Saturday, September 24, 2016

Selfies in the office!
 
Hey Family! 

What a week. We had 3 exchanges with zone leader companionships so that helped boost the area. We're in the building phase now, since last transfer the AP's spent a lot of time out of their area, so there wasn't anything going on when I got here. There's nothing like street contacting in London! We find near Universities, since that's where the highest percentage of YSA are. 

Thanks for the great package family! It was fun to have :D 

The Work

There is a South Korean guy we found on the street in South Kensington. He's 25, and a really cool guy. He accepted a baptismal date for 30 October. We taught him the Word of Wisdom recently, and he said he drinks tea in the morning because he has a respiratory problem. He committed to drink warm water :D   

We found two Chinese girls on Thursday night close to curfew on Exhibition road. we were able to bring them into the Visitors Centre. We watched "Why we Need A Saviour" (The Mormon Message) in the theatre, and taught them about prayer. Sadly, one of them texted us yesterday and said she couldn't meet because she was communist, and we haven't heard from the other girl. They were both very cool though.  

Funny
There was a foreign investigator that I called and set up an appointment with. He didn't make the appointment so I called him and asked why he didn't come. Long story short, he felt bad for not coming and he told us he'd be at the church in 20 minutes. So we taught him that night :)

While street contacting, we used the Restoration pamphlet and looked at the image on the front. It's the Saviour holding a baby lamb. I told the individual the story of the Saviour going out for the 1 sheep, leaving the 99. I also demonstrated what a sheep noise would be. I shared a couple verses from Alma 36:18-20, and connected the dots between the lost sheep crying out and Alma the younger crying out. I asked Kai what crying out would be like. He then grabs his heart, making a serious face, and lets out a " BAAA AAA" (sheep noise). It was hilarious. He committed to come to church. 
 
My growth
I've grown in a lot of ways recently. One of them is my teaching abilities. Elder Steuer is a great teacher and listener. Since we've been together I've really improved in asking powerful and meaningful questions.

I've also grown in my use of the Book of Mormon while street contacting. I try to relate specific scriptures to the conversation we have with people. It adds a lot of power in teaching. 

We've played a lot of basketball this week and my skills are returning :D

Love you all! 

Have a great week

 

 

Saturday, September 17, 2016


Elder Withers and Elder Steuer
Familia! 

It's been a good week. I had my first Sunday in the Britannia ward, and that was a good experience. It was quite the contrast from the ward I served in in Lea Valley (African family ward), but I quite like it here. 

 My Week
We had Zone Conference this week. There are 9 zones, and it was broken up over four days. After the first one, we went to "Harvester", a really good restaurant, with President & Sister Stevens and the rest of the mission office.

Zone Conference
Our proselyting time was obviously limited this week because of zone conferences, but we had a little bit of time for finding and teaching. Right now we're teaching a Korean guy that has a Scottish accent. His name is John. 

We did some good cleaning this morning! Just thought you'd like to know. 

Funny
In Elders Quorum here there was some time spent on the topic of dating/marriage so that was interesting.  

As part of our training in zone conference, Elder Steuer and I made a video to illustrate the content of our training. It was essentially about setting the expectation to meet with investigators 3x a week. The video illustrates the power of these frequent visits. I'll send it to you! 

I'll send some personal emails now. 

Love you all!

Elder Withers
Reunion with Elder Jensen!

Mission Van

 

Friday, September 16, 2016

[SENT SEPTEMBER 10, 2016]

Elder Withers and Elder Steuer
Hello all!

I shall begin with a conjugated scripture from Exodus 20. 

8 Remember [P Day], to keep it holy.

9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

10 But the seventh day is [P Day]: in it thou shalt not do [more than 3 hours of proselyting work], thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

Essentially, my P day has changed. It is now in harmony with biblical teachings. So if you want to switch the day you email me to Friday night that would work well :D

Now for my week! 

Miracle

On Sunday, I get a text from Elder Steuer. He asked me if I had signed up to take my driving test. I told him I hadn't (I was waiting for transfers to sign up; I didn't want to get moved and then have to move my test location). He told me to sign up for my test. So, a bit after church finished, I went to the computer to sign up. And sure enough, there was a test available in Watford on Monday!! I signed up for it. Monday comes, and Elder Mthombeni and I talk with people in the morning and we find a really cool Spanish speaking couple that wanted to meet. After we finish finding, I see that I have a missed call from President. So we call him back, and he tells us what was happening with us at transfers. And I was invited to be his Assistant with Elder Steuer. 

This story is getting involved and juicy, so I shall commence another grouping of text. Elder Steuer doesn't have a license, and it's pretty important for one of us to be able to drive. President gave me advice for my driving test, and after he talked with Elder Mthombeni about who his new companion would be, Elder Mthombeni and I traveled into Central London to take the car that I'd do my driving test in. Elder Mthombeni drove us to Watford. I was SUPER nervous that we weren't going to get there on time because of heavy traffic in london, but gratefully we made it a bit before 2:20pm for my 2:32pm test. I took my driving test, at one point promising the Lord that I'd have super meaningful morning and night prayers every night if I passed the test. I completed the test, AND I PASSED! MIRACLE MIRACLE MIRACLE. And, ever since then, I've kept my promise to have good prayers ;)

Adjustments

I came into London on Tuesday to help with transfers. The Assistant that was getting released showed me how to organise where people go for transfers. The missionary companionships that are changing areas meet in 1 of 3 locations, find their new companion, and travel to their area. So that was exciting! 

Also, I was able to attend the departing dinner of six missionaries. The food was amazing (Sister Stevens is a fantastic cook). Elder Steuer, Elder Kalabanko, and I were privileged to be waiters for the dinner (bringing food out and doing dishes). As well, this was an eye opening experience, seeing missionaries bear their testimony in conclusion of their missions.  

On Wednesday, 24 new missionaries entered the mission field. It was special to be a part of meetings for the new missionaries and the trainers. It makes me think back to when I was a new missionary and brand spankin new. 

I really love being around President and Sister Stevens and all the wonderful Senior couple missionaries. I feel I will learn and grow much as I serve in this capacity, and I know the amount of missionaries I have the opportunity to bless has expanded. It's exciting planning and preparing for Zone Conference next week. 

Fun
I'm serving in a YSA ward now! I will attend church at 1pm in the Hyde Park chapel. It's a good time for YSA since they're probable sleepy en la manana.  

I played basketball this morning and on thursday morning for exercise with a good group of guys. And I've done 100 pushups on two seperate mornings as part of my morning exercise. There's a senior missionary named Elder Vernon that inspires/challenges us to do pushups. With the promise that if we do 100 pushups, four days a week, for two consective weeks, he will take Elder Steuer and I golfing and to five guys, giving us "6 pesos" each. His codeword for this opperation: Buggy (pronounced (Buh-gee)

Spiritual Experiences
Elder Zwick of the Seventy and his wife came and spoke to us today. They, along with President and Sister Stevens gave remarkable and powerful talks. Sister Stevens spoke powerfully about making Christ the centre of all we do. President spoke powerfully as well, saying something like "I wish I could lift the veil from your eyes that you could see yourselves for who you are. You are called by a Prophet of God. You are angels of light with power and authority," and later he said something like, "Your pictures will forever be on the mantles of those you teach". 

Sister Zwick shared a greeting in the Mayan dialect that translated to "How is your heart?" She spike of acknowledging our dependence on Chris, inviting him into our life, Not experimenting with sin, and encouraged us to ask ourselves the question found in Alma 5:26. 

Elder Zwick spoke powerfully of building a strong foundation on Christ, giving the example of a building constructed over the Wasatch fault. The pillars used in the foundation of the building contain 3x the cement of the building itself. He had us write down "I will never limit myself by what I thinkn is my capacity, I will allow the Lord to expand my capacity, and He will". AMAZING!! 

It's been a great week. I love my new companion. His name is Elder Simon Steuer. He's from Germany. He has two older sisters and a younger brother. He is blonde, tall, handsome, and on his way to be skinny. We are eating healthy together :) He is a great teacher, and has a great understanding, knowledge, and application of the scriptures. He's a great man.

I love you all! Have a great week

Love,

Elder Withers