October 24, 2016

Things are going pretty well! We have had two lessons with Adam that have went pretty well! We kind of soft invited him to baptism (If you come to know these things are true will you be baptized) and he said yeah so we committed him to pray and ask if it was true and we'll follow up with him on Tuesday and see if he's had any experiences. We also have an appointment with a lady named Ann Gonzalez tomorrow so we're super busy tomorrow which is cool. We are also hoping to have a lesson with Marc Daud this week and the dream is to have 3 solid progressing investigators by the end of the week. We also have a temple trip this week so we're literally swamped. But time goes by way faster when you're doing actual work and stuff instead of just driving around knocking on doors so it's definitely a good thing. I should also be going to the temple with April soon as well. Things are pretty good right now. I think is probably favorite ward by far. Me and elder Mangus are hoping we stay together for 3 transfers. It's very possible too with our new President. He's been keeping missionaries in their areas a lot longer than President Kendrick did. Which could be good and bad. Driving all day is getting annoying. I'm pretty good at parallel parking now though.

Well I think that's all!

Love you!

Elder Sherwood

October 17, 2016 

 

So we finally have a pretty firm appointment with someone. Our appointment with Adam last week fell through due to drama and confusion (he has a crush on Dora, our Brazilian ward missionary, and she shut him down pretty hard it sounds like haha) but he scheduled an appointment with us tomorrow, so we'll teach him the Restoration with 2 Portuguese translators. So that'll be interesting. He went to Church yesterday and an RM who went to Brazil gave his homecoming talk and he bore his testimony in Portuguese and I didn't see it but I guess Adam lit up when he did that. So I think he's really loving the Church right now so I think he'll be a pretty solid investigator. We're pretty excited to start teaching him even if the language barrier might make it awkward.

 I feel like I should start putting spiritual thoughts in these letters so I'll share with you a thought we've started sharing with a couple families at dinner. Alma 37: 38-45 The Liahona is compared to the Words of Christ. As we exercise faith in the scriptures (read with the purpose of getting help with something or answering a question) we will be lead through our trials and afflictions to the promised land A.K.A happiness and fulfillment. We have been kind of doing poorly at our studies recently and we are trying to do better. We have found that when we have better studies our whole day goes better and we're more motivated. The scriptures are a powerful tool that God has given us and as we learn to exercise our faith God blesses us with prosperity.

Things are looking up! Thanks for everything!

Love you!

Elder Sherwood

Crazy week holy cow! Where do I start? Our washer is broken. We have been calling the emergency maintenance guys for the past week and we only got them in here once to diagnose the problem. So we've had to give our laundry to a member to wash. While we were walking back from the leasing office trying to get someone to come look at our washer, Elder Mangus decides to climb up the side of the stairs, jumps off the railing on to the platform, and then falls over saying quietly but pretty forcefully "Ow, ow Fetch that hurts, ow!" It turns out he broke his foot from jumping off that 3 foot railing so he has a boot and a cane for 6 weeks. We now have a full time car as well. We have decided that we would definitely rather have bikes than a car because the car just adds levels of stress to your day for some reason. Oh and we got towed the same night we got the car. So yeah.... Things were pretty rough last week. But they're looking up! We are probably going to pick up a very solid Brazilian investigator on Thursday, who has been coming to church regularly the past month or 2 and has been loving it. His name is Adam I might have mentioned him I can't remember. The main problem there is going to be the language barrier. I guess I'll start praying for the gift of tongues this week haha. We are also going to hopefully start teaching Marc Daud any day now. It sounds like he wants to take things really slow though. The struggling family we've been working with is having really big  problems. The dad left and all we can really do now is comfort and share messages with the mom. It's really frustrating to see that, But it strengthens my testimony of how living the Gospel brings families closer together and helps them over come the challenges and roadblocks that come. (Helaman 5:12)

Thank you for the protein; hopefully I get it today! I need to make sure I get up and work out in the morning now that we aren't biking all day, or I'm going to get faaaat. All in all I'm doing fine, It's been hard but I'll make it. I think if I just really buckle down and discipline myself our days will go better and won't feel so long. Thanks for all you do for us Mom!  Hope you aren't too stressed!

Love you!

Elder Sherwood