The Primary program

Hello, Sorry for the later email (and lackluster opening/closing, I've run out of ideas haha), but don't worry, I didn't forget about you guys haha. This week was the first week of the transfer, so there were various meetings we went to, which made it a bit hectic, but we still got a lot done and had a great week. We also had a car for the first few days because of the craziness of transfers and the incoming missionaries, so that was pretty nice haha. On Tuesday, we went to the transfer meeting, where those who are going home bear their testimonies/share what they learned and everyone else meets their new companion (if they have a new one). Afterwards, we tried stopping by our neighbor's to check up on their houseguest (the one who found a Book of Mormon), but he apparently moved out (sad), so we contacted his local missionaries so that he could still be taught the gospel. Since Wednesday was one of our more open days, we spent the whole time biking around various neighborhoods to find new people to teach and catch up on those who hadn't been taught for a while. One of those we stopped by is Mike. He and Justin have been talking about us and what Justin has learned (they are neighbors), so he's super excited to meet with us later and have his questions answered. He even said he was planning on attending Justin's baptism but got busy, so he seems like he's really interested and we're excited to meet with him later. On Thursday, we spent most of our time doing weekly planning and picking up the new Morgan Hill Elders (our neighboring area; we had their car haha) from the Mission Office (one of them is brand new). We then helped them (Elders Crowton and Newbold) settle in to their apartment and told them about the area since we were more familiar with it. We also picked pomegranates for one of our older members (there was a lot lol). We went back up to the Mission Office again on Friday for some Transfer 2 Training for me and my trainer, which took up most of the day again. Something that stuck out to me was how the APs (Assistants to the President) talked about finding ways to improve by 1% (like that talk in conference). That stuck out to me as I was thinking about approaching people on the street, and I realized that instead of going into it thinking I've got to do all the small talk and all that jazz, I really just need to do things one step at the time and let my companion fill in the rest when I need to stop. Because of that, I made a personal goal to just say "Hi, how are you?" and "Would you like a picture of Jesus Christ?" to those we meet on the street and let my companion handle the rest. Once I feel comfortable with that, I can then focus on the next 1% as I get better and better. I don't know why I didn't realize it until then haha. For the rest of the weekend, because of that goal, my trainer and I both noticed that I had already talked to a lot more people on the street than I had before. Anyways, after that, we had dinner with some members and gave one of them a blessing of healing, and then we went to see Justin/Jaycci. She explained some of the experiences she had with her family as well as just reading the scriptures on her own time and we reiterated the importance of studying both the Bible and the Book of Mormon, and we also helped her understand the concept of baptisms for the dead as they prepare to go to the temple. Saturday was another one of our open days, so we did the same thing that we did on Wednesday, and we had some pretty good and/or miraculous stopbys. One of our last stops was a miracle for Elder Schumann-Curtis in particular. He's only talked to this guy once but has been trying to contact him again for a few months with no success. For some reason, his name popped in his head this morning as we planned our day, and when we got there, we said a prayer right before knocking so that he would be there and willing to talk to us. And he was! It was pretty sweet, he was down to meet with us later, and Elder Schumann-Curtis was super happy haha. We had also made a goal that morning to not just find new people but invite new people to come to church (since we've been having the same people come every time with little variation), and because we were diligent and faithful with that goal in mind, the Lord blessed us with several new people that either were open to meeting with us or willing to attend church tomorrow over zoom, which was great. Sunday was our ward's Primary Program, so that was exciting to see all the kids bear their testimonies and sing songs. And Sofia (Justin's daughter) went up there to sing too, which was super cute haha. The Spirit was really strong in that meeting, there's just something about simple testimonies and singing about Jesus from the kids that is really impactful and spiritual. Afterwards, we ordained Justin as a priest, and one of the youth (James) went with us to our stopbys for the next couple hours. He's finishing his papers to go on a mission, but he has some hesitancy in regards to how good he would be as a missionary. Our time with him, however, was awesome, and from our eyes, it seemed like everything that happened seemed to be the Lord showing him that going on a mission is the right thing to do. We first had a lesson about the Restoration with someone we had been meeting with for a while, and it seemed it was the most open he had been to listening to us and keeping the commitments we asked him to commit (read scriptures, pray, etc.). We were able to all witness the Spirit testify to him as we taught, and then he also testified to us how his life has gotten better since he first started meeting with us and developing a closer relationship with God. We then had several stopbys that didn't work out but put us in the paths of a few people that we wouldn't have met otherwise, which I felt like was a good experience for James to be familiar with. Lastly, we met a woman who told us about an experience she had when some other missionaries a few years ago gave her a blessing as they met with her son, and she also testified to James of the good that those missionaries brought into her life, much like the first guy I met did. Like I said before, those experiences all seemed to be more for James than for Elder Schumann-Curtis and I, we were just there to witness the Lord talking to him haha. It was a really good Sunday. I hope everything continues to go well, I'll be keeping you guys in my prayers. And if things don't go well, just remember that God is your loving, perfect Heavenly Father who is always ready to listen to you in prayer, no matter where you are in life. I know that to be true, and you can too as you sincerely come to Him in prayer. See you all next week, Elder Enger