Saturday, August 24, 2013

Aug. 5, 2013



Aug. 5, 2013

Hi guys,

     So I have some good news about that car we were working on.  As of this week it is officially completely repaired.  It’s good news because now I don't need to email about it anymore.  This week was a fun week, and I say that because it was full of something that missionaries love, surprise service.  The reason surprise service is so fun is because you don't have to do anything to prepare for it at all, it actually finds you.  We started off the week with Brother B...'s car again and everything went exactly according to plan, which we didn't plan for.  With our extra time we went and checked on what Ma was doing.  For those that don't remember who Ma is, it is ok, it has been a while, she is the lady who's garden we helped weed.  Well she also needed our help last minute to prepare her house to be available to rent out on the 8th.  So we helped her move all of the heavy stuff out of the house or to the first floor.
     With some of the other surprise service opportunities we had I was better able to understand the difference between doing what you think the Lord wants you to do, and what the Lord actually wants you to do.  An example of this was when we were about to go to an appointment to teach a less active member.  Right before we left we got a text from him telling us that he would not be able to meet with us today and that we would have to reschedule.  Before we could even think about being bummed out, we got a call from a member asking us if we can help a friend of his move into the ward.  At the move we got to meet a nonmember that was helping us that was from Egypt named Z....  Although we only talked to him for a little while when we were moving furniture, the conversation of religion extended into the lunch conversation which led to the discussion of some key principles of our beliefs as Mormons.
     Another amazing opportunity we had to serve was at a blood drive held at our church.  The blood drive itself was being put together by a less active member named N....  Whoever thought of this idea was a truly inspired individual.  N... is about 23 and hasn't been to church in a long time, but after receiving this assignment she attended church every week for about 2 months straight trying to get volunteers and people to donate.  We were asked to come and help people make sure they got to the rest area safely after they had donated.  The blood drive was a huge success, not only was there a huge turn out from the ward, but more amazingly there was a huge turn out from people living nearby and nonmember friends and relatives of the members.  This was perfect because it gave us the chance to talk to a lot of nonmembers in a comfortable and casual environment.  But I have to say that probably the best part of the drive was the challenge that I made with N....  So N... wanted one of us to give blood.  My companion Elder G... could not give blood because of his medications.  Elder C... another elder was there but could not because he is from Brazil.  And so it came down to me.  I had never donated blood before so I decided to get something out of it.  We agreed that if I gave blood that N... would have to come to church for the next 4 weeks.  And if I tried to give blood but did not qualify that she would only have to come the next 2 weeks.  Unfortunately I didn't qualify because I have gone to Greece in the past year but hopefully I will have the chance to redeem myself in the next blood drive in November if I am still here.
     Alright I know this email is getting long, but before I go I wanted to at least talk about the second picture.  So this picture is of my meal that I had at the Saldivar family's house.  The Saldivar family is from the Philippines and so this is what we had for dinner.  It was a lot of fun hanging out with them and the nonmember friend that they invited over.  Unfortunately that friend went back to the Philippines for vacation but he told us that when he comes back that he would like to meet with us.  Well that's all I am going to try to fit into this email.

Elder Erb

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