Week 43

Transfer day with Elder Ludwig

  Another great missionary week out here over in  Memphis, Tennessee!  Well to start off, on Wednesday we had transfer meeting.  As we are getting I-Pads this could be the last transfer where we have two transfers meeting, one on each side.  My new companion is.....ELDER DIAZ!!  I'm super excited to be with him, We both really wanted to serve together as well.  He is a short little Chapin from Guatemala!  He lived in Virginia for a couple years before his mission as well.  He actually knows a kid who I went to BYU-H with, that served in the mission where Elder Diaz lived.  But so far it has been super great serving with him. We talk in only Spanish all day which is the best.  It helps so much for learnign Spanish y helping with my accent and everything!

Elder Geddes with Hno Benetiz, and new companion Elder Diaz

  This last week serving with Elder Diaz went really well.  One day we went and visited this lady named Crystal that we had found the week before.  She was excited that we came by.  We were able to teach her the Restauracion y it went really well.  The spirit was strong throughout the lesson as she asked really good questions.  I've said this before, but it's always a great sign when the investigator is asking questions trying to get a better understanding.  We asked her if she believed the message was true y if Jose Smith was a true prophet.  She said she did, and we invited her to pray as well.  We should be seeing here this week, We're looking forward to that.  She had a lot of questions about death and was kind of scared of it, so when we teach her the plan of salvation it should go really well!  We are so blessed to have the Knowledge of the Plan of Salvation. What a perfect plan! 

 Then for some other things this week, we weren't able to see Alvaro to teach him all week, because he was busy with his friends Graduations and all that stuff.  But he came to church, and we have an appointment with him tonight.  He is still looking really good for his Baptismal date this Saturday!  It will be great!  Also we saw Enrique y Angelica a few times this week, They are still awesome and we were more direct with them the importance of coming to church.  It seems that they realize it more now, and we pray that they will be able to come this next Sunday!  So this upcoming week should be an awesome week, and even more awesome because the whole mission is meeting in North Little Rock on Wednesday!!  That rarely happens. We will be getting trained on the I-Pads, then most likely get them a few weeks later.  I'm more excited just to meet as a whole mission more than anything!  And that's about all from me this week!

 Anyways, I love you tons and hope that your week is great!!

Love,

Elder Geddes                                                  

My old companion Elder Justin Meyers returning to the mission for a visit

Week 42

Enjoying some Pina Coladas!

Wow it sounds like you are really having an awesome time over there in Philly!  As for me over here just a little ways East of Y'all I'm doing great!  This week was a pretty busy and crazy week, but it was a great week and we were able to get a lot done. 

  Well to start off the most surprising news was when on Sunday morning the Zone Leaders called for a transfer call.  But to my surprise Elder Ludwig is being transferred on Wednesday.  He is going to still be on the Memphis side so he will stay in the branch for his last transfer.  But I'm really looking forward to transfer meeting to see who I will get.  I will either get an Elder from Guatemala or from Idaho!  And of course Elder Heaton did not get transferred so we still get to serve right next to each other, it's been the greatest serving by him my whole mission.  

  This week was full of a lot of service about half of the morning we had to do some kind of service or help out with something in the Branch with the East Elders.  It's always a great opportunity serving and it keeps us busy all the time which is super nice.  The more service we give, the easier it is to have trust from the members which keeps the mission work most efficient.  We were able to teach Alvaro the Plan De Salvacion this last Thursday.  He really enjoyed it, and understood it really well.  He remembered the 3 kingdoms from church but had never been taught the rest.  At the end of the lesson we invited him to be baptized on 30 de Mayo and he accepted immediately without hesitating which was awesome!  So we are super thrilled to get him more prepared these next 2 weeks.  Also he came to church on Sunday and really enjoyed it, we should be teaching him again tonight!  

  For some other things in the week, we just did a lot of finding because we did a lot of walking.  So we have some pretty solid people for this upcoming week.  We also got a reference from a member in the ward, so hopefully we can go and see them.  It's so much easier to teach people when they already know members and are somewhat familiar with the church.  Also another story we were at a trailer park where a member lives at and the people we were going to see fell through.  So we decided we would try and go see them and just share a quick message and leave. It's called ITM (Inspire the Members).  But when we got there only she was there, and she was really sick.  So we were able to give her a blessing, and she was so happy because she said only God could have sent us there.  Sometimes we don't know why we do certain things, but following the spirit will always lead you to do the right thing!    Other than that, missionary work is great and I'm excited for this upcoming week!  

  Have an amazing week, and thank you so much for the email y update on your trip!  Love you so much!  Que tenga una buena semana, se cuidan! 

Love,

Elder Geddes 

Week 41

Our Zone

  It was so great talking with Y'all yesterday for Mothers Day!  I hope that you had an excellent dia de las madres!  It was also awesome being able to see the Christensen's on skype as well.  I just still can't believe it's been a year and a half since we were skyping Jesse for Christmas on his mission.

 Well I don't have too much to write this week after talking with y'all yesterday, but I'll write a few things from the week!  We were able to teach Alvaro (boyfriend of a member) at her house after we had dinner with them. We taught him the Restauracion y also were able to see how much he knew because he has been going to church for a while.  It was a super good lesson, and he really opened up to us and was a super cool guy.  He was asking really good questions throughout the lesson, which always makes it so much easier to teach and shows that they are able to understand.  So we are really exciting to keep teaching him and we are hoping to get una fecha de bautsimal with him for sometime this month or early on this month. 

                       

                       P-day at the Biggest Bass
                     Pro-Shop in the Country

           Juan Rodriguez with us,   
           and  the ties he gave us



 Other than that we recontacted a guy that we had a met  a week or so ago and were able to teach the whole family the Restauracion.  The wife was really understanding what we were teaching, and when we talked about the Apostasy she asked "so that means we are in an apostasy right now"  That was super cool that she asked that, because a lot of people don't understand that.  But we are so blessed to not be in an apostasia y have the restored gospel that is led by a living profeta today.  We are hoping to get back up there this week, and teach them some more!  Also East baptized a guy name Juan Rodriguez on Saturday, and that was super awesome. He is such a great guy and is going to be a super solid member.  He's basically been a member for the last 6 months.  It's always awesome when there are baptism in the branch to keep it a growing branch. But other than that, just another solid week out here in Memphis!!

Have an unreal week, y muchas gracias por el email!  Les quiero mucho! 

Con Amor,

Elder Geddes                                              

Week 40

Booth at the Spanish Fair

  Wow this week really was a pretty awesome week, and a lot of stuff happened!  Towards the beginning of the week  Elder Ludwig while on exchanges with Elder Heaton were able to set a baptismal date with Alejandrina!  I think I've mentioned her before, but she is way nice but just a little caught up in her work right now.  So we are really looking forward to keep teaching her, and get her progressing towards her baptism.  Her Grandkids as well live with here and they want to get baptized, If it all works out we will try and get them baptized together!  As well as one our families la Familia Hernandez told us that they knew that they needed to start going back to church, and return to all the good things that they had been doing.  They also said that we just needed to surprise them when we come, because they said almost every time we have an appointment the devil tempts them and something comes up y they never make it.  This shows us their desire to continue to change and now we are trying to get them back to where they are progressing before.  They are super good friends with a family in the ward which makes it really nice, I always say this but when their is fellowshipping the mission work is way easier.

  Then this week we went up to this huge trailer park in our area that we had never been to before.  The Sisters who used to be in this area used to have some investigators up there so we decided we would go and try it.  We met some way cool people on the first day we went up there, and the whole trailer park is mainly Hispanics.  But as we were trying to get into the gate, we saw two older ladies going for a walk on the other side of the gate.  It was nothing exciting just 2 ladies walking, but when we went back a couple days later we ended up knocking on this door and it was a really nice lady name Lola.  We shared a little with her, and then she gave us a reference for a friend of hers who lived just a few streets over.  Then we end up knocking on that lady's door, her name was Lupita.  She was super nice and loved that we came to visit her.  She told us she saw us a few days earlier talking to someone else and was hoping we would go talk to her.  It was me, Elder Ludwig, y Hernandez that day. 

 The quote of the week comes from Lupita as she was talking to us and Hernandez she tells him "los blancos son los mas bonitos de todos races"  Which means white people are the prettiest of all the races haha!  She was just loving that we were speaking Spanish as well.  We are looking forward to teach her more, and bring her this happiness that she really needs in her life right now.  But as we were talking she said she was walking the other day and I made the connection it was her and Lola that we saw walking through the gate just a few days earlier.  It was pretty crazy that we ended up knocking on their two doors out of the tons of trailers that our in that trailer park!   

                                    

      Us and the East missionaries                                                Mexican Corn on the cob,
   Ludwig, Geddes,Heaton,Henderson                                       mayo.cheese, and chili spice                                                                                                                                                      
     On Saturday as a district we were able to go to a Spanish fair hosted by Latino Memphis.  We were able to have a booth in the fair, and explain to people our message and try and get appointments with them.  It went really well and we were able to talk with a lot of cool people!  The whole district was able to go. It was a great opportunity getting our name out to the Hispanic community.  Then later on in the day we had a Branch Mission activity at the church that was really well attended.  As well as the East Elders (Heaton/ Henderson) had the Baptism of Jesus Lara who was baptized by his dad Juan Lara.  Entonces to translate that Jesus was baptized by John, it was a reanactment of when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, but this time in Spanish!  The baptism was really great though, y Jesus was really happy after his baptism.  It's always amazing seeing the happiness that the gospel brings to someones life. 

Our District

  Then on Sunday to just top off a really awesome week, we had a break the fast after church.  During that Brianda who is a member came up to us and was getting really emotional, so we weren't sure what was going to happen.  Her boyfriend is a non-member, and he comes to church almost every week. That day after church, he told her that he wanted to be baptized.  She said she has been waiting this day for about 3 years now!  What an amazing experience, and we are so grateful that we are going to be able to teach him and review all the lessons with him preparing him for his baptism.  Me and Elder Ludwig had both been fasting to improve our area, and to find someone that was ready to be baptized.  The power of fasting and prayer is so powerful.  What a perfect way to end a week that was already awesome! 

   Also there is another Elder Geddes that is coming out to the mission.  His first name is Kaneen or Robert or something.  He is from Ogden, but I'm pretty sure that we are not related to those Geddes' up there.  Other than that it sounds like you had a great week!  Thank you tons for the email, I hope you have another great week!  I love you tons!

Love,

Elder Geddes