Aaron 3/24/14

March 24, 2014

Clean Like a Dollar Bill

Hey all, what's up?! It's been an awesome week here in Springfield! Spring has sprung, and it even got up to a toasty 70 degrees this week! It's about time!

Last P-day we had a Zone fun day, since we met a goal of getting investigators to church and broke a zone record. We all met at the Springfield building and played volleyball, ate green food (st. patricks day) and played a whole lot of scratch (free-for-all dodgeball). As well "zonie" awards were given out, of which I won "Most likely to be a Mortician." Never heard that one before! haha.

On Tuesday mornings we have a zone wide conference call during companionship study, and just before that started the Zone Leaders, Elder Beverley and Elder Spaulding, showed up at our apartment to do a surprise exchange for the morning and early afternoon! They're a couple of awesome missionaries, and I've had at least one of them in my zone for a lot of my mission. So after making some last second plans, I went out with Elder Beverley and Elder Mosley went with Elder Spaulding. It ended up being a really successful day! It does help being able to split up and cover a lot more ground, but the Spirit was strong and we had a lot of fun. One part member family we went to visit is the Calls, who I think I've talked about before. When we first met him, Brother Call was not interested in learning more about the church, because he'd heard we worship many Gods. So we read with him 3 Nephi 11, where Christ comes to visit the Americas, and he recognized how Christ teaches the doctrine of how He and Heavenly Father and the Holy Ghost all work together, and it makes sense to him. When I visited with Elder Beverley, he was way friendlier to us, and even wanted us to go visit his brother! The Calls also have a massive dog, a German Shepard mix, and it's always scary to go into their house because he acts like he wants to kill anyone who comes into the house, and the only thing stopping him is the spiked chain collar held by Sister Call. It takes a few minutes each time for him to get used to us. I decided not to warn Elder Beverley, so he got a good scare from it too. :)

We also met with a less active member who is still having experiences with demons and other weird spirits. I'm still not sure what to do with that.

Wednesday we drove tons of miles to go to district meeting in another area, but it was a fun meeting. We've got a really good district, but it's hard because a set of Elders and a set of Sisters are in one of the smallest branches in the mission, with one of the largest rosters. It just a lot of tiny towns, so they struggle a lot there, but we've seen some miracles happening!

Also on Wednesday, we found a new investigator Anotony who we think breeds pitbulls. He's always got a couple chained up in front of his house, and you're always a little unsure if you want to walk through them to get to his front door. The kid across the street told us before we went there "Unless you want to get bit, don't go to that house!" We decided to go there anyways, and the dogs are all super friendly! Maybe it's just my natural charm. ;)

Thursday we got in contact with a guy named Cliff who walked up to us this past Sunday completely drunk and asked us for help. He gave us his address, and was so surprised to see us on his door! It was actually really awesome, because he's a solid guy who really wants to turn his life around, and he recognizes that the Gospel can help him.

We also have been trying to get in with the Dean family that we found, so we made these things called "Heart-softening cookies." Pretty much they're soft homemade Oreos, and are delicious! 

Friday had incredible weather, so it was just a super exciting day. It finished off with a ward activity/cub scout blue and gold banquet, which was super fun. They actually hired a Square dancing caller to come, so after the dinner and awards, we put up all the tables and everyone did square dancing! We did dishes, and ended up getting a ton of leftover pulled pork and hot dogs and stuff. 

Saturday was eh. 

Sunday was a very interesting day. In Sacrament meeting Jake was confirmed, and that was super awesome. The Spirit was strong. After a couple of really good talks, one from a young women who had her appendix taken out earlier this week, the ward Priesthood sang "Brightly Beams our Father's Mercy." Very good!

After singing, our ward mission leader pulled us into the foyer, since the Sisters of the ward hadn't shown up yet and weren't answering calls. They had told us before sacrament they were helping out an investigator who we had referred to them a few weeks back, so Brother Vandiford had us go find them and make sure they weren't dead! We ended up giving this investigator a priesthood blessing, as she was in really rough shape.

After church, we went over to the family's home who fellowshipped Jake for lunch, and began teaching the Dad's 9 year old son, whose Mom doesn't want to get baptized. They're an awesome family, and I know that she'll change her mind sooner or later. :)

We also had the opportunity to help a recent convert sister who had a major surgery this past week. Her cousin bought her a Kindle Fire and a wifi router, and asked us to set it up for her so she could have Netflix and have stuff to read. So we got to do some techy service! Haha

Walking in one night last week, Elder Mosley and I found a dollar bill on the edge of the sidewalk going in to our apartment. It was the nastiest dollar I have ever seen. It looked like it had been buried in mud and poop for the past 3 winters. But it's a dollar, so we weren't going to turn that down! Last night I decided to try and clean it off, with no avail. This dollar was stained seemingly for good. So, I decided to see what happens if you bleach a dollar. I put it in a cup of bleach, and left it to sit while we went teaching for the rest of the night. When we got back, that dollar bills was clean and stain free. It's perfect looking! I liked the metaphor of being stained with grime and sin, seemingly impossible to be cleaned, but turning to something specific to remove that stain and be clean. I wrote in pencil on the bottom of the dollar bill "Alma 5:21," one of my favorite scriptures of the atonement. I'm keeping the dollar with my scriptures from now on. :0

I know that the atonement of Jesus Christ is real. I know that we are able to be cleaned of our sins and mistakes because of the sacrifice, merits, and mercy of the Savior. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and it will bring us closer to Him in our quest for truth and light. I love Jesus Christ, and I love sharing what He has taught me.

I love and miss you all!
Love, Elder Aaron Toombs