Hodge Park Ward

Hello Everyone,

Thursday were transfers and I am now serving in the Liberty Zone, Hodge Park Ward in Missouri. My new companion is Elder Thompson from Kimberly, Idaho. For my Spring Creek, NV friends, Elder Thompson is related to the Thompson family in the 1st ward. This is his last transfer before he goes home. 

For the first few days in my new area we actually served two wards, including the Shoal Creek ward. It was while tracking in the Shoal Creek ward that we met Aaron. He immediately let us in his home and asked us to teach him as much as possible at that first meeting. We taught him about the Book of Mormon and how it can bless families. He wanted to hear it all. Aaron is the most elect investigator I have ever found and taught at the first lesson. I gave him a Book of Mormon and testified of the truthfulness of the pages written. Unfortunately, because Aaron lives in the Shoal Creek ward boundaries we passed him off to the Shoal Creek Elders.  

Saying goodbye to the Parkville ward was only through the ward Facebook page. It was a great ward with strong members. It was sad to say goodbye to Elder Gillman also, we had a great transfer together. 

Yesterday at Church I was asked to introduce myself and afterwards a family came up to me whom I had met at the beginning of my mission when I served at the Giving Machines in Kansas City. They had come one evening and we talked for a while with the family, it was fun to reconnect with them. 

There is a member in the stake I'm currently serving in that invites the missionaries over on Pday to workout using his boxing equipment. Today we went and had a pretty intense workout and I was feeling it afterwards. 

Our new apartment is okay, but the inside smells like cigarette smoke and weed. It permeates from all of the apartments next to it. You can imagine most apartment complexes have the same smell throughout our mission. 

My companion is an ASL interpreter and every Sunday we will attend the Hodge Park ward and then the Shoal Creek Ward so he can interpret for a deaf sister in that ward. 

I went on an exchange with Elder Rassmussen in the Doniphan ward on Friday. We spent most of the day serving at a Christian Food Bank where our assignment was to take a food order from the family/person in the lobby and go back into the warehouse and fill a shopping cart of the items on the list and take it to them. It was a lot of work and we were on our feet most of the day. It was a good way to serve the community. 

The investigators in our area book are Marvin, Kara, Jeremy and Julia. I have not met any of them yet but we have appointments with a few of them. Marvin and Kara have both been to Church. Marvin loves the gospel of Jesus Christ but struggles with the trinity and doesn't believe they are three separate beings. The area book has pages of documents showing every scripture and topic on the subject and I guess Marvin isn't budging. 

For Pday we had our boxing class and then went to a thrift store that Elder Thompson wanted to go to. He hyped it up to me and once I was there and was handed a pair of gloves to go through hundreds of boxes in the stores I decided it wasn't for me. 

Elder Shaw, my trainee, was also transferred and is in my current zone. It was good to see him and I am hoping he is doing better. 

On Saturday, a ward member asked Elder Thompson and I to help him move a couch and recliner from their basement to the garage for a yard sale they are having. When we arrived at the home we struggled to find a walking path cleared to bring the couch and recliner up the stairs. The home was filled to the brim with stuff. It was actually a hazard for us to try and navigate moving a heavy piece of furniture when you can't see where you're stepping. We made it and are grateful neither one of us were hurt. 

I'm looking forward to meeting new investigators and sharing the message of the gospel in my new area. 

Elder Holland gave a talk called "The Miracle of a Mission" and he taught: "Missionary work is by definition the most important thing you can do in the world, in time or eternity. For this reason you are engaged in the saving of the human soul. And that is the highest and holiest work in the universe. That is the thing that God Himself said was His work and glory. It is the purpose for which the Savior came to the earth and gave His life and was resurrected to open those possibilities and promises of Eternal Life. It is the purpose for which every prophet has lived and every apostle has spoken. It is the purpose for which every missionary since Adam and Eve has gone forth to declare the truth. You join those ranks! You join that brotherhood and sisterhood and it is as I said by definition, by theology, it is the most important thing you can do." 

Elder Mortensen 

Pictures:

Early morning Pday boxing workout 

Elder Hancock at transfers

Ramone at transfers

Elder Thompson and a ward member who gave us a statue of Christ

Me in our new apartment