Eternal Perspective/ Moves Call/ Sick Companion

I was going to name this week’s Email "Reaping the Fruits of Our Labors" but there was a few let downs this week so now I’m just trying to focus on the “Eternal Perspective.” I was unable to email last week due to Transfers but nothing really happened this last week, so I’ll give you the week before in detail then just sum up this past week! 

June 27th

P-day was alright, but later Monday night we were totally lead by the spirit to this man’s door named Ross. Ross is a total champ, and let us in right away. He said he felt something and knew we came for a reason. He invited us back, and asked if his wife could join next time!! What a blessing! After the lesson we walked outside and saw a huge rainbow, to me that was God reminding us what a miracle he just sent us.

June 28th 

We had District meeting in Stranraer for the first time today! It was good stuff, I also had an awesome exchange with Elder Gates, and we had lots of adventures! One of my favorite parts was when we were chapping doors and found this goofy dog with his head poking through the bottom of the fence! It’s always a good time with Elder Gates! 

June 29th

Wednesday was busy, we made Emma and Rachael's baptismal program, and had a fantastic fish and chips dinner with my buddy Anne (she came bearing gifts from home for my year mark and the 4th of July!)

After was Rachael and Emma's baptismal interview, they did amazing and passed with flying colors. They have learned so much these past few weeks! To end the night off we taught Ross and his wife Angela again. We planned on teaching the restoration, but the Lords had other plans. When we sat down I knew I had to teach the Word of Wisdom, and it went great! We also got them thinking about baptism! And get this, when we walked back outside, we saw another rainbow!

  

June 30th

Not as much to report on for Thursday, The best part was probably the dinner appointment we had at the branch presidents. Vicky made the meal!

July 1st

Friday started out great, but had a pretty crappy ending. In the morning we went to a member’s home with Rachael and Emma and had them try on the baptismal clothes, that was pretty sweet. Later on the Hanlens had us for dinner and made some of the best steaks I’ve probably ever had!! They brought it out on a beautiful hot plate and everything! Bro Hanlens knows how to make and amazing pepper corn sauce too! But to put a sad ending to a happy story, we got a call from Emma and Rachael crying and saying that their parents got upset about them getting baptized, and think that we are brain washing their daughters... The baptisms were called off. It was really hard to handle, but we had no choice but to just take it and try to work things out with them. We managed to set up an appointment for the branch president to meet with their parents Saturday morning, and all that was left for us to do was wait and pray that everything went well.

July 2nd

Saturday we went out not accomplishing what we thought we'd do. However our prayers were answered, and after an hour and a half meeting with the branch president and Rachael and Emma's parents, their parents agreed to take the lessons with Emma and Rachael! If all goes according to plan they said they would give them the choice to be baptized in four weeks. I'm still a little heartbroken about the whole thing, but I know this will be an even bigger blessing in the end.

July 3rd

Sunday and Moves Call… Church was pretty good stuff. Fast Sunday is always extra brutal as a missionary. I had plenty on my mind to pray about to make it a meaningful fast, and that always makes a difference! We had Emma and Rachael at church again today, which was a big relief! I'm starting to feel more confident and at peace that everything will work out with them. The main event today was the moves call.... "Elder Cluster the Lord is sending you to be District Leader in Dalkeith (Edinburgh Zone) Your new companion will be Elder Crockett." I'll be straight up and honest, I was less than impressed with my moves call. This is one of the last places I wanted to go. However I know it is an assignment from God and where I need to be. I'll be putting and extra focus on humility this transfer! Looking back I never really wanted to go to Stranraer either, but I've seen some of the biggest blessing of my life in this area. I'll look forward to finding the reason I need to be in Dalkeith. 

July 4th To July 10th

Now to sum up this past week! Monday was the 4th of July, and it was a pretty trunky day for me.... This day a year ago I found myself at an All American Party at the MTC, drinking Rootbeer and singing the Star Spangled Banner. This year I found myself in a rush to shove all of my junk in my suitcases, then spend the rest of the day with an English man in Ayr. No one even mentioned this historic day! I made up for it by treating myself to some KFC and thinking about all the fireworks going off 7,000 Miles away.

Tuesday was a wild one! In the morning I got the Ayr Elders to drive us up to Glasgow where Elder Wilson got his new companion and I was put on a train all by myself to Edinburgh! When I was getting on the train, knowing I was going to be alone for the first time in a year I was thinking about all the cute girls that were going to try to sit by me, and different escape routes I could take in case of emergencies! I guess God had something else in mind. A man named Phillip found me, and started asking me all kinds of strange questions. I don't think he was all there and had one crazy eye that was going all over the place. Phillip really wanted to do a questionnaire game with me, to make a long story short he asked me some weird stuff and I lost. What he didn't tell me is that there is a challenge when you lose, and that was he got to find my "laughing spot" and I had to let him tickle me to death. He then spent the next half an hour trying to convince me to take off my socks and shoes so he could tickle me! Just when I thought I was going to get away, the train breaks down!!! No joke, we were 30 seconds from my station! I spent another 20 minutes trying to borrow someone's phone to call the zone leaders, and trying to convince Phillip that I wasn't taking off any of my clothes  so he could tickle me! To set his mind at rest little Phil had me write down a day and time he was going to meet me on the train to complete this challenge. He also made sure I wrote down that I was taking my shoes and socks off... All day yesterday I felt guilty thinking about poor Phillip trying to find me on the train. When I finally made it to my station, the Zone Leaders were nowhere in sight. The pay phone was broken… and I had to ask about 20 heartless Scots before I found a foreigner who let me use his phone. Turns out the Zone Leaders where just asleep in the car lot... I then spent the rest of the day running missionaries around with them because it turned out my new companion was sick and in the mission home. This brings me to the rest of my week… We did pretty much bubkiss, I cleaned the junk out of my new flat because everything was sticky and gross, but that’s about it. I got out once and met our only investigator, I'm still questioning if she's accountable... The best part of the week was probably church on Sunday. We've got a ward of 50 members which feels freakishly big compared to the 10 I was used to in Stranraer. Most of them are older, but everyone's really friendly, I can see myself getting close to this ward. Elder Crockett is feeling much better today, so it should be smooth sailing from here on out!

Well there ya have it, two solid weeks of humility and learning. It’s been real! Please pray we get new investigators...... Thank you for all of your love and support, I'm sure I'll have a much more successful and eventful week to talk about next Monday!

Love, Elder Cluster

PS this is my new address! 

150 Newbattle, Abbey Crescent

Dalkeith, Midlothian

EH22 3LR

Scotland, UK