So I am back.

I finished my mission, and I am home. Did I miss much?

Welcome home. Did you bring Ziggy II with you?

Welcome home. You missed two fogettable football seasons.

How was the mission, love to hear stories?

The mission was good, it was difficult in New England, because they are so anti religion, and I served in areas that had high amounts of Anti-Mormon feelings. I served in Sharon VT. It was interesting, as they've had Missionaries tract that area out, every year for 100+ years (due to the Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial), and in VT people don't move, so many of them remember us coming every year. And they don't like being interrupted. So it was a fun experience, the ward had only had 1 baptism in the past 18+ months. But, by the end of my mission 7 of the investigators I found, and committed to baptism got baptized with most staying active. It was awesome to see the miracles in Vermont.



In Maine there were some awesome miracles I saw, I will post a couple of the stories here. (it might take time to get them all, so one for now)



"After all we can do" A Miracle from Gardiner Maine. Aug 2013.



So we are tracking down less actives on our ward list, and we come to two people, that we had done everything we can to find them, but they are still lost, as we searched town records, called people, tracted, still we can not find them. on Friday night in a prayer of supplication, I pleaded with my Father in heaven to help us find these two Brothers, who are holders of His Melchizedek Priesthood who have been lost.



Feeling like we had done all in our power, I prayed, God please lead us to these they sons, or lead them to us, or to someone who can help us find them.



On Saturday the very next day, as we are walking down the street, a car passes by, and honks, nothing out of the normal, till the car turns around, and comes back by us, 4 minutes later, and pulls to the side of the road.



The man driving says my name is Brother ***** as we talk, he gives us his address, and phone number, and he asks us to come visit him. I wanted to sing, Amazing Grace!



On Sunday next day, as we are driving we get a call from a member who is ecstatic, he says "ELDERS!!! I was at a nursing home playing music, and a man came up to me, and asked if I was a "Mormon", I told him yes, and he asked if I could give him a ride to church! he was super excited, he then told us this man's name, and I said WAIT that is Brother ****** who we've been trying to find, we told him about our prayer to find this man. And this member had a huge moment, he realized he was means that the Lord Answered our prayers.

Love these stories. Keep them coming. Read Clayton Christensen's book on member missionary work. He tells of a branch in Vermont tht baptized 450 people in one year.

Mars wrote:

Did I miss much?

Not really, but we missed you here buddy. Welcome back!

You gained much more than you'll ever miss watching BYU sports. Welcome back!

"Hey are you Mormon Elders?" A Miracle from Ellsworth Maine July 9th, 2013.



So on Tuesday July the 9th, we had interviews with our mission President. And after that we used our mormon.org time to review some of the video's from the fireside Hastening the Work of Salvation. After that I was so fired up, I was like God I'll do anything just lead us to some new people to teach, and help! So Later that night during our Dinner hour I felt like we needed to go to the store, but we did not need anything from the store, but we still went (much to the bewilderment of my companion, who did not believe we should). We ended up spending almost half of our Dinner in the store, finally we finish getting a few items we did not need. Including a cream pie, my companion is like this is why you came here....



And as we walked out to our car it happened. "Hey are you Mormon Elders?" was the call of a 15 year old, we replied, "Yes we are". and he then said "Come over to our car real quick" We walk over, and There is a lady, and 2 kids in the car. I was like what can we do for you. And she said, Hi, my name is Sister G----, I've been less active for over 5 years, when I moved from Brewer to Old town, I went less active. As we talked she admitted she was thinking/praying about coming back. As I talked I asked if both of her kids were less active also, she replied that she had 3 (1 girl, 2 boys), but the youngest was not with her, and none of them had been baptized when she joined as her husband at the time was anti-mormon.



At that point her 11 year old daughter pipes up "MOM I WANT TO GET BAPTIZED!" and the 15 year old son said I want to as well! We set up a time to meet with her whole family, and it came Saturday night, the 11 year old, says mom, give them your cell phone, and dad's, and our address, so they can keep in touch, just then her husband walks out of the store, and we introduce ourselves, and he said see you Saturday.



Fast forward to Saturday night as we taught all three of her kids expressed a desire to be baptized, and we committed them to work towards September 21, and they all agreed.



As we taught we invited them to church, and the Mother said I've got to work tomorrow, otherwise we would go, I have every other weekend off though, we will go to church when I don't work. Her daughter said mom we can just walk to church its right there (pointing to the baptist church only 5 doors away) her mom replied that's not the church they go to, theirs is in Ellsworth (about 25 miles 40 km away) She says Ellsworth looking down...... then looks up, and says MOM can I ride my bike to church tomorrow ? we all started to laugh and her mom said just wait for next week, she replied please mom? We said hopefully we can find someone who can give you a ride the weeks your mom works in the future.



The next week, we took a member who lived a couple miles away to the lesson, and the members knew the kids from school! They gave them rides to church, including coming early for Ward Council, and staying late, these kids came for 5+ hours of church, not including the 40 minute drive (one way) to church every week. They were committed.



After I left the area, I got word they were baptized on September 21st. So all told the Lord led us to be in the right spot, at the right time, to help one of His daughters come back to the fold, and to help others find it.

Awesome story.



In my ward, we just recently baptized a man who was a Pentecostal minister. He had been investigating the Church for several years from the distance, then he decided it was time t join. Loudest singer in the ward and gives the bestest prayers. None of that wussy sing softly stuff for him, except for the sacrament song, and I don't think he capable of giving an "okay Lord here's a quick engineer prayer, sweet and to the point," you know, the engineer prayers like I give.

Thanks for sharing the experiences, BYUROCKS. I recall tracting one day and deciding to go to the top floor of an apartment complex. I went and knocked on the door. The babysitter told us to come back that evening. When we did we found a man and his wife who both eventually got baptized. Why go to the top floor and knock on that particular door? I didn't know why at the time, but now I do. It isn't important to understand why the spirit tells you to do something at the time, just that you do so. You may or may not learn why immediately, but you will learn why eventually when you have a perfect recollection of all your actions.

urroner wrote:
Awesome story.



In my ward, we just recently baptized a man who was a Pentecostal minister. He had been investigating the Church for several years from the distance, then he decided it was time t join. Loudest singer in the ward and gives the bestest prayers. None of that wussy sing softly stuff for him, except for the sacrament song, and I don't think he capable of giving an "okay Lord here's a quick engineer prayer, sweet and to the point," you know, the engineer prayers like I give.

I love hearing about ministers who convert. Thank you for sharing.

Cougarfan87 wrote:
Thanks for sharing the experiences, BYUROCKS. I recall tracting one day and deciding to go to the top floor of an apartment complex. I went and knocked on the door. The babysitter told us to come back that evening. When we did we found a man and his wife who both eventually got baptized. Why go to the top floor and knock on that particular door? I didn't know why at the time, but now I do. It isn't important to understand why the spirit tells you to do something at the time, just that you do so. You may or may not learn why immediately, but you will learn why eventually when you have a perfect recollection of all your actions.

Ya I had a couple like that. My favorite is when my companion started freaking at me and was like WHY???? my reply, I don't know why, I just feel like we should. And I promised God I would do what I feel.

Have the minister do a fireside and tape it. Should be a great talk. I once had a talk tape from a former minister.