Week 8

Minnesota Rain

Macho Man!

Christmas season is here!! We haven't received any more snow. But, we just drove home from the store and it was hailing and raining insanely hard! 

It's only been four days since my last update, so not a whole lot has happened, but it has been a very good weekend to start the upcoming Christmas season. As a zone, all the missionaries have made a goal to find 100 new investigators by the end of the transfer (6 weeks). This week has been pretty hard but we were able to have success in finding new investigators! 

So last week we received a referral from the English speaking missionaries for a lady named Luna Morales in an apartment complex in Savage, Minnesota. Every time we stopped by, she told us she was busy and couldn't meet that day. We ended up going back 4 more times. On the 3rd visit, we were able to talk to her son at the door and we bore testimony of the restoration of the gospel and Jesus Christ and gave him a Book of Mormon. Then the next day we were able to have a lesson with Luna and shared a Christmas message of following the example of Christ, and the Spirit was really strong. So, by not giving up on this referral, we were finally able to meet with her and we ended up meeting two new investigators out of it! 

Another awesome experience with our focus on finding new investigators happened on Wednesday. We were tracting, or going door to door, in another apartment complex near Burnsville. We ended up getting locked out of the building, but luckily this Jimmy Johns guy walked up and had a key to get in haha. What a homie lol. We knocked on some doors and nobody was really interested in hearing our message. Then we knocked on a door, and this huge Latino guy with the broadest shoulders I've ever seen, wearing a black tank top, answered the door. As tough and burly as this guy looked, I was not expecting him to be interested. But, he let us in! We ended up talking with this guy for over an hour and he told us all about growing up in Mexico and his experience in the army and how he wants to put his past behind him and be a good father for his 3 daughters. He was so incredibly humble, and even though he was tough on the outside, he had a such a soft heart. We were able to testify to him of the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ and the blessings that His gospel brings to us. It has been so amazing to strengthen my testimony of the Savior and the restored gospel by sharing it with others!

Every Easter and Christmas season, the church releases a video with a message or invitation for the holiday season. The day after Thanksgiving, the church put out their Christmas Initiative. The title of it is #LightTheWorld. With it came a video, and it depicts all these miracles and acts of service that Christ performed during his lifetime. It relates all these acts of service with every day things that we can do in our day to serve others like Jesus did. It's a beautiful video and its message is so powerful. Along with the video, there is a list of 25 ways we can serve others and share our light with the world just like the Savior did every day until Christmas. My companion and I have been able to share this video and message many times already this weekend and it brings such a peaceful spirit. I invite all of you to strive every day to live like Christ did and share your light with others through service and charity. I will attach the pictures of the list. I know that Christ lives, he is the Son of God, and he has set the perfect example for us to follow. I hope that all of you start this month preparing for Christmas with a desire to find ways to serve others!

Here is a link to the #LightTheWorld Christmas video:  https://www.mormon.org/christmas/light-the-world

-Elder Bolinder