I want to start this all out by saying THANK YOU to everyone who
helped me out last week with the encouraging words, this week was 100 times
better, or even more. We worked so hard this week and saw some sweet success.
We made a goal to find some cool new people to teach, and we got it!!
Last Monday had to have been one of the best days of my mission.
I know I mentioned it in my last email, but I'll do it again. Golfing was such
a fun time. Honestly, elder smith, elder miner, and elder sinclaire are true
homies for going out and doing that for me! I also took some speech videos for
this years up and coming DV Classic, if that's even happening anymore haha. The
course is called Earlswood, it was decent, but £12 for 18 holes AND rental
clubs ain't bad at all. And shooting 14 over par for 18 holes with pretty
crappy weather and clubs, and considering I haven't played in three months, is
quite impressive, I was thrilled! Oh, I hit my three month mark last week,
which is weird because it feels like an eternity, but also a flash, time is
weird. Following emailing last Monday, we went to get dinner with Axxx for his
birthday. We went to a place called Wasabi, which was actually pretty good. I
got some sweet noodles and even tried sushi. My parents are probably shocked by
that because in a 24 hour span, I had chilli and sushi, two things I hated back
home.
Tuesday was an amazing day, like wow. It had a few rough points,
but nothing too bad at all. We were on fire for most of the day, we found some
cool potentials in town and two of them scheduled follow up appointments for
this upcoming week, which we are so excited about!! We taught a guy named
Jxxx, he's 21 and from Guyana, I think that's in South America somewhere, but
he's SO cool! We met him over a month ago and I guess we just didn't follow up
too well on our part but he's way solid, committed to reading the Book of
Mormon, coming to church and institute and more, and he even asked when he
could see us again!!! We also visited a less active named Dxxx, he is
limited to his house because of a muscle disorder, he's in his sixties, but
he's got a great heart, the only reason he is less active technically is
because he physically can't make it to church, but I love visiting that guy. It
was a SOLID day.
Wednesday was even better than Tuesday. We had zone meeting for
the beginning of the day. We got some sweet training on how to use scriptures
more effectively, how enduring to the end is perhaps one of the most important
things we teach in this church, and then on having faith while finding. Finding
people truly takes faith. I gave the spiritual thought to the zone, I showed
everyone the "Because of Him" video. Then I talked about how we each
have a very unique relationship with the Saviour, I then talked about my mom a
little bit and how because of him, I'll be able to see her and live with her
again. I thought I did decent, it felt like a seminary devotional all over
again. After zone conference we went finding for three hours. We got to meet
and catch up with a few members, we found some pretty cool people that we will
be seeing soon, and even taught a street lesson. The only disappointing part to
the day was we went to see a potential potential, and we had high hopes because
it was a really cool family, but they said they weren't interested any more, which
was a pretty big bummer, but oh well. Elder Miner, Elder Sinclaire, elder
smith, and I all went to five guys to celebrate my three month mark, which
isn't too long out, but hey, that's not bad. It was a great day and we worked
so hard, and we saw success from it!!
Thursday didn't have a lot of success, but it was still a blast!
We did weekly planning because it was dumping rain in the early part of the
day. Then we went to do service for something called the Shoe Box Appeal, which
is kind of like Joy Jars for the Jesse Rees Foundation. We filled shoe boxes
with toys and such, and they ship them out to kids for Christmas. It's pretty
cool, reminded me a lot of the Joy Jars thing. After that we went to Royston's
for dinner and had some amazing home made healthy pizza, with potatoes and an
amazing salad. I know, my parents are probably more shocked now because I've
had chilli, sushi, and salad all in one week. That's about it for the day, but
it was a fun one.
Friday was a pretty good day too, we had a lesson with Dxxx again which went pretty well. We showed him D&C, he's read the entire Book
of Mormon, but is still praying about it. After that, we did a ton of finding,
which was semi good, until it started raining. Oh and apparently the new Harry
Potter spin off came out so hit me up with some details of what it was and how
it was if you saw it! We had dinner with Shaun Fish, that guy is SUCH a homie,
love that dude. Then volleyball for the rest of the night, which was a blast!
Saturday was an interesting day, not a bad day, not a great day,
but it was fun! We went knocking doors for awhile and it was DUMPING hail for
part of it :/ but it's all good cuz we got invited back for a few people so it
was worth it! A lot of people didn't wanna talk to us cuz Wales was playing
Japan in rugby. Oh, new news, I bought a Wales rugby jersey for £15. It's
sweet! Also, the sister's investigator named Tom was baptised which was
awesome! I spoke on the Holy Ghost at the baptism! We all went to KFC for a
mini after party in the freezing rain.
Sunday was cool, church was amazing as always. The Roberts
family invited us over for Christmas Day already so that's gonna be a blast!
Weird to think I'll be skyping home soon! After church we did some finding and
we worked so hard to reach our goal, like so hard, but it was worth it! We are
gonna work hard again this week and I'm pretty hyped!!
Spiritual insight of the week: one thing I've thought of a lot
this week is found in the New Testament, and it says "faith without works
is dead". So many people believe that as long as they believe in Christ,
they can do whatever they want and receive eternal life. However, faith alone
is not enough. Obviously, we cannot earn our way into the celestial kingdom by
our works alone, but through Christ's grace and our good works and our faith,
we can make it! It's not easy, but faith isn't enough on its own, it's good
works and faith that will allow us to live with our families forever, and to
live with God and Jesus Christ again!
I love you all. It's thanksgiving week and I'm not there and I
don't have time to email you all individually, but I am grateful for you all.
You are the best friends and family a Jimmer fan could ask for!
Thank you all for the encouraging emails, they really did help
this week, I felt all of your prayers for me, thank you so much, I love you
all! Have a happy thanksgiving and another legen-wait for it--------week!
Elder Varner
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