10.10.08
Family!
I thought you might like getting a letter, even though my handwriting is atrocious! So ya, Pierre is pronounced pier, which took a little getting used to. My area is rather large and it goes into so of Nebraska, but there are only 4 sets of missionaries in it. Two sets of elders and two sets of senior missionaries. The other elders in the district are serving on the indian reservation. The members rarely feed us. We do have a family which feeds us every Tuesday. Then we average one more meal a week every other week so the pickins are slim.
Well Mom had a lot of questions so I'll try to answer them all. So in a normal day we get up at 6:30 (hopefully) do a little bit of exerciseing (sit ups, push ups, jump rope, stretches). Then we eat breakfast, have personal study for an hour, then companion study for an hour. So we're finished with all that by 10am. For the rest of the day we either tract, work on re-activation, or teach investigators. We do a lot of service because tracting isn't too efficient here. Most of the day people are either gone at work or can't get together. I'm eating decently and taking my multivitamins every day! (Ithink I've only missed one day so far) Most of the members out here are strong, but don't help too much with missionary work. They're great people though!
One person I really enjoy is an ol' codger named Stan Olson. His family and his deceased brother's family make up like a third of the branch. Crazy huh? Well he's retired and he basiclly just puts around all day doing service for everyone in the community. He's way cool and I've learned a lot from him. I have helped him with various service projects.
More about my companion . . . well, he's jolly. We get along pretty well, but there are those annoyances that exist, like he sings ALL the time in the car and it drives me crazy, but I need to learn not to get bugged by it. He is cool though.
The weather is starting to drop in temperature, usually getting into the 30s at night and capping around 60 in the day. My coat seems pleanty warm. Good choice Mom! I do have access to other cold weather accessories.
It was great to hear about Gentry and AShby's antics. I miss them so much. I loved Gbob's pictures. I laughed for a good minute or two at the one of why we shouldn't do drugs. It was awesome.
I'm sending a picture of my MTC group in the letter. Maybe you can scan it and put it on the blog. I'll try to email a few pictures on Monday as well. Its sure to be better than nothing.
Well, I better close this up. I love you guys so much. I'm grateful for this opportunity to serve, learn and grow. I've already learned so much its almost been overwhelming. I have gone through some of the highs and lows of a mission already. I have learned how to pray earnestly and have grown so much closer to my Father in Heaven and His son Jesus Christ. I love this work and though it is hard and is really trying at times, I know the Lord will provide. Well, keep safe, don't move out of the new house before I get back!
Have a great week!
Love
Elder Fitt
Friday, October 31, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
2 Month Mark!
Hello Everyone!
How's it going? Ya so as of today I've been in the mission field for 2 months, crazy huh!? I think so! The time has flown by. The saying out here goes "the days go by slow(sometimes) but the weeks go by fast, and months fly by." And its too true.
Anyway, we had an alright week. We got to do a lot of service helping out Scott Olson and other relatives in the Olson family. We helped pour and shape a driveway, which was a new experience for me and was pretty fun. Did a lot of landscaping and backfilling behind a shed that President Olson built, so we moved a lot of dirt. We also helped him build a retaining wall, which is always fun...lugging 80 lbs cement blocks around again always leave you sore, but satisfied. And it is getting a lot colder here. This morning it was 20 degrees or so, but we've had some nasty winds for the past week which chill to the bone, and it isn't even very cold out yet. But I haven't started wearing my jacket yet...that could be my problem.
A lot of this week was spent trying to find people to teach because many of our appointments fell through again. We got a new investigator this week, Christina. She was sorta skeptical about our message, but warmed up to it and when we gave her a Book of Mormon she said, "Oh I always wanted one of those, I wanted to see what is in it." So that's was exciting, hopefully she'll have a desire to learn more at our next appointment.
We ran into some stoners when we were looking for previous investigators...it was pretty funny, but I don't think we'll go back anytime soon.
Another funny story, we were tracting and a guy started talking to us for a while. He said he had talked to missionaries before, and didn't want to hear our message, but wanted to chat for a while. And about halfway through talking to us he stops and says to me, "You know what? You look like Donny Osmond..a young Donny Osmond." Now I don't think so..but he couldn't get it out of his mind and found it very amusing, he even made his wife come look at me to show her. It was funny, but a little awkward at the same time.
We also got to visit a less-active member in the hospital. She's about 2 months along in a pregnancy but was having trouble with it and we comforted her a bit and gave her a priesthood blessing, which is was a neat experience. The next day, however, we visited her and it turns out the doctors had to remove the baby. They said it had no chance of living and if it stayed, she probably wouldn't be able to recover, and could die from some internal bleeding she was having. Needless to say, it was heartbreaking talking to her the next day, and seeing her in such despair about losing her child, but she already has two little kids and it seemed to strengthen her love for them and increase her desire to be a better mom, which is good.
We taught Gloria some more, but she doesn't seem too interested in baptism. Ramon blew us off again, doh! We got to run into Buckley this week, and comfort him through a tough time he is having in the home. His mother is kicking him out of the house and he has no where to go. So we showed him the dvd "Finding Faith in Christ." And he said that helped a bit. I hope he's alright, he hasn't contacted us since he got kicked out.
Another interesting tracting experience. We knocked on this old fella's door, who said he was really busy but WANTED to talk to us, so invited us to come back at 7pm. Now, that is a very unusual occurrence in the mission field, and usually when it happens, the person is a minister of some sort for his religion and wants to mess with you. But, it turns out he was just a nice old guy who said he wanted to talk to us because he felt he should, and everyone should at least give us a chance. He let us teach him about the Restoration, and he didn't disagree with anything, and we committed him to read some in the Book of Mormon, and he said he would like that. But then he told us we wouldn't convert him because he's been a Methodist for 72 years, but we told him we weren't here for that...we just wanted him to pray. So he said he would, it was a great experience, he is a great guy. BTW, we did teach Markata this week and she soft-committed to baptism, meaning she said she'll be baptized when she finds what we teach to be true. Also, we didn't run into Judd at all, which was a bummer!
Then on Sunday, we had the primary program, which is always fun. None of our investigator's showed up but President and Sister Cannon came to teach in a combined Relief Society and Priesthood meeting, which was awesome. They are such great people and feel like a pair of grandparents to me. I have a great love for them and it is always a great experience being with them.
Well, it was a good week. Spiritual thought...hmmm, Have faith! We were listening to "Lectures on Faith" and like we've been taught all our lives, faith is foremost. But listening to the lectures is wonderful, they expound on the necessity of faith, and remind us that it is by faith that everything in the universe is made possible. Man I wanna keep writing about some of the stuff I've learned out here..but I can't explain what the people said...so just go listen to lecture series by Truman G. Madsen about the Prophet Joseph...and you won't be disappointed. Or read the talk about the Atonement by Cleon Skousen. Phew...its all good stuff and I'm learning a lot. Here's another point, learn learn learn!!! You're never to old to learn, and as we teach in the discussions...the reason we came to earth in the first place was to obtain the things that God had that we didn't have in the preexistence, namely a body and knowledge (experience). We have a body, so now we need to get as much knowledge as possible. Anyway, I've talked long enough. I love you all and I hope you have a great week. The church is true!
Love,
Elder Fitt
How's it going? Ya so as of today I've been in the mission field for 2 months, crazy huh!? I think so! The time has flown by. The saying out here goes "the days go by slow(sometimes) but the weeks go by fast, and months fly by." And its too true.
Anyway, we had an alright week. We got to do a lot of service helping out Scott Olson and other relatives in the Olson family. We helped pour and shape a driveway, which was a new experience for me and was pretty fun. Did a lot of landscaping and backfilling behind a shed that President Olson built, so we moved a lot of dirt. We also helped him build a retaining wall, which is always fun...lugging 80 lbs cement blocks around again always leave you sore, but satisfied. And it is getting a lot colder here. This morning it was 20 degrees or so, but we've had some nasty winds for the past week which chill to the bone, and it isn't even very cold out yet. But I haven't started wearing my jacket yet...that could be my problem.
A lot of this week was spent trying to find people to teach because many of our appointments fell through again. We got a new investigator this week, Christina. She was sorta skeptical about our message, but warmed up to it and when we gave her a Book of Mormon she said, "Oh I always wanted one of those, I wanted to see what is in it." So that's was exciting, hopefully she'll have a desire to learn more at our next appointment.
We ran into some stoners when we were looking for previous investigators...it was pretty funny, but I don't think we'll go back anytime soon.
Another funny story, we were tracting and a guy started talking to us for a while. He said he had talked to missionaries before, and didn't want to hear our message, but wanted to chat for a while. And about halfway through talking to us he stops and says to me, "You know what? You look like Donny Osmond..a young Donny Osmond." Now I don't think so..but he couldn't get it out of his mind and found it very amusing, he even made his wife come look at me to show her. It was funny, but a little awkward at the same time.
We also got to visit a less-active member in the hospital. She's about 2 months along in a pregnancy but was having trouble with it and we comforted her a bit and gave her a priesthood blessing, which is was a neat experience. The next day, however, we visited her and it turns out the doctors had to remove the baby. They said it had no chance of living and if it stayed, she probably wouldn't be able to recover, and could die from some internal bleeding she was having. Needless to say, it was heartbreaking talking to her the next day, and seeing her in such despair about losing her child, but she already has two little kids and it seemed to strengthen her love for them and increase her desire to be a better mom, which is good.
We taught Gloria some more, but she doesn't seem too interested in baptism. Ramon blew us off again, doh! We got to run into Buckley this week, and comfort him through a tough time he is having in the home. His mother is kicking him out of the house and he has no where to go. So we showed him the dvd "Finding Faith in Christ." And he said that helped a bit. I hope he's alright, he hasn't contacted us since he got kicked out.
Another interesting tracting experience. We knocked on this old fella's door, who said he was really busy but WANTED to talk to us, so invited us to come back at 7pm. Now, that is a very unusual occurrence in the mission field, and usually when it happens, the person is a minister of some sort for his religion and wants to mess with you. But, it turns out he was just a nice old guy who said he wanted to talk to us because he felt he should, and everyone should at least give us a chance. He let us teach him about the Restoration, and he didn't disagree with anything, and we committed him to read some in the Book of Mormon, and he said he would like that. But then he told us we wouldn't convert him because he's been a Methodist for 72 years, but we told him we weren't here for that...we just wanted him to pray. So he said he would, it was a great experience, he is a great guy. BTW, we did teach Markata this week and she soft-committed to baptism, meaning she said she'll be baptized when she finds what we teach to be true. Also, we didn't run into Judd at all, which was a bummer!
Then on Sunday, we had the primary program, which is always fun. None of our investigator's showed up but President and Sister Cannon came to teach in a combined Relief Society and Priesthood meeting, which was awesome. They are such great people and feel like a pair of grandparents to me. I have a great love for them and it is always a great experience being with them.
Well, it was a good week. Spiritual thought...hmmm, Have faith! We were listening to "Lectures on Faith" and like we've been taught all our lives, faith is foremost. But listening to the lectures is wonderful, they expound on the necessity of faith, and remind us that it is by faith that everything in the universe is made possible. Man I wanna keep writing about some of the stuff I've learned out here..but I can't explain what the people said...so just go listen to lecture series by Truman G. Madsen about the Prophet Joseph...and you won't be disappointed. Or read the talk about the Atonement by Cleon Skousen. Phew...its all good stuff and I'm learning a lot. Here's another point, learn learn learn!!! You're never to old to learn, and as we teach in the discussions...the reason we came to earth in the first place was to obtain the things that God had that we didn't have in the preexistence, namely a body and knowledge (experience). We have a body, so now we need to get as much knowledge as possible. Anyway, I've talked long enough. I love you all and I hope you have a great week. The church is true!
Love,
Elder Fitt
Monday, October 20, 2008
Week Five/area ONE
Well, its been an interesting week. First off, anyone who had written me in the past week or before that...you've all been written, so expect letters some time soon, they got sent out today.
Alrighty, well last time I wrote I told you all I was serving on an Indian Reservation temporarily. Well, I went back home to Pierre last Wednesday, after we had a district meeting, which is where all the missionaries in our district get together and teach each other (we're supposed to do them every week, but since the 2 places where missionaries are in the district are 2.5 hours apart, we only do them once a month). It was good stuff.
When we got back to Pierre Elder Daly and I visited Markata, a callback (someone they met tracting earlier that week), and she was home..remarkably, and let us in. We taught her about the restoration and she was extremely focused on every word, and she would stare whoever was speaking straight in the eye, it was intense. After the lesson we asked her if she would offer the prayer. She did, and she just broke down, and expressed how she had been having a hard time, and praying earlier for some help. And how she had forgotten that we were coming over and how greatful she was that we came and helped her learn more, and that she wanted to learn whatever he (the Lord) wanted her to learn from us. It was awesome. We gpt to visit her later in the week and show her the video on the Restoration and she said it was really helpful in explaining more what we had taught, so she is excited to learn more.
We got to do some service for a member in the branch, Scott Olson again. He is making a shed, I don't remember if I have talked about this already, and we helped him build the retaining wall around it, which took a while and was pretty tiring..toting around 80 lbs cement blocks is quite a work out, but it was good stuff. Service is always awesome.
So this week had some disappointment as a lot of our investigator's didn't show for their appointments, like Ramone. And the lady named Kara is no longer an investigator, her father said he wouldn't allow her to be taught anymore, so that's lame.
But we did get a new investigator, Buckley. He's a native who has led a pretty sad life. Him and his sisters were forced to be adopted, because their mother was too drunk all the time to take care of them. So they got placed with a family who abused them physically on a weekly basis. I won't go into detail on what he talked about but all I can say is that it broke my heart. And because of it he has become a very timid person, and he says that he is afraid of people. But he is way nice and what's awesome is that he trusts us implicitly. He wants to learn and grow, and wants some friends, he's a pretty lonely guy. We got to teach him about the Plan of Salvation and he thought it was good stuff and we invited him to church but he wasn't able to make it for some reason we haven't found out yet.
We got to help a memeber in the ward move as well, which is always good, service is good stuff. The highlight of the week was definitely Sunday. We had two investigator's show up, Markata, with her 2 five-year-old children, and Judd, a tracting contact.
Markata enjoyed it, but her kids were giving her trouble so she had to leave during Sunday school, but she said she wants to come back next week and she'll find a babysitter.
Judd is interesting. We actually tracted into his fiancee(I can't put accents in) earlier and were trying to contact her one day and instead he answered the door and wanted to hear what we were about. He told us how him and his fiancee(Rian) had sobered up recently, gotten off of drugs, got their own apartment and two jobs and how they're getting married soon and how greatful he was for all of it. He said he hadn't really ever been to church but now he feels like he needs to go. So we got him and I sat with him during Sacrament meeting, he had a ton of questions, but did his best, even sang during the hymns and everything. It was good stuff. He attended sunday school too, and I kinda smacked my head when the teacher said, "Today we're learning aboutn the 10 lost tribes of Israel." DOH! But he still enjoyed it and even answered some questions, correctly!, even though he has never really been to church before . He was like..."its all common sense, we just read about it.." he was a neat guy. Just a sidenote...on the mission, bringing investigator's to church is way stressful...you're praying and hoping that nothing too extreme will be taught and NO FALSE DOCTRINE will be taught...its scary some things members say and you got to hurry and try to correct it to the class, or to the investigator personally so he doesn't get a wrong impression. Needless to say, a little false doctrine was preached..but no damage was done.
Next week he said he was going to bring his fiancee to church with him and stay for all 3 hours instead of just the first 2, which is awesome.
Well that's about it for now, keep sending letters and emails, they're always welcome. I love you all and thank you for your support. One thing I've learned out here is to be grateful for what you have...there are people out here who have had some crazy lives and live in such disarray it is crazy to even think about...so be thankful for what you have and tell your Heavenly Father. We have been told one of the biggest sins of this generation is that of ingratitude...I know I am guilty of it at times, but thats why we have the atonement and repentance. I love this gospel and this opportunity I have to serve, it is way awesome. Soo...get out and serve!(And feed the missionaries in your area, they appreciate soo much...I know I do, now if only the members here will feed us more than once a week....)
Love,
Elder Fitt
Alrighty, well last time I wrote I told you all I was serving on an Indian Reservation temporarily. Well, I went back home to Pierre last Wednesday, after we had a district meeting, which is where all the missionaries in our district get together and teach each other (we're supposed to do them every week, but since the 2 places where missionaries are in the district are 2.5 hours apart, we only do them once a month). It was good stuff.
When we got back to Pierre Elder Daly and I visited Markata, a callback (someone they met tracting earlier that week), and she was home..remarkably, and let us in. We taught her about the restoration and she was extremely focused on every word, and she would stare whoever was speaking straight in the eye, it was intense. After the lesson we asked her if she would offer the prayer. She did, and she just broke down, and expressed how she had been having a hard time, and praying earlier for some help. And how she had forgotten that we were coming over and how greatful she was that we came and helped her learn more, and that she wanted to learn whatever he (the Lord) wanted her to learn from us. It was awesome. We gpt to visit her later in the week and show her the video on the Restoration and she said it was really helpful in explaining more what we had taught, so she is excited to learn more.
We got to do some service for a member in the branch, Scott Olson again. He is making a shed, I don't remember if I have talked about this already, and we helped him build the retaining wall around it, which took a while and was pretty tiring..toting around 80 lbs cement blocks is quite a work out, but it was good stuff. Service is always awesome.
So this week had some disappointment as a lot of our investigator's didn't show for their appointments, like Ramone. And the lady named Kara is no longer an investigator, her father said he wouldn't allow her to be taught anymore, so that's lame.
But we did get a new investigator, Buckley. He's a native who has led a pretty sad life. Him and his sisters were forced to be adopted, because their mother was too drunk all the time to take care of them. So they got placed with a family who abused them physically on a weekly basis. I won't go into detail on what he talked about but all I can say is that it broke my heart. And because of it he has become a very timid person, and he says that he is afraid of people. But he is way nice and what's awesome is that he trusts us implicitly. He wants to learn and grow, and wants some friends, he's a pretty lonely guy. We got to teach him about the Plan of Salvation and he thought it was good stuff and we invited him to church but he wasn't able to make it for some reason we haven't found out yet.
We got to help a memeber in the ward move as well, which is always good, service is good stuff. The highlight of the week was definitely Sunday. We had two investigator's show up, Markata, with her 2 five-year-old children, and Judd, a tracting contact.
Markata enjoyed it, but her kids were giving her trouble so she had to leave during Sunday school, but she said she wants to come back next week and she'll find a babysitter.
Judd is interesting. We actually tracted into his fiancee(I can't put accents in) earlier and were trying to contact her one day and instead he answered the door and wanted to hear what we were about. He told us how him and his fiancee(Rian) had sobered up recently, gotten off of drugs, got their own apartment and two jobs and how they're getting married soon and how greatful he was for all of it. He said he hadn't really ever been to church but now he feels like he needs to go. So we got him and I sat with him during Sacrament meeting, he had a ton of questions, but did his best, even sang during the hymns and everything. It was good stuff. He attended sunday school too, and I kinda smacked my head when the teacher said, "Today we're learning aboutn the 10 lost tribes of Israel." DOH! But he still enjoyed it and even answered some questions, correctly!, even though he has never really been to church before . He was like..."its all common sense, we just read about it.." he was a neat guy. Just a sidenote...on the mission, bringing investigator's to church is way stressful...you're praying and hoping that nothing too extreme will be taught and NO FALSE DOCTRINE will be taught...its scary some things members say and you got to hurry and try to correct it to the class, or to the investigator personally so he doesn't get a wrong impression. Needless to say, a little false doctrine was preached..but no damage was done.
Next week he said he was going to bring his fiancee to church with him and stay for all 3 hours instead of just the first 2, which is awesome.
Well that's about it for now, keep sending letters and emails, they're always welcome. I love you all and thank you for your support. One thing I've learned out here is to be grateful for what you have...there are people out here who have had some crazy lives and live in such disarray it is crazy to even think about...so be thankful for what you have and tell your Heavenly Father. We have been told one of the biggest sins of this generation is that of ingratitude...I know I am guilty of it at times, but thats why we have the atonement and repentance. I love this gospel and this opportunity I have to serve, it is way awesome. Soo...get out and serve!(And feed the missionaries in your area, they appreciate soo much...I know I do, now if only the members here will feed us more than once a week....)
Love,
Elder Fitt
Week Four/area One
Hi Everyone!
Phew, its been a long week. Sorry I didn't email yesterday, but it was Colombus day(and Native American Day) s othe libraries were closed and we couldn't email.
So where to start, its been a crazy week.
The first half of the week went by fast. We did a lot of tracting and ran into some interesting characters, like a 100 year old woman who "likes to sleep." She was pretty funny. Then we ran into a old methodist man who's best friend is mormon, so we talked to him for a while and he asked us questions. He was really nice and I enjoyed talking with him a lot.
We taught a lady named Kara that we tracted into a week or 2 ago. She's a little cooky, and probably in her late 20's. Seems like she's had a traumatic life. But it was great teaching her about the Restoration and when we told her about the Book of Mormon and how Christ visited the Nephites she was all "I didn't know that happened...well that makes sense." So she was really receptive to what we taught her and she said to come back next week and teach her more.
We got to do some service for a member of the ward, Scott Olson, who is the 2nd counselor in the Branch Presidency. He is a great guy. He's building a shed in his back yard as well as a 20-step set of stairs to his front door. So we helped him set up the framework for the stairs so he could pour cement into on Thursday(we helped him on Wednesday). I think he said he needed about 17 yards of cement for the shed and the stairs.
But on thursday we had tri-zone zone conference! It was awesome. We drove to Rapid City for it with Elder and Sister Moulton, a senior couple from Provo, Utah, who are really funny. They took us to Wall Drug, in Wall, SD which is "world famous" for its free ice water. It was funny.
Well at the tri-zone we got to hear from Elder Jones from the 2nd Quorum of the Seventy, and he was awesome. He was way enthusiastic and taught us so much about teaching with the Spirit. It was way good. I also ran into an Elder Scott Henry, who is from Cameron Park, CA. I knew him a little from stake activities back in the day so we chatted for a while and it was neat talking with him. He goes home in few months I believe.
After zone conference, I got sent on an exchange with Elder Nelson from Layton, UT, up to Eagle Butte, and Indian reservation for 6 days. Its a long exchange and I go back to Pierre tomorrow, but its been awesome. For those of you who haven't been on a reservation, just imagine a small town of a couple thousand, full of drunks, trailers, and small houses. Its a pretty little town but its out in the boondocks. Oh also, a lot of rules don't apply on the rez(reservation). Like you don't need a driver's license or insurance on your car, etc. It's crazy.
Every morning on the rez we do service for 2 hours picking up trash because all of the natives are either asleep, wasted or at work. So you can really visit anyone, except for the few white people here in the mornings. Its been pretty bitter cold up here because its been kinda stormy, so picking up trash in 30 degree weather w/out a coat(Because I forgot it in Pierre) wasn't too fun, but it was good being able to serve.
Geez, there's too much to talk about and this letter is getting longer and longer by the minute.
Next...we've been teaching a recently reactivated family's children, 2 of which have been baptized and one that we're working on now, Xania, who is almost 8 years old. The family is the Norris's and they're a funny family. They have a little 3 or 4 year old girl named Isis, but everyone calls her Grandma. She is probably the cutest little girl(excluding Ashby) that I have ever seen in my life. I wish I had a picture. She's adorable, and calls everyone mom except for here dad, who she calls gog. She'll go around and pull on your shirt saying, " Mom mom mom mom" and then point to something, its so funny. So I'm officially a mom now, haha.
Well we've been fed a lot on the rez which has been really nice and the members out here are really nice. Its a small branch.
Well we've been able to teach alot of people out here and there's 2-3 baptisms scheduled soonish, which is great.
Now to the climax of the week. A family(The Waters) of 6, a mom, and 5 kids, ages ranging between 13 and 23, moved up to Eagle Butte in may, from Modesto. They're natives and are an extremely close family. Well one of the sons plays football and it just so happens that the Branch President out here is the coach of the team. So he was able to get the family to come to General Conference, well the mom said she'd go. And that morning she told he kids, "I'm going to church, and you guys can come if you want." And they all came! And then this week they all came again! They have a great love for each other and for Heavenly Father.
Well anyway, President Inu(a polynesian guy with a native wife) invited us over, as well as the Waters family to have lunch after church. He made the best seafood I have ever had. There was pounds upon pounds of shrimp there, fish, crab, lobster, squid, octopus, mussels, you name it he had it. Oh it was delicious and I'm still craving it. But after lunch we got to teach the family the restoration. They all listened really well and participated a lot, sharing experiences where God has blessed them in their lives and how they have grown closer to him as a family.
I could write 2 more pages of our lesson, but I don't have time. Anyway, we committed them to reading the Book of Mormon and all of them said they would, pretty enthusiastically as well. They're so awesome and I'm said that I have to go back to Pierre because I can see them being baptized really soon, that'd be 6 baptisms! Anyway, it was an amazing experience teaching them and feeling the Spirit.
I've made this long enough, but I'd like to thank my Heavenly Father for this opportunity I have to serve His children. I have learned and grown so much and this work is great. We listened to a talk, called the Mortal Christ, by Jack R. Christensen(or something like that). The talk was amazing and I'd recommend listening to it, but one thing that he emphasized that really hit me hard was he said, most sincerely, something in the effect of this. "I came to the realization that I don't want to be the causine of Christ's suffering in Gethsemane." Meaning, his relationship with Christ had become so personal, so full of love and trust, that he himself couldn't bear the thought of causing the Savior pain and sorrow as he atoned for us. So with that he said he determined to no longer add to the drops of blood for the Savior to suffer for us. He had a change of heart and did not want to sin anymore.
I thought it was so powerful and it really made me think about my relationship with Christ, how I do love him so much and am thankful for his Atonement, how he suffered for me personally, as well as everyone else. How he knows me and can help me in my struggles as well as you. He his my Savior and I love him, and am so greatful for my Father in Heaven for allowing his son to be the Redeemer of mankind.
Again, I love this work and my call to serve. I hope all you are helping the missionaries where you live further the work of the Lord.
I love you all hope you have a great week!
Love,
Elder Fitt
P.S. Because of the exchange, I haven't been able to get to people's letters that have been sent within the last week or so, but once I get back to Pierre I'll get right on it!
Phew, its been a long week. Sorry I didn't email yesterday, but it was Colombus day(and Native American Day) s othe libraries were closed and we couldn't email.
So where to start, its been a crazy week.
The first half of the week went by fast. We did a lot of tracting and ran into some interesting characters, like a 100 year old woman who "likes to sleep." She was pretty funny. Then we ran into a old methodist man who's best friend is mormon, so we talked to him for a while and he asked us questions. He was really nice and I enjoyed talking with him a lot.
We taught a lady named Kara that we tracted into a week or 2 ago. She's a little cooky, and probably in her late 20's. Seems like she's had a traumatic life. But it was great teaching her about the Restoration and when we told her about the Book of Mormon and how Christ visited the Nephites she was all "I didn't know that happened...well that makes sense." So she was really receptive to what we taught her and she said to come back next week and teach her more.
We got to do some service for a member of the ward, Scott Olson, who is the 2nd counselor in the Branch Presidency. He is a great guy. He's building a shed in his back yard as well as a 20-step set of stairs to his front door. So we helped him set up the framework for the stairs so he could pour cement into on Thursday(we helped him on Wednesday). I think he said he needed about 17 yards of cement for the shed and the stairs.
But on thursday we had tri-zone zone conference! It was awesome. We drove to Rapid City for it with Elder and Sister Moulton, a senior couple from Provo, Utah, who are really funny. They took us to Wall Drug, in Wall, SD which is "world famous" for its free ice water. It was funny.
Well at the tri-zone we got to hear from Elder Jones from the 2nd Quorum of the Seventy, and he was awesome. He was way enthusiastic and taught us so much about teaching with the Spirit. It was way good. I also ran into an Elder Scott Henry, who is from Cameron Park, CA. I knew him a little from stake activities back in the day so we chatted for a while and it was neat talking with him. He goes home in few months I believe.
After zone conference, I got sent on an exchange with Elder Nelson from Layton, UT, up to Eagle Butte, and Indian reservation for 6 days. Its a long exchange and I go back to Pierre tomorrow, but its been awesome. For those of you who haven't been on a reservation, just imagine a small town of a couple thousand, full of drunks, trailers, and small houses. Its a pretty little town but its out in the boondocks. Oh also, a lot of rules don't apply on the rez(reservation). Like you don't need a driver's license or insurance on your car, etc. It's crazy.
Every morning on the rez we do service for 2 hours picking up trash because all of the natives are either asleep, wasted or at work. So you can really visit anyone, except for the few white people here in the mornings. Its been pretty bitter cold up here because its been kinda stormy, so picking up trash in 30 degree weather w/out a coat(Because I forgot it in Pierre) wasn't too fun, but it was good being able to serve.
Geez, there's too much to talk about and this letter is getting longer and longer by the minute.
Next...we've been teaching a recently reactivated family's children, 2 of which have been baptized and one that we're working on now, Xania, who is almost 8 years old. The family is the Norris's and they're a funny family. They have a little 3 or 4 year old girl named Isis, but everyone calls her Grandma. She is probably the cutest little girl(excluding Ashby) that I have ever seen in my life. I wish I had a picture. She's adorable, and calls everyone mom except for here dad, who she calls gog. She'll go around and pull on your shirt saying, " Mom mom mom mom" and then point to something, its so funny. So I'm officially a mom now, haha.
Well we've been fed a lot on the rez which has been really nice and the members out here are really nice. Its a small branch.
Well we've been able to teach alot of people out here and there's 2-3 baptisms scheduled soonish, which is great.
Now to the climax of the week. A family(The Waters) of 6, a mom, and 5 kids, ages ranging between 13 and 23, moved up to Eagle Butte in may, from Modesto. They're natives and are an extremely close family. Well one of the sons plays football and it just so happens that the Branch President out here is the coach of the team. So he was able to get the family to come to General Conference, well the mom said she'd go. And that morning she told he kids, "I'm going to church, and you guys can come if you want." And they all came! And then this week they all came again! They have a great love for each other and for Heavenly Father.
Well anyway, President Inu(a polynesian guy with a native wife) invited us over, as well as the Waters family to have lunch after church. He made the best seafood I have ever had. There was pounds upon pounds of shrimp there, fish, crab, lobster, squid, octopus, mussels, you name it he had it. Oh it was delicious and I'm still craving it. But after lunch we got to teach the family the restoration. They all listened really well and participated a lot, sharing experiences where God has blessed them in their lives and how they have grown closer to him as a family.
I could write 2 more pages of our lesson, but I don't have time. Anyway, we committed them to reading the Book of Mormon and all of them said they would, pretty enthusiastically as well. They're so awesome and I'm said that I have to go back to Pierre because I can see them being baptized really soon, that'd be 6 baptisms! Anyway, it was an amazing experience teaching them and feeling the Spirit.
I've made this long enough, but I'd like to thank my Heavenly Father for this opportunity I have to serve His children. I have learned and grown so much and this work is great. We listened to a talk, called the Mortal Christ, by Jack R. Christensen(or something like that). The talk was amazing and I'd recommend listening to it, but one thing that he emphasized that really hit me hard was he said, most sincerely, something in the effect of this. "I came to the realization that I don't want to be the causine of Christ's suffering in Gethsemane." Meaning, his relationship with Christ had become so personal, so full of love and trust, that he himself couldn't bear the thought of causing the Savior pain and sorrow as he atoned for us. So with that he said he determined to no longer add to the drops of blood for the Savior to suffer for us. He had a change of heart and did not want to sin anymore.
I thought it was so powerful and it really made me think about my relationship with Christ, how I do love him so much and am thankful for his Atonement, how he suffered for me personally, as well as everyone else. How he knows me and can help me in my struggles as well as you. He his my Savior and I love him, and am so greatful for my Father in Heaven for allowing his son to be the Redeemer of mankind.
Again, I love this work and my call to serve. I hope all you are helping the missionaries where you live further the work of the Lord.
I love you all hope you have a great week!
Love,
Elder Fitt
P.S. Because of the exchange, I haven't been able to get to people's letters that have been sent within the last week or so, but once I get back to Pierre I'll get right on it!
Monday, October 6, 2008
Week Three/Area One
Hello Everyone!
This week has been great! First off, General Conference was amazing to say the least. There were so many good talks, and though it is hard to pick a favorite, one would have to be President Uchdorf's talk on hope. It was so powerful and had so much stuff in it. President Uchdorf is such a stud, heh, he has some really great talks. But you were all there(I hope) so I won't talk anymore about it.
This week went pretty fast, probably because we kept ourselves busy. But, basically all of our lessons fell through this week, which was disappointing. Either the people weren't there, or they found something else to keep them busy, or they had to go to work 'unexpectedly. Oh well. All of our callbacks fell through as well, which you get from tracting, except one!!! It was our first callback since I've been here that hasn't fallen through, and we've had at least 15. The guy's name is Ramon(accent above the 'o'). He grew up on the Indian reservation, or the 'rez'. He's a nice guy, and not a native, or doesn't look native. We taught him the first half of the Restoration and then he had to go. But as he was walking us out he told us he felt the love we brought, and just felt good about what we were teaching. So he seems pretty golden to me. He's had a hard life and I think we're teaching him exactly what he needs to hear.
The rest of the week was full of tracting, and visiting less-active members of the church, in efforts to get them to come to General Conference. We invited probably about the six or so that were home or let us in, but none of them showed to any session of Conference.
We had the opportunity to visit with a less-active family, the Freestone's. They're a couple probably in their 30's with 2 little girls. Brother Freestone has been a member all his life, but I'm not sure if his wife is. Anyway, they were really great people, extremely nice and hospitable. They said they believed the church and call but the wife said, "I'm not a church going person." So they just don't go to church. Hopefully somewhere down the line we can instill in them a desire to go to church. Their little girls go sometimes because they like going, maybe that will help spark a desire in their soul to attend as well.
We taught Angelo the Plan of Salvation this week, and he loved it. He believes everything we teach him which is awesome, and said it was great actually knowing about the Plan and how much our Father in Heaven loves us. We didn't talk about baptism this week, it didn't feel right. Hopefully this coming week he'll be ready to accept a baptismal committment.
Well not much else has happened this weel. We've basically had to start from scratch since I got here, in a difficult area, because most everybody is already content with their own religion and aren't willing to learn more about our church. But we're working hard and trying our best to get inside people's house and spread the good word of the Lord!
I love you all and am grateful for your support. Have a great week everyone!
Love,
Elder Fitt
P.S.
I'm not sure if the correct address was given out to everyone to mail letters to. So I'll relist it:
Elder William Fitt
819 E. Broadway Avenue #B2
Pierre, SD 57501
Sorry for the trouble...the mission president gave out an incorrect address the first time around...silly mission president.
This week has been great! First off, General Conference was amazing to say the least. There were so many good talks, and though it is hard to pick a favorite, one would have to be President Uchdorf's talk on hope. It was so powerful and had so much stuff in it. President Uchdorf is such a stud, heh, he has some really great talks. But you were all there(I hope) so I won't talk anymore about it.
This week went pretty fast, probably because we kept ourselves busy. But, basically all of our lessons fell through this week, which was disappointing. Either the people weren't there, or they found something else to keep them busy, or they had to go to work 'unexpectedly. Oh well. All of our callbacks fell through as well, which you get from tracting, except one!!! It was our first callback since I've been here that hasn't fallen through, and we've had at least 15. The guy's name is Ramon(accent above the 'o'). He grew up on the Indian reservation, or the 'rez'. He's a nice guy, and not a native, or doesn't look native. We taught him the first half of the Restoration and then he had to go. But as he was walking us out he told us he felt the love we brought, and just felt good about what we were teaching. So he seems pretty golden to me. He's had a hard life and I think we're teaching him exactly what he needs to hear.
The rest of the week was full of tracting, and visiting less-active members of the church, in efforts to get them to come to General Conference. We invited probably about the six or so that were home or let us in, but none of them showed to any session of Conference.
We had the opportunity to visit with a less-active family, the Freestone's. They're a couple probably in their 30's with 2 little girls. Brother Freestone has been a member all his life, but I'm not sure if his wife is. Anyway, they were really great people, extremely nice and hospitable. They said they believed the church and call but the wife said, "I'm not a church going person." So they just don't go to church. Hopefully somewhere down the line we can instill in them a desire to go to church. Their little girls go sometimes because they like going, maybe that will help spark a desire in their soul to attend as well.
We taught Angelo the Plan of Salvation this week, and he loved it. He believes everything we teach him which is awesome, and said it was great actually knowing about the Plan and how much our Father in Heaven loves us. We didn't talk about baptism this week, it didn't feel right. Hopefully this coming week he'll be ready to accept a baptismal committment.
Well not much else has happened this weel. We've basically had to start from scratch since I got here, in a difficult area, because most everybody is already content with their own religion and aren't willing to learn more about our church. But we're working hard and trying our best to get inside people's house and spread the good word of the Lord!
I love you all and am grateful for your support. Have a great week everyone!
Love,
Elder Fitt
P.S.
I'm not sure if the correct address was given out to everyone to mail letters to. So I'll relist it:
Elder William Fitt
819 E. Broadway Avenue #B2
Pierre, SD 57501
Sorry for the trouble...the mission president gave out an incorrect address the first time around...silly mission president.
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