Guess what? We got bikes!
Just thought I'd throw that in. Reason being - for the 7 weeks I was with Elder Daly we had to basically rebuild our teaching pool from the ground up. And on foot, it was very easy to just walk up to people and start teaching them then and there. But at this point, we've got a HUGE (unbelievably huge..) pool of potential investigators as well as a fairly large number of those we actually have lessons with.. And Elder Stewart and I decided that we need to shift our focus from building our pool to straight teaching. I guess I never realized or comprehended just how much a bike would speed us up. We've been setting up and teaching lessons like crazy! We had 4 on Sunday, 4 yesterday, 3 set up today, 5 set up on Wednesday.. Everything is literally exploding right now and we're almost to the point where we're busier than we can handle. But everything keeps falling into place and just working out... Which leads me to believe that we're not alone in this effort! :)
One of our investigators dropped their baptismal date last week... They still want to meet with us, but they were busy on Sunday and weren't able to attend church; so we have to recommit them for another day and pray for the future. We do have 2 investigators that are rock solid on date for July 28th, so I'm very excited for them. One of them is Jelena, the 9 year old girl who continues to amaze me with her heart of gold. She's probably the kindest, most selfless kid I've ever met. She always wants to help her family, and even tells us that every day she tries to do something specifically to help Jesus Christ. It's unbelievable to me. Since we've been working with them, her family has returned (with the exception of one) to going to church every Sunday AND staying the full 3 hour block. The other baptism we have scheduled is for Amy, and she is just... Incredible. She's 24 years old and expecting a baby on August 18th (the best birthday in the WORLD) and she wants her child to be blessed and raised LDS. Her husband is a less-active member who is on his way back; the only thing holding him back is work... We just had a lesson with them yesterday and they were extremely excited and were already setting up details for the program and the time of her baptism. They were able to hear us speak in their ward on Sunday and they both loved the talks we gave. I somehow managed to speak for almost 30 minutes... How crazy is that? But we're going to keep working with all the people we have and this week we will begin committing them to baptism and hope the Spirit will touch their hearts.
I'm really enjoying serving with Elder Stewart. He's another one of those missionaries that is an incredibly hard worker. He's a tad rough around the edges, but he's allowed to be since he's from Memphis Tennessee... Hahaha. But after seeing the area and seeing the potentials that Elder Daly and I worked so hard to build, his jaw dropped to the floor. He said he's never come into an area where it was so evident that the missionaries before him had worked so hard. And immediately we got to work - I know this transfer (even though it's only 5 weeks..) we can see miracles. Everyone is so CLOSE! With a few prayers and diligence, things are going to start happening around here. I just know it.
We were also able to finally teach Miki last week! She had us over for dinner and then we taught her a quick lesson on feeling the Spirit and prayer.. And she is just so prepared! As I mentioned before she has been to girls camps, youth conferences, just about everything you can imagine. And she knows exactly what the Spirit feels like. I just can't believe she isn't already a member of the church. We weren't able to teach a full lesson, but this coming week we're getting her to come to church and hopefully she'll recognize that the feelings of the Spirit are more than just warm fuzzy feelings, but in reality it is God telling us that something is true.
Another fun fact - on Sunday night we were able to attend a fireside with M. Russell Ballard. And it wasn't at all what I was expecting.. Since it was all about Pioneer Day and historical stuff. But it was a blessing in itself to just be in the presence of one of the Apostles of Jesus Christ.
Mom - I can't believe I'm almost not a teenager anymore. In all reality it probably won't feel a whole lot different.. Probably because life in the mission field is so sheltered and cut off from anywhere else that nothing feels real besides being a missionary. I'm starting to feel more and more that this IS my home and that Iowa is just like.. I don't know.. It seems more like a dream. If that makes sense. There's no place I'd rather be than the Utah Ogden Mission haha.. Tell Andrew Olson that I'm here to stay. And that kid needs to write back for a change! That punk! There are a few students in our area (we're about.. 5 miles from Weber State University) but all of them go to the YSA wards so we don't really work with them a whole lot. Hey I remember the Dunnicks! Tell Allen and Austin I say hi! Oh my gosh. I can't believe Evan is a freshman. That's crazy! ... You bought a piano. Is it pretty nice? Or does it just take up more space in the living room? :) Haha.. Impulse buy! I'll look for some music for Ryan. I need to send some things home SO badly, but I am nowhere near a post office (or if I am I have NO idea where it is) and I have no box. So that's a problem... What's the gerbil's name? You have 3 missionaries to choose from now - is it Tyler, Andrew, or Ben?
Dad - Yeah I'm pretty much used to being called Elder Grant or at the very least being called Grant. Every once in a while there will be someone named Tyler around me and that part of my brain almost responds when someone talks to them. But it's mostly gone. I think I've heard that teenage porcupine talk! Or at least I've heard OF it for sure. The more I think if it, it's very true.. I don't think I spent a lot of time with you since you were always at work or meetings and I was always at school related things or work. So yes - I definitely think that trip to Colorado was a memorable one! That boulder field was just awesome. There were so many hidden passages and things... Did you get a chance to really explore them or did you just kind of glance around? I dont' recall. Hopefully you guys get some rain. It's rained like 4 times in the past 6 days, which is nice because it cools things off from the regular 95-100 degrees. I think you mean Elder Daly, not Elder Lewis :) Haha. The AREA is Mount Lewis, silly goose! Best of luck with the truck situation, and try and control mom's impulse buying a little more... I'm afraid when I come home there will be a space shuttle in our backyard :).
I love you all. Stay classy!
- Elder Tyler Grant
Just thought I'd throw that in. Reason being - for the 7 weeks I was with Elder Daly we had to basically rebuild our teaching pool from the ground up. And on foot, it was very easy to just walk up to people and start teaching them then and there. But at this point, we've got a HUGE (unbelievably huge..) pool of potential investigators as well as a fairly large number of those we actually have lessons with.. And Elder Stewart and I decided that we need to shift our focus from building our pool to straight teaching. I guess I never realized or comprehended just how much a bike would speed us up. We've been setting up and teaching lessons like crazy! We had 4 on Sunday, 4 yesterday, 3 set up today, 5 set up on Wednesday.. Everything is literally exploding right now and we're almost to the point where we're busier than we can handle. But everything keeps falling into place and just working out... Which leads me to believe that we're not alone in this effort! :)
One of our investigators dropped their baptismal date last week... They still want to meet with us, but they were busy on Sunday and weren't able to attend church; so we have to recommit them for another day and pray for the future. We do have 2 investigators that are rock solid on date for July 28th, so I'm very excited for them. One of them is Jelena, the 9 year old girl who continues to amaze me with her heart of gold. She's probably the kindest, most selfless kid I've ever met. She always wants to help her family, and even tells us that every day she tries to do something specifically to help Jesus Christ. It's unbelievable to me. Since we've been working with them, her family has returned (with the exception of one) to going to church every Sunday AND staying the full 3 hour block. The other baptism we have scheduled is for Amy, and she is just... Incredible. She's 24 years old and expecting a baby on August 18th (the best birthday in the WORLD) and she wants her child to be blessed and raised LDS. Her husband is a less-active member who is on his way back; the only thing holding him back is work... We just had a lesson with them yesterday and they were extremely excited and were already setting up details for the program and the time of her baptism. They were able to hear us speak in their ward on Sunday and they both loved the talks we gave. I somehow managed to speak for almost 30 minutes... How crazy is that? But we're going to keep working with all the people we have and this week we will begin committing them to baptism and hope the Spirit will touch their hearts.
I'm really enjoying serving with Elder Stewart. He's another one of those missionaries that is an incredibly hard worker. He's a tad rough around the edges, but he's allowed to be since he's from Memphis Tennessee... Hahaha. But after seeing the area and seeing the potentials that Elder Daly and I worked so hard to build, his jaw dropped to the floor. He said he's never come into an area where it was so evident that the missionaries before him had worked so hard. And immediately we got to work - I know this transfer (even though it's only 5 weeks..) we can see miracles. Everyone is so CLOSE! With a few prayers and diligence, things are going to start happening around here. I just know it.
We were also able to finally teach Miki last week! She had us over for dinner and then we taught her a quick lesson on feeling the Spirit and prayer.. And she is just so prepared! As I mentioned before she has been to girls camps, youth conferences, just about everything you can imagine. And she knows exactly what the Spirit feels like. I just can't believe she isn't already a member of the church. We weren't able to teach a full lesson, but this coming week we're getting her to come to church and hopefully she'll recognize that the feelings of the Spirit are more than just warm fuzzy feelings, but in reality it is God telling us that something is true.
Another fun fact - on Sunday night we were able to attend a fireside with M. Russell Ballard. And it wasn't at all what I was expecting.. Since it was all about Pioneer Day and historical stuff. But it was a blessing in itself to just be in the presence of one of the Apostles of Jesus Christ.
Mom - I can't believe I'm almost not a teenager anymore. In all reality it probably won't feel a whole lot different.. Probably because life in the mission field is so sheltered and cut off from anywhere else that nothing feels real besides being a missionary. I'm starting to feel more and more that this IS my home and that Iowa is just like.. I don't know.. It seems more like a dream. If that makes sense. There's no place I'd rather be than the Utah Ogden Mission haha.. Tell Andrew Olson that I'm here to stay. And that kid needs to write back for a change! That punk! There are a few students in our area (we're about.. 5 miles from Weber State University) but all of them go to the YSA wards so we don't really work with them a whole lot. Hey I remember the Dunnicks! Tell Allen and Austin I say hi! Oh my gosh. I can't believe Evan is a freshman. That's crazy! ... You bought a piano. Is it pretty nice? Or does it just take up more space in the living room? :) Haha.. Impulse buy! I'll look for some music for Ryan. I need to send some things home SO badly, but I am nowhere near a post office (or if I am I have NO idea where it is) and I have no box. So that's a problem... What's the gerbil's name? You have 3 missionaries to choose from now - is it Tyler, Andrew, or Ben?
Dad - Yeah I'm pretty much used to being called Elder Grant or at the very least being called Grant. Every once in a while there will be someone named Tyler around me and that part of my brain almost responds when someone talks to them. But it's mostly gone. I think I've heard that teenage porcupine talk! Or at least I've heard OF it for sure. The more I think if it, it's very true.. I don't think I spent a lot of time with you since you were always at work or meetings and I was always at school related things or work. So yes - I definitely think that trip to Colorado was a memorable one! That boulder field was just awesome. There were so many hidden passages and things... Did you get a chance to really explore them or did you just kind of glance around? I dont' recall. Hopefully you guys get some rain. It's rained like 4 times in the past 6 days, which is nice because it cools things off from the regular 95-100 degrees. I think you mean Elder Daly, not Elder Lewis :) Haha. The AREA is Mount Lewis, silly goose! Best of luck with the truck situation, and try and control mom's impulse buying a little more... I'm afraid when I come home there will be a space shuttle in our backyard :).
I love you all. Stay classy!
- Elder Tyler Grant
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