Family and friends,
Wow! Saturday was officially one month since I left on my mission!
It's crazy to think that much time has already gone by! I've got 23
months to go! But don't worry, I'm not counting down, I'm counting up!
I think there is so much potential and so much the Lord has in store
for me and I know that as I'm obedient and work hard I'll keep
learning and growing the whole time! I know that even if times get
hard I have access to an infinite amount of strength through the
atonement!
This week has been different than others, it's really interesting.
Like I said last week, we've either baptized all of our investigators,
dropped them because they weren't progressing for too long or they
moved away. So we don't have a really big teaching pool. Because of
that we're obviously workin in finding new investigators. Tracting is
the #1 place to go in general to find people, but that's getting hard
because Newcastle is so small and Elder Clark has been here for almost
3 months now and has knocked on most doors at least 2-3 times already.
It's not uncommon for people to answer the door and say 'Weren't you
here like 2 weeks ago? I already took your pamphlet and watched your
video, I'm still not interested.' So obviously we keep doing it and
hope people change their minds, and we do see that happen, but thanks
to technology we have other ways of contacting people! When you get to
a new area you go through and friend as many people as live in that
town as possible basically. And then we are supposed to post 2-3 times
a week so that people see good things on their timeline and get the
gospel out there and more available. Then we just message random
people. Yup! We'll go through our friends list and just start
messaging people! Then some people respond and we get to know them and
teach gospel principles and try to find a time when we can teach them
in person. It's great because most people seem to be a lot more open
online. I found a kid from the high school that we're going to teach
tomorrow night, his name is Cooper and he's a senior I think. I think
it's a miracle we were able to meet him because as I was talking with
him he said basically if we had knocked on his door his parents would
just send the Mormons packing and he never would get the opportunity
to talk to us. But now we're going to teach him because of Facebook!
We wouldn't have been able to meet him through a door! He has so many
questions about Mormons and already has a strong belief and faith in
Jesus Christ! I shared a pamphlet with him through Facebook messenger
and he read it and asked lots of questions about it and really liked
it! I'm super excited to see where this goes!
One more thing about Facebook! I got my privacy setting fixed so you
should all be able to see all my posts, go press the follow button if
you want them to show up on your timeline everything I post! You can
go to my page just by typing in facebook.com/ElderGarianTippetts!
Another cool thing is I'm learning Jujitsu haha! On Wednesday the 5th
for mutual one of the young men learns jujitsu so he brought his
teacher and one of his friends that does it too! So we showed up
because a lot of the young men that were there were less active. So we
talked with them and learned some jujitsu! Then at the end we were
talking to the two teachers and found out both of them used to be
active members as well! One of them had been preparing to go on a
mission with his best friend but then they both ended up not going.
And guess what! His best friend from back then is in our ward and a
strong member again! So we're going to start working with him and his
friend to help bring him back! It's so cool how wherever you are you
can find people to help come closer to Christ! I've got a challenge
for you all along with that! Pray everyday for missionary
opportunities and to see everyone like God sees them! Then, wherever
you go, always look for people that you can help. You don't have to
teach a lesson from Preach My Gospel, you don't have to baptize them,
but you could say something that brightens their day and let's them
see God's love a little more. It's small actions like those that will
help people's hearts be softened and make them more accepting to the
gospel in the future. You may not see the immediate effects but try to
trust God that he'll use you as an instrument in his hands.
I hope you all have a great week!
Elder Tippetts
here like 2 weeks ago? I already took your pamphlet and watched your
video, I'm still not interested.' So obviously we keep doing it and
hope people change their minds, and we do see that happen, but thanks
to technology we have other ways of contacting people! When you get to
a new area you go through and friend as many people as live in that
town as possible basically. And then we are supposed to post 2-3 times
a week so that people see good things on their timeline and get the
gospel out there and more available. Then we just message random
people. Yup! We'll go through our friends list and just start
messaging people! Then some people respond and we get to know them and
teach gospel principles and try to find a time when we can teach them
in person. It's great because most people seem to be a lot more open
online. I found a kid from the high school that we're going to teach
tomorrow night, his name is Cooper and he's a senior I think. I think
it's a miracle we were able to meet him because as I was talking with
him he said basically if we had knocked on his door his parents would
just send the Mormons packing and he never would get the opportunity
to talk to us. But now we're going to teach him because of Facebook!
We wouldn't have been able to meet him through a door! He has so many
questions about Mormons and already has a strong belief and faith in
Jesus Christ! I shared a pamphlet with him through Facebook messenger
and he read it and asked lots of questions about it and really liked
it! I'm super excited to see where this goes!
One more thing about Facebook! I got my privacy setting fixed so you
should all be able to see all my posts, go press the follow button if
you want them to show up on your timeline everything I post! You can
go to my page just by typing in facebook.com/ElderGarianTippetts!
Another cool thing is I'm learning Jujitsu haha! On Wednesday the 5th
for mutual one of the young men learns jujitsu so he brought his
teacher and one of his friends that does it too! So we showed up
because a lot of the young men that were there were less active. So we
talked with them and learned some jujitsu! Then at the end we were
talking to the two teachers and found out both of them used to be
active members as well! One of them had been preparing to go on a
mission with his best friend but then they both ended up not going.
And guess what! His best friend from back then is in our ward and a
strong member again! So we're going to start working with him and his
friend to help bring him back! It's so cool how wherever you are you
can find people to help come closer to Christ! I've got a challenge
for you all along with that! Pray everyday for missionary
opportunities and to see everyone like God sees them! Then, wherever
you go, always look for people that you can help. You don't have to
teach a lesson from Preach My Gospel, you don't have to baptize them,
but you could say something that brightens their day and let's them
see God's love a little more. It's small actions like those that will
help people's hearts be softened and make them more accepting to the
gospel in the future. You may not see the immediate effects but try to
trust God that he'll use you as an instrument in his hands.
I hope you all have a great week!
Elder Tippetts
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