Monday, July 28, 2014

Teaching and Service in Melfort

It’s been a whole month!!! I can’t believe that I have been out for a whole entire month!!! I never paid much attention to time until I came out on my mission. Time is a crazy thing, I can’t decide if I want it to go fast or slow... but it’s not up to me. Things in Melfort have been pretty good this week!

I taught my first REAL investigator this week... that was nerve racking! I was shaking so bad and I was nervous all morning! I mean her eternal salvation was laying in my hands! But the lesson went really really well, she started crying within the first 10 minutes and she was taking in everything we were teaching. It was an amazing experience, I loved every minute of it!!! She was going to come to church, but she had a birthday party, and now she’s going out of town for a week, but hopefully we will get to teach her again next week!

We have also had the chance to do a lot of service this week, we helped a member tear out his concrete floor in his basement and carried it all upstairs... It was HARD work, but I think I gained a lot of muscle from it haha! We also helped in the park and painted these huge pavilions.

Other than that we have just been teaching our recent converts and less actives, and we have been street contacting like crazy, I’m still lacking a lot of confidence when it comes to street contacting, but someday I will have the courage to talk to everyone I see! We had our branch picnic on Saturday, that was a lot of fun, we went to a lake and played volleyball, baseball, and ate lots of good food. It was so fun to spend time and get to know all of the branch members. This branch truly is amazing, they are working so hard to become a ward. they are the perfect example of member missionaries, they are always giving us people to talk to, and they are so supportive of the missionaries! I love the Melfort branch!

I love being a missionary, it is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but it is so rewarding. I love this gospel so much, everyday my testimony grows, and I know without a doubt that the church is true. It’s hard sometimes because I really miss everyone, but I know this is where I need to be!!!! I love the missionary life!!!! Thank you all for your love and support!!! I love you all!!!


Love Elder Farnsworth

Here are a couple of pictures from the MTC . . .


Here are some pictures from Melfort!  It must be a little chilly already. 




Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Life in Melfort

This week was pretty good, we didn’t have too much going on, but we still managed to keep busy. On Monday we taught a man named Don, he is a less active member and has had a LOT of problems lately. He is older, and has had quite a life. We went and talked to him and he told us all about his life. For some reason he related a lot to me and I was able to talk a lot. It was one of the neatest experiences so far. It was also so humbling to realize how great of a life I have had compared to some people that are a lot less fortunate.

This weekend we got to do service work at the Melfort fair.  That was tiring, we worked in the scout booth cooking food for all the people. On Friday we worked an 8 hour shift and on Saturday we worked a 10 hour shift. By the end I thought I was going to die, my back and legs were so sore from standing the whole time, but it was really fun! On Friday it wasn’t too busy because it was so rainy, it gave us the perfect opportunity to talk to all the people we were volunteering with. Most of the people working were Christians, but not Mormons, so I started talking to this lady named Heather, we talked for a good 2 hours while we were working, and I told her about the church and about what we do during church and kind of what missionary life was like and she told me about her church. She goes to one of those Christian churches where they have like weird rock concerts and stuff but anyways, she said she had a lot of questions about our church and that she wanted to invite us over to talk! Then the best part is she said that she was willing to put her religion to the test, she said she would do everything we asked her to do, and that she would really listen to what we had to say!!!! Elder Brown was super excited and was telling me how prepared she was, I was kind of freaking out, because hopefully we just got an investigator! Hopefully this week we will be able to go and talk to her and her husband.

Other than that not too much has been going on, we’ve done a lot of street contacting, and we got to watch the Melfort parade which was tons of fun! We’ve done a lot of service this week, we volunteered at an old folks home and we helped put some doors in a house. I love it here, I feel like I’m living in a dream! I still can’t believe that I’m actually a missionary!!! I love it, I have learned so much and I’m so grateful for all the experiences that I’ve had! I love the gospel!!!!

I hope everyone at home is doing good, and keeping busy!

Love you all!

Love Elder Farnsworth

Monday, July 14, 2014

Eli Arrives in Melfort

What a week!  It’s been crazy to leave the MTC and to get to Canada, the flights and all of that were pretty good, we got to Canada at about 11:30 but then we had to go through customs, which was horrible, I don’t think they wanted us to come into the country haha! But we made it!  The first night we got to see a baptism which was amazing, I felt the spirit so strong, it was a great experience.  After that we went to the mission home and stayed the night. I really love President and Sister Thomas, they are so loving and caring, I definitely felt like they cared about me which was really nice haha!  On Thursday we got our first areas... that was so intense, I was so nervous to find out where I was going and who my companion was but it all worked out. I am serving in the Melfort area.  It’s  in the Saskatchewan province. It’s a really small town, it’s just a little branch here but the people are really nice. my companions name is Elder Brown, he is from Surprise Arizona and has been serving for 7 months, he is a great missionary. I have already learned a lot from him, and we get along really good so that’s a plus!

Friday was awful... we had to travel to our areas, and that is no easy task... it took about 12 hours of driving to get to Melfort. What a day... they have this thing called the transfer train were there’s a whole bunch of missionaries on buses and in cars that drive to all there areas, but it’s crazy... the logistics that go into just one transfer are crazy. the good news though is that I got a tour of the whole entire mission haha! It’s really really flat here, there’s only a few hills and there’s trees but the landscape is pretty boring haha! I still love it though, there’s so much water and everything is green!  It’s not too cold yet, the evenings are a little cold, but not too bad. I’m definitely not looking forward to winter, I’ve heard some pretty crazy stories about how bad it is... we will see I guess haha!

I have been able to teach a few lessons, it was pretty nerve wracking, but thank goodness for the spirit and my companion! we teach a lot of recent converts and less actives here, so they already know what we’re teaching, we just go over it again. we also do a lot of service here, we get to serve in a fair this weekend, and we help a lot of people on their farms. but life is good, I’m starting to get used to things, and I’m starting to rely more on spirit as I teach, that is no easy task, but it is an amazing feeling to know that what your saying is all the spirit!

Thank you all for all your love and support, I loved all the emails that I got, they were great, I’m sure your all wondering about my facebook... we are a facebook mission so I get to go on for an hour everyday but I can only talk about church related things and missionary things, so I can’t just sit and chat haha! also if you send me mail and packages just send it all to the mission home and then they deliver it. so if I don’t write back its because it can take up to 6 weeks to get things. but I would still love to hear from you all! love you all and again thanks for the support! I’m  so grateful for this opportunity, I have learned so much and my testimony has grown!!! I love the gospel!!!!!

Love Elder Farnsworth


Thursday, July 10, 2014

Arrived in Winnipeg - July 9, 2014

Hello Families,

Your missionary arrived today in the wonderful Canada Winnipeg Mission.  They look terrific and we are excited to have them serving with us.  They arrived on time, but immigration took them a while.  They were hungry so we fed them right away “taco in a bag”, and  ice cream.  We gave them several hours of training.  Tonight they enjoy a wonderful ham dinner.  Then we are off to a baptism of a young man about their same age.  We will teach them our mission song and get them to bed.  Their day started pretty early at the MTC, so they will be really happy to get to bed tonight.

Tomorrow there will more training and they will get their first mission assignment and be sent to all parts of the mission.  They are excited to serve the Lord and we are exciting they have come to join our ranks!

We love these elders already and thank you for sharing them with us.

Attached is a photo that was taken at the airport when they arrived.

Love,
Sister Menlove



Monday, July 7, 2014

Week Two

Wow! I never thought that I would get to the point where I had been out a week, the first couple of days were hard but now time is starting to go by a lot faster! 

This has been a really really good week. I have learned so much about the gospel, and so much about how to teach! Preach My Gospel is an awesome book, I feel like it’s a missionaries best friend! I have learned so much from that book about how to be a good teacher and how to help meet investigators needs! it’s amazing!!!! We are in class a lot, we probably spend over 9 hours a day in class learning! It’s a good thing I love my teachers, and my district! I can’t get over how blessed I am to be with all of the missionaries in my zone! They are all so awesome and they all have such strong testimonies! I think I will cry when we all get split up! most of the missionaries from our zone and district are going to Tampa Florida, and me and elder Reed and Elder Cox are the only ones going to Canada, so that's kind of dumb, but oh well I guess!!! I have to update you from last week, for some reason I now love the food here, and I think I'm going to gain a million pounds because now I can’t stop eating, and even though I sit the whole day and don't move I am always hungry!!! But now the only thing I have to complain about is the BEDS!!!! I hate them. I miss my memory foam and six pillows, I don't think I have slept very well the whole time I've been here. part of that is because we stay up half the night talking, but the other part is because I feel like I'm sleeping on a rock!!!! Oh well it’s worth it!

On Sunday, we had a devotional, and then we watched a movie called the Character of Christ. It’s based off of a talk that Elder Bednar gave. It’s awesome I would highly suggest it!!! It was exactly what I needed to hear! He was talking about how missionary work is not about how the missionary feels! It’s not about me! It doesn't matter what I want or how I'm feeling, all that matters is that I'm doing everything that the Lord wants me to do. I felt super home sick and then after I heard the talk I realized it doesn't matter how I feel!!!! Now anytime anyone in our district gets upset or down we just tell each other it’s not about us!!! Who cares if you’re tired? Who cares if you’re hungry? Who cares if you want your family? It’s not about us!!!! I loved this talk! on Tuesday we also had another devotional with Lowell M. Snow, it was really good too! He talked about how we need to use our agency to let the Holy Ghost help us. I loved this!!!! We have to choose to pray for the Holy Ghost, and we get to decide whether or not to listen to its promptings. I am so grateful for the Holy Ghost, I realized this week that the Holy Ghost doesn't just help you teach or give you promptings, it can help you learn, it can help you make decisions, and it can make you feel loved and comforted. I am so grateful that through the spirit I have been able to gain all of the knowledge that I have, there is no other way that I could have learned this much in this short amount of time!

On Tuesday Elder Ofiu and I got to teach this investigator named Kenzie. it was an awesome experience, we taught her about faith and prayer and in the middle of the lesson we asked her how she was feeling, she kind of got mad at us and told us how she hated that question, she said she never understands why Mormons ask that cause she never feels anything. We kind of explained to her about the Holy Ghost, and then we left. We went back on Wednesday to teach her again, and we asked her if she had thought about what we talked about and everything, she said she had thought about it, and then she told us that after we left on Tuesday that she finally felt something, she said she felt very peaceful and she couldn't really explain the feeling. Me and elder Ofiu looked at each other and we were both so excited! SHE FELT THE SPIRIT!!! It was awesome, we knew we had felt the spirit, but it was so cool that she did too!!!
I love the gospel, and I'm so grateful for it!!!! I am so blessed to be able be out here and be the Lord’s servant, I know this is what I should be doing and I wouldn't want to do anything else!!!!! 

I hope everyone enjoys the 4th of July!!! We actually get to go out and watch fireworks tonight so that should be fun! I can’t believe that I just got here and now it’s already time to go, I will be flying out to Canada on Wednesday, we leave the M.T.C. at 2:30 A.M. and our flight leaves SLC at 6 A.M. so all of you have your phones ready because I might be calling for a minute!!!! I love you all!!! Thank you for all the support and letters, the next time I email you I'll be in Canada! HOORAY!!!!!!!!! 

Love Elder Farnsworth

P.S. it’s been a week and a half and apparently my friends suck... the only people I've heard from are Jen, Ellery, Maren, and Brenda!