Monday we spent a good bit of time packing, because usually the missionaries all move on Wednesday but apparently the ferry was already full-booked for Wednesday and so the office had to buy Tuesday tickets instead, which we didn't learn about until Monday around noon.
So Elder Dewsbery had hardly any time to say goodbye to people.
We visited the Grahams--Nelson was almost angry that Elder Dewsbery was leaving, and said that when I get moved he's not gonna go to church anymore because he likes us two and doesn't know how he'll get on with the new guys. But he already loves Elder Spackman so it's all good.
Then we had a fun dinner appointment with this young family, the highlight is their one year old son Rory who loves to Roar. All the time.
Then Tuesday we went to Belfast, Elder Dewsbery left, and I was with Elder Peterson for that day.
We had a good day together; we met two YSA girls that seemed really interested in learning more and both were excited to read the Book of Mormon we gave them.
We just hope they are legitimately interested in the gospel, not the young men walking around in nice suits, white shirts and ties haha!
Then another great dinner with another fun family with cute kids. This ward is full of them.
Then after that we visited David--the guy who was investigating for ages and we just got back in contact with. It can be silent and awkward a lot there, especially when we ask a question that he has to think about.
I'm not sure how Elder Spackman feels but I am willing to work slowly and surely with him, and teach him for ages till he finally finds a way "into the water."
Then Wednesday we went to Belfast again--lots of travel this week--and I got Elder Spackman. He's good, we seem to get along well.
We cleaned our flat because it was super dirty (I shoulda cleaned while Elder D packed, but I just lazed around...) then we went to visit a less active guy named Mark.
He's way solid; he wants to get back into activity, marry his girlfriend, and he said his dream was for her to be baptised and eventually get sealed!
He's one of those guys who you'd think he was fully active from the way he talks, but for some reason he doesn't come to church. We'll have to pinpoint the concern, probably hidden deep within his heart somewhere. That sounds weird, but oh well.
Thursday we went to visit Audrey Loverty, a sweet old lady who hasn't been to church in like 20 years.
Complicated story, but long story short we go and visit her because we KNOW that she feels something when we visit, teach, and pray.
She often admits to that, saying that she's not sure why but she is always drawn to the church for some reason. She reads the scriptures, Ensigns, watched conference on her iPad, etc.
Last week she seemed kind of negative, told us that she doesn't want us thinking we're gonna get her back to church, just giving us fair warning so we wouldn't waste our time.
I felt strongly prompted as we left to ask her right as I shook her hand, "Do you feel the spirit when we come over?" "Yes, I'd be lying if I said I didn't." "Well, that's why we keep coming back." And she quietly said "thank you." It was pretty spiritual.
We have a new Ward Mission Leader who seems like a great guy. The last one was good too, but he just didn't really want to be in that calling. We're excited to work with the new guy, he's essential to our helping the ward progress with member missionary work.
Friday was really good--we went to the church to help set up for a party later that night, then went to lunch with Billy and Kim (have I told you about them yet? If not, let me know...they're special.) and Jim as well.
Jim is the active member who feeds us every Saturday, and has been doing so for over 18 years, and now he's moving to Canada in a few weeks.
The party on Friday night was for him. It was pretty good; good music, good food, and fun. Lots of less-active members showed up, so of course we tried to talk to as many of them as possible. It was a good night.
Oh and earlier that day we met two solid guys: Mark and David. Mark we just stopped on the street and he was very excited to talk to us.
When we gave him a Book of Mormon, he said he would read it, and wanted his whole family to read it too. So we're planning on taking like four or five more copies to his house someday because he has a lot of kids.
And then David; we had already met him once, he's a relative of the Graham family and they told us to go visit him.
The first time he didn't seem interested, but then we were tracting his neighborhood and he was out gardening, and he sat down with us on his garden bench and asked tons of questions, we gave him a Book of Mormon, and he was really excited.
Big transformation from uninterested to very interested in just over a month, but I'm not complaining.
Two solid people we found in the same day!
I've been feeling a bit sick last week, and Saturday I just felt rotten. Mostly just a really really sore throat and coughing up lots of mucus.
So we took a half sick day...we studied and then I slept from 10am til 1 in the afternoon! It was a good three hour nap, helped my immune system catch up.
Sorry, you probably didn't care to hear all that.
After that, we met Chris (our 17 year old investigator) at the church, and watched The Restoration with him. He offered to say the prayer at the end which was awesome!
He's totally trying to find his faith.
Sunday was awesome--we had Easter dinner at the Jacksons' house.
They're a part-active family in the ward. The mom Gail is so nice, fed us a great dinner and is almost like a mom to us.
Her husband is hilarious--sometimes rude though. But Gail is always smiling no matter what.
Their son had his girlfriend over for dinner as well. Gail had already given her a Book of Mormon, so we decided to watch The Restoration with them as well.
She seemed to like it a lot, and Gail just seemed to be beaming afterward because from what her son said he still seems to have a good knowledge on the church's history, and she felt the joy of sharing the gospel as well.
The Graham family all wants to be baptised!
Not sure when it will be but we'll sort it all out!
Not sure why I kept that until the end of the email, it's pretty exciting!
Whew, my hands are tired from typing so much. I better go now.
Love you all! Have a fantastic week!
Spencer
Picture:
Playing ping pong on our last night together! (There's always been a ping pong table in the back room of our flat, where the landlord just kinda uses as a storage room...we'd been planning on clearing it off to play the whole transfer and so we finally did it before he left!)
