Parable of Lehi's Family - Elder Joshua Avery

Written by Elder Joshua Avery, serving in the Singapore Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Mandarin Chinese.  

Dear Family and Friends,

This week I have had my faith increase through my Book of Mormon study. I compared the story of Lehi and his family traveling through the wilderness to our work as missionaries. We have Lehi and his wife (the mission president and his wife) who receive revelation for their family and leads them. Nephi (I liken him to those in leadership positions) receives commands from Lehi, and then Nephi rallies his brothers to carry it out. Laman and Lemuel (missionaries who lack the faith to try to carry out the tasks given them by the mission president) murmur and miss home the whole journey. and think success is not possible for them. Sam (missionaries not in a leadership position but who are just as faithful and diligent as Nephi) supports his brother Nephi who has been chosen to be a leader. Sam often has to endure the same opposition and mocking from others that Nephi does. I think, depending on the day, we can feel like a Nephi and Sam, or a Laman and Lemuel. As we study their attributes we can learn how to avoid the temptation to murmur and more faithfully support our priesthood leaders.

We have been challenged by the Assistants (to the mission president) to always talk to the first person out the door, even if it is the same person everyday.   The other day as we got on our bikes we saw one of our neighbors, who is a grumpy old man, outside of his house. They have not been very kind to us. I don't think they have said more than two or three words to us ever. I did not want to talk to them and considered not doing it, but I felt that I should. When we stopped our bikes we realized that our old grumpy neighbor had fallen out of his wheel chair! He was on his knees on the pavement and was in a lot of pain. His little Indonesian maid was trying to help him, but was having no success. Elder Brown and I were able to lift him into his wheel chair and head on our way. He probably still doesn't like us, but I feel that I did what the Savior would have done. I know that listening to our leaders will bless us in ways we don't expect.

We were able to get a less-active member and his returned-missionary daughter to come help us teach a lesson. We wanted to get some less-active lessons this week, but I feel that them coming to teach with us is just as good or better. We also walked to a lesson with a member who doesn't have a car, and on the way he referred two of his nieces who we were able to teach Saturday and they came to all 3 hours of church Sunday.

Before the teaching visit Saturday we had a little bit of extra time so we went finding with the member and everyone we talked to was...interesting. First we talked to some ladies who ended up being prostitutes from Vietnam with poor Chinese, and then we met a young tattooed Chinese man who was wearing one of those beauty face mask things. He thought he was really tough. He ended up getting really ticked off and yelling in our faces and was going to call the police.

After all that, we got some coconut with the member and he said, "that guy was really hot-headed. Is missionary work always this hard?" We told him that it's only like this sometimes, but there are also really good times and that it's not just hard in Sitiawan, but all around the world.

We didn't reach our home teaching goal last month but it was definitely a good start. We are getting home teaching visits set up for this week so that we can start the month off strong. I feel like the members are becoming more qualified in a lot of ways and I have seen a lot of growth in them.

Thanks for everything!
Elder Avery

The Storms of Life Always End (January 24, 2016)

Find Those That Will Receive You  (February 7, 2016)

The Storms of Life Always End - Elder Joshua Avery

Heading to Singapore for Conference last week

Written by Elder Joshua Avery, serving in the Singapore Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Mandarin Chinese.

(The week of January 17 was traveling to Singapore and back for a Conference, so no email but lots of pictures.)

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was a different one for sure. We encountered many, many set backs, but I know that it is for my good and part of the process to becoming more like my Heavenly Father. I would say I have increased my faith by enduring the trials of this week with faith. Similar trials probably would have caused me to complain (well, more than I did), and wish I was home or sleeping...but this week it didn't bug me. I felt a heavy load but it was not crushing, when a load of the same size would have been paralyzing in the past. Today I feel calm and peaceful. I know that the storms of life will always end.

Elder Perrit and I got into Ipoh a lot later than anticipated for our exchange. We immediately hopped on our bikes to go proselyting. We found people who we could teach and pray with on the way to our first appointment. The appointment was in one of the more sketchy Indian places in Ipoh. I was following Elder Perritt as we were quickly biking to the appointment (we were running late), when in an intersection my tire popped. We were still a considerable distance from the appointment so we ran with our bikes to the appointment. The lesson went okay despite us having to trim it down due to our tardiness, and the recent convert we were visiting let us lock the bikes at his house. We ended up being able to meet many people within walking distance of the house. One of them invited us into their home and we were able to share a brief Restoration lesson. A member picked us up that night so that we could get home without walking all the way back, and a different member was able to help us get the tire fixed the next day. By us exercising our faith, despite being able to see how we could make the situation a good one, God blessed us.

Another lemons turned into lemonade experience was at church yesterday. Sometime during last week I ended up getting sick. Saturday night I didn't get much sleep because I was up with a fever and chills. When I got to church the brothers in our branch were excited (for lack of a better word) for the opportunity to give a blessing. We had taught them a week or two ago how to do so, and they were anxious to use their new skill. I was very happy that they were able to give their first blessing. It is one more way they can use their priesthood to bless their families.

We made a visit to a less-active member who is leaving on a mission soon, but he was not home. We were able to talk to his mom and hopefully give her some guidance and direction on what steps they need to take in his mission preparation. She wants us to work with her son for a little bit everyday. I also feel that is needed.

Elders Avery and Perritt

We also have a member who recently got an older cheap car. He was so excited and said now he and his sons can take us teaching more easily. We also are helping our branch president who is having leg problems preventing him from walking, standing, or sitting for extended periods of time. He is definitely a man in need of a helping hand. So we will be helping him this week to supervise some maintenance that has to happen in the chapel.

Thanks for everything!
Elder Avery

So Much Going On! (January 10, 2016)

Parable of Lehi's Family (January 31, 2016)

So Much Going On! - Elder Joshua Avery

Visiting the monkeys for P-day

Written by Elder Joshua Avery, serving in the Singapore Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Mandarin Chinese. 
 
Dear Family and Friends,


There is always so much to say and too little time. Congrats to Hannah and Kolby! A GIRL! We were all wrong, haha!

This week was awesome. It was a trial of faith but through it we saw some great miracles. This week I have been increasing my faith by going on another 40 day fast (not from food and water). I made a list of things I do that limit my spiritual sensitivity and I am giving them up for these next 40 days and hopefully the rest of my life or mission at least. I fasted yesterday so that I would have inspiration as to what things I should put on my list. I officially started today, but I am confident the list will grow.

The start of this week was slow. The school year started for the kids here so things felt kind of dead. We were struggling to find people. Some parts of the city were a ghost town. No one wanted to meet because they all think they are to busy because of school. On Wednesday we went to a neighborhood that we felt prompted to go to. We locked up our bikes and began to walk around committed to talk to everyone we saw. That turned out to be quite the challenge because there was literally no one. I kept praying that we would at least find some sign of life. It got really hot and Elder Brown was getting sunburned pretty bad. We found a shady spot and rested for a bit and then made our way back to our bikes. On the way back Elder Brown ended up talking to a lady outside her house who is the mother of a former investigator. We had to drop him because he wouldn't talk to his parents about him learning and we didn't want to have secret meetings with him. She has some interest so we will have to meet with her soon so her son can learn too.

Thursday we met with an Indian man who has a lot of faith and volunteers his time and service at a church and helps a lot of people. He confided with us that he has not prayed in months because his head feels cloudy and he has been having some depression. We gave him a blessing. And afterwards his whole family wanted one. He gave a prayer at the end of the lesson.

Saturday was full of miracles. The lesson with the Indian man had been our only lesson the whole week and our finding was not going well. The previous night a member told Elder Brown that he wanted us to help him out the following morning. Well we were in for a surprise! We get a call from the member right after our breakfast and morning exercise saying "I'm here!," so we jumped in the car and he took us to breakfast and a bunch of other places. Then he told us that the truck was late so he took us home and we showered and started our studies. 40 min later we get a call saying, "We are here". I opened the door to see a truck the size of a moving truck in front of our house filled with stuff. "Yikes!" I thought. Well, we helped him unload some stuff onto our porch. He says he needs us to keep it till the begining of next month. Then he took us somewhere else to unload the rest of the stuff ranging from big air tanks and welding equipment and saws and wires and who knows what, haha! Well after that we had no time for further studies.

We have been trying to improve our work with members this week by helping them do their home teaching. So after our service Saturday morning we took a family home teaching. We taught them how to do it and it was a wonderful experience. We were also able to go home teaching with a less-active member and his dad. We are hoping to get the first 100% home teaching Sitiawan has ever seen. Everyone we have gone home teaching with has said they have never done it before.

After a day of home teaching and unloading a truck we cleaned the church and by then it was dinner time. We scarfed down some dinner and went to two lessons that we were able to nail down during dinner. The second lesson had me a little frustrated because the lady couldn't understand me...We drove to the next house and the guy told us he would be like 20-30 minutes late. Well that had me a little bummed. I was sitting in the car sad thinking, "We have almost no lessons, that lady couldn't understand me, and we have no new investigators or any idea where they will come from."

After letting God know how I felt, I opened the car door. The member in the car said, "where are you going?" "To find people," I replied. Because the house we were at was in the middle of nowhere he said, "where?" I pointed down a dark road that looked like it led to more nowhere. We walked a little bit down it when  a group of dogs were on the road barking. The member wanted to go back but we insisted on going and scared the dogs away. We looked at the houses but I didn't feel like we should knock any of them so we kept going until we found one that felt right. We knocked it and as soon as we did our phone rang. Elder Brown answered the phone and it was a potential investigator we had been wanting to meet who said she could meet later that night. While that was going on the member and I were talking to the lady who answered the door. She came out and half way to the gate, and then she and the member started yelling things like "hey! no way! It's you!" I was puzzled and then they explained they are old friends that haven't seen one another in years. She let us in and we shared about the Book of Mormon for two minutes and set a return appointment for the next day. When we met the potential who called us during all that, she brought a friend who wanted to learn too.

The next day when we met the lady we had knocked the door of and she had read part of the Book of Mormon. During the lesson the member explained to her how we found her and that God had sent us to her. In the car on the way home he said that he had tried to visit her before but never knew where her house was. I know that God lives and guides us by His Holy Spirit and that we receive no witness till after the trial of our faith. I believe God was willing to give us those miracles because we acted on faith.


Well that's all for now folks!

Love you,
Elder Avery

New Year (January 3, 2016)

The Storms of Life Always End  (January 24, 2016)

For REAL?!!

New Year - Elder Joshua Avery

Written by Elder Joshua Avery, serving in the Singapore Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Mandarin Chinese. 

My guess is that Hannah and Kolby's baby is a BOY!

Dear Family and Friends!

This week I have chosen to increase my faith by trying to repent and change. All of us have things that we need to fix and improve on. Whether it is just being off by a couple minutes to the missionary daily schedule or being too casual in language. Repentance is still a hard thing for me because change is painful and at times very slow, but this morning as I was reading the conference Ensign I learned some important principles about repentance. 1. God will always give us more than we put in. (we give Him 10% for tithing and He gives us a blessing beyond our ability to receive). 2. God is always going to strengthen us as we strive to change and repent, especially if it is a particularly difficult or uncomfortable change, and 3. We only fail if we lose the faith to keep trying. Because of my lack of knowledge and my pride I'm not sure of all of the things I need to repent of at the moment, but the more I am willing to change the more will be revealed.

This past week we were leaving the mall where we had visited a member and handed out English Class flyers. As we were making our exit we passed a Chinese lady. I kept biking but when I turned around I saw Elder Brown talking to her. I flipped around to go assist him. The lady didn't seem to have much interest, but she introduced us to her son. He asked us a lot of great questions and told us that he has been really interested in Christianity lately and wants to know more. We gave him a call the other day to follow up and he said that we are welcome any time. This is just one of the many times that God has put prepared people in our path in an unexpected way. Too often we shrug off promptings because they don't make sense, but if God didn't prompt you to talk to someone because they were prepared it likely means they know someone who is prepared. If not, you get to participate in the preparation process.

We biked out to see Mr.Z** earlier this week. One of the young men was even willing to bike all the way out there to help us. We got there a little earlier so we talked to a couple people in the area and ended up sharing the Book of Mormon with a grandma that is now investigating. Mr. Z** came to church again which was so awesome.

I called K** on Saturday to remind him of church. When I called he said "Hey thanks for helping clean my mom is sleeping so much better now! We are fasting tomorrow right?" He also came to church again. During 2nd hour one of the sisters asked him, "When are you getting baptized?" He looked at us with an expression on his face that seemed to ask, "Can I still?" Later yesterday we taught him and he is now on date for the last week of February. Smoking seems to be the only major obstacle to his baptism.

On our preparation day we organized an activity with the youth. We all went to the church and watched Ephraim's Rescue. We invited all of the youth to invite their friends. One of the youth invited a friend who later this past week became a new investigator. Another youth says he wants us to organize a similar activity so he can invite his friends.

Biking in the rain....at night....!!

 Today we are going with the youth to see monkeys. We already have at least one member bringing a friend and possibly one more. Nearly every baptism in 2014 in Sitiawan  was a member referral. I am starting to more fully understand why President Hinkley, when talking about missionary work, called this "the better way." Imagine how different the growth of the church would be if every member prayed for their own missionary opportunities as much as they prayed for the missionaries. We have had a lot of help with a lot of the members and I think we are gaining their trust. This past week we helped a young woman and her non-member mom take down Christmas decorations. This next week we are helping another member to pick the fruit from her tree, and we are also helping some of the young woman who promised to get their personal progress before one of the ex-pat members gets back to finish it up. Branch council was brief and to the point yesterday. I like it that way. Seems like things are going in a good direction.

Love you all!
Elder Avery

My Last Christmas in Malaysia (December 27, 2015)

So Much Going On!  (January 10, 2016)

Rain drops are huge!

My Last Christmas in Malaysia - Elder Joshua Avery

Written by Elder Joshua Avery, serving in the Singapore Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Mandarin Chinese. 

Christmas Skype Home

Dear Family and Friends!

I feel like I learned a lot this week. I keep remembering a kind rebuke given me in zone conference by my mission president ... "Ammon was not looking for sheep when he met King Lamoni." I have really been trying to take that to heart. This week I feel that Elder Brown and I have had multiple moments that we have taken care of a sheep or two that have reaped great rewards. It is an act of faith and at times scary because we always want the activities to directly effect the key indicators, but if the Spirit and your mission president tell you to not neglect taking care of sheep you best do it. The following is a miracle that Elder Brown and I had because we took care of sheep.

We had a really awesome investigator last transfer named K** who was progressing wonderfully. He kept his commitments and came to church weekly. He would even hang out with some of the members during the week because he made good friends. Sadly, the end of last transfer till this past week, he has kind of slipped under the radar. We have had occasional contact with him, but every time he has said he is too busy. This past week after teaching a member's older brother (who was found by taking care of sheep), the member we were teaching asked if we could go visit K**. We had a little bit of time so we headed over later that day. We wanted to have a lesson of course because that would help us reach our goals, but I felt it was not what he needed. We talked to him for a little bit. He told us work has been really stressful and that he has also been busy taking care of his mother who is very elderly. We asked him if there was anything we could do for him. He told us that his mom's room is really dusty and bad for her health, and she keeps getting bitten by bugs that live in there. We offered to help and he accepted the offer. He came to church yesterday and later in the afternoon we came with three members to help him. The room was in really bad condition. I am still sneezing dust out today. Even though I wanted to teach a lesson, a helping hand is what K**needed. After we finished helping him he asked us if he could offer a prayer before we left. As he prayed he was very emotional because of the help we were able to offer him.

We also were able to take a less-active member and his non-member girlfriend caroling with us. They both like it. They also came to the Christmas party and church on Sunday. It was so cool! We are hoping to start working with them more soon.

Oh! and one of the Nepalese guys came to all 3 hours of church yesterday. Don't know how much he understood, but he was a trooper through it :)

Most of the branch seems to be back in town. It is going to be nice to have a Branch Mission Leader to work with again. We were able to teach the older brother of one of the youth in the branch. The elders have never been able to meet with any of her family before because her mom says our church is "evil." The opposition in Sitiawan is also a blessing. This sister's brother wanted to meet us because all of his friends when they hear that she attends our church say that our church is evil and he wanted to know why. We were also able to give a blessing to a different member's mom who is not a member. I think we might be able to work with her more in the future. We have also found a lot of potentials who are friends of the members. That makes it much easier for us to help the members get involved.

We visited another member last night. As we talked to her we asked her what she feels was the difference between the elders last year who had a lot of success verses this year as we have reaped little. She said that although the elders this year have done their part and in many aspects have been more obedient, but they have been working on their own. The previous elders were always working with the members. I am hoping that I can find the proper balance between the two. It seems that the admonition in the scriptures to be "Temperate in all things" is becoming more clear. There is a way to have the members fully involved while being exactly obedient...now I have to keep trying it till I figure it out.

Thanks for everything!

Elder Avery

Feeling Love from the Members (December 20, 2015)

New Year  (January 3, 2016)

This is our church building and Elder Brown has the light!

Helping K** clean his mom's room

Elder Brown was a little sleepy :)

Feeling Love from the Members - Elder Joshua Avery

Written by Elder Joshua Avery, serving in the Singapore Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Mandarin Chinese.

Dearest Familia and Friends,

This week we have been increasing our faith by trying to discern people's needs as we talk to them. I feel that often I get the same cookie cutter contacts. This week Elder Brown and I have been praying for the gift of discernment to help us discern specific needs of the people we meet. We have had some miracles accompanying it, and even those who don't end up having interest are at least left with a warm feeling. I have loved singing for people this week and observing people on the street who we help learn what Christmas is about for the first time in their lives.

Earlier this week Elder Brown and I were walking by some shops. Elder Brown began talking to a girl outside one of the stores. As he was talking to her he was able to ask the right questions to find out that half of her family was Christian the other half is Hindu, she works every day, she used to go to church weekly, and the anniversary of her dad passing away was around the corner. We then had a very clear direction of where to go with the contact. We bore testimony of eternal families and Jesus Christ. That was one of a few experiences that we were able to find very specific concerns that people have. We truly need the Spirit to discern the things concerns that others are not anxious to have us know.

We finally got investigators at church. Early Sunday morning we went to invite K** to church but he kindly said "no" (we are worried about him). Then we went to visit some Nepalese men who live across from the chapel. They got dressed in the best clothes they have and came and invited a friend. Their English is not that good and the members at church go in and out of Chinese and English the whole meeting, so I don't know what they understood...but hey! Cool! Mr. Z** also came. He seems a little more happy than before. He also came to 2nd hour. I think that might have been a first for him.

This week we visited two part member families and are visiting another this week. After contacting a couple of the member's friends the members seem to slowly be more open to giving referrals. We were able to get a couple of high potential referrals this past week. We visited two less active families this week, that we have not seen in a while. We are hoping to get one of them on the branch caroling list if the family is free that night. We have also had multiple members reach out to us elders and serve us this week. I am always touched by the kindness members show us elders and I hope they feel that same love coming from me and my companion.

Love you all!

Elder Joshua Avery

Exhausting Week and Exchanges (December 13, 2015)

My Last Christmas in Malaysia  (December 27, 2015)

Exhausting Week and Exchanges - Elder Joshua Avery

Written by Elder Joshua Avery, serving in the Singapore Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Mandarin Chinese. 

This week I have been increasing my faith by learning to be more patient. Elder Brown and I have been talking to everyone and have been struggling to find solid people. We have found multiple people who received the word gladly at first and then rejected it or have just been flaky. I was absolutely exhausted physically, mentally, and spiritually by the end of the week. I was definitely beginning to stress because I felt that all of our finding efforts were not being as fruitful as I had hoped. Sure, we are planting seeds but I want Sitiawan to be a baptizing area.

Church and the sacrament was the refresher I needed for sure. We made sure to fast and get to church an hour early so that we could talk to everyone on the street in hopes we could get someone to church. If not that, we'd at least let people know we have a chapel and where it is (the location is not the greatest). In 3rd hour we read the last chapter of The Teachings of President Benson. It goes hand in hand with what we learned about going from self-centered to Christ-centered. It spoke of many Christ like attributes given in the 1st chapter of 2 Peter. While we were reading I was looking at all of the attributes and it reminded me that we can't develop these attributes without opposition. How could we be patient if we never had to wait for anything? How could we develop charity if there was nothing or no one that was hard to love? How could we increase our faith if it was never tried? I am going to be learning a lot here, haha! :)

This week we were going to visit two of our investigators, but they ended up having to go to a wedding. While we were in the area we saw a big group of men with construction caps on. We went to them and tried talking to them. I went up to one of them and said "Hello!" He gave me a funny look and said, "Wo tingbudong". We started talking to him in Chinese and found out that he and a bunch of his buddies are working here from China the next little bit. We were able to give him a Chinese Book of Mormon and give him the Chinese link to the christmas.mormon.org website. He gave us his contact information so hopefully he pulls through. There are a lot of other guys from China there, so hopefully we can start teaching them too!

The branch keeps thinning out. Our Branch Mission Leader and his family are in Taiwan and a lot of people are gone. We only had 4 of us in priesthood meeting this Sunday. E**, who is getting ready to serve a mission, didn't come to church again this week. Since I have been in Sitiawan, he has definitely been at church less times than he has missed...not what you would expect from someone who is going on a mission in a couple weeks. I wish there was more we could do to help him. He has canceled multiple times that we have tried to visit him, but he has gone to help us visit people a couple times. I'm not sure what to do for him at this point. He tells us he reads his scriptures every morning and night to prepare for his mission, but I don't see how you would skip church almost every week if you are reading your scriptures every morning and night. We planned a caroling activity with the branch so that we can visit the less-active members. I think that will be a great way to reach out.

This week Elder Perrit and Elder Schwimmer came for exchanges. It was a good moral boost and good to get to serve with Elder Perrit for a day. We have some awesome leaders in the mission. Elder Schwimmer seems to be doing good, and I think he and Elder Brown had an awesome day while they were here and saw a lot of miracles.

Love you all!
Elder Joshua Avery

Christmas Zone Conference (December 6, 2015)

Feeling Love from the Members  (December 20, 2015)

Christmas Zone Conference - Elder Joshua Avery

Written by Elder Joshua Avery, serving in the Singapore Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Mandarin Chinese. 

This week was trying in a lot of ways, but I know God is still blessing our efforts and we are seeing miracles. The Christmas Zone conference was so awesome. I loved the training, the music, and the food. I am always amazed by the sacrifice of the members in the church.

This past week we have been able to talk to many people who have expressed some interest. I feel like every week we get better at talking to people. I will admit that it is hard to have most people look at us with fear and try to run away, and that the number of people who are honest with us when we talk to them is probably less than 10%. People will do just about anything to get away from us. On the way to the internet cafe we talked to a man who, without looking, nearly pulled himself and his wife into oncoming traffic twice before his wife stopped him.

I didn't realize before my mission that disciples of Jesus Christ are so disliked by the world, but now it's kind of like "duh!" of course they don't like us. We make them do things. Coming to church is more than dancing and listening to a band (other churches do this). It requires effort on the part of the participant. We come to church to reflect on our week and the Savior's sacrifice, and then do our best to sacrifice more of our will to His will for us.

Casual listening is frowned upon in our church. In our meetings, we must listen closely to not just the speaker but, most importantly, the Spirit. Sometimes other people/churches want their answers right now! Most don't take their efforts further than asking their pastor and they exclude the hours of prayer, study, faith, patience, and long-suffering required to get answers from God. Rather than seeking to achieve greatness all these things, many people are just looking to avoid pain. They don't care about returning to live with Heavenly Father (or know that's important). They just don't want to go to hell and have consequences for their choices. I am increasing my faith by not giving up on these people. Christ has never said me or anyone else here is beyond help. I don't now how to help these people care about their salvation and eternal happiness, but I am sure through greater prayer, scripture study, patience, and experience it will all make a little more sense. We are finding people who let us teach, but none of them are showing any real progress.

This week Elder Brown and I were by the church when we saw a Chinese family walking into the restaurant by the chapel. We tried to talk to the parents but they ignored at us, then told us off. I was going to leave and try and find someone else, but Elder Brown saw their teenage daughter walking a little ways behind them and talked to her. She ended up expressing mild interest and even gave us her contact information while her father was shouting at her. During fast and testimony meeting one of the girls in our branch told us that was a good friend of hers, and she has always wanted to share with her but was scared because of her friend's parents.

During fast and testimony meeting nearly all of the members talked about missionary work. It was so awesome, even though we ended up finding two of those members at a food court last night... :( Then, 3rd hour we helped teach Sunday School. The topic was on sharing the gospel. The members seemed into it. We even picked some of them to come role play with us. At the end we gave them all the new christmas.mormon.org pass along cards to give to a friend this week. Our branch mission

Earlier this week we also were able to bring a member to teach a less-active member. We were surprised when that less-active member brought a friend to teach! It was cool. They also took us to get some great Chinese food. Sadly, they didn't come to church either. We will keep working on them and maybe organize a caroling activity so we can reach out to other less-active members.
leader leaves this week and I don't think we will be seeing him till January. We rely on his family a lot in our branch, so this will be a good opportunity to see which other members want to step up to the plate during their absence.

Thanks for everything!

Elder Avery


Miracles and a Cute Dog (November 29, 2015)

Exhausting Week and Exchanges  (December 13, 2015)