36 - The Turn of the New Year - Happy 2015!

I hope all of you have had a great New Year so far! 

Have any of you made New Year resolutions? We learned that a survey was taken at some point that showed that out of 1000 people who make resolutions only 30 people accomplish them. And you know what those 30 people did differently? They told a bunch of people so they were held accountable to basically everybody. 

So if you really are serious about your goals, go out and tell people about them!

And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man. (Luke 2:52).

Though Jesus was perfect, he still had to learn things and develop his character in his mortal life. I am sure that Jesus had a vision of what he wanted to achieve and made the goals and then plans to accomplish his righteous desires. From this scripture, we learn that he improved in his intellectual, physical, spiritual, and social skills. 

I have made four goals that I would like to publicly share that I want to work on throughout the year.

   1) Know multiple ways to teach the missionary lessons.

   2) Maintain a habit of daily physical exercise.

   3) More readily remember to call upon Heavenly Father.

   4) Follow up with people more quickly and frequently.

Alright, everyone knows now! Lets see how I do come the new year!

As far as this week (the first of the new year) goes, it was a lot of saying goodbye to people, being as it was Sister Burt's last week as a full time missionary. She leaves Sioux Falls on Wednesday early in the morning and will arrive home on Thursday. 

My new companion will be Sister Stephens, and I will be sure to give a description of my new companion when I actually meet her.

Unfortunately one of the things that happened this week was I got sick with a nasty stomach bug on New Year's Eve. Good thing is, it really only lasted 24 hours, so that's a blessing! 

You know what's funny though? I have noticed a pattern in my being sick. I have consistently been getting sick every other month: June, August, October... and then... December, haha. And that's not even including the kidney stone or the slight sore throat I had on December 1st.

Sister Burt said to me that morning to make me laugh a little: "Well, at least you didn't break your streak!" Haha. So, I'm due next in February! Let's see if this keeps going!

On New Year's day though I felt so much better! 

To celebrate, or really, just to do what we originally had planned, we went and served at a place called The Banquet. It's a place that serves food to people who are poor or homeless and this ward serves there every New Year's Day. We made a lot of great contacts, mostly with people who live in the elder's area, but we were able to refer them to the elders quickly and effectively because the elders were there serving too. 

We met the sweetest old homeless lady who seems to have a good head on her shoulders and we will start teaching her this week if possible at the church. It broke my heart when she told us of the places she usually sleeps in this sometimes negative degree weather... Under bridges and sometimes in people's yards but tries to stay hidden and relocates at least every three days and such.... so sad.....

But now the crowning event of the week!!! 

Remember that story I told in the "Bucket List" entree about how we did a spontaneous lesson with one of our less actives and her friend was there and we taught him the restoration and referred him to the elders because he wasn't in our area?

Josh's Baptism. Yeah!

HE GOT BAPTIZED!

AH!! Josh! 
He actually made it to baptism and is still going strong! I am so grateful for the Holy Ghost and the Lord's plan, because things definitely worked out so perfectly for us to find him. 
And he got baptized on Saturday! WOW! 
It was so cute, he had to get dunked three times because he's not super duper fond of water and wasn't expecting it, even though he knew he was going under the water, you know how it is. 
But wow, his testimony is simple and it is strong.

"The Book of Mormon has changed my life. People are always trying to tell me it isn't right and they still think Mormons do the seven wives. I tell them 'no! That was done hundreds of years ago. It's different now!' My Fiancee still doesn't know, but I know this is the best for her and the three kids she has. This church helps me. I need to walk in the Lord's footsteps."

Now that was paraphrasing, not an actual quote, but man, so awesome! 
I totally count him as a baptism that I was largely a part of. And I'm sure it's been a really cool experience for Elder Bolton. He is a greenie and he got the opportunity to teach someone all the lessons, really seeing someone progress all the way to baptism, and on this last day of the transfer, his last day of being a greenie, he was able to perform the baptism. So cool!

So that's it for this week. 
Sorry for the lack of pictures. 
Sister Burt was the one taking all the goodbye pictures, not me. But I will have awesome pictures next week, promise.

Happy New Year everyone!