Kind of a boring week in Visak 2-23-14

Hello everyone! 

This week was a pretty boring week for us here in Visak. The big news was that there has been a bill going on for the past few years about splitting Andhra Pradesh (one state) into another one that includes the city of Hyderabad (the capital of Andhra Pradesh). So after a long time, they finally decided to split it and the people living in Andhra Pradesh were unhappy because they were going to lose all the money that they make from tourism and business from Hyderabad. Because of the decision, some of the people held a strike and so all the colleges and schools were cancelled for two days and there were protests and all that nonsense. So for two days this week we didn't go outside, we just simply sat in our apartment playing Indian versions of Life and Monopoly. It was still pretty fun. 

The week for missionary work was not so good. All of the investigators that we have are really not progressing. We had two at church, but neither of them are in a good position to be baptized. We are working on finding new investigators….again….I don’t like tracting. Haha.. we got a referral yesterday from one family, but the family they invited us to teach is some pure Hindu family that literally knows nothing about Jesus Christ. I don't know how many of you know people that know nothing about Jesus Christ, but it can be difficult to know WHAT to share with them that they will understand. I hoped and prayed that they could at least feel the Spirit and the mother told us that she will be coming to church this week! :) 

Other than that, not too much is going on. We are just continuing to work hard and do our best to find those people who are being prepared to receive the restored gospel. I'm happy. It's hard work, but I know that I'm happier as we work hard and do our best to be obedient. We have the mission conference this week so we're pretty excited about that! 

Love you!

Elder Head

Here's a couple of more photos Ryan sent last night from the Borra Caves Zone activity.

Yeah!! We heard from Elder Head after all :)

Hello everyone! 

Sorry for the late email Mom.. I know that you probably had a heart attack. Or you probably didn't even notice that I didn't email. Either way, sorry for being late. 

This week was a pretty good week I guess. We had our P-Day on Monday, as well as our interviews with President Berrett. President really didn't have too much to say. He seemed pretty tired --  I was the last one to be interviewed after all. He looked really sleepy and drained. It must be hard to be the mission president! Then Tuesday we had our Zone Conference and that was really good. It was a lot about finding new investigators, so hopefully we can apply the principles that he taught. He did leak the General Authority who would be coming to our Mission Conference on the 28th..... Elder Jeffrey R. Holland from the Quorum of the Twelve, Elder Donald H. Hallstrom from the Presidency of the Seventy, Elder Funk from the Asia Area Presidency, and Bishop Stevenson from the Presiding Bishopric. Looks like we have quite the lineup for the conference. It should be really good. 

Wednesday we worked and had a pretty good day, but Thursday and Friday there were strikes in our city over some political hullabuloo and so because of that we were stuck inside all day. We played cards and laid around and slept. It was pretty boring. Saturday we went out and worked pretty hard. All in all, it was a pretty good week. Sunday we had 3 investigators at church and they all stayed for three hours. We were really happy about that. They are looking okay. Hopefully we can get some baptisms in March. 

P-Day was really cool. We finally went and did something cool on a P-Day. We went to this tourist place a couple hours outside of Visak called Aruku. It is a cool place that has a big waterfall and some really big caves. It was really cool, but the caves smelled very strongly of bat poop. It was pretty nasty. It was kind of cool I guess. Just a really big hole in some rocks. But it was really fun to go out in casuals for the first time in a long time and hang out with the other missionaries in the zone. 

Thanks for all your help and support. I love you!! :) 

Elder Head

Yikes! Either Ryan has been watching The Walking Dead while
on his mission or they're reenacting Abraham and Isaac from the Bible :)

Aruku Falls

No email last night....I don't like when that happens!!

Things are going pretty well!

Hello everyone! 

How are you? I'm pretty good. Things are going pretty well up in here! 

We had a pretty good week this week. Something that we have really been struggling with lately has been finding new investigators, but last week we found 8 new investigators and this week the Lord really blessed us again by helping us to find 10 NEW INVESTIGATORS. It was such a good blessing. I think that it was one of the first times in my mission that I actually found my own investigators. I think everyone in our teaching pool right now is someone that we have found since I came. I have such a strong testimony on the power of prayer and fasting. That was what I fasted for this past fast Sunday and it really has brought so many blessings to us. Now the important thing is for us to find those members who will be the best fellowshipper and then teach them the doctrine clearly and then.. WHAM! Baptism! :) 

We had a Branch Missionary Fireside this week for our branch and basically I was in charge because the other two Elder's don't know so much, so I had to do everything and I was SO stressed. But it turned out pretty good. We had something like 50 people attend, about half of which were investigators or potential investigators. 

Haha other than that, the week was pretty normal. We did get a pretty good referral from a sister living in a town outside of Visak called Gajuwaka. She is pretty good. I called her and invited her to our Branch Missionary Fireside and she came! She is new to town and she is looking for friends, however, she still has not shifted into our area. Hopefully this week or next week she will shift. Also another self-referral is shifting into our area and so hopefully she will shift this week and then we will snag her! 

Things are looking up. I'm finding that the Lord truly blesses us as we strive to do EVERYTHING that we can. He wants us to succeed in His work and when we diligently work with all our heart, might, mind, and strength, then the Lord labors with you. (Jacob 5:70-75) I'm so grateful for all the Lord's blessings, especially missionary work! 

President Berrett is coming this week and I have an interview with him today at 2:45! Hopefully things go okay.. :) 

Love,

Elder Head

Jam-packed week of missionary work!!

Hello everyone! 

This was a pretty good week! It was definitely challenging and frustrating all rolled up into one jam-packed week of missionary action! Haha really though it was a pretty good week.

The Zone Leaders here in Visakhapatnam zone received some revelation as to how they can help our zone to progress and become more effective and also have more work. They called their idea Finding Week. The whole focus of the week was to hit our key indicator for finding new investigators. Our key indicator is 8 new investigators. That is a pretty high goal, but I really felt like we could achieve it. It was something that we definitely needed because we were desperately in need of finding new investigators. 

The week started off pretty rough. Our members were all busy with stuff this week and things were looking pretty bleak, but we found two new investigators on Tuesday through a part-member family and her friend. Then we didn't find any new investigators until Saturday night, where we contacted an investigator referral. We were up to 3 and Sunday wasn't looking too hot. 

However, Saturday during the day I was able to knock on a few doors (and drag my companion along with me) and we set two appointments for Sunday. So after church I took a member and my companion took a member to meet all the appointments we had set. I visited those two families, one asked us to come tomorrow and the other one I was able to teach. Count it: 3 new investigators. Then I went and taught another investigator and she referred me to her cousin. We taught her a lesson and chalk another new investigator up for Elder Head! All I needed was my companion to meet this one part-member and we would hit our goal..... 

He did it! 

We hit our goal and I was so happy that everything worked out. I know that the Lord blesses us as we exercise our faith and trust in Him and those that He calls as leaders. I know that the Lord blessed us and will continue to bless us as we exercise our faith. 

From the pictures that you sent mom, it looked like Dad was a big purple marshmallow ;) haha and Greg looked like he stuffed some acorns in his cheeks. Maybe you two can be gym buddies? :) 

Happy birthday Holden! Congrats on turning 12 and becoming a big boy! Now that you are about to become a deacon, you need to stop wearing your baby diapers and playing with your barbie dolls okay? :)

Love you! 

Have a great week!

Elder Head