This week was a pretty fun week and General Conference was pretty sweet. We had 3 investigators show up at the church and watch the Sunday morning session and they all loved it so that was sweet. We also found a bunch of new investigators this week to help replenish our teaching pool a little bit so that was nice. We have a baptism coming up on this next Sunday and he’s pretty excited about that. We have another investigator that is scheduled to be baptized on Oct 27 and she is really excited for that too. There are some pretty cool things happening in Warren right now and I really hope I don’t get transferred next week. We get transfer calls this Saturday so I’ll know if I’m leaving or staying by then.
I also got to do some good old Detroit family counseling this week too. Family situations in Detroit are so messed up it’s amazing, But you just have to give them all the gospel and hope and pray it fixes, or at least improves, their situation.
It’s starting to get cold and dark again which I’m not looking forward to because that means people will get meaner again. As soon as the sun goes down at 5, NOBODY wants to answer their doo— Especially if you’re in Detroit because everyone either thinks your cops, or you’re coming to collect money/drugs. In a way it’s kind of funny, but also really frustrating because that makes it really hard to find anyone to teach and also to even set up solid appointments. But somehow, someway, Elder Stark and I are still finding success in everything. Even with General Conference taking up 10 hours of our week this week, we were still able to find 4 new investigators and also teach 19 lessons. The Michigan Detroit Mission standards of excellence are 4 new investigators a week and 20 lessons taught. Sow we got super close even with all that time missed!
This week we made a special effort to try and visit with as many members as possible. Looking at the old records of the area, missionaries haven’t really done whole lot of member work. Elder Stark and I talked about it and we set the goal to try and see 5 members are week instead of the usual 1 or 2 we see. So far it’s paying off. For the first couple weeks I was in Warren I felt kind of disconnected from the ward. Romeo and Howell were like family to me and I just didn’t seem to really click with someone in Warren. But, I’m hoping that visiting more and more members will help me build a strong relationship with them and use that to further the gospel even more. Cross your fingers that it works!
Well, I hope everyone is doing well and I hoped you enjoyed General Conference. Thanks for all the letters and everything!. You guys are the best!
-Love Erik