August 22, 2010

Dear Mom,

Thank you for the email. It’s going great over here. The truck that I ran into was parked yet. I looked at it yesterday; it still has the tire marks of the bumper. Tasha is doing good, she was sick this last Sunday so she did not come to church. Her parents came and told us she was sick so we felt ok about it.
I have been working very hard. This last week we had the trainings by our mission presidents and the Assistance. It was a four day course. From 9 am to 3 -4 pm. Long six to seven hours of trainings. I loved it. We were trained on
1. The Doctrine of Christ
2. The Role of the Holy Ghost in Conversion
3. The Process of Revelation
a. Revelation through Prayer
b. Revelation through the Book of Mormon
c. Revelation through Church Attendance
4. Teach People, Not Lessons
5. We Invite, They Commit, We Follow Up
6. How to Begin Teaching
I have been looking forward to improving how I teach. I learned so much in those four day it was incredible. It felt like EFY for a missionary. We did lots of role-playing. The mission president would have us break into groups and practice teaching someone else. President Ely and the Assistance would listen to role-plays and then show us how to do something clearer. It was difficult for me to teach with the mission president listening over my ear but with practice and his help I learned lots and felt the spirit enter and help me teach. Now I am in charge of actually teaching it and helping other elders apply the principles.
We had the wrens at church. I went and sat by their 8 year old son, Josiah. He was starting to get bored in sacrament meeting. Half way through I asked him if he liked to sing. He said he liked to sing. “Would you like to sing with me in the ward choir?” he ended up coming up and singing in the choir with me. It was fun.
We have been working with the fifteen focus families Home teachers and Visiting teachers. We are asking for one month of extra emphasis on the family they home teach or visit teach. We have been asking them to daily pray for their families and each week do something with them, EX FHE, dinner, plate of cookies, visit them, something fun to make contact, even service. The two less-active families we were working really with ended up coming to a carnival we had Saturday night and even came to church. I think it was the extra faith of the members that has made all the difference. Together our acts of faith combined with our prayers was enough to soften the hearts of a few families. It was a miracle. We had been trying to make this happen for ten weeks now. When we asked the members to help, that’s when we started seeing the success.
I love you mom, have a great week.
Elder Durfee
PS Congrats to Gentry, when is he getting married? What’s the fiancé’s name? Yeah for the young Michaud family, congrats for the baby girl!