September 15, 2014

Hello family!

 Last email I told you about our investigator and how he dropped us (by moving to Bloomington Indiana), but it turns out I was wrong. He changed his mind about moving so we're actually still teaching him lessons. His baptismal date isn't official since he's still living with someone else.

 

The family we’ve been working with actually made it to church twice now - one more time and they're officially reactivated! Woohoo! Their family has been going through a hard time (some contention in the family as well as the mother suffering from several health problems) but they are turning around.

We have another investigator.  He has a baptismal date yet he's also a nuclear engineer which I guess means he's working every day, so he has little time for appointments. We may have to push back his date because he's not even being taught.

This week was cooooold. It got down to the 40's on one day but usually was ranging from the 50's to 60's (and the rain didn't make it any warmer either). Thankfully, my rain jacket suffices well in this weather. If there's winter gear for you to send: send it I guess. I've been told the Fall gets to the 40's to 30's, so honestly, a winter coat may not be mandatory but other things such as a beanie, scarf, or gloves would come in handy. Send the winter coat anyway, please.

We went fishing today. Crazy, right? It's not really allowed except if there's 8-10 people on the boat, it's a commercial fishing boat (not private), and the owner of the boat has a valid license. We met all the prerequisites!!! It was fun - except for the four hours out we only caught one fish - 24 inches long, though.

I haven't been using my camera... so don't expect any camera cards. All the photos I take are on the iPad.

Glad to hear you had a great time at Disneyland! Tell Madyson she needs to lay off the sun for a bit because she's cooked well-done.

Love you all and take care!

-Elder Montgomery

September 8, 2014

September 8, 2014

September 8, 2014

Hello familia!

So today was my grandfather's, Elder Bruderer, last day in the mission. He leaves tomorrow :/

You may send that package of thermal gear :) I've heard from members that, like clockwork, the month of September gets colder and colder every day. So far their heeded prophecy has been true! In the fall it goes from 40-60 degrees, and then goes downhill from there... Bring it on!

But hey, good news! We have another person on date! A man who has a son that's LDS (his ex-wife was LDS), so we've been talking with him and invited him to baptism, which he agreed to! Woohoo! He just came in to church Sunday, came up to us, and asked "hey, how do I pay tithing?" Elder Robbins and I were in awe because most investigators always have a problem with tithing, but here's this man coming up to us. He's a one in a million and super awesome - he's on date for Sept. 27.

Not much else to mention except New Missionary Training is this Tuesday and a member of the Seventy, Elder Hamula, is speaking with us on Friday. I'll tell you about it next P-Day!

Love you lots,

Elder Montgomery

September 1, 2014 (Labor Day)

September 1, 2014

Hello family!

To answer your questions:

- Yes, we have a carbon monoxide detector in the apartment.

- BG numeros have been muy bien.

- hook me up with some peanut butter fudge from Disney if you could, please! I promise to monitor my numbers :) I couldn't really ask for much more.

So this week has been pretty good. The sister missionaries in our ward had a baptism this week. A man who's been receiving lessons for over a year (from 17 separate missionaries), finally made his covenants with God and was baptized, which is awesome!

 

 

As for us, the two that I mentioned a few weeks ago with a baptismal date actually moved out of their apartment and changed their phone number.... but we got someone else on date and we're set for Oct. 11th. We actually invited him to baptism in a McDonald's, which just goes to show that no matter where you may be, the Spirit can still dwell there, because I can guarantee it was strong in that little McDonald's booth.

I don't feel like a greenie anymore. I feel I've grasped the ropes on most things that my trainer, Elder Robbins, has taught me. I have no idea if this is the same for any new member of the Melchizedek priesthood, but to me: giving a blessing was scary!  I wanted to be led by the Spirit and say what was most appropriate and helpful to whomever needed the blessing. Well I've pronounced the blessing, I think, six now? I gave three blessings this week! Beyond that, everything else, like learning the area, has been going well.

 

I pray about you every night and wish you the best! Oh, and I finished reading the Book of Mormon this Saturday. I started on August 3rd, so it took me 27 days to read it all! Woohoo! That's a personal record :) plus I marked everything pertaining to the gospel with different colored pencils. Blue for faith, red for repentance, purple for baptism, yellow for the Holy Ghost, and green for enduring to the end. It was a ton of fun and now I plan on reading Jesus the Christ :)

Love you lots,

Elder Montgomery

August 25, 2014

August 25, 2014

Dear family!

This week I realized one harsh truth: language barriers really stink. Being strictly English speaking in an area that has a large minority of Spanish speakers really limits our ability to tract house to house. Some neighborhoods are 100% Hispanic, so Elder Robbins and I, unfortunately, have to tract somewhere else. During personal study I may just spend a few minutes learning some introductions such as "we are missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day-saints" in Spanish. I'll let you know how it goes.

I forgot to mention something we as missionaries in the Gurnee church building (Gurnee 1st ward, the Spanish branch, and 2nd ward) did back in the beginning of August to gather some new investigators! We had free donuts, free lemonade, and a FREE CAR WASH!! We invited whoever came to take a tour of the church and then leave with free copies of Book of Mormons, pass-along cards - the whole ten yards. It lasted from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. I was medium-well baked at the end of it, but it was a blast!

 

 

 

We had lots of new PNI's. In fact, our zone leaders found it so successful we planned on doing it two weeks later, which was this Saturday.

This time, it was successful, buuuuut, just not as much. Turns out the Warren High school was ALSO hosting a car wash (Warren High school is across the street from our church). Their mascot is the "blue devils" so really it was the devil's army against God's army competing on who had the most car washes. We weren't keeping score, but they were pretty bitter since their swim team hosts a car wash annually and here we were stealing their cars across the street. I felt a bit bad, but it all worked out.

I think God was impressed with this most recent car wash, too... because he decided to chip in.

 

If you can't tell, it's pouring buckets out there. :)

Love you lots,

Elder Montgomery