March 10, 2014 - Nanaimo South

IN SICKNESS AND HEALTH

Hello again and what a extraordinary week it's been! The weather has been improving and so has our finding results, although it has come at a cost. On Tuesday I went on an exchange with Elder Buchanan, another greenie serving in Duncan who is currently being trained by Elder Rolfson. I know sending out two greenies together sounds like a recipe for disaster right? Not if the Lord has anything to say about it. We were blessed with seven new investigators that day! :D From now on I will only tell you the names of the people we have had successful return appointments with since we have been fortunate to find a lot of people. 

On Wednesday Elder Groeneveld and I split apart again with the zone leaders for another exchange. We tried stopping by to see Danny, one of our new investigators we found last week but her mother answered the door and told us that she was lying in bed sick. She said that her daughter knew the two of us were coming so she wanted us to come back another time. Of course, Elder Glover and I assumed she was just dropping us and had just lost interest, but when we got a phone call from Elder Duersch that evening, we were told that Elder Groeneveld had suddenly fallen ill and was lying in bed exhausted and fast asleep. We began to get the impression that Danny's mother told us the truth, especially since I suddenly recalled that Danny said she was feeling ill when we first met with her. Several other missionaries in our zone ended up getting sick one after another with the same symptoms this week. I (so far) have been perfectly healthy. :)

 The following morning we met at a member's house for a service project as we exchanged back. The four of us had to pick up some wood that had been sawed up from a fallen tree and brought up a steep driveway in a wheel barrel. Most of these logs weighed 70-90 pounds. Despite getting a priesthood blessing from Elder Duersch before leaving the apartment, Elder Groeneveld showed up looking dreadful. However, once we began to work something happened. When Elder Groeneveld lifted the heavy logs, they would feel as he described, "as light as pillows!" It was remarkable to see how the priesthood blessed him as we worked for well over a couple hours bringing all that wood into the yard. My companion truly has incredible faith and he's been blessed for it that's for sure!

On Friday we finally went to Ladysmith! We tracted out on a nearby First Nations reserve and found another new investigator. Many First Nations people are easy to find because they are very spiritual people. They can really feel the spirit when you speak to them, especially about the Book of Mormon and how it focuses on their ancestors and their dealings with God. The more we tracted in the town of Ladysmith, the more we began to realize that the town hadn't been as "untouched" by missionaries as we previously thought! There was a lot of friendly people there, but none of them were interested. We went home early that night so that Elder Groeneveld could get some more sleep.

Last week I forgot to mention how Brother B was doing. The answer is fantastic! He's come to church two weeks in a row and we've visited him a couple times. He's such a cool guy and he's rediscovering the joys of living the gospel. Hopefully we can get his wife interested in the gospel sometime too!

 On Sunday after church, Elder Groeneveld and I went to take the sacrament to the Larsen family. Brother and Sister Larsen have been quite sick so they have been unable to come to church lately. After we gave them the sacrament, their daughter, M (who has been looking after her parents for a while and has been inactive for a really long time) said that she wanted to start going to church again! When her Mother heard these words she was very surprised and the two of them began to cry tears of joy together. It was quite a moment to witness and the spirit felt incredibly strong. 

 Later that evening we had a ward fireside. Us missionaries hosted the event and we read the principles from Preach My Gospel. We then showed examples of each of the principles by watching videos. It was a great event to take part in and we had some refreshments after! 

 
That about sums up the week. Elder Groeneveld is feeling a lot better now. We should be going into Ladysmith again later this week so we'll see how that goes. We've had our challenges but boy is working through them ever rewarding! Love you all lots and it's always a pleasure writing to whoever may be following me on my adventures as a servant of our Lord.

Until next Monday,

 

 Elder Maclean Samis