Dear Family,
It has been adventure this last week. Elder Garrett and I tried very hard to keep the work moving forward. We did lots of tracting this last week and the Lord has blessed us with several doors opening to let us teach them and several great potential investigators. A cool story from this last week, we have been practicing teaching a short 3-5 minute lesson on the Restoration so we could share it with someone if they only had a few minutes. As we tracted this last week, we had a guy actually come out and say “I only have five minutes.” We excitedly taught him our new and improved short lesson. The man was not interested in learning more but we felt the spirit and left feeling edified and excited. It was great to see the work move forward.
Hmm… both of our investigators who were set for baptism will have to be moving their baptism dates. Just scheduling and other conflicts but we have not given up hope yet. So cool story, it was Tuesday night, I dreamed that our mission president randomly showed up to our district meeting the nest day. I woke up feeling slightly nervous (I would be giving a 40 minute training at district meeting). I was kind of jittery all day until it was my turn to stand up and talk. I felt the spirit and was able to say the right things. The mission president never did show up but we would have been ready for him, if he had come.
So do you remember the lady who came to church last week? Well we met with her last Monday night to teach her the stop smoking program the church has. She really wants to quit smoking and during the lesson we asked her to hold up a pack of cigarettes. She held up a box and Elder Garrett then proceeded to tell her to crush them. It was great, her mouth literally dropped open in shock. She tried to tell us how expensive cigarettes are. We told her she could do it and that she is stronger than the cigarettes. She then mustard up her courage and crushed them. We clapped and cheered for her. It was all exciting and we left not knowing what the next day would bring. We gave her a call and left a message. We did the same thing the next day, and the day after that. We were worried for her when we had not contacted her by Thursday. We gave her a call Thursday evening. She answered the phone. Apparently she has been doing great and has not had one cigarette since we met with her. We were so happy. It was fun to see someone change their life for the better.
Well family that was my week. I hope you have a great time on you wilderness survival trip. Mom and dad and everyone else who does not go have a great time at home.
Love,
Elder Durfee
Monday, June 28, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
6-21-10
Dear Mom and Family,
Thanks for the nice email. I enjoyed reading it. Sorry to hear about dad. Is he getting better? Can he work? I will pray that he is healing quickly.
So this last week was super busy, we have been out talking to all the Members about their Home teaching and Visiting teaching. Bishop had asked us to go make them be accountable (we have very low reports for Home teaching and Visiting teaching). And so that is how we have been doing. We worked hard and we taught a bunch of lessons this week. We had a lady let us teach her the first lesson on the front porch. It was lots of fun, but in the end she told us thank you but she is not interested in actually reading the Book of Mormon. We gave her a pamphlet to read and hopefully she will one day look deeper into the church.
Hmm… we went to visit this less active member in the ward invited her to come to church, she excepted. We told her and her friend that we would be greeting people by the doors when they arrived. We had our meetings canceled on Sunday (Fathers Day) so we hitched a ride with a member and arrived late. Luckily the meeting also started late that day. The Less active member was there along with her non member friend. It was great, we sat by them. She told me after that she felt like she had come home and she even told bishop that she will be at church next week. It was great.
Ha ha funny story so for some odd reason I keep dreaming that I am doing things that missionaries do. Like last night I contacted a lady and was about to invite her to take the missionary lessons (not just a simple question but we had a whole conversation about the gospel in preparation for me to ask her to take the missionary lessons) regrettable I awoke just before I asked her to take the lessons. I will never know if she excepted or not. O well…
As missionaries we are allowed to watch any movie that has the “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints” on it and it has to be in our free time. We decided to watch Johny Lingo right before bed. Wow I dreamed of the movie all night long. It was a very long night for a 20 minute movie.
I think that is it family, I love you and hope all is well. Love,
Elder Durfee
Ps Dad I sent you a Father’s day letter last week I hope you get it. Joycelyn Happy Birthday. I made you a card too. I’m sending it today.
Thanks for the nice email. I enjoyed reading it. Sorry to hear about dad. Is he getting better? Can he work? I will pray that he is healing quickly.
So this last week was super busy, we have been out talking to all the Members about their Home teaching and Visiting teaching. Bishop had asked us to go make them be accountable (we have very low reports for Home teaching and Visiting teaching). And so that is how we have been doing. We worked hard and we taught a bunch of lessons this week. We had a lady let us teach her the first lesson on the front porch. It was lots of fun, but in the end she told us thank you but she is not interested in actually reading the Book of Mormon. We gave her a pamphlet to read and hopefully she will one day look deeper into the church.
Hmm… we went to visit this less active member in the ward invited her to come to church, she excepted. We told her and her friend that we would be greeting people by the doors when they arrived. We had our meetings canceled on Sunday (Fathers Day) so we hitched a ride with a member and arrived late. Luckily the meeting also started late that day. The Less active member was there along with her non member friend. It was great, we sat by them. She told me after that she felt like she had come home and she even told bishop that she will be at church next week. It was great.
Ha ha funny story so for some odd reason I keep dreaming that I am doing things that missionaries do. Like last night I contacted a lady and was about to invite her to take the missionary lessons (not just a simple question but we had a whole conversation about the gospel in preparation for me to ask her to take the missionary lessons) regrettable I awoke just before I asked her to take the lessons. I will never know if she excepted or not. O well…
As missionaries we are allowed to watch any movie that has the “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints” on it and it has to be in our free time. We decided to watch Johny Lingo right before bed. Wow I dreamed of the movie all night long. It was a very long night for a 20 minute movie.
I think that is it family, I love you and hope all is well. Love,
Elder Durfee
Ps Dad I sent you a Father’s day letter last week I hope you get it. Joycelyn Happy Birthday. I made you a card too. I’m sending it today.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
6-7-10
Dear Mom and Family,
OK another great week of work, I'm actually being transfered to a town called Longmont. It is right next to Berthoud but in another stake/Zone. I will be with a missionary named Elder Garret and we will have a car. yes. Berthoud days were lots of fun. Elder Hatch and myself helped out with the youth turkey leg booth. they had ruffly 500 turkey legs that needed to be cooked on the grill. we got to help out, it was great. they had 4 grills going at once. the one i had was like 6 feet by 3 feet. we tallied up to 75 turkey legs on it at once. I wore gloves up to my elbows and had turkey flippers in both hands turning as fast as I could. we only burned a couple of them (the youth were happy because they got to eat them) and i had a great time. I came away with a distinct smell of turkey legs on my clothes and a nice sunburn on one arm. Apparently i missed a spot on my arm when i had applied sunscreen. Yes mom I am waring sunscreen... sometimes...
We also had a funeral this week. one of the members passed away and we attended the funeral. lots of the family came and a good portion of them were non members. the family said that many people had hurt feelings towards one another and they had finally been resolved after many years. it took a family member dying for them to finally get over their grudges that they have towards one another and finally be friends again. it was good to see them as a happy family but i just think of all the time wasted, all the great family gatherings lost simply because of a grudge.
Dear family that is all i have time for. have a wonderful week andtake care,
Elder Durfee
PS the home with the llamas was wonderful. i will miss the family we stayed with. they were great!
OK another great week of work, I'm actually being transfered to a town called Longmont. It is right next to Berthoud but in another stake/Zone. I will be with a missionary named Elder Garret and we will have a car. yes. Berthoud days were lots of fun. Elder Hatch and myself helped out with the youth turkey leg booth. they had ruffly 500 turkey legs that needed to be cooked on the grill. we got to help out, it was great. they had 4 grills going at once. the one i had was like 6 feet by 3 feet. we tallied up to 75 turkey legs on it at once. I wore gloves up to my elbows and had turkey flippers in both hands turning as fast as I could. we only burned a couple of them (the youth were happy because they got to eat them) and i had a great time. I came away with a distinct smell of turkey legs on my clothes and a nice sunburn on one arm. Apparently i missed a spot on my arm when i had applied sunscreen. Yes mom I am waring sunscreen... sometimes...
We also had a funeral this week. one of the members passed away and we attended the funeral. lots of the family came and a good portion of them were non members. the family said that many people had hurt feelings towards one another and they had finally been resolved after many years. it took a family member dying for them to finally get over their grudges that they have towards one another and finally be friends again. it was good to see them as a happy family but i just think of all the time wasted, all the great family gatherings lost simply because of a grudge.
Dear family that is all i have time for. have a wonderful week andtake care,
Elder Durfee
PS the home with the llamas was wonderful. i will miss the family we stayed with. they were great!
Friday, June 4, 2010
Happy Memorial Day
Dear Family,
Hello I hope all is going well for you. I'm trying hard to do my best. I'm doing good though. This last week we moved!!! 6 months of living in a home was exciting but it is great to be somewhere new. It was great because we packed up the car with all our junk, loaded up the beds (the missionaries in the ward have their own beds that have been passed down from generation to generation). I liked how I moved in months ago, and then I got the opportunity to move out also. Kinda odd but I liked it. The new members we live with have offered to buy unlimited ice cream for us. They said that we can eat as much as we desire. I'm excited. O the family also has a pool, a dog, two Llamas, and a nice home out in the country. It is quiet peaceful. We can watch the corn grow and the farmer working out side our window. It is really nice.
Lets see, we met with Jane (we moved her date to the 19th) and she has been reading the Book of Mormon like crazy. She read all of Moroni and Ether in two days (she is reading it backwards for some reason.) when we came to our next appointment she had read all of Mormon. It was great to see her progress. She has been very sincere and asking Heavenly Father daily if the Book of Mormon is true. We have great hopes for her and are excitedly preparing her for baptism.
We also me with Jorge. He has a date for the 19th also. Our last meeting we just did lots of talking and explaining how the church works. Like callings, what it takes to be baptized, and even addressed many concerns he has.
And exciting enough we have transfers at the end of this week. Elder Hatch goes home and I will be getting a new companion. we will see how it goes.
yesterday for preparation day we went and played tennis. i also purchased a boomerang from the local habitat and was enjoying throwing it until it got stuck in a tree.
For preparation day we attended a funeral for one of the members of our ward. it was a very nice service. we got to help out with printing the programs and handing them out to everybody. Very exciting, this Saturday is Berthoud day's. It is such a small town that we will still get together and have a carnival, 5k run, food, and lots of other forms of entertainment. We will be helping direct runners for the 5k run Saturday morning. It should be fun. I am also looking forward to the turkey legs that the YM and YW will be selling. Mmmmm yummy. Reminds me a lot of the rodeo back home.
Alright family have a great week. Love Elder Durfee
Hello I hope all is going well for you. I'm trying hard to do my best. I'm doing good though. This last week we moved!!! 6 months of living in a home was exciting but it is great to be somewhere new. It was great because we packed up the car with all our junk, loaded up the beds (the missionaries in the ward have their own beds that have been passed down from generation to generation). I liked how I moved in months ago, and then I got the opportunity to move out also. Kinda odd but I liked it. The new members we live with have offered to buy unlimited ice cream for us. They said that we can eat as much as we desire. I'm excited. O the family also has a pool, a dog, two Llamas, and a nice home out in the country. It is quiet peaceful. We can watch the corn grow and the farmer working out side our window. It is really nice.
Lets see, we met with Jane (we moved her date to the 19th) and she has been reading the Book of Mormon like crazy. She read all of Moroni and Ether in two days (she is reading it backwards for some reason.) when we came to our next appointment she had read all of Mormon. It was great to see her progress. She has been very sincere and asking Heavenly Father daily if the Book of Mormon is true. We have great hopes for her and are excitedly preparing her for baptism.
We also me with Jorge. He has a date for the 19th also. Our last meeting we just did lots of talking and explaining how the church works. Like callings, what it takes to be baptized, and even addressed many concerns he has.
And exciting enough we have transfers at the end of this week. Elder Hatch goes home and I will be getting a new companion. we will see how it goes.
yesterday for preparation day we went and played tennis. i also purchased a boomerang from the local habitat and was enjoying throwing it until it got stuck in a tree.
For preparation day we attended a funeral for one of the members of our ward. it was a very nice service. we got to help out with printing the programs and handing them out to everybody. Very exciting, this Saturday is Berthoud day's. It is such a small town that we will still get together and have a carnival, 5k run, food, and lots of other forms of entertainment. We will be helping direct runners for the 5k run Saturday morning. It should be fun. I am also looking forward to the turkey legs that the YM and YW will be selling. Mmmmm yummy. Reminds me a lot of the rodeo back home.
Alright family have a great week. Love Elder Durfee
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