Up to
this point our mission has been a "pilot" mission for
the use of
iPads and Facebook. We are now moving from a "pilot" mission to a
"test" mission. I am not sure what the difference is. This last week
we had a member of the seventy, Elder Schwitzer, come to do a "reset"
on our mission. About a year ago they just threw us into all of this and wanted
to see what would happen. They have been having us take surveys to get a lot of
information about how we were doing. They have now come out with new handbooks,
rules, and technology for us to test out. The two handbooks we were given are
not even finalized documents. They both say "draft" on them. We are
handing in our old iPads on Thursday and they are giving us brand new ones with
different software on it. This reset is meant to help everyone refocus on the
new approach and get rid of bad habits. We will be reintroduced to everything
slowly. We will not be using Facebook for 1-2 months. Any
missionaries who will be here after August have to buy the new iPads and
then take them home, but since I come home before then I get to borrow one for
the time being. Elder Schwitzer talked a lot about how we are vital to this
phase of the hastening of the work. It has been really fun to be a guinea pig!
 |
| Elder Miles at the train station |
This was our best week
for a long time. We taught more lessons and found some new investigators! We
had two membes present lessons with our investigator Jeff. Both of the members
that we took with us connected with him very well. They are both converts and used
to have the same struggles that he is facing. Each time we go over there he
changes a little bit and becomes more interested. It is really exciting to see.
For Fast Sunday (yesterday) he committed to not drink any alcohol for 24 hours
which he hasn't done in a long time. One of the members we took with us has
been messaging Jeff since the lesson. The member just called to tell us Jeff
did it! We were really excited. Knowing that President Riggs is coming on
exchanges with us this Tuesday, we scheduled our next appointment with him for
that night. Miracles always happen with President Riggs around, so we are
excited for that lesson.
Prior to our exchange
with President on Tuesday, we have zone interviews with him. As zone leaders we
have to be there all day and "interview" the companion of the
missionary that is with President at the time. We have to be at the church at
7:45am to set up and we won't finish until around 5:30. President Riggs will be
taking us out for lunch and dinner. I am excited to be around President for the
day. We have several questions for him about our area that hopefully he can
help us with. One of those is how to respond to people that "aren't
interested in religion." We have received that response a million times recently...
Since we have been
spending so much time tracting recently we wanted to switch things up a bit.
There is a train station (VRE) right next to our apartment complex that tons of
people in the area ride to DC for work. We decided that would be a fun place to
street contact as everyone got home from work in the evening. We went there
right after dinner and talked to a bunch of people. It was a little difficult
because everyone just wanted to get home, but we had a good time. We had some
5x7 pictures of Jesus that we were handing out to people with our names on them
hoping to catch people’s attention.
I am having a great
time. I am learning a lot and becoming better each day. I am grateful for these
two years I have to serve! I know that Christ is our Savior and that Heavenly
Father loves us!
Love,
Elder Braden Miles
Washington DC South
Mission
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.