Monday, February 20, 2017

Elder Matthew LeBaron - 2/6 - Confirmatio, Numbers, and bike problems...



This week has been a good one, I think every week starts out a little slow, in missionary work or not, but for the most part it flew by pretty fast. It seemed that we had a lot of work to do, so thats always nice, there aren't very many weeks that I can think about that are like that, especially back in those Glendora days, the finding grind was every day... man, I love this area, its the best. 

Being in a trio has been the best/worst thing ever. I think its super hard to stay focused,  and not to mention whenever there is a disagreement its always 2 against one, may the odds ever be in your favor. Not to mention, you want to kill everyone because there is someone always in your way in our 5 pad, but for the most part, we have had a lot of fun together. Its been so nice this week to be able to come back to the pad at 9 or 9:30 and just relax, I've finally found time to write in my journal which is nice, because I know that I will want that when I get home. We have been having so much fun together all cramped in our cozy little pad. Elder Mitchell plays guitar, so we have been teaching each other different songs the last couple of weeks, thats been a lot of fun. Today we started our P day officially at 8 o'clock, and let me just say, 2 hours is so helpful to have, there is so much that you can get accomplished in that time frame. 

This week we set 4 baptismal dates, which is absolutely insane to me, back when I was in Glendora it was incredible if we set a baptismal date every 2 months, so in total we have 5 dates in the span of February and March... holy cow that is so incredible to me. Its very interesting to see the contrast between this area and my last. I remember looking at other missionaries, wondering what I was doing wrong, how I needed to improve to see the results of my work. Something that I am starting to see is that all these baptisms, all these key indicators, are the Lords. I have been very humbled this week, seeing the Lord bless me and my trio to find people that were ready to hear the message and accept dates, the reason we found those people, taught those people, set goals with those people, has nothing to do with my ability to teach, find, or plan as a missionary. It all has to do with the Lord putting those people in our path, and I have been lucky enough to be in the front row to all of his amazing miracles and blessings. I know that a few of our dates will drop, just knowing how missionary work is, but we are working with some really solid people.

There is a girl names Jackie, she heard about the church, got a book of mormon, and called Salt Lake so that she could have missionary lessons. She is 16, and I don't know of any regular teenager that would do that. Its amazing. I have felt so blessed especially yesterday, Juliet stood up after I confirmed her in fast and testimony and bore her testimony about the church, and how grateful she was to the members and to us for teaching her. Juliet is one of those people a missionary will work all their mission to find, she was so prepared to hear the message, and we just happened to find her at the right time at the right place. Truly, miracle have not ceased there is a scripture that I read a few days ago in 2 Nephi 27: 23 which says "​For behold, I am God; and I am a God of ​​​miracles​; and I will show ​​unto the ​​​world​ that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and I ​​​work​ not among the children of men save it be ​​​according​ to their faith." I know that scripture is true, miracles have not ceased, big or small, This week God has shown me many miracles. 

It doesn't matter what I do, where I go, or where I am, my bike will always break, which I mean... you can't expect our bikes to not break down every few weeks with how often, and how hard we ride them. My back brake pads went out this week, I literally grinder them down to the metal, and so it made a horrible grinding sound anytime that I tried to brake, so I used my front brakes to compensate, by doing that all the tension was lost in my front brakes, so I pretty much have been riding my bike around with no brakes this week, which has been one of the most terrifying things ever, but the Lord provides, I was able to find an old bike from another missionary and replace my brake pads. I also bent one of my gears on the back of my bike, which means I can't put my my bike into any lower gear without the chain falling off, which if I don't get fixed soon, will result in my peddle, and peddle bar falling off, which means that all the horrible bike problems I had at the start of my mission will start over again in a vicious cycle... maaaan, bikes are the worst, definitely the most expensive thing I do is spend money on my bike, its the worst. 

Anyways thats enough of all the little details, but I have really enjoyed this last week, I'm grateful to be a servant of the Lord, and to help people change their lives, its awesome! Until next week!


Elder LeBaron

614 West Foothill Blvd, Arcadia, California 91006

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