Hello Everyone!
Well I obviously have emailed earlier than you were expecting. At
least that's what I thought. I waited all week to receive news on my Visa. I
have not even got an email from the church. I'm still in Pontiac and I am hoping
to see if I will get transferred to Denmark on this next week. When the Illinois
West Chicago mission transfers would be held next weekend. I'm trying to stay
positive. Still crossing my fingers. I told myself yesterday that it doesn't matter if I serve in Denmark or in
Pontiac. I will go where the Lord wants me to go. We are all children of our
Heavenly Father. They are the same here and in Denmark. Just a little language
problem haha.
Ok this past week. We had a new missionary training meeting. It was
like a huge Zone Conference. I tried to spend as much time with all my Danish
MTC Elders. We all realized that communicating in Danish to each other has
gotten harder. It was really a huge relief to talk with them. Got some
of that stress of my shoulders. I could actually talk with someone in actually
Danish and they understand me as I do them. I love those Elders. After the
meeting we stayed in Normal over night. Because our car was getting repaired for
a dent. Apparently some one did a hit and run before I got on the mission. We
were told that our car wouldn't be done until last Friday. And that was done on Tuesday. We took it in on
last Monday. We had to walk 3 1/2
miles back home from the repair shop. Thought we would be out of a car for the
rest of the week. We got a call during the Training Meeting telling us that our
car was finished. By the time we got back to Pontiac the Car shop was closed. So
we stayed the night in Normal.
Still trying to work on Anthony O. and his Fiancé Tasha. Anthony is
ready to get baptized. But he needs to get married first and that requires
Tasha moving here wedding date sooner. We're working with her and trying to help
her get a testimony. Friday night
we were walking back home and there was a drunk guy that saw us and started
yelling at us. We just kept walking away from him. He just kept mumbling and
yelling at us. Kind of scary. Luckily he was like 50 yards away. We just
practically got ourselves home at that point. haha. It's getting darker at night
and it's getting harder to go tracting even at 7:30.
Saturday we did a service project of cleaning up the River. We felt
we wasted part of our day, because we couldn't go into the river and there is so
much trash you can pick up on the side of the River. Anthony came to the service
project and he went in a canoe. First time he has ever been in a boat that you
actually had to put physical effort into moving the boat by paddle. He loved it
and he was able to meet some more people that weren't part of Pontiac and were
members. We taught Jennie that night also on the Word of Wisdom and she didn't
even have a problem with it. She told us as soon as she runs out of
smokes she is done. She is so solid. She is doing everything in her power to be
baptized. She truly knows that this work is the right place to be. She just
needs to come to church a couple of more times and she could be baptized. She's
trying to get another job that doesn't require going on Sundays. Bonus! Her
official date is November 2nd for
her baptism.
Oh before I forget. Last
Wednesday we had a media referral. Went and visited Lizz N. She talked
with her Pastor the previous night about different religions and she was curious
about the Mormons. She went onto Mormon.org and filled out a survey and wanted
missionaries to visit her. We went over on Wednesday when we received the
referral. She is 17 years old and she got suspended from High school because her
'supposed friends" didn't like here and put a plastic knife in her bag. And they
reported on her. She got accepted into college. We gave her the Restoration
Lesson she recognized the spirit and wanted more of that feeling. Right there
for my first time the date of October
19 popped in my mind. I extended the baptismal question she said she
would. I told her we would be holding a baptismal service on October 19. I asked if she would
prepare herself for that day. She agreed. Just made this connection. There's a
birthday present for you Mom. Love you :). Such an awesome feeling to commit
someone to baptism. After the lesson we found out she was still a minor. Her mom
wasn't present for the lesson so we won't teach her again until she gets
permission. Her mom doesn't like her looking at different churches. We told her
to ask her if it would be okay. She could even sit down on the lessons if she
wanted to with us. 2 baptisms in one day wouldn't be bad either. We are
continuing hoping and praying for her and her mom because they don't have the
best relationship. But Lizz is pretty solid if we can keep teaching her.
Yesterday, Sunday, we talked with a man named Ron.
He ran into us a week ago and wanted to talk about God with us. At first he
thought we were Jehovah Witnesses. We corrected him and he still wanted us to
come over. We talked with him and he said that he just had to share with us this
dream because it was really bothering him. He dreamed a couple of days ago that
he was on a path that was straight. and on both sides of the path there were
beautiful flowers and bushes. Just beautiful he told us. He said he did notice
that there were little devils jumping in and through the bushes. He knew that if
he walked off that path that he would be harmed. He said that he stayed on that
path and woke up. He thought it was one of those dreams that was really when you
woke up. He was confused and wanted to talk to someone with it. Guess who the
first people he talked to about it? coincidence I think Not! We left him a Book
of Mormon and gave him the story of Lehi's Dream. Told him he could report to us
Tuesday of what he thought about
it. and if it resolved his concerns. He accepted and said he'd do it. He's a
funny character. Kept telling us that if we stood him up he would hunt us down
and that he would not be happy. I promised that we would and he laughed. Funny
guy haha.
Well that's my report I thank you all again for your love
and support. I thank those who have written me letters. I'm going to get back
with you shortly on those. Hopefully soon. We have a long day today. Love you all!
-Elder Jantzen Richard Read
Goddag Familie,
I apologize no photos or recordings these past 2 weeks. I keep forgetting
to do a recording at night. No photos this week. I'm sending a package with the
memory card of all my photos home.
Side note I forgot to mention. We went and taught Jennie K. about
the Plan of Salvation. Everything went great when her son said that there was a
police man outside. She glanced and said that some ones car is getting looked
at. We continued the lesson and we got a phone call from the mission home and
from the Zone Leaders. We missed the calls on purpose to finish the lesson.
Turned out that it was our car. Went out and talked to the officer. Our car was
parked legally on the side of the road. We asked what was the problem. the
police woman said that someone called our car in and said that it looked
abandoned. She was checking out the car. One of the neighbors thought our car
was suspicious. And called the cops. We straightened things out and didn't
receive a ticket. Had to contact the mission home and they were panicking
thinking we got abducted. They were literally freaking out. But everything
turned out okay in the end haha. Had to call the Zone Leaders and they got a
huge laugh out of it.
Yep that's my update. Love you all and miss you! Have a good
one!
Elder Jantzen Richard Read
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