Monday, April 18, 2016

The work is hastening!



Family and friends,



First off, we moved! We're out of the cozy little apartment we were living in on Avenue B and now we're living with the Jeide's on Avenue E! My new address is at the bottom, so feel free to send anything :)

Anyways, the first week being with my cousin has seriously been the best thing ever! I love him so much. He's a super refreshing companion, meaning I always feel so full of energy with him around! We've been working super hard and are really seeing the Lord's hand in the work. I've really had my testimony strengthened that this is His work, gospel and church.

This week I'll sorta go through each day one at a time because it was that good. Tuesday night the Cody Elders came up and Elder Nuffer and Elder Lankford left, leaving Elder Loehr and I in Powell. That night we had a great lesson with a young less active couple where we applied Elder Holland's talk from conference to their desire to get sealed in the temple. It really answered lots of their questions and gave them the hope they need to push through tomorrows to get there. The rest of the night was cleaning and getting other logistics taken care of for transfers.

Transfer Wednesdays are usually a day where next to no missionary work is done and I'll be honest, I was looking forward to a bit of relaxation, but I really felt the need to get the transfer started that day so a Elder Loehr and I hit the pavement! We walked around and talked with people of the streets and contacted a bunch of investigators. We even got a new one! Then we drove down south of town contacting some more people. We had a really cool doorstep lesson with an investigator that we thought was dodging us, but literally everything that could have gone wrong in her life did, so we're glad we found her. While we talked she realized that all these hard things that were getting in the way of our appointments came from Satan trying to stop us from meeting. She's really starting to understand how this Gospel can bless her. We also talked with a lady we thought was a less active member, Aletha, and we found out that she's actually excommunicated. She was very open with her feelings again, like usual, and told us that she was scared to possibly convert again but is willing to try! She wouldn't stop thanking us for being persistent and never give up on her because we've been trying to teach her this whole transfer but it's never worked out. We told her that we don't give up on her because we know it's the right thing for her and that it's what God wants for her, she really liked that. We also talked with Joe, he's in his 20s and his Dad is a recently reactivated member. We read from Mosiah 24 with him about God making us strong and our burdens light and he started tearing up pretty bad, right there on his porch!

Late Wednesday night Elder Stone showed up and then Thursday we started working hard. Elder Stone is super good at talking to everyone and I couldn't tell you how many times since Thursday that we've pulled over and ran a couple people down! We didn't got any new investigators from it yet, but we've met some nice people and had good conversations. That night we met one of the coolest people from my entire mission so far. His name is Dennis, he's 70 years old and a philosophy/art professor at Northwest College. Every time we walk by his house we see his big truck out front. And when I say big mean BIG. The wheels are more than half as tall as me. But the real unique thing about the truck is the horns (don't worry, pictures will come). He has 90 real cattle horns coming out of the bed of his truck. That's not even the entire unique part yet because this is Wyoming, lots of people have cattle horns in the back of their trucks. Dennis has every inch of them covered in small pieces of mirrors. It's quite the bright and reflective sight! Anyways, we talked with him and he told us stories about his truck and cops pulling him over just to get pictures of it! He's had so many crazy experiences in his life, especially with that truck. Then he told us that he used to be a minister and wasn't looking for a new church, but he said we could come back and chat with him about religion during May when he's working on his lawn!

Saturday night we had a pretty cool miracle with a referral. We got Mark's name and address and went to contact him but it was a motel. The motel owner finally told us which one he lives in so we visited him. It turns out he's a less active member, we're trying to find his records now. He asked us for a blessing because of some bad lung problems he has. We talked with him about faith and then gave him a blessing. Before, he was really drowsy and sick looking. After, he was happy and smiling and healthy looking! He told us that he felt tingly all over and good inside. We gave him a Book of Mormon because he doesn't have a copy anymore and invited him to church, sadly he didn't show but that leads us on to our next miracle!

Sunday night it was 8:50 and we had planned on checking in on Mark because he wasn't at church but we both felt it was too late to see him that night. We prayed about it and felt strongly to visit him. He wasn't home, so we knocked on his neighbor's door that had a light on. Normally we don't knock around in motels because the owners get really mad, but we figured that God told us to go there so there had to be a reason. Well, his neighbor wasn't interested. So we started walking back to the car which was a block away. On the way we passed a house that only had a garage light on and we figured 'hey, it's 8:57, let's try it! What's e worst that can happen?' So we knocked on it and I had a scared moment thinking this was a bad idea because the place looked pretty run down on the outside. I said a silent prayer asking for protection and help and then the Victor came to the door. He brought us right in and sat us down and told us he's been wanting to talk with us for a while! When he was in prison a while ago he was reading the Book of Mormon and everyone there would persecute him for it, but he kept reading it because he thought it was the word of God. It turns out he grew up here and is best friends with some members that really helped him through some of the struggles of his life. So we taught a quick lesson and gave him a Book of Mormon and got a return appointment for Wednesday and the house of the member he knows! I am seriously so stoked for this transfer! Victor seems so prepared and I can't wait to talk with him more!

Anyways, you all have a great week! Pray to see how you can help God in this work and then act!



Elder Tippetts
607 Avenue E
Powell, Wyoming 82435





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