and she would be perfect for the Sisters. Today I am heading to the family history center to finally learn how to do genealogy work! I figured since I am close I might as well utilize it before I am transferred far away :) 

I am excited, we are going with a recent reactivated member. He is super awesome and loves to help out with missionary work. We are going to learn family history together like a couple of bros! Anyways that is about it.

Love you all and appreciate the love and support you show! You are da best!

Sincerely,

Elder Young

Simply Wonderful and a truck...:)

Things have really been picking up over in the Indy 2 area! we have an investigator named Nathan (we taught him the first three discussions in one sitting haha!) who came to church last sunday and it was an amazing experience. The ward was simply wonderful and so helpful. 

We also have another investigator named Bill who is awesome and we will be meeting with him this week. And there are other people coming out of the wood-works. I have very high hopes for this area and Elder Orr and I are striving to magnify our callings. 

Elder Orr is doing great and I am very proud of the immense progress he has made. It will definitely be a shame to lose him to Australia. 

Other than that things are going good. I need some more self evaluation of myself cause I feel like I have been pretty weak lately and I need to pick things up. That is something I am working on. Also with my studies I am trying to have a greater knowledge of the scriptures (memorizing and knowing them so I can apply them in lessons better) also I am working on more humble and down to earth door approaches. Surprisingly, Elder Orr and I found that when we were able to be very enthusiastic about the work and just let our love for the people emanate from us, there was an immense difference at the doorstep. We could feel the spirit telling us that we were finding out how a real door approach should go, so that was a great revelatory experience this week.

Last Wednesday we had a trainer-trainee meeting with the Mission President and all the trainers... and trainees! it was an awesome opportunity. This is my second one in two transfers so I knew pretty much the whole program :) I learned a ton and am trying to improve myself from it. 

Also we had interviews with the Mission President Last week and that was very refreshing. President Cleveland is truly a man of God. He is so personable and compassionate, I was able to completely relax and talk to him about the work. It was exactly what I needed to raise my spirits.

The weather here is very icky and it makes it very difficult to get a lot of stuff done. It was great just last night, the snow was close to being all melted, it was around 41 degrees and we were out in sweaters and loving it!..... then this morning it was in the single digits, super windy and about 4 inches of snow... arrrgh! oh well.

We are on exchanges with our zone leaders (Elder Buck(my great grandpa (mission posterity)) and Elder Smith (grandpa - more mission posterity)) they are awesome zone leaders and super fun. They also get to drive a brand spankin new truck, we are all really jealous of them. :)

Anyways, that is about all this week! Thank you for all your love and support!

Sincerely,

Elder Young

An Intellectual Conversion...

Howdy Folks!

This week has been a whole heap better. I have been making it a serious matter of prayer this week and it has been wonderful. I feel the Lord wants this area to pick up, He just wants His servants to rely fully on Him. So I am trying to do that. My testimony of Heavenly Father and His nature has grown immensely on my mission. I feel as though my testimony has turned into an "intellectual conversion" (Tad R. Callister, The Infinite Atonement). 

I love my Savior as well and will follow Him forever for who He is and what He has done for me. It is an absolute privilege to be out here serving the Lord and I often feel that missions don't just help bring others to Christ but "refine" missionaries as well ("The Refiner of Silver"-just read your email Sister Davis, loved it!).

This week we received a new investigator! His name is Bill Engle and his best friend is a professor of music at BYU. He has been around Mormons for a long time and is interested in learning more. He is a great guy and loves connecting with people so he is pretty much our best bud now :) Also we went tracking Saturday and got some sweet potentials so hopefully we can start teaching and baptizing!

My reflection for the week: since I have been training it has been really fascinating to see where my companion is at and remember where I used to be and to now see how far I have come. I love looking at mine and other people's lives over time and noticing the change and progression people make, it is really amazing what time and the Lord can do to people :)

Thank you everyone for your love and support. I love all of you guys and hope you are all doing well in your pursuits.

Sincerely,
Elder Young

Reality sets in...:)

Hello Everybody!

I have now been in my new area almost a week now with my trainee. My companion is Elder Orr, and he is an Idaho boy like me!! He is from Pocatello. I love him, he's great. We are in Indianapolis and we have a large area! It has been a great experience this week because I now truly realize how foolish of me it was to say that missions are easy..... missions are not easy. Nor should they be. I have truly been humbled out here and I am now realizing my true nothingness. It is a bittersweet thing honestly. I feel like a metal being purified, its weird. On the bright side I am relying on the Lord more than I ever have before! :) When we found a pretty solid potential investigator while tracking I prayed for him every time I knelt down and prayed, so I am guessing that he has about 15 prayers to his name already :) We are going back tonight to meet with him so hopefully we can share our message with him soon, his name is Ron... everyone pray for him will ya? thanks :) We are also meeting with a former Investigator named Jack Davies. He is 70 and is an Englishman. He studied at Oxford University in England and loves to talk about it :) I love the guy to death! He has read the whole Book of Mormon and knows that the church is true, the Book is true, and Joseph Smith was a prophet! He also knows that getting baptized is what he needs to do but he is just struggling with procrastination, so we are working with him on that. I have full faith he will enter the waters of baptism soon.

Well that is about all, I have faith that these weekly updates will get more enthusiastic and better as the weeks go by. I know the Lord has plans for this area and we just have to be patience and obedient.

Thank you for your love and support. I love you all!

Sincerely,

Elder Young

A few pictures from his last shindig in Shelbyville, Indiana

The fruits of Elder Young and Elder Willie's time in the Shelbyville, Indiana vineyard; Kathy, Casey, and DeeAnna.

ANOTHER CHRISTMAS UPDATE and a transfer.....

Feliz Navidad!

 

This week has been full of love and joy and lessons learned. Casey Antle was baptised on Christmas eve day. What a wonderful occasion, she has such a strong desire to follow Christ and she is just plain awesome :) Also tomorrow on New Years eve day our other investigator Cathy Harden is getting baptised. She is a fireball of spirituality! She used to be jewish so most of the commandments she was already living. It is been amazing working with so many amazing people; investigators, members, and the other missionaries. They bring me so much joy and happiness. Christmas day all the elders went over to the Lopers (the super stars of missionary work.... like fo reals.) and they invited our investigator Cathy over with her two little boys for the whole day and also our recent convert Sister Graham. We had so much fun playing card games and just laughing our heads off the whole day, I will always be grateful for the Lopers and their amazing examples.

 

I AM LEAVING SHELBYVILLE!! It is so sad! Transfers are on Wednesday and I will be leaving and will be training a missionary on his last 6 weeks of training. I can just feel that there are going to be a whole ton of humbling experiences and many lessons to learn which is good cause I need them! I am super sad to leave my ward here in Shelbyville, i am going to miss them so much. This ward here, they are the "war zone" ward. Everyday they are doing missionary work and constantly striving to build the kingdom of God. I have so much respect for their sacrifices and dilligence. I hope that I can be like them someday. The work is truely hastening though. The first 6 months of this year the ward had about 68 member present lessons, these last 6 months there has been 138 member present lessons. Is that crazy or what!? Anyways, I am excited to come back in a couple years and visit Shelbyville and see the growth of the ward.

 

Hope everyone is dcing well, thank you so much for the love and support you show me. I love all of you so much. Sorry if I can't write everyone this week my time is almost out and they wont let us extend.

Sincerely,

Elder Young

A CHRISTMAS UPDATE!

Hello Everyone!

 

Wow, what a week!

 

First off I want to thank all of you who sent me cards, letters, and gifts. That meant so much to me and it lightened up my week tremendously! So thank you sincerely for that.

 

Secondly, I love my ward here in Shelbytucky!! We have had so much ward involvement these past couple weeks it's rediculous! We can feel so strongly that the Lord is hastening his work around the world and it is only through the members that we can take the next step forward. Bragging moment here: Because of the ward's involvment this past week we had 12 member present lessons (a lesson with an investigator where a member is involved in the lesson)!! That is a ridiculously high number. Most missionaries get an average of 2 or 3 member presents a week, if that. My testimony of the Lord and His work is so strong. I know that He is in charge of this work and if we are obedient and rely on the spirit, we can help Him bring about his work. I just feel honored to take part in it!!

 

Third, I want to give a shout out to my favorite animal on the planet, our beloved dog Cowboy passed away a few days ago from internal bleeding. He was 13 years old. He was the best dog anyone could asked for and he will be missed.

 

Fourth, this Tuesday (Christmas Eve day) we are having three baptisms. The people getting baptised are Casey Antle, and then Melinda's two girls Stormy Helsley, and Dameona Williams. All three are very excited to get baptised and we are just as excited for them! Its cool to see it be a confidence booster for the ward to have some new members.

 

Hope everyone is doing well, I love you guys and pray about you. Keep following Christ, for He is the way to salvation and exaltation. I better see every last one of you in the Celestial kingdom or I am going to be furious! :) Spread the gospel with someone you know or make a friend and talk about God and His love for us, that is my commitment for all of you. I know it will bless your lives and the lives of others.

 

Sincerely,

Elder Young