October 9, 2013 General Conference--messages heard and applied

Hey family and friends,

     What a wonderful conference we had.  Conference is so meaningful when you are on your mission.  I think it’s because you are on the front line in the war against Satan.  I feel like there was so much that the Lord was trying to tell me that I didn't have enough time to write it all down before the speaker would move onto the next topic.  Unfortunately I missed most of the last session of conference because we were helping one of the members with car trouble.  It’s funny how obstacles will jump in your way right before you are about to do something that you know the Lord wants you to.  I felt that this poor member needed our attention at this time though.

     In terms of what we did the rest of the week, I need to give a little background.  Most of this week I was not even with Elder Graff, my companion.  This is because Elder Graff is our District Leader which means it is his job to interview people for baptism.  Well we had two people that needed to be interviewed for baptism this week and they were very far away.  So to save on miles we decided that it was best to go on a bunch of miniature exchanges and trade missionaries for a while so that Elder Graff could interview everyone.  Aside from General Conference, Elder Graff was here for only a day this week.  This meant that I was in charge of the area for a week.  Don't worry the area is still in one piece. 

      Speaking of which the first thing we did was went to do some service at a members house.  So these members are trying to clean their house and make it safe so that DCF will allow them to have custody of their grandchild.  They took the advice from last General Conference and "asked the missionaries" for help.  It was mostly cleanup of their back yard and moving everything into either the burn pile or the dump pile.  After we got enough wood together we started burning everything.  It was a good time and we got a lot of work done, which resulted in a clean yard and a 20 foot fire.  The members said the fire lasted for three days, which was perfect because on the fourth day we came back and made another one.

     Aside from burning down the East Coast we got the opportunity to teach V... a lot this week.  It is a lot easier now that we have our car because we do not have to make the hour and a half trek to his house to teach him.  We decided that it was important to let V... know that although he is not quite ready that we are trying to help prepare him for the commitment of baptism.  It was a very strong lesson that the Spirit helped with.  After the lesson, Elder Fabrizio, the elder that was with me at the time, told me that I said some things in there that seemed to be perfect.  It was funny that he said that because I felt the same way about the things that he promised and taught V....  

     We also were able to meet with the Asian couple this week.  In our lesson with them we felt something strange, the way I can describe it is as a connection between us and them.  They think of us as their teachers and yet they are comfortable enough to tell us about very personal struggles and questions in their lives.  I think the strangest part of it all is that we have the answers to all their deep questions.  We probably do not explain our thoughts nearly as well as we should be able to but they still understand everything that we are trying to convey to them.  They see us as messengers of truth and it gives me a zeal that makes me want to help them with all that I am.

     The last story I have to talk about from this week is probably the most spiritual of them all.  I have come to learn how nothing in the Lord’s eyes is coincidence.  While we were going about looking for members that have not come to church for a while we stopped at a house.  Elder Graff said "Oh this house, trust me we do not want to go there."  Now I would like to sound like I was being led by the Spirit here but in all actuality I was thinking in my head, "I bet I have seen worse than this house."  So I convinced him that we should go inside. 

     And to our astonishment it was actually cleanish.  Well we talked with them for a while and she told us that her mother was in the hospital and that she was actually going to try to get a hold of us soon so that we could go give her a blessing.  We said after we left we would go there and she told us that it was a huge blessing that we were there and that she had had a hard day and did not know what to do or if the Lord loved her.  Then she said that every time she thinks that, the missionaries show up at her door. 

     After we left her house we headed to the hospital and met her mother.  She had been waiting for us to come by and told us that she had thought about joining the church before but knew that she had to repent first.  We asked her if she would like a Book of Mormon to read while she was in the hospital and she accepted it gladly.  She then told us about her testimony of the truths in the Book of Mormon and how it has helped her in her life.

     Well I don't think I have anything else to talk about, and I am running out of typing time so until next week.

Elder Erb

Sept. 30, 2013: We got our keys back!

Hello there,

"While we were biking…"  Just kidding, as a matter of fact most of the time we walked this week.  We just got the keys back to our car today right before I typed this.  A week without the car has been a very fun and exciting experience.  We saw it as an opportunity that the Lord had given us to exercise our legs a little and also to do some of the good old door knocking work. Tracting actually went fairly well.  One of the people we went to talk to came out of their house saying we are not interested and you can go away.  But it just so happened that we had actually come to this house because we saw that they were selling natural honey at a very low price.  

It was amazing to see her attitude change so quickly once we told her.  She immediately apologized and showed us her honey and the sizes that they sold.  We told her we would come back a different day to buy some because we didn't have cash on us. She invited us to come back sometime to help them around the yard and maybe talk to them.  

It just so happens that they thought we were the Jehovah’s Witnesses, but once they found out we were Mormons they remembered some friends that they had in the past that were Mormon.  It is always amazing to me how many people mistake us for the Jehovah's Witnesses.  I kind of feel bad for the Jehovah's Witnesses too, because every time someone finds out that we are not them they are a ton nicer and friendlier to us.

Because we did not have our car, we were not able to visit the couple from China this week like we planned.  On the other hand we got to spend a lot of time with V....  V... is our investigator that is married to a member and whose daughter was just baptized last week.  Fortunately for us V... only lives about an hour walk from our house so we went to visit him about every day.  Normally that might be too much but he actually needs the company right now.  V... had to have surgery on his shoulder this week because he tore his tendon.  In our visits with him, we have been able to talk with him alone a lot about what he needs to do to become closer with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

Unfortunately there is not much more to talk about.  Most of the time we spent this week was used getting to where we were trying to go.  I have been able to better relate to the revelation that says "But verily I say unto you, that it is not needful for this whole company of mine elders to be moving swiftly upon the waters, whilst the inhabitants on either side are perishing in unbelief." D&C 61:3.  

I have better realized my calling in understanding how it is important to talk to every person that I can come in contact with in these short two years.  Not one soul of a child of God is more important than another.  They are all great in his eyes and it is my responsibility as his Elder and servant to serve and teach them.  That is just something I have learned lately and it is applicable to you as well.  Build up the kingdom in your communities, and life where you stand.

Elder Erb

[emphasis added]

Sept. 23, 2013, Monday

Sept. 23, 2013

Dear people,

     This week went by so fast.  I find that the busier you are the faster the mission goes, which is sad because it is when you are busy that you are having the most fun.  To start off, I want to pick up where I left off last week about the media referrals.  So for those who don't know what a media referral is and did not read last week's email, it is a referral sent to us by Salt Lake.  

As we were going about contacting all of our media referrals, one of them found us.  One of our members brought their neighbors to church and they just happened to be people that requested us to come by their house and give them a Book of Mormon.  They are a young couple from China and they happened to be in Utah and took the tour of the temple.  There they met a nice young missionary that was also from China.  They got to talking and were interested in knowing more about what we believe as a church.  

Now to explain this couple, simply they are golden.  They do not want religion pushed on them, but are just searching for truth.  We shared with them the restoration and asked them if they would pray to know if it was true.  At the end of the lesson they explained to us how they were worried that we would try to force them to join our church.  

They told us that for some reason they felt comfortable talking with us about their questions and that the commitment we left with them did not scare them off because they felt comfortable around us.  For me, it helped me realize how important it is to have the spirit in the lessons.  I believe that the spirit opened up their hearts so that they would feel comfortable asking questions around us.

Speaking of the spirit, we had a cool once in a life time opportunity just the other day.  So we had a baptism on Sunday of a young girl we taught.  Normally in a convert baptism they are not confirmed until the following Sunday.  But because her family can only make it to church every other week we had to ask permission to get her confirmed right after the baptism.  

After the baptism, we asked her father, ..., what he thought.  He said that he felt very happy about what had happened.  So ... is not a member, yet.  I feel comfortable saying 'yet' because he wants to be a member.  When he came to church the first time and the Elders Quorum President asked him if he was investigating he quickly answered, "No I am not investigating the church.  I have full intent to one day be a member."  Although he wants to be a member, we will have to work with him a little to get him ready to make the commitment of baptism with the Lord.

Speaking of the baptism, we invited one of the Elders who was here previously to participate in the baptism.  Unfortunately while he was here, he took our car keys to get something out of our car and then took them back to his area with him.  So we will probably be without a car for most of this next week which should make things interesting.  So don't be surprised when next week's email starts off with, "While we were biking."

Elder Erb

Boston, Massachusetts Mission Area Map

Elder Erb's mission area for the 

Boston, Massachusetts Mission.

Sep 17th, Tues. Ashford, Connecticut

Ashford, Connecticut

Hi there,

   I am trying not to make it a habit of emailing every other week but that seems to be how it is happening.  Last Monday I got really sick and so I did not feel up to sending out an email.  Most of the things I will be talking about are from last week because this week we all played the sick game as I passed around my cold to everyone in our district.  So back in it time when I wasn't sick, I got to meet an investigator of the church named J...  J.. is from the Philippines and has a super strong testimony that the gospel is true.  He has a slight problem with drinking coffee, but he knows that he has to give it up because it is what the Lord wants him to do.  While we were teaching him, he told us of the scripture that his testimony was built upon.  He said that the Elders assigned him to read Helaman 3.  Now for those of you who have not read Helaman 3 in a while I will let you know it is one of those chapters that is very long, drawn out, and boring.  He said that it was boring him to the point that the spirit testified to him this, "Who would make this boring stuff up?"  And he said that in that very moment he knew that Joseph Smith did not make up the Book of Mormon, but that it was truly written by inspiration from God.  Unfortunately I will not have any more stories about J... unless we go to see him get baptized.  I say this because it just so happens that J... is moving to the Manchester Ward.  Luckily, since that was the last ward I served in, I told him some of the people that he should go introduce himself to so that he does not feel out of place in his new ward.

     Although we lost J... to the Manchester Ward, it just so happens that we actually got someone from that ward as well.  One of the less-active members that we were working on bringing back moved out of the ward while I was there before we could help them.  Well I guess the Lord had something that he wanted me to tell them because soon after they moved I got transferred into their ward here in Ashford.  Their name is the K.. family and we re-found them and started working with them.  It just so happens that the Lord already started working on their hearts before we got to them because they told us about how they have goals of going to the temple together.  We asked them if they were reading their scriptures and they told us that they are currently racing to see who in the family can finish the Book of Mormon first.  They asked us if we could help them with family home evening because they did not think they were doing it right.  I was happy to let them know that I just so happen to know how to do family home evening after helping the G.. family figure it out.  Hopefully it will be a lot easier now that we will be doing it in English instead of Spanish.

     The last cool thing I wanted to talk about is we got a break from walking and riding our bikes all over the place.  This is because we got 7 media referrals.  This is a miracle on its own because 7 media referrals are more than I have gotten in my whole mission.  Media referrals are so special because the miles you use to find them do not count as part of your miles.  So we have been using them to get out into some of the farther ends of our mission and then spend the day out there.

     Well I happen to be running out of time again.  But I will have a lot of people to talk about next time that we are working with.

Elder Erb

Sep 9, 2013, Tues

Dear friends,

Elder Erb has a cold now so we don't have a post for him this week. Please pray for him to get well soon. Thank you all for your support and love.

Aloha, Mike and Shelly.

Sep 3, 2013 (transferring to Ashford Connecticut)

Sept. 3, 2013

Hey guys,

     So I did not send out a message last week so I will explain some of the stuff that happened then too.  I want to start off with the dinner we had with the S’ family.  So the S’s are members that we had been trying to find for a long time to no avail.  Well we finally succeeded and they were very happy to see us and invited us to come back for dinner.  As we left they gave us a bunch of cherry tomatoes and some cayenne peppers.  We kind of put the peppers out of our mind until a couple of hours right before we were about to go visit that family.  We decided that we had to at least try them before we went to their house for dinner so we can tell them how they were.  

     They were hot, really hot.  I was fine after a little while but Elder Griffin got a stomach ache almost immediately after eating it.  Well after he got better we went to the dinner which was really good and then we were told to do something we had never heard of before.  After we had finished eating they told us it was time for us to sing for our food.  

     Elder Griffin and I looked at each other very confused and asked them what they meant.  Brother Shienberg told us that some of the sister missionaries in the past told him that we are supposed to sing for our food.  After much persuasion we sung the song "God Be With You Till We Meet Again." We decided to sing this to them because just a couple of nights earlier I found out that I would be leaving Manchester soon to serve in another area.

     Well I am now no longer in the great area of Manchester anymore.  Now I am in the Ashford area, which just so happens to be the area right next to Manchester.  So I may have mentioned how much of a foresty area my last area was, the difference here in Ashford is now it feels like we are travelling in Jumanji.  My new address is now 149 Ashford Center Rd. Apt. C6 Ashford, Connecticut 06278 and if you were to Google this address you might just find a bunch of trees in the middle of nowhere.

     Although I have been here for 3 1/2 days there have been some crazy cool experiences that have happened.  So both of these stories happened because we have been walking.  And although I am not in a walking area we have no miles because we have to use our miles just to get to meetings because we are so far away from everyone else.  So my new companion, Elder Graff, and I were walking to a less-active members home when all of a sudden a car pulls off the road in front of us and the man inside asks us "Hey are you the Mormon missionaries?"  We said yes and he told us that he heard that we do service and he wanted us to come by some time to help him with some stuff.  We said we would love to, but then he stopped us and said the real reason he wants us over is because he wants to go over some of Smith's writings with us.  He told us about how a friend of his gave him a Book of Mormon and he started reading it and was interested and confused about some things.

    Now at this point we were just trying to keep our cool so we didn't scare him off, after he left Elder Graff and I had to make sure that it all really happened.  So we made it to the member’s house, but unfortunately they were not there.  So we then started to walk to the next less-active’s house.  On the way there we found a gas station, and by this point Elder Graff was pretty thirsty from walking all day.  So we went in to buy some drinks.  

     While we were figuring out what we wanted a man walked in and said "Well what do you know it is the Mormon missionaries."  We started talking to him and it turns out that he had met with the missionaries a long time ago and for one reason or another stopped.  We asked him if we could come by some time and talk with him about religion and he said that would be fine if he could feed us and buy our drinks for us.  We ended up taking him up on his offer and told him that we would call him on the day he told us to.

     From this experience I learned how much preparation the Lord puts into each person so that they can be ready to find the gospel.  Many people might think that we were in the right place and at the right time and they are right but what I do know is it was not because of luck that we were there.  We met these people because we were doing what the Lord wanted us to at that moment in time.  Which was walking on the street in the sun, because we have no miles on our car.  I hope that as I spend more time in this area that I will be able to tell you about how these two appointments go.  Until then.

Elder Erb