WEEK 74 - READY to HARVEST

THIS WEEK WAS AWESOME!!!

...sorry...think I'm getting ahead of myself here...anyways, Good

Morning, America (and any other nations that may be reading this)!

This is your totally epic missionary serving in the Colorado Fort

Collins Mission—Elder Z.S.Weber! I am here reporting in to y'all from

the Mariana Butte Ward in Loveland, Colorado. And, as I prematurely

said above, this week was indeed 'awesome'. I mean, so much happened

this week, that calling it anything other than 'awesome' would just

miss the mark. P-Day of last week, straight up to the Church service

on Sunday, this week was just filled with awesome and incredible

moments I hope to never forget. So, with that said, let's get this

week-in-review email started off!

To start off, let's go to Monday of last week, and the P-Day we spent.

Last week, after all of our chores for the day were done (laundry,

cleaning the bathroom, cleaning the bedroom), we got a call from

Elders Thompson and McMillan from the Long View Ward, asking if we'd

like to go to Fly High, the indoor trampoline park, with them for

P-Day. 

So, we went over there, and right from the get-go I thought

something odd was going to happen that day. When we pulled into the

parking lot, I thought I recognized some of the cars. When we walked

in, I knew I recognized some of the cars. Inside the park was half of

the Loveland Zone Missionaries. None of us knew that the others were

going to be there, and so we ended up with half of our Zone all

bouncing together in the park, purely by accident.

However, it ended up working out for the best, as it gave us a chance

to talk with the Zone Leaders about that friend of Lindsey Laws, the

returned missionary I talked about last week. They had been invited to

have dinner at the Laws' house, and then teach her friend about the

Restoration afterword. Meanwhile, we were supposed to just sneak off

and get to our work for the evening while they got to teaching.

However, somewhere along the way of enjoying the dinner and dessert,

we forgot to prepare an escape route for ourselves. So, the rest of

the evening was spent teaching Mondo (Armondo, Lindsey's friend) the

Restoration of the Gospel with Elders Blackburn and Lete. It was

actually a very powerful and spiritual experience, and I was happy to

be a part of it.

Tuesday was mainly spent moving back into the Andersen's house, so not

much else happened that day other than getting moved back in, and me

getting a postcard from a very dear friend of mine. The day after,

Wednesday, was mainly spent in our District Meeting, where Elder

Thompson was on exchanges with Elder Blackburn. For the District

Meeting, Elder Blackburn gave a rather interesting lesson on the

importance of actively finding new investigators throughout the week,

and then had all of us get up in front of the District and practice

our door-approaches with him. It was...interesting, though I don't

know how much I actually got out of it. Afterwords, Elder NeVille and

I decided to go to Wendy's for lunch...where we ended up meeting some

of the other elders again.

It was just Fly High all over again...

Thursday soon followed Wednesday, and Thursday brought with it a

wondrous opportunity. I believe in the past I've mentioned Billie, our

ten-year-old investigator that we've been trying—and failing—to get an

appointment with. Well, after much deliberation and discussion between

all parties involved, we finally got a time we could teach Billie...a

time that fell right when I'd be leaving the area for exchanges with

Elder McMillan. So, while I was off in the Long View Ward, Elder

NeVille and Elder Thompson taught Billie the Restoration, which I

heard went well. While a bit saddened that I wasn't able to teach

Billie, the evening went well for me as well, as I got to visit with

Marylin Macreena, the girl I and Elder Proffit had been teaching about

a year and a quarter ago. Seeing her and her mother again, still

staying strong in the faith, was a very great and wonderful moment to

behold.

And then it was Friday, and Friday brought with it snow and ice. So,

Elder McMillan and I got bundled up and we headed out with shovels to

start clearing drives and sidewalks. It was pretty funny, as I'm a

missionary from South Jordan, Utah, and he's a missionary from the Big

Island of Hawaii. So, though it was just barely under the freezing

point, and Elder McMillan was far more bundled than I was (I just had

a scarf and a sweater-jacket), he was always complaining about how

cold it was outside, while I was just enjoying the nice, almost-warm

winter day. It was interesting, seeing the stark contrast from someone

who grew up surrounded by beaches and water, to someone who grew up

surrounded by mountains and actual seasons. All in all, though, it was

a pretty nice day.

And then came Sunday (because Saturday was actually pretty bland and

not worth speaking over). Now Sunday brought with it the epicness of

the week. So, as some of you might know, us missionaries attend the

early morning meetings with the Ward Leaders to get coordinated in our

efforts. Well, during the meeting, the Bishop pulled us to the side

and told us of a call he had randomly received from this couple that

is living inside our Ward boundaries. A few days ago, they had just

woken up and decided they should start going to a church again, and

felt impressed to try, as they called it, "the Mormon thing". So, they

went online to find out which Ward they'd be meeting with, what time

they'd be meeting, and who the leader of the congregation was. They

gave Bishop Laws their story, and told him that they'd be there that

Sunday.

And be there they were! Jeff and Amy Schissler (like Sizzler's, but

with a sh- sound at the beginning) they were called, and they were

incredible! They ended up going to Gospel Doctrine class, rather than

Gospel Principles (someone grabbed them and dragged them with them, or

so I believe), but from what I heard they were commenting and really

understanding the lessons being taught. In the Elder's Quorum meeting,

Jeff added some of his own thoughts to the message being taught

(meekness), thoughts that sounded incredibly member-like. Listening to

their story, apparently they've also started reading the Book of

Mormon digitally, and are about half-way through already. We talked

with them, and they said they'd love to take the missionary

discussions, but in due time, once they've been learning on their own

for a few weeks.

How awesome is this?! I mean, if you read my emails every week, you

know that people like this don't just show up all of the time. If they

did, more of my emails would actually be about the missionary work,

and less about what us missionaries do to kill the extra time we can't

seem to fill. However, I feel that this is a true blessing from God,

that this is His way of telling me and my companion that He is proud

of the stalwart patience we've held in spite of how little work we

have. Because of that, He's giving us more moments to teach and spread

the gospel to others, like with the Schisslers, and with Billie

Vincent.

And that is what I'd like to share for this week. The scriptures

always say that the field is white, ready to harvest. However, there

are few moments when we actually get around to the harvesting. In my

opinion, from what I've seen on my mission, this is because we as

missionaries spend much of our time planting the seeds and nurturing

the crops rather than actually pushing all the way through to reap the

blessings of missionary work. There are those people, those who are

ready to be taught and baptized, all around us. But sometimes we fail

to see them due to various reasons, be it prejudice,

narrow-mindedness, or just a slothfulness. However, if we step out and

seek them out, our brothers and sisters that are ready to partake in

the gospel today, we will find just how white the fields truly are.

This I bear witness of, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!

—Elder Z.S.Weber