Monday, April 18, 2011

Happy (almost) Easter!

Wow... Hard to believe it's a new week! I've just been up to the same old missionary stuff! Let's see...what should I talk about today...

This last Sunday, Sister Patterson was confirmed and received the Holy Ghost! She was so excited and is now officially a member of the church! (She was baptized before I got here). The Saturday before we went on a Kirtland trip with her and a few other members. We thought the weather would be perfect (in the 70's) but it ended up pouring on us! Luckily the Kirtland sights have lots of big umbrellas! It was such a great trip and the whole time Sister Patterson would make comments like "You can feel the energy here, it's a good feeling" or "I can feel that they had good times in this room" - it put a huge smile on my face every time she would make such a comment. At the end we watched Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration - such a great movie!
Nothing too eventful has happened... We met with the Stake President with President Sorensen to discuss the missionary work in our zone/stake. President keeps bragging to everyone about our musical number from last week. We've been visiting with a lot of less-actives and have found a few new people to teach. Ooo! I'll tell a little bit about Dorothy.

We've been talking to the ward a lot about helping us find people to teach the gospel to. One of the older couples in our ward accepted our invitation to find people to teach and referred us to the husband's older sister (whose in her 80's or so). Her husband and children all joined the church many years ago and she always said she would join the church as soon as she could quit smoking. I'm not sure how many years ago she was diagnosed with cancer and she told God that if he helped her get through the cancer, she would quit smoking. Well, she survived! And now has decided that she needs to be baptized before her time on earth is up! So we met them for lunch and had a great time. She said that she'd need some assistance getting in and out of the Baptismal Font, but I assured her that a simple cannon ball would suffice. She laughed. I was serious! (not). I'll be fun to work with her and get to teach her the comforting message of the Restoration and Plan of Salvation. I love teaching people!

Well... Hopefully next week I'll have something more exciting to talk about. These past (almost) 7 months have been some of the best of my life! I feel my faith growing every day and know that through the Gospel of Jesus Christ we can all find that peaceful filling sensation. So many people will tell us they feel like something in their life is missing, and when they're hear the message we share and feel the Spirit bare testimony of truth, they know they've found the missing piece. I love my calling as a missionary. I love my family. I hope everyone has a Happy Easter! What a wonderful time to reflect on our Savior and rejoice in his resurrection! May we all take some time this week and study His Atonement and apply it in our lives. Here are a few verses from one of my favorite hymns in the LDS Hymnbook, #136 I Know That My Redeemer Lives.


I know that my Redeemer lives.
What comfort this sweet sentence gives!
He lives, he lives, who once was dead.
He lives, my ever-living Head.

He lives to silence all my fears.
He lives to wipe away my tears.
He lives to calm my troubled heart.
He lives all blessings to impart.

He lives! All Glory to his name!
He lives, my Savior, still the same.
Oh, sweet the joy this sentence gives:
"I know that my Redeemer lives!"


Love, Elder Dransfield
 A member in the Findlay ward had a granddaughter who had some sickness (I can't remember what) so they made a "purple day" on facebook and people would wear purple and post a picture of themselves. Purple is her favorite color.  So us missionaries all put on our purple ties to brighten up the little girl's day.  Apparently, we were quite a hit on facebook.

 Sister Stuber - the most amazing painist I have ever met!

 The Elliots - she makes the BEST sweets!!! I'm glad I was there for Christmas!

 The Lays - I love these two to death!


Elder and Sister Birkeland - Two senior missionaries who are going back home in a week or so.  They say they'll visit me in California next time they're there.  I told them they can stay at our house :)

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