Church is True, Book is Blue

Hello, hello everyone! It has been a busy two weeks! It’s been great to stay as busy as we have been! We have still been finding a lot of new people to teach and a lot of the people we’re currently teaching are progressing!

 

This last week we had the opportunity to have a General Authority come and visit our mission! It was Elder Kelly Johnson and his wife.  We were able to meet in person with him and he gave us some great insights on how to help our friends become closer to the blessing of baptism. He also talked about how we can be effective missionaries in our daily efforts. It was so cool to witness someone like Elder Johnson talk to us because you could tell that he was called of God. He had so much power to his words and what he told us. 

 

We had another lesson with Eden and Corey this last week and it was pretty great. We had planned a lesson on one day and when we showed up no one was there. Two days later we thought we should stop by to see if they were home and sure enough in good ole Indiana fashion they were home sitting on their porch smoking and Corey without a shirt on haha. I swear that is a common day occurrence of seeing someone without their shirts on. Don't know what the deal is with that, but I see it way more times that I would like haha. Anyway, we got talking to them and we asked them if they had read anything from the Book of Mormom. They said they hadn't yet because they had been so busy and they had been meaning to do it like every day. So, we asked them if we could read a chapter with them and they said they would love that. We read 3 Nephi 11 with them as this is always the go to chapter to read for people who have never read from it. As probably all of you are aware, this chapter really emphasizes the importance of baptism, but not just baptism but being baptized by the proper priesthood authority. After we finished reading, we asked them what stuck out to them the most and Eden just straight up said that she needs to be baptized. We were both like well, dang yeah that’s awesome! She said that she still is going to pray about it to get an answer for herself but it truly was a testimony builder for me about the Book of Mormon and how key it is to conversion. Now Eden has a long road ahead before she can be baptized but really that doesn't matter. She has expressed that she feels that she needs to be baptized and that is why us missionaries are put in the places that we are put, to simply help these people towards baptism. I have loved to see throughout my mission people grow and eventually get baptized. It is so awesome to witness the change that occurs in their lives.

 

Anyway, I had such a great week and am looking forward to the time I have left here in the mission!

 

SEND IT FOR THE LORD

 

ELDER HILBURN

 

We Have Been Set Free!!!!

Hello everyone! This last week has been super exciting! Last Monday we had a mission wide zoom meeting with our mission president regarding Covid restrictions being lifted. We are basically fully back to normal! We can do so much more now, than we used to, even from just a couple days ago. Say goodbye to those stupid masks that never did anything from the beginning haha. We no longer are required to wear them anywhere or in any meetings we have. Thank goodness!!! We now are allowed to tract again and do personal contacting out in the streets! THAT IS HUGE! I'm not a huge fan of knocking doors but I love to PC! (Personal Contact) Although, we have done a decent amount of tracting this last week and I can say that I have actually missed it! Haha. It has just been so nice being outside and walking down the streets and trying to talk to anyone we can! We are now allowed to have meals with members as well so that is pretty awesome. I'll definitely get to know this branch pretty well before I go home. 

 

I had a really awesome experience this last week. It started on Tuesday, which was the first full day that we were back to normal and allowed to essentially do everything that we did before covid. So, we planned to stop by some people who had previously been taught by the missionaries before us. One house in particular that we stopped by the person that we were going there to see didn't actually live there anymore, but someone still answered the door and we asked if so and so lived there and she said no. Well, I then asked her if she would be interested in hearing a unique message about Christ and I briefly explained what we believe. She said that she would be interested to learn more and hear what we had to say. So, we set up a return appointment! Fast forward to Friday, the day we had a lesson with her. We made it to her house and her husband answered the door and he comes out and starts talking to us for a bit. We get to know him and then we asked him if he has heard of our church or anything that we believed. To my surprise he hadn't heard of our church before. Which honestly was a good thing haha, most people out here who have heard of us already have a negative connotation about what we believe. Anyway, Eden, who is the lady we met on Tuesday comes out and joins our conversation on the porch. Elder Church and I hadn't planned to teach the restoration right then and there, but the spirit prompted me strongly and that is exactly what we needed to teach them. So, that's exactly what we did. Now I have had a lot of pretty cool experiences on my mission but I think this one is in the top 5. The spirit that was present in this lesson was amazing. I felt like the words coming out of my mouth weren't my own, it was most definitely spirit led, there was things I said I usually would never say on the first lesson but I did. I can especially remember when we taught the first vision, Eden told us that she got the goose bumps and actually started tearing up. She also mentioned to us after we explained the Book of Mormon that she always was curious about the people in the America's during when Jesus was around if God had just abandoned them. She told us that this answered her question right then and there and told us that she is very interested and will read the Book of Mormon. 

 

It’s hard to really put into words to explain how cool of an experience it was. The reason I tell this story is to paint the picture that we need to have the spirit with us at all times. If I didn't have the spirit with me that day I would not have been able to teach them what I did. I have noticed a tremendous difference in my life when I have the companionship of the spirit. I invite you all to find ways to invite the spirit into your lives more frequently. I know it sure has blessed me!

 

 

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

 

SENT IT FOR THE LORD

 

ELDER HILBURN

 

Disc Golf Bro's

Hellllllooo everyone again. For my last couple weeks, I have made a goal to write an email every week! I know that sounds kinda sad to hear since I should’ve been doing that all along, but hey forgive me I'm not perfect haha. 

 

This past week has been awesome! Ever since I got here, I have kinda taken the reins on things and taken charge. That is kinda what this area has needed. I'm not trying to call out previous elders that have been here but they just weren't using time wisely and weren't effective. At least that's just my opinion haha. Since I have been here, we have found five new people to teach, four being this last week. I haven't done that since being in my first area in Avon which that area already was a super good area and had a lot of people to teach. Not to mention it had inner city Indianapolis which had lots of people there. My area currently is just another small town in Indiana so that is unheard of! We sure as heck haven't done it alone. We have asked the Lord daily to help us find new people to teach and he blessed us with five in the last two weeks! Pretty incredible!

 

One of the people we found was a man named Danny. His wife is a member and has been for a while. He is in his early 90's so he is getting up there haha. He's a super cool guy and has told us that he has a strong testimony about priesthood blessings. We had a lesson with him this last week and we didn't have much time so we just shared a short message with them about faith but plan to meet with him again this week! Super cool!

 

Another cool thing that this area does is every Wednesday there's a group of guys in the community that meet up and play frisbee golf. Well, my companion and his companion before I got here were walking around that one park that they play frisbee golf at and the people who played invited them over to talk with them and also play with them! So, for the last two weeks we have been meeting up with them and playing frisby golf with them. The coolest part about this though is how many questions they have asked us about our missionary work. Two of the guys we play with have expressed solid interest and we are planning on setting some lessons up with them separate from playing disc golf! It's super cool to see how the lord brings his people to us. If we can't go to them then the lord brings them to us. Since being on my mission that is something, I have gained a strong testimony on. Especially during such an odd time to be a missionary it has given me great comfort that the lord is still preparing his children and that there is so much that us missionaries can do!!

 

We also had zone conference this last week which was great! Even though sometimes the meetings go way longer than they should... I still manage to get a lot out of them! We talked a lot about how to get members involved in the work and it helped us come up with some ideas on how we can do that! Overall, it was a good zone conference! There's nothing like driving 3 hours down to Indy then staying there for four hours and then driving another 3 hours back up to our area haha.

 

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

 

SEND IT FOR THE LORD 

 

ELDER HILBURN