Email #67 - Birmingham Round 2

December 18, 2017

Birmingham, Alabama

Family! Transfers were this week.  I am back in the Spanish Branch in Birmingham. Long story short is that about 4 months ago, they combined the 2 Spanish Branches here in Birmingham to make a bigger one. So I am technically serving in the same spot I was in Feb-May but I'm now serving in the Cahaba Spanish Branch. Pretty Crazy! It's good to be back though and I have been well received back into the Branch. It's been good!

I don't know if y'all remember an investigator named Irma Ayala that I was teaching last time I was here... Elder Krupa and I tracted into her one day.  As I've been serving in other places she has continued to investigate the church and she really wants to get baptized but her husband at one point said that if she got baptized they would be getting a divorce. So she decided she was just going to keep meeting with the missionaries and learn more and more. In the meanwhile, Chayo (the husband) has slowly but surely been coming around. This is what I've heard from other missionaries. I've stopped in a few times while I've been in Birmingham but other than that I haven't been able to see them. I haven't been able to see all the change happening. Soooooooooo.... I stopped in with my new companion Elder Lewis this week.  We show up and they were super excited to see us. As they welcomed us into their house, there was a Latino Preacher talking to them. I guess he is Chayo's cousin.  He started talking to us and starts to really get into it and bash with us about what's right and what's really of God.  We just sat there and basically just took it. After about 2 minutes go by, Chayo, Irma, and us are all listening to this guy go off and talk about how Joseph wasn't a prophet and all this stuff about our church. All of the sudden, Chayo speaks up and just gets into it with him! haha! He basically bore his testimony of all the truthfulness of the message that we as missionaries bring. I wish y'all could have seen it. I was like drooling on the other side of the room thinking  "What is happening... Is that really Chayo?" Irma and Chayo continued to back us up hard core and we didn't say a word! He defended Joseph Smith, the church, the Savior, and all that we stand for. They aren't even members! It was amazing! I was just speechless. When I left Lorna the first time, Chayo hadn't even sat down in a lesson with us. He would just walk through or be in the other room the entire time. Irma had only been taught the first 3 lessons. Then the next thing I see of them is testifying to a Latino Preacher of the truthfulness of the Gospel. Irma mentioned a scripture that she found on her own in Revelations. It's Revelations 10:9-10 it says:

9 And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.

10 And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.

She told him that this scripture is talking about the Book of Mormon. It was powerful. They are going to be baptized. I know it! They are so strong. Chayo is continuing to come around and I know that they will continue to grow. Will y'all keep them in your prayers and pray that they will come to the conclusion that they need to be baptized? I know that the Lord will answer our prayers. As we pray for specific things and for specific people he knows how he can help.

Thank you for all you do! I love and appreciate all the love you show me. I am so grateful for this Christmas Season and the opportunity we have to be able to reflect on the birth of our Savior. He lives! and He loves each of you. He has perfect gratitude for all you do. Have a great Christmas week. Love you all!

 The Carter Hill Crew

The Colvin Family. They are the greatest!

The Davis Family. Man... I'll miss them. Some of the most hysterical people down here!

 Patty and Meta

 The Jamaican! Elder Lewis is the man.

Elder Johnson and Elder Erickson at our Transfer Hub Meeting

Email #66 - Living Christmas Trees & Co-Prayers

December 11, 2017

Montgomery, Alabama

Okay! So I have some good stories for y'all this week. It makes me excited just getting ready to tell you!!! So first off, we got invited this week to go to a Christmas Concert at the First Baptist Church in downtown Montgomery. It was great. Not quite like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, but it was amazing! What they do is they have a massive tree that everyone piles into and they all sing.  It's super cool! I'll send you some pictures so you can see what it looks like. But it was great! It was probably the biggest church in Montgomery. Just massive! It was super cool. I got chattin' with the lady sitting next to me and she mentioned that her son was the man on the drums. That was super awesome. So after the show, she turned to me and said, "Hey! Come with me! I want to introduce you to my son." So we went back and met a bunch of the performers and it was fantastic! There were all four missionaries from our ward there and as the Pastor was giving his little prayer and all that good stuff he kept looking at us really interestingly. It was kind of funny.  I don't know if he was intimidated or what but I guess all 4 of us lined up in white shirts and ties is scary! haha!

The other day we were at a Christmas Dinner party that a member invited us to. There were a bunch of latinos there which was great. We were able to meet a lot of new people. But as we were getting started and were about to say the prayer on the food when the man conducting said, "Would one of y'all missionaries say the prayer?" All the missionaries then looked at me... So I stood up and at the same time an elderly man stood up as well and said, "Hey let's do a Co-Prayer!" I instantly thought, "How in the world is this going to work? Am I just going to say like every other word or something and this prayer will be all over the place?" Oh my goodness. I was about to start laughing. So he started praying, "Oh Lord, Thank you for all you do for us Lord." Then I look up and he points to me... "Um... We are thankful for the opportunity we all have to be here together and celebrate the season of Christmas...." As I finished the prayer he said, "That was a great co-prayer. We should do that again sometime!" It was such a funny experience. Something I've never done before.

Well we hear about our Transfer news tonight so I'll let you know next week if I get transferred or not. Thank you for all you do! I love you all! Have a great week celebrating the true meaning of Christmas. #LighttheWorld He Lives, and He loves you!

Strength and Honor

"Shall we not go on in so great a cause?"
Elder Noah Featherstone

Post Temple Pictures ft. Elder Adams

Some of the Hooligans in the ward here

My man Daniel Gordon! He is the best poet the world has ever seen

 The First Baptist Church In Montgomery & The Living Christmas Tree!

 Elder Furgeson is one of the most hysterical elders out here

 Fausto! He is the man! He is one of our investigators!

Email #65 - A Quick One

December 7, 2017

Montgomery, Alabama

Family! I apologize. I don't have very much time today because we are headed up to Birmingham today to go to the temple but I will have another P-Day on Monday so I'll have to give you a bigger recap of the weeks miracles and experiences next week. Sounds good?!

The one experience I want to share with you is one that happened few days ago. As we were out visiting people, we got a text from a Less Active Member named Francisco. We had been trying to get in contact with him for a while but we hadn't heard anything because he is super busy and all that jazz. Side Note: Every Christmas Season the Montgomery Stake puts on an Interfaith Nativity for the whole community to come and see others Nativity decorations and to see Nativities from all over the world. I'll send you some pictures. But it's super cool! So anyways, Francisco said, "Hey Elders, Do y'all want to come to the Nativity with me and my family? My son Ayden will be there." We hadn't met Ayden before so we quickly rearranged our schedule and said something like, "SQUID LAUNCHER! OH YEAH!!!" hahah anyways! We went over and went through the Nativity with him and it was great. He told us he had a great time and that he really felt the Spirit in there. Oh yeah, another side note. He is a Hispanic so he invited us to come to his cousin's birthday party that evening. All of our appointments fell through and we were able to go over there for a while.  Everyone was so welcoming and just brought us right in. Man I love Hispanics. The are some of the most kind, generous, and loving people on the planet. We were able to have some great gospel conversations with a bunch of his family. It really was a great experience. All of our appointments fell through and the Lord provided us with another way to be able to share this great message. This work is full of miracles. The Lord is leading and guiding this work and he is watching over us.

I love you all! Merry Christmas this Christmas Season!

Strength and Honor

"Shall we not go on in so great a cause?"          Elder Noah Featherstone

The Nativity

THE MOTOWN CREW​

BIG SMILES Ft. Elder Braaksma