October 2, 2017 The Week of the Bible

This week flew by as well. General Conference was awesome and I learned a lot. One of my favorite talks was by Elder Gary Stephens. I loved the analogy that small sins can cause an eclipse in our lives and block out the light of the gospel. I loved also how he said that when eclipses happen, we should still know the right path to follow and be able to follow it until the eclipse passes. It was sad finding out that Elder Hales passed away but he is on to better things. This week we found a few new investigators and all of them were teenage boys. It's cool to see how we can meet people in the most random ways and it can feel as if they were put there for us specifically.

On Thursday I went on a split because Elder Kingston and Elder Whittle had to go down to Jacksonville. We ate at a place called Rockn Bear Cafe and it was so good. Later that day we had a bible referral and went and taught a lady who had beenvvgoing through some hard things. We challenged her to read the Book of Mormon at the end and she told us that she would and she told a story of how she knew we were there for a reason. Just previously a month or so earlier, she had lost sight in both of her eyes and wasn't able to see. She had also been hit by a car and had a few other horrible things happen. She was single and didn't have anything at the time because her husband had left her. She prayed to god and asked for his help through all of her trials. She was miraculously able to regain sight in one of her eyes and when we challenged her to read the Book of Mormon, she was so grateful and knew that is why she got her sight back in her eye. Again it is amazing how heavenly father prepairs people to receive his word and prepairs them to meet the missionaries at certain times in their lives when they are ready and willing to accept the gospel.

I got to meet and converse with my first Jehovah Witness couple. It was a good time even though they believe you will get cursed and plagued for adding any word to the word of God. I don't think that they realize that the bible has been changed many times and people have added to the bible they believe in. We were mostly discussing how our religions believe similar things with the wife of the couple and it was all good and smiles. Then the screen door moved a little so she opened it and her husband was standing there listening to our conversation. That's when the arguing started. We won and he lost words to say but it was all good. It was a good learning experience though.

In closing I want to emphasize the power of prayer. I pray around 15 times a day if not more. It is a huge blessing to be able to ask for things from my Heavenly Father and be able to receive instant answers and revelation. It is also a very reliving feeling to be able to pour our my heart and my struggles and sins to him and ask for help and forgiveness. An amazing example in the scriptures is Ether. We need to use the power of prayer in our every day lives. It doesn't just have to be in the morning and night, bugg should be all the time. As we listen after and during our prayers, we can literally speak to our Father in Heaven. I know prayer can bless any and all of us no matter what we've done or in what were looking for. PRAY EVERY DAY! It is how we can keep close to god in the crazy world around us.

I love every one of you and pray for you as well as feel the blessings of your prayers to me. Remember that we are all children of God and that he loves each one of us so much. Have a blessed week (something they say in the south).

Elder Elgaaen and Kingston

Elder Elgaaen & Patrick

Patrick & Elder Elgaaen Pink Ties are in!

Everything here is going good. My companion is great and loving even though he is a crazy driver. I am in Waycross Georgia and the area is quite crazy. There is sometimes murders if not a lot in this one part of town called Garlington Heights. We don't go there because there are loose dogs that try to bite you that aren't fenced in. Its quite special I guess. There is a guy named Brother Fish and he is quite a Character. He is shorter and older but looks like a pirate and has a funny sense of humor. It has been fast short week and it seems to be flying by.