Hey everyone!!

I hope that all is going well! I can't believe that it is already almost December. Thanksgiving this week and then Christmas coming up soon! It will be interesting to experience these holidays as a missionary! Elder Taylor and I have been blessed soooo much this week! It was incredible! The Lord is really preparing people out here and it is awesome to be a part of that.

On Tuesday our heater broke in our apartment! It was so cold!! I had my coat on and two pairs of socks on, including my wool ones! I thought we were going to die for sure! But luckily a repair guy came and saved us. We were almost running out of hot chocolate to drink. It was a close call but we made it. haha

 Later on in we were looking for a former investigator named Amy. We were walking down the street looking for her house when someone stuck there head out of the window of their house and said Hello to us and asked us how we were doing. As we talked to her we realized that it was Amy and that she had been the one to find us! That was super cool! She invited us into her house and we were able to talk to her for a little bit and we were able to teach her a lesson. She said that missionaries in the past had taught her and that she even had a baptismal date! But her husband didn't want her to, and said the missionaries couldn't come over. She said that she had gotten divorced to we could teach her now!! But Amy is so awesome! She was asking us questions like how much of the Book of Mormon we wanted her to read and if we could come see her again that week. And then to top it all off she said that she was thinking that she wanted to be Baptized!! I couldn't believe it. Usually we are the ones that are supposed to ask all those questions, but she was asking them to us! It was so awesome to see how the Lord prepares people! She is ready for the Gospel in her life right now! I am so grateful for the promptings of the Holy ghost and it's influence in our lives.

On Wednesday I was on exchanges with Elder Ginos! It was a pretty good exchange! He is a super hard working missionary! I really learned a lot from him! He did bite me a couple of times though... So I had to stay on my guard! I was tempted to sleep with a nerf gun under my pillow, but that wasn't necessary haha. On our exchange we went to visit this Potential investigator named Craig. When we walked into his house his living room wall blew me away. It was like the stroy of his life on his wall and he had glued things and drawn things all over it! I will have to send you a picture of it. But we taught Craig the Restoration. He said what we were saying made sense. I love teaching about Joseph Smith! I feel the spirit so strongly every time I do. I know that as a 14 year old boy he saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for all that he did. Craig said that he would read and pray about the Book of Mormon! I can't wait to visit him again! He is super cool!

On Thursday we had probably the most spiritual lesson I have had so far! We were teaching Sonja, who is Lamont's mom. We were teaching her the restoration as well! We watched the restoration DVD and the spirit was so strong. I looked over at Sanja and she was crying during the First Vision! After the movie Elder Taylor and I shared our testimonies about the BOM and Joseph Smith! I love bearing my testimony because it is of what I know to be true. Know one can deny a sincere Testimony! Sonja shared some spiritual experiences she had that she hadn't even told her husband before! It was crazy that she trusted us that much to tell us them. Then she told us that before her and her family had moved, they had decided that they needed to find a different church to go to once they had moved. They had prayed about it and then while they were moving into their new house, Elder Taylor and I saw and helped them move in!! She said that they hadn't even moved into their new house before their prayers were answered. I hope that she can remember those experiences and feelings she had!

Well I hope that everyone has a great week and a wonderful thanksgiving. I love this time of year when we get to remember all that the Lord has done to bless us in our lives! He has done so much and when we realize that, we are so much happier in our lives. I know that this church is true and I love being a missionary! 

Elder May

 

Hey everyone!!

 I hope that everyone had a great week! Everything out here in Pittsburgh is going great! I love the people I meet out here! They are so fun to talk to! I am going to have lots of stories to tell by the time my two years are up.

On Tuesday Elder Taylor and I went out to teach Marlon and it was a really tough lesson... There were so many distractions. His mom was watching T.V and that was really loud and Marlon's Ipad kept freaking out on him so he was focused on that the whole time we were trying to teach him. It was a rough lesson but Elder Taylor and I were able to learn from it. Marlon is a super great guy and I really care about him. I don't know when he will be ready for baptism but we will keep teaching him and do our best to teach by the spirit when we are there.

On Tuesday we were able to teach Lamont as well. When we got there his mom was there this time and we invited her to come in for the lesson. She came in and joined us for the lesson and it was awesome!! We taught the Plan of Salvation and she was asking a bunch of questions and Lamont was saying that what we were teaching just made sense. At the end of the lesson she was saying how she had been looking for something different in her life. She said that she was looking for something different from what her church had to offer. We bore our testimony's about how we knew what we were teaching was true and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. We invited her to come to church and she said that she would come with Lamont!! It was so sweet! She is humble and is super nice! I love that whole family

On thursday we were able to teach Billy again. He had been making some real progress with his faith and he comitted to pray and he said he was thinking that he might come to church again someday. But when we met him this week he was back to where he started. He said he just didn't know about religion anymore and that he didn't believe it. It was sad to hear but I was able to bear my testimony that I knew that Christ will one day come again. And that we will all stand before him to be judged and that whether or not he believed, it didn't change that it was going to happen. We have grown super close to Billy and he is still a super good friend. I know that he will come around eventually.

On Saturday there was a Stake youth activity at the church. They played a game called stump the missionaries. They had to bring a random Item from home and we had to somehow relate that item to a principle or scripture. It was really fun and we were able to relate all of them! I was pretty proud of ourselves haha.

Sunday was one of the greatest days ever. We called Sonja, who is Lamont's mom, and she didn't answer. So we didn't know what to do. But like an hour before church she called and said that Lamont couldn't come... But that her and her husband were going to be there! I was so pumped to hear that. Even though Lamont couldn't come she still wanted to come and she brought her husband.

At church we had Sonja, Lester, and Marlon there! I can't believe how much we have been blessed out here. I was sitting next to Lester and he kept nodding at things that were being said and he even was singing the hymns. After sacrament they had to leave, but they said that they were going to be back next week with Lamont as well, and we got a return apointment. This family is one of the nicest families I know and I know that they have been prepared by Heavenly Father.

In Sunday school we were learning about the pre earth life. I realized something that really stood out to me. When the Savior presented his plan, he said that he would come down and atone for the world and then give ALL the glory to the father. If he was willing to give all the glory to hevenly Father, then what were his motives in being the Savior of the World? The only reason he did was because of out of the love he has for every single one of us. I am so grateful for my savior an I know that he lives. I hope you all have great week!

Elder May

Hey everyone!!

This week has been such an amazing week! There have been so many miracles that have happened!

Tuesday we really focused on talking to more people that we came into contact with. We were able to get to know so many new people and some people invited us to come back and visit them. 

Wednesday was an awesome day. I had one of the coolest spiritual experiences! We were teaching Lamont and it was an awesome lesson. The spirit was so strong as we talked about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and if we endure to the end, all of us have the opportunity to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ again! We were going to ask him to be baptized, but we didn't for some reason. Both of us knew that was what the plan was and both of us didn't ask him. As we were leaving I couldn't stop thinking about it. It was bothering me so much. I knew that we were supposed to ask him to be baptized. As we were driving away I said to Elder Taylor, "I feel like we should go back and ask him to be baptized."

I thought he was going to think that I was crazy but he said he had just barely thought the same thing. So we pulled over to the side of the road and prayed about what we should do. I mean it is kind of different to knock on someone's door and just ask them to be baptized! But we prayed and we both knew that is what we needed to do.

So we drove back and knocked on his door. He was surprised to see us again. But Elder Taylor didn't wait he just said," Lamont, will you be baptized?"

The spirit was so strong when he asked that. He looked at us for a second and I told him that after we left that we felt like we needed to come back and ask him that. He is a spiritual guy and he believed that we were prompted to come back and ask him that. He said that he would pray about it and see how he felt. 

It was such an awesome experience to receive such a direct prompting from the spirit like that. I love knowing that it is God's work out here and so he will help and guide us so that we will be able to do the things that he has asked us to.

On Thursday we went to teach Marlon. His Mom even let us in the house this time! Usually we teach them on there porch. But I guess his mom believes we don't have Ebola so she was willing to let us in. It has been great getting to know her better and she is really starting to trust us and open up to us. I know that eventually she will feel the spirit and hopefully she will come to church with Marlon.

On Sunday we were in Mckee's Rocks which is where Lamont lives so we decided to stop by and share a quick mormon message with him. His mom was there and she hadn't seen us since we helped them move in a couple of months ago. But when she saw us she was so happy and was saying how glad she was to see us. So she was able to see the message as well and we all got to bear our testimonies afterwards. When we left I realized that I left my bag in their house. So we had to go back and get that... I have done that quite a few times. I need to keep better track of that thing.

I love being out here and being a missionay. In Helaman 5:6-7; it talks about how Nephi and Lehi were named after the original Nephi and Lehi. He says that he gave them those names so that they can remember the good works of those two. Then he challenges them to continually do good so that when people think of their names, they remember them by their good works. I challenge you to continually exercise your faith and do good works so that when people think about you and remember you, they remember you as someone who was faithful in all things, a disciple of Christ. 

I hope you all have a great week!

Elder May 

This was probably the best week so far!! It was so great. Elder Taylor and I have been truly blessed.

On Tuesday we were going to teach this single lady so we got a team up to go with us. His name is Brother Paul and he is this old guy in his 70's. So we got there and the lady had a note on her door saying that she was sorry but she couldn't be there today. So we decided to visit this Less active lady we saw in our area book. She lived in the projects and when we knocked on the door the person who answered said that she had moved to a different apartment complex. So we went around talking to all these people trying to figure out where she lived. It was pretty funny because Brother Paul was just treking around with us in this sketchier area. Two missionaries in suits and an old guy definitely looked out of place. People thought that we were the FBI haha. But the amazing thing was that we found this lady. We talked to people and then we got to the apartment complex she was in and we knocked on doors until we found her! She was super surprised to see us. She is from Sudan Africa and she loved the church. When she moved though the church lost contact with her and she was so happy when we showed up to see her. She was an awesome lady and said that she would be at church. So we got her a ride and everything. It was cool to see through perseverance that we were able to find her. She was so happy to see us and I know that the Lord was guiding us.

On Wednesday we taught Lemont! I love teaching him. He is so receptive to what we have to teach and he says that he wants to know for himself if what we are teaching is true. Which is exactly what we were going to tell him but he beat us to it. We invited him to church and he said that he would come. I love seeing the Lords hand in everything that we do. We found Lemont by helping his family move in to there house the first week I was there. I love knowing that we are out here doing the Lords work, not our own. We are his hands out here and we just need to listen to the Holy Ghost and to act on those promptings.

Thursday we had the opportunity to teach Billy again. I love teaching him. He is super nice to us. He has problems with faith and he says that he doesn't think that he can ever come back to the church. Elder Taylor and I were able to testify to him about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. He had gone through some super hard things that really shook his faith. We told him that he didn't need to go through those things alone and that the savior was there for him. And that the savior is still there waiting for him. The spirit was so strong and he said he would pray this week which is something that he hasn't done for 10 years. 

I love seeing the power of the Holy Ghost. It isn't us that are the teachers. I am so grateful that it isn't just Elder May out there teaching. It would not be a good experience if it was. Through the power of the Holy Ghost anything can happen.

Sunday was the best day by far. Lemont and Marlon came to church. It was a testimony meeting and so many of the ward members testified of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon which is something that was perfect for Lemont. After church he said that he really liked it and that he hoped to come back. It was so awesome and I can't wait to teach him again this week. 

Marlon is still doing awesome! He is excited for his baptism and is willing to do what it takes to be ready for that. I love those two so much and when I think about the love that the savior has for them, and when I can feel a small portion of that love, it makes missionary work the greatest thing in the world.

As we were coming home from church Sister Kronk called and asked if we had dinner tonight and so she invited us over again. The Kronk family is amazing! They have dinner every sunday with all their kids and their grand kids and they invite us all the time. It is so fun to be with them all and they really make us feel like family. I just feel so at home all the way over here in PA! I love it out here.

I just want everyone to know that the church is true. I love going out and testifying to people of what I KNOW to be true. Every time I do it just strengthens my own testimony. 

Well I love all yinz n' that (There's a little Pittsburghese for you haha)

Love, Elder May