March 25, 2013

This week was so awesome! We got to do a lot of cool things this week.

So we got a phone call from the mission president telling us he had a special task for us. I was a little worried at first but it ended up being so much fun. We were told to go to the airport Friday night to pick up Elder Donaldson, a member of the 70. When we went and got him it was so cool. He walked into the terminal and just gave us the biggest smile and a huge wave. We got his bags and when out to the car. On the way he was talking to us, getting to know us and about halfway to his hotel he said "Well boys, is there a McDonalds anywhere in this town" A general authority took us to McDonalds and bought us dinner!! It was legit. Then we went to his hotel and hung out with him in the lobby while we ate. He was giving us all kinds of tips and teaching us all kinds of cool stuff. After we all got done eating we all realized it was 10:30 and normally we should have been in bed already haha! We then left but it was so cool to hang out with a member of the 70.

On Sunday we got to go to a stake conference where Elder Donaldson spoke and it was so good. Right before he spoke he called me and another missionary up out of the blue for us to share our testimonies. We walked up there and he told us what he wanted us to testify about and then said "Well guys, bring in the Spirit" It was a cool experience.

We have a couple of investigators who are progressing really well. We are hoping to fix a couple of dates this week. Tonight we have a couple of family home evenings planned out that we are going to and I have two exchanges this week so its going to fly by.

Elder Lerdahl

March 18, 2013

Hey,

So this week was pretty good. We taught a lot and some good things are happening. We have a companionship that has been struggling so we went down to their area to work with them and do exchanges. It was a good experience, we broke up and went with the goal of finding their weak points and helping them to overcome them. We had really good exchanges and were able to find a lot of potential investigators. Hopefully they will be able to start teaching more and have some success.

We also went down to Paris for a meeting with Elder Richards who is a member of the Seventy. It was a good meeting, he talked to us about the difference between baptizing and building the Kingdom of God. It was super powerful and Elder Nielson and I are excited to share his message with all of the missionaries in our zone.

This week we are going back to Paris for a zone conference with him and so that will be good. It really is awesome how many opportunities we have as missionaries to meet with the church leaders.

Last Saturday we were in a rendez-vous and we invited our ami to come to church the next day. He told us that he had lost his car keys and had no way to get to church. He had searched for the key for a few hours before giving up. We asked if we could pray and then help him look for it. He offered a super powerful prayer and then we looked and about 5 minutes later found it. I realized that for most of us that is something very little because we have been doing that all of our lives, but for him it was a huge testimony builder. It was cool.

Well this week we have a busy week planned so hopefully everything happens. Hope you all are doing great.

Elder Lerdahl

March 11, 2013

Hey everyone!

This week was a pretty tiring week. I had two exchanges to do and I traveled for both of them. I spent two days in a city named St. Brieuc and another two days in a city named St. Nazaire.  They were fun exchanges though so that was good.

My exchange in St. Brieuc was awesome. I went there with a Bleu or "Greenie" who has only been out for 2 weeks. He did such a great job. He did all the phone calls, taught a good part of the lessons and did a great job contacting and porting. It amazes me how prepared these new missionaries are coming after 6 short weeks at the MTC. It's incredible and it made me excited for the idea of training.

Another great part of my exchanges was that I got to see the ocean when I went to St. Nazaire. I don't know why that was so cool but it was legit.

Other than that we had a pretty slow week. Our amis are all very legit but they all have a really hard time coming to church so we need to work on that. We also have not had much time to find so we made goals to be more effective with our time, which is really just going to be prioritizing everything that needs to be done. I am really excited for this coming week though, hopefully we will have more time to actually proselyte. 

Well, I hope you are all doing great. Have a great week and eat some Taco Bell for me, Il me manque.

Elder Lerdahl

March 4, 2013

Hey everyone!

Well this last week was one of the most tiring weeks of my life but it also was a lot of fun. We spent all week doing what is called Week two district meetings. The zone leaders attend each district meeting and give a training and a mission project.

We have three districts in our zone so we gave three trainings. We had one in Rennes, one in Nantes, and one in Lorient so we traveled a ton. We also had an exchange so it was a crazy busy week. The trainings went well. Our mission is doing this purification fast where you fast for a day and make a list of 10 things that drive out the spirit. You then fast for 40 days from the things on your list. It will be super hard but I am excited for it. We are also making it a goal to have a Family home evening each week at a member's house with an investigator. It will be awesome and that will really help our investigators' progress. I am really excited for it.

Last week we had a couple miracles but the one that shocked me the most was we got a phone call from a guy that found a pass along card two years ago in Paris. It has a picture of Jesus Christ on it so he kept it and called it last week. Turns out it was our phone number and he lives in Rennes. We should be seeing him this week so that will be cool.

This week I have two exchanges which I am really excited for. One is with a new missionary so I will experience what Matt is going through for about one day so that should be fun and it should be a good week.

Elder Lerdahl

New Address is Rennes

2, Rue Moliere (Brittany)
35700 Rennes France

*Brittany is only needed for packages. Letters can be sent without it!

February 25, 2013

Hey everyone!

This last week has gone by so fast. Last Monday and Tuesday we spent trying to see everyone before I left. On Tuesday we went and saw G. who I have been working with since I got to Lux. We had such a powerful lesson. He was telling us about how he doesn't feel like he has a vision of what God wants for him. Before I really knew what I was saying I promised that if he lived all of the commandments for one week and then prayed and fasted on the last day that he would receive his answer. It sounds like a pretty simple promise but under his circumstances and what not it was pretty huge. It was a great experience for me because that is something I would have never done if I had not felt the spirit so strongly.

Wednesday I spent all day traveling. It was cool though because I got to pass by the church in Paris where are all the missionaries go so that was awesome. I got to see a lot of cool people.

Thursday we went from Rennes, back to Paris and then back again for mission council. It was awesome! I love going to all meetings and seeing the back-end of the mission.

Friday and Saturday we spent most of the days planning and running from appointment to appointment. there is so much planning as a zone leader, its not really hard...but you are busy all the time!

We have found a couple new amis this week so that was great and yesterday we were all sitting in Sunday school and this guy that the sister missionaries gave a card to showed up. We were all super stoked and now we are going to go teach him on Tuesday.

So all in all it has been a great week.

Today we had a conference call with all the mission leaders and we have 4 appointments today so our pday got shortened but I am super happy about it because we have appointments and that is the whole reason we are here. W are here to teach these people and help them towards baptism and then the temple.

Hope you all are doing well!

Elder Lerdahl

February 18, 2013

Last week was pretty insane! We had a special day in the mission. Our mission and the mission of Lyon spent a day contacting and knocking doors. We were instructed to pray every half hour and to pray for not only ourselves but for both missions. We had some really cool miracles happen but the biggest was that we went out to a neighborhood that was really far away (we had no idea why we were going just felt like we needed to). We got there and started knocking doors. We were let in and got to teach a guy then kept going. The last ten minutes that we had before having to go catch our bus we ported into a young family. We talked to them about what we do and how our message is a blessing to the family. They invited us back over so we went and they are so ready for the gospel. It was definitely a miracle for us to find this young family.

I am sad to leave Luxembourg but I am pretty excited to go to Rennes. It is a cool city and my new comp is really cool.

Well I got to go we are gonna go play some soccer with a member.

Elder Lerdahl