So what a crazy week, I've got to do this quick because we've got a lot to do today. First of all, transfers calls were yesterday... but I'll get to that in a minute.
We had a lot of success this week, seeing some progression in nearly all of our investigators. Except for Axx, one of the wonderful people that has a baptismal date. She hasn't come to church in the last couple weeks, because she's been going to another church. Sad. We'll talk to her though and everything will turn out fine. Like I said though, everyone else has made good progress and it's been wonderful to see!
We also had exchanges with the Assistants in Amsterdam this week, that is where the adventures come in. I got to work with Elder Hirsh, an Elder from my MTC group. First adventure is that after dinner we hopped in the car and were headed to a neighborhood to talk with a less active member and see if we couldn't share something with him real quick. We were driving down the freeway, chatting and listening to music, when all of the sudden Elder Hirsch readjusted his legs, bumped the keys and everything went silent. Somehow he had hit it just right and the car had turned off. We were cruising down the freeway, the steering wheel locked up, and even with repeated attempts to turn it back on it wasn't working. Luckily though the breaks still worked and Elder Hirsch was able to force this steering wheel enough to get over to the side. Once we were stopped we were able to turn the car back on and go on our merry way though. Super big miracle though that no one was around us at the time (impossible odds, big cities in this mission always have traffic) and that we were able to safely come to a stop. Heavenly Father looks out for his servants and I'm sure there was more than one guardian angel helping out.
Once we got there that is where the Holy places comes in. The less active was home but trying to catch up on sleep from a night shift so we let him be. So we started knocking around the neighborhood trying to find someone to teach. On the 4th door we knocked an older lady answered the door, gave us one look, and walked back in the house, leaving the door open. Then a middle-aged women came back and started talking to us about Utah and then invited us in. We ended up talking with them for a while, they weren't particularly open to a message so we were just chatting. But slowly the conversation changed and they were pouring their hearts out to us about all the struggles and trials they were having in their lives, to this point this isn't really anything new from stuff you experience nearly every day on a mission. But then they opened up even more about how they had been praying for help that day and they felt like we were sent to answer that prayer. They asked us to pray with them, and I won't say most of what was said, but the spirit that was in that room was so pure and warm it was breathtaking. The Saviors love and desire to bless them was evident. Places like that turn in to holy ground for me. They will be going back to visit that family soon.
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| The Savior Wants to Forgive Elder Craig A. Cardon General Conference, April 2013 |
The other adventures I think I will keep for later.
Was I forgetting something? Oh yeah! Transfers! *drumroll* So Elder Reese is leaving actually, he is going up to Den Helder in the Netherlands. I am staying for a 4th (I finally get to stay in a city for 6 months!). I am getting Elder Sosa as a companion. He is about a year out, and from Las Vegas area I think. Super cool, I'm excited.
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| Elder Ruben Sosa Las Vegas, Nevada |
I learned a lot about 'real' vs 'fake' people in the last little while. Sometimes you can tell when people are putting up fake wall or persona, while others are very genuine. It has a lot to do with intentions for why you are doing what you are doing. Those who fake being a good person or always seem to want to do the right thing, or claim they are trying to be good and glorify God, just in their own way; all these people can bring about good, but at the end of the day they are not very happy because they either are not or have not become who they have 'pretended' to be. This kind of person's intentions is to be good so that they can look good to others, and they have not yielded their hearts to God. Similarly, those who are genuine also want to be good and do good, and they often times bring about much good. They are happy though, and you can feel of their joy and sincerity. This is because their initial intention, desire, and motive in to become more like Jesus Christ and because they love God. These kinds of people yield their hearts to God, and even though they to might not be comfortable at first with everything the Lord asks of them, they are refined and changed by His love and the spirit, and they are happy to serve Him, and have lasting joy at the end of every change, and throughout their lives. So if we are ever not happy in doing good, look at your heart and why you are doing what you are doing, make the switch, and press forward in faith.
I love you all!
-Elder Hayden Lott
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| New haircut last week picture from Facebook |
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| Mission Leadership Council, December 2015 Elder Lott is on back row, second from right picture from President and Sister Bunnell Mission Blog |
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| Antwerpen/Eindhoven Zone Conference, December 2015 Elder Lott is on back row, somewhat centered between lights picture from President and Sister Bunnell Mission Blog |
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| Mission Leadership Council, January 2016 Elder Lott is on the back row, 4th from the right picture is from President and Sister Bunnell Mission Blog |
