The Trio

Family!

Buenos dias!  (that means good morning...)

No les voy a mentir, this was a pretty busy week.  We are in the process of switching our focus from some of the families that had a lot of potential but are no longer progressing to some amazing new people we found.  We've got some sweet people we're working with.  So most of the people I have taught don't really know anything about their "religion", but one of these new families we've found is very devout in their religion.  That might sound like it would make things more difficult, but it's actually a good thing in this case because it means that when we explain the message of the restoration to them, they have questions and are very interested in what we say.  We had a great lesson with them this week about the Book of Mormon with our branch president.  We also stopped in one day and found them having a family barbecue outside, and they invited us right in and we got to talk to a lot of their family!  Turns they have a cousin who lives in Utah and is Mormon!  I'm super excited for these people!

This week we went on exchanges with our English zone leader, so we were in a trio for a day!  He (Elder Klodnicki) came into the mission when I had been out 1 transfer, and now we're both back in our first areas and he's my zone leader.  Kind of funny how things go full circle...  But anyways, he was called to go to Brazil, but ended up staying in our mission, so he knows Portuguese, which is kind of like Spanish.  So he was able to understand the majority of what happened during the day, and he even shared his testimony in Spanish and read a bit out of the Book of Mormon.  Champion!  But is was super nice being in a trio.  We could go anywhere we wanted and we had another person to testify with us.  So that was my trio experience for the mission.

I think last week or the week before I told you about how we went to contact a referral that was really far away in a city that I had never been to before?  Well, the member who gave us the referral texted us on Friday and said that her friend wanted to come to church!  We gave her the details and told her we would be waiting for them.  We didn't hear anything else about it.  We were 20 minutes into Sunday School (we have Sunday school first) when the door opened and they walked in!  This member had picked up her friend and had driven nearly a half hour to get to the church!  They both had a great experience, the member shared an powerful testimony in sacrament meeting, and I had the opportunity to give this investigator a blessing after the meeting.  It was a great experience.  It was such a great example of member missionary work. 

I don't really have too much else to say.  We taught a lot this week.  We're doing everything in our power to baptize in May and keep this area progressing.  People are starting to realize that I go home soon, and it's pretty funny to see their reactions.  Most people here see me as a permanent fixture of the branch, so it completely throws them off to hear that I'm leaving.  It throws me off too.

Have a good week!

Love,

Elder Foote

Picture: me and my friends the Sniders 

Manna From Heaven and a New Hope

Family!

That's a pretty big ward...  That's pretty exciting about Katie!

This was a week full of miracles!  We had a member call us up who lives far away on the edge of our area.  She is a fluent Spanish speaker from Mexico City, and she had a referral for us.  She has been teaching her friend about the gospel for a while now, and her friend finally agreed to have the missionaries over!  We made the trek out there and had a very powerful lesson with this member and her friend.  It was so exciting to get such a solid referral!  The friend is interested, and we'll be going back this week to teach her and her husband with this member.  It was so weird for me to contact this referral for a few reasons.  First, because it's so far away, it's in a city that I've heard many stories about, but never been to before.  I've pretty much been in the same place my whole mission, so going somewhere new was a really weird experience.  Second, this was a new Hispanic member that I had never met before.  Again, because I've been in the same place for quite a while, meeting a new Hispanic member was pretty weird.  But I'm super excited about this referral.  a general authority who came to our mission a long time ago called referrals "manna from heaven."

We went out this past week with our branch president.  Right at the beginning of our time out with him, our appointment ended up falling through.  We went to go try a man that we had met a few days before, and he turned out to be there and ready to listen.  He gathered his family and we taught a powerful lesson with our branch president to this family who had never heard from missionaries before.  I had been praying all day that we could have a good experience with Presidente while we were out with him, and we did!  This was also a significant lesson because this family lives in an area that used to have a lot of progressing investigators, but most of them have slowly lost interest.  So this was a new hope for the area finding this awesome family!

We also had a chapel tour this week with a family of 7!  They've been taught by missionaries for a while, but just a few weeks ago we picked them back up and have been helping to read again in the Book of Mormon.  In the past the Dad was never very interested in listening to us, but recently he has been asking us lots of questions, and he came to the chapel tour this past week and participated a lot!  We were able to get out a lot of their concerns as we talked with them at the font and in front of the sacrament table.  I've got high hopes for them!

This week I also began helping to fix up another house in Dayton with a member.  This is house number 3.  Dayton Spanish district is rebuilding Dayton one house at a time!

When I think back to how this area was when I first got here nearly two years ago, I can't even believe the difference.  Two years ago we didn't even dream of hitting 20 lessons.  Now we're hitting almost 30.  Before if we had 2 member presents it was considered a pretty good week.  Now we're shooting for 10.  Back then if we got 1 person to church we were ecstatic.  Now we're disappointed if only 2 come.  The work really is progressing here.  I've progressed.  I'm so glad that I was sent back here so I could see the changes that the Lord has made in this area and in me.

Have a great week!

Elder Foote  

Bicycle Crash Injuries

Wild, Rampant Rabbits in Ohio

Si, yo hablo Spanish

Family!!!

Great to hear from you all! That's crazy about the snowstorm!  It's been raining here for basically a week straight...

This week was extremely busy.  When we got doubled in here it was definitely slow going trying to pick up all of the new investigators and get back into the swing of things, but now that we've built it up again, there's not enough time to do everything that needs to be done!

This week we saw miracles all over the place.  We had a focus as a zone this week to find lots of new investigators.  Many of the people we've been working with haven't been keeping very many commitments, so this focus was great for us to pick up some new people to focus on.  All week long we found ourselves in places where we were able to talk to people who seemed to really have interest in what we had to say.  We ran out of things to do one night with a member, so we went to try a potential investigator that we hadn't seen for weeks.  When we got there, he wasn't there, but his brother and sister-in-law were, and they were super solid and invited us over to their house to teach them!  We also were walking through a trailer park to an appointment and passed by a huge Mexican party.  We were kind of wary about stopping because of how many people there were and the types of beverages that were there... but we recognized one of our investigators there, so we stopped and talked to him.  They invited us to eat their carne asada, and as we ate we talked to a 17 year old kid who has a lot of potential, and he invited us back as well!  Really it was just a great week to find!

We also had an awesome tour of the chapel with Z-------, the husband of M-----, a recent convert.  President Vilches came and helped us out as well.  We took Z------- into the font, explained baptism to him, showed him how a baptism goes (AKA dry baptism), then invited him to be baptized on May 2.  In the past he has been very hesitant about any baptismal extension we've given him, but this time he was much more receptive, and we have high hopes that he'll be baptized in May!

We also extended baptism to the 3 daughters of the S----- family this week.  They have been reading in the Book of Mormon, and they all accepted!  Their Mom is on board too!  We later talked to the Dad about it, and it looks like it'll take a little while for him to be on board too...  But we passed by later in the week and had a great lesson with the whole family; it was the first time the Dad has sat in on a lesson!  Progress!

Really everything is going pretty well here.  There's lots to do, and because my time is limited, it's definitely crunch time for a few more baptisms to happen in this area.  We've got the potential, we've just got to keep giving it our all and I know it will come.

This week in Sunday School we talked about Christ proclaiming to the Jews that He was the Son of God, and I've been thinking a lot about that since.  I know that He is the Son of God.  I know that He is my Savior.  He came to Earth to give us the example to follow to return to live with our Father in Heaven.  I'm so grateful for all He did for me and for the help that He gives me every day.

Love,

Elder Foote 

The Last Transfer....

Family!

That's right, the final transfer has arrived!  Crazy right?  Today we got transfer calls and I'll be finishing my mission here at home in Huber Heights. =)  

That's so amazing to hear about Dad getting to go to the baby blessing of the lady he baptized!  That made me super happy to hear!

Sorry about last week.  I was pretty bogged down with a lot of other things the last time I emailed.  Last month we drove quite a bit over our monthly allotment in order to make sure that A--- L--- was ready to get baptized, and then at the last second the baptism fell through.  Because we went over we were told that we had to have a few days this month in which we don't use our car, which is a pretty tough deal in this area.  But we've got it all figured out now, so I'm not too worried about it.

This week was a great week!  I have been working with a family off and on since February of last year, and this week they really made some progress!  We taught them a very powerful lesson about the doctrine of church, and we also helped them move.  I'm expecting to see a lot of progress from them pretty soon!  We also worked all week long to get the S----- family to church, and they came!  The mom works at a Mexican restaurant all week, so in order to see her we had to go eat at the restaurant...  But we sacrificed, and they came and had a great time!  We also got in touch again with an amazing family that we found right before I left this area last year.  We had a short lesson with them and the Spirit was super strong.  I'm really excited to go back to talk to them!

More about helping that family move.  Most Hispanics leave their Christmas lights up until the summer, if they take them down at all.  This family was one of those families.  So I generously offered to take down their Christmas lights for them.  So if you've been worrying about how Elder Foote has been handling not putting up or taking down Christmas lights for all this time, worry no longer!  I got a chance to use my skills! =)

We knocked the door of a potential that I used to know, and a different guy answered.  He looked kind of foreign, so I started speaking Spanish to him, but he stopped me and told me in broken English that he didn't speak Spanish.  He was from Afghanistan, and he had just gotten here 1 month ago!  He invited us in, and we talked to him for a few minutes.  As soon as he learned we were Christians he wasn't super interested to talk to us, but he was still super nice.  We asked if we could pray with him, and he said that they had already prayed...  But he was fine with us saying a prayer, so we did.  It was a pretty interesting encounter...

I found a scripture this week that I really like that I feel kind of sums up my mission a bit.  D&C 51:16-17.  16 And I consecrate unto them this land for a little season, until I, the Lord, shall provide for them otherwise, and command them to go hence;

 17 And the hour and the day is not given unto them, wherefore let them act upon this land as for years, and this shall turn unto them for their good.

Here the Lord tells the Saints that they would only be in Ohio for a short time.  They wouldn't be there to stay for generations.  But after He tells them that, He lets them know that they should act as if they'll be there for years, and that's how they'll make the most of their time there.  I of course thought about that in the context of my mission, but I think it applies to many different circumstances.  The principle that I got from those verses is that we should make the most of our time in whatever place/calling we're in.  That is how we will fulfill our purpose, by acting as if we will be where we are for a long time.

Well, hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Foote

Conference!

Family,

This week was a week full of meetings.  We had a specialized training on Thursday, leadership council on Friday, then general conference on Saturday and Sunday.  So lots of sitting and writing. =)

Really there's not too much to report this week.  We had a tough time seeing people.  It just seemed that we could never find any of our progressing investigators at home.  This area can sometimes be difficult in that everyone is so spread out and we are very restricted on the amount we can drive our car.  But we'll make it work!

Over a year ago we found a less active lady named Angela and started teaching her.  We found her records and moved them to the branch.  I taught her for about 4 transfers, and then I left.  After I left, the new Elders were never able to contact her again.  When I got here, I decided we would find her again, and we did.  We visited her last week with our branch president, put the Book of Mormon on her phone, and found out that she'll be moving to Texas in a few weeks.  We got her info so that we can send people to see her when she moves down there.  It was pretty cool to be a part of the process of finding her and teaching and then making sure that she's transferred over smoothly.

I thought conference was great!  I listened to two of the sessions in Spanish, so I'll have to listen to those again to get some more out of it, but really all of it was very good.  I liked Elder Wilford W. Anderson's talk, but I'll have to listen to it in English to get some more from it.

Sorry this email is a bit shorter.  I got hit with a bunch of stuff while emailing, so I've been a bit distracted.  I'll try to do better next week.

Love, 

Elder Foote

The Gift of Tongues?

Family,

It's been yet another extremely busy week.  We worked all week long to get a young investigator ready for baptism, and when Saturday rolled around, everything was set up and things looked like they were going to go great.  Then we got a call from  his dad saying that he was sick and wasn't going to be able to get baptized that day.  We offered to go give him a blessing, but his Dad wouldn't work anything out with us and was pretty set on him not getting baptized that evening.  I did everything I could without being too pushy (that is to say, I stopped pushing the issue when his Dad was almost yelling at me), but finally we had to accept that he wasn't getting baptized that evening.  It was pretty discouraging, but he is all ready to go, so we'll work with everyone to make sure the baptism happens.

In my past area there were 3 baptisms this past weekend!  The guy that wanted me to baptize him didn't end up getting baptized this past weekend, but it should happen in the near future.  But it was super cool see the fruits of my work in Hamilton.  I didn't end up going, but I heard all about it.

This week we had two super solid lessons with families that I found over 14 months ago when I was here for the first time.  Both of them talked about the changes they've seen in their lives since the missionaries started coming by, and they have both recognized the Spirit as they've read and met with us.  They've just got to come to church!  Story of my life. =)  But both of these families have a bunch of potential, and I've made it my goal to get them baptized in the next 2 months. 

We got stopped by a Pentecostal guy in the street the other day, and he spent a good while trying to get us to stop preaching the Book of Mormon.  We bore our testimonies, and as we started to leave he started "speaking in tongues" at us, which sounded a lot like Harry Potter snake language.  Kind of creepy...

I think that's about it.  Thanks for everything.  Hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Foote  

Best Enchiladas in the Whole World!!

Family,

It's been a super busy week.  We went to the temple, which was amazing!  We also had interviews, which went really well.

I think last week I told you about a guy who we found who told us he had gone to church in North Carolina.  Well this week we met with him and had a pretty interesting experience.  We taught him, and for the whole lesson I had a really good feeling about him.  At the end I invited him to by baptized, and partway through the extension he said no, but very forcefully.  He then explained that he had already been baptized (which is what most people we teach say), but then he went on to explain that when he was baptized they put him under the water and brought him back out, and then he was baptized by fire and the holy ghost when they put their hands on this head.  Well that sounded a little familiar...  So turns out he was baptized in North Carolina in our church!  We found yet another long lost less active!   

This week we had a huge miracle.  We have been trying to get in contact with a less active family ever since we got here, and this pastSunday they came to church.  We were having a tough time contacting them during this week, but we finally caught them home on Thursday.  They have a 10 year old son who isn't baptized, and a month ago they had been talking about having him baptized on his birthday, which is this week.  We asked them if they were still planning on that, and they said they were, so we started teaching him again and got him reading in the Book of Mormon.  He's now going to be baptized this Saturday!  We're super excited!

We also had a great lesson with a less active and her friend this week.  It was a great lesson, and the friend is seriously considering baptism for the 18th of April!  They also made us the best enchiladas in the whole world!

That's about it.  Nice job Trevor on mowing the lawn!  Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Foote

P.S.  Yes I got your package.  This neighborhood is a lot safer than the one I was living in before. =)  Thanks so much!

Elders Having the Best Enchiladas in the Whole World!

Dayton, Ohio Spanish District at the Columbus, Ohio Temple