Holy Ghost - Week 5

Hey Everyone!

One miracle that we had this past week we went to knock doors in a apartment complex for about 3 hours on Wednesday, but we didn't have a whole lot of success so we just went to the next thing that we had planned for the day. As we were walking around we talked with a few members who ended up giving us 7 referrals! Which is crazy! You don't just get 7 from one person if you're lucky you get maybe 1 referral, ( A referral is basically someone that a person knows that might be interested in hearing the Gospel)  And often times you will have a lot more success with people interested in learning more when its a referral so this was awesome! This was a testament to me because it shows that when we devote time to do other parts of missionary work the Lord will always provide a way for us to have success, and it was definitely a tender mercy to me to see!

On Wednesday I also got to tract in the rain! That was way fun! haha people would open their door and say,"it's raining! why don't you go home and take a nap?" We simply replied the missionary work simply never stops! We could have gone to our dinner appointment early and asked if it would be okay if we came earlier because it was raining, but I know using those 20 min walking around in the rain will bless my companion and I showing everyone around us including Heavenly Father that there is nothing more important than the message we have the opportunity to share! It may not look like we are soaked in the pictures but I assure you biking through the rain means you just get more of the rain on you haha!

I'd like to close my thoughts on the Holy Ghost. Learing how the Holy Ghost speaks to us is probably one of the things that I believe most people are continually striving to learn and understand. We are taught in Galatians 5:22-23 ,"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,Meekness,and temperance..." from this we learn that all of those feelings are feelings that are manifested when we are being taught or feeling the Holy Ghost testify of things that are true. But we also know from Helman 5:30, "...when they heard this voice, and beheld that it was not a voice of thunder, neither was it a voice of a great tumultuous noise, but behold, it was a still voice of perfect mildness, as if it had been a whisper, and it did pierce even to the very soul." 

From these two scriptures we learn how the Holy Ghost speaks to us through those feelings and also by a perfect mild whisper. An example I had this week would be when Elder Candland and I where at the very far end of our area and we just ran out of options that we planned to do that night so we said a prayer to know where we should go. After the prayer I asked Elder Candland where should we go? He replied that we should go to the park, which is a 10-15 min bike ride away. I thought about it in my head and felt a small good feeling inside about it so we went! When we got to the park there wasn't a single person at the park! So we offered another prayer at the park asking," well.. we are here why? Who are we supposed to talk to? what would you have us do Heavenly Father?" As soon as we finished that prayer someone was walking right to us! Which was amazing because I don't know where he came from! And it taught me the relationship between our thoughts and feelings in answering our prayers! 1. We asked Heavenly Father what we should do. 2. we proposed a simple/specific idea or option in our head 3. we allowed the spirit to answer our prayers and listened for a still small voice and impressions in our head. 

This is how the Spirit works! The problems I find myself in is I forget to allow the spirit to speak back to me in my prayers! So I encourage everyone to remember these things as they are listening to General Conference and listen to what the spirit brings to our minds in things that we can do better! And when we think about and imagine ourselves doing that thing try to recognize how you feel when you imagine yourself doing that very thing! If you feel any feelings that are talked about in Galatians 5: 22-23 thats the spirit confirming to us that we need to do that very thing!

Have a great week everyone! 

We have Bikes!!

Elder Gerrard and Elder Candland

I Need Thee Every Hour (Field Week 2)

Hey Everyone!

SO this was my first full week to set goals and strive to meet those goals with my companion Elder Candland! And boy oh boy we worked hard, but I have a testimony that I know hard work pays off when we do everything we can the Lord will make up for the difference!

I would like to take this moment to address my thoughts and feelings of this week and what I saw looking back on it. So on this past Tuesday I went on exchanges as my companion Elder Candland went to leadership training meeting so I was with Elder Westover in my area! And we had a lot of good plans set up for that day! We ended up talking to this man in his garage and found out he was a youth pastor for his church but willing to talk to us so we came into his home to share a lesson with him, and in the middle of the lesson while we were teaching him he went to get us water and we could tell he wasn't ready because he wanted evidence for everything he believes, but we learn from Alma 32:21 in the Book of Mormon that faith isn't a perfect knowledge of things, but a hope for things not seen.

I got a call from Brother Bailey in the Mission office, and I knew that my Grandpa Gerrard had passed away, but i told him that i needed to finish this lesson and that i would call him back. When this man sat down he asked me why i came on my mission and I looked at him right in the eyes and told him that my Grandpa just passed away, but with tears in my eyes i testified to him that the reason why I'm on my mission is because I KNOW that families can be together forever and its through this gospel that families can gain that opportunity. And because i know this I know that ill see my grandpa again and that he was tarrying with me in that moment. There are those that cant believe things because they cant see them but you cant deny a testimony and the manifestation that the spirit brings when it confirms truth. It was in that moment that the spirit was present testifying of truth in that moment. And I wouldn't want to be any where else right now to be able to testify to those around me that because of the Savior we will all be resurrected and through the way of faith in Him, repentance, baptism, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost so it can guide us while in this life. We can endure to the end so we can live with our families together I'm beyond grateful that my last memory with my grandpa will be the time i was able to go with him to the temple in the Bountiful, Utah temple and i will see him once again in white on the other side. After the lesson I had with Elder Westover I called the mission office and officially received the news that He had passed, but it only fulled my fire to continue to work hard to help others, because i cant imagine how i would feel if i felt like i would never see him again. I would note that, that Tuesday was one of best sunsets i have ever seen, which was a great way to end the day in memory of Grandpa Gerrard. It was a tough week i could really see the adversary trying to work against us, but my testimony is firm and I'm thankful for all the prayers on my behalf. It is soo comforting to know that the Savior is always there if we are only to reach out to Him in prayer. I'm glad to be a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. This is His restored gospel on the earth. I know this because i received my own testimony through prayer. 

On Saturday it was great haha we walked from 11am all the way to 7pm haha we didnt sit down once! We just talked to a bunch of people and it was good! We had some members give us apples and I bought some fresh honey from some people we met haha it ended up costing 10$ which was the exact amount of money i found out on the road early that day and i felt like for some reason i really needed to buy their honey.. its super good haha and the people are very nice and sweet people so that was definitely the highlight of the day although i had to carry all that extra weight that day its amazing when your doing missionary work you just dont feel tired at all! Definitely a blessing from our Heavenly Father! the last 30 min of walking to our dinner appointment i ended up carrying my companions bag, because his back was hurting so thats why im carrying his bag, but I took a picture with my honey and next to this wall that says my Mom loves me quite fitting after a long day haha

My charge to all is to always give glory to God he is waiting to bless us, but only to those that are meek and recognize his hand in our lives so I would encourage all to look for him throughout their day because just like the sacred hymn says,"I need thee every hour, stay thou near by. Temptations lose their power when thou art nigh. I need thee oh i need thee every hour I need thee oh bless me now my Savior I come to thee!" This week was a hard week but because I was close to my Savior.. The attempts made by the adversary stood no chance!

Keep smiling yall!

Love, Elder Gerrard

You Reap What You Sow (Field Week 1)

Hey all!  

So its been quite some time since I emailed! Since I left the MTC last Tuesday I didn't get a chance to email on Thursday! But fear not its Monday surely enough and now I get to update you all on my first week in the Nampa Idaho Mission! 

My area I have been assigned to is in the Meridian East Stake and I cover the Cloverdale and U-Stick Wards! For the time being we are on foot which is kinda hard since our area is so big but I should get a bike soon! The blisters on my feet are a mere sacrifice I'll make to bring one person to the knowledge of the gospel that has given me such great hope and comfort! 

I came in at a very unique time because this past Sunday was stake conference, but they were actually calling a new stake presidency to lead this stake so Elder Lawrence of the Seventy and M Derk Chrystal of the Seventy both came and presided at the meeting and it was a wonderful experience to shake their hands and meet them. It showed me how special it is to have revelation in our lives as well as in the Church to call new leaders and receive answers to the questions we have in our lives! 

My trainer/ Companion is Elder Candland! He is quite a bit taller than me and is from North Carolina and is a really great missionary that wants to try his hardest and sprint through the finish of his mission. He has been out for about a year now so he actually got to go to the temple last Thursday. So on my first day in the mission we got an urgent call to go to the local hospital ICU and give a priesthood blessing to bless him with the things we felt impressed he stood in need for. I could really feel the love when we entered that room. You could feel this man's faith as he could barely mumble his own name for us to give him the blessing and you could see the tears in his eyes with gratitude for being able to come and give that to him. It was a great experience to witness and take part in assisting him. I also cleaned our apartment. Mom would be so proud.. lets just say the apartment was the grossest thing ever and I know that the Spirit can't dwell in unclean places so as soon as I could, I let my janitorial years go to town on that place and let me tell you it really does feel different in there! We still have to get the living room, bedroom, and bathroom today but the kitchen is glorious ahah 

On my second day here I went on exchanges since my companion left for the temple so that was fun to do on the second day which usually isn't that common to happen but we had a super great day and I got to know the stake boundaries as well as build some great relationships with the other two elders, Elder Mata and Elder Westover.

 I would just like to bare my testimony on Alma 31:34-35 and the simplicity that God does guide us in ways that we don't understand at first but when looking back you can see He was helping from the beginning. We were able to meet some incredible people that unlike the other people we would talk to that day are sincerely interested about hearing the gospel. Yesterday we were walking along the side of the road when I saw a man inside a gated storage unit packing some things in his car, and I felt like since service is a good thing I'll ask him if he would like help! From the gated fence I called out to him 50 ft away to see if he would like help.... no response... so I called out to him again for him to only look at us blow some cigarette smoke out and say no. Turning around I just muttered to myself well you reap what you sow in the mission field so if you don't ask you would never have gotten to do the service in the first place! As we continued to walk to our next appointment we stopped to talk to another man but he only spoke Chinese so thats too bad.. should have taken Chinese in high school! But it was after talking to him we were walking alongside the road when a PT Cruiser pulls up and this lady asks us if we wanted a ride.. Because we walk every where we were definitely all for a ride! It was then we realized that this was the man at the storage unit and that his wife was there we just didn't see her! But she knew we were missionaries, because who else would actually ask if they could help pack or unpack a storage unit haha but they gave us a ride and dropped us off; however, Elder Candland got the addresses mixed up so we weren't in the right place! But we walked around the apartment complex said hello to a few people outside when a lady named Terssa came out to throw something away and I talked to her and she actually used to be a member but circumstances in her life made it so she became inactive and she really didn't go to any church anymore. But after talking to her she was interested in temples and what they look like inside and what goes on in them. Because she was very interested and we told her that the Meridian temple was going to be finished next summer and she could walk through one then, but she was very interested in reading the Book of Mormon again! It was awesome and this was one of the three instances where we were lead by the Spirit to run into people perfectly! 

Anyways I would encourage everyone to let the Spirit guide you in everything you do.. But this means in our prayers ask questions but allow Heavenly Father to talk back to you through the Holy Ghost, and if you don't get discouraged it takes time.. the Lord's time. But we are promised that He will be there for us so don't lose your trust in Him! Have a great week!!

Elder Gerrard and Elder Candland

MTC Week 2

Here's Elder Gerrard's email for this week!

Hey Everyone!

Soo holy cow! The days fly by! But boy oh boy they are soo so good! 

For starters I'd like to share the funny experience of the day... so today we got the pleasant surprise getting notified that we had until 4:30 to evacuate all our things out of this building since the Sister missionaries had bats in their dorms so we were notified around 3:00. So it looked as though the world was ending in our residency just a couple of hours ago! If you want to watch something funny, just watch the havoc ensue when you tell a bunch of missionaries they have to move their stuff with out the assistance of their moms to help get their stuff back into the suit cases they came in!

I also broke a chair today by sitting in it to eat my ice cream after the stressful experience of moving all that stuff over to a new building... so for all those that didn't believe it when I said I would gain 20-30 lbs on the mission.. the chair says otherwise.

Other than those experiences the week has been just as unique and wonderful as you might expect being in training center full of 18,19, and 20 year old Elders and Sisters who have willingly accepted the call to serve the Lord to help other people in there respective missions! Highlights from this week would be the opportunity to go to the Provo Temple again and probably my last time going to a temple for who knows how long, but I can add my testimony that Temples are essential for our ability to one day live with our Father in Heaven again. The feelings of peace and love residing in those sacred buildings make them the best haven we have from worldly issues and contention. I would recommend all of us to take some time for ourselves and go to the temple for those that have a recommend to do so or to just visit the grounds if you don't currently have a recommend.. regardless temples are amazing and wonderful things we have on the earth today!

As far as investigators and learning how to become a better teacher for the Holy Ghost or Spirit to testify through me, I have learned how important it is to truly just listen to the person your talking to and not be to worried about how to respond to them while they are talking. Especially when we know that person is in a time of need where they are asking for your help and need to know what to do.. I know the Spirit can give us the very thing we should say to them if we just stop and listen after we hear their thoughts. Its amazing how this works when talking to investigators and scriptures just pop in your head that can really help them through the struggles they are experiencing right now. When things aren't going as we would hope them to be we just have to remember that sometimes we must press forward with faith acknowledging that the Savior hasn't abandoned us, and when we do this we will be able to look back at that tough time and see we were really blessed in those moments!

This Sunday we had a really amazing talk given by a Brother Watson who is one of the individuals responsible for the curriculum taught here in the MTC. And we were able to meet two of the sister missionaries as well as a real convert from the upcoming District 3 (which is basically 30-45 min videos following missionaries in their actual missions having lessons with non-members who have agreed to have the missionaries teach them and record it so missionaries like me can learn from them!) The purpose of Brother Watson from having us meet these two sisters and investigators to help us understand how important it is as Missionaries to spend ALL of our time thinking about our investigators so we can teach to the things they stand in need of rather than just tell them about the message we have to share. At the end of the day missionaries never are there to convince someone why they should be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, instead if we teach to their needs it allows the Spirit to work within that person to the point they start seeing for themselves that there is a different feeling, or light about those two other-wise complete goofball missionaries sitting across the room teaching them.. Its the spirit that does the work not me or any missionary and thats what we learn here at the MTC how to teach with power but by using very few of our own words!

We also heard from Elder Maynes who is in the quorum of the Presidency of the Seventy. He had us read a really cool talk about Joseph Smith and the First Vision before he spoke on Sunday. The talk is called "The Truth Restored". Highly recommend those to read if they have time but he ultimately talked to us about why its important to teach from the Book of Mormon... It has Power. It is another Testament of Jesus Christ so we need to create a strong desire for ourselves as well as everyone we come in contact with to one day help them realize how amazing the Book of Mormon is in relating to our lives and then he talked about the importance of how even bringing one person back into the church the effect that can have in their family to come and he said that from just one person he baptized on his mission 400 people have joined the church. How amazing is that! 

I wish I had more time but thats all I got for this week Love you all!