Week #34 - By small and simple things...

Hello Everybody!!

What a busy week!! There were so many things that happened this past week. There is a lot of new people that we found that are so excited about learning the gospel. We are super excited about the things that are starting to happen in Apopka.

To start off, we got to see a guy that a member from a different ward referred us to and we finally got in touch with him. We went over the restoration but only a small part cause he didn't have a lot of time to talk at the moment. He is one that is open to learning. Later that day we had a member, Brother Flores, come with us. He is so awesome cause he comes out with us all the time. Sadly the person we were going to see couldn't meet with us, but went to stop by a couple potential gators. We got to met one potential gator and had a awesome restoration lesson; the spirit was super strong.  The other person we couldn't see so we knocked on the door across from him and taught the guy there. He doesn't go to church right now, but said he wouldn't mind going to ours. We are hoping to be able to see him this week.

ZONE CONFERENCE!!! This was such and uplifting and sad zone conference. We will start with the happy part first. There were so many great things that were brought up in the zone conference. The one thing that stood out to me the most was said by President Berry. Before all the training's were given he showed us a video of a very high commander in the military giving a speech. He talked about making a bed. That every morning they make there bed to pristine condition. Corners tucked in tightly with the blanket folded and put and the end of the bed. We then said that when you then have had a rough day you come in at night with a bed made nicely. It's all about the little things that make the difference. For example, saying our prayers morning and night. If we miss a couple here and a couple there shouldn't be a big difference, but is it taking steps closer to God? I love the scripture that President Berry shared and its in the Book of Mormon in Alma 37:6-7.

It says......"6 Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise. 7 And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls."

By the small and simple things that we do in our lives will bring us closer to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. They want us to return to them but we need to make the decision now to do all we can to get there. The sad part of Zone Conference was that this was the last Conference for President Berry cause he leaves at the end of June. 😢

The rest of the week was pretty dang amazing. We then got to see a new gator we picked up last week. He is sorta familiar with the church a little. It was awesome cause we had one of the youth from the ward, Perrin; he has been coming with us regularly which is awesome. Gave a wonderful testimony of how he has been able to gain a witness of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. Then we saw gal that Elder Jensen and I found last week. We taught the restoration and by the time we got to the first vision where Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ you could she how touched she was by the message. As Elder Meyers and I began to testify of the message we shared we could feel the strong presence of the Holy Ghost. It was definitely there and we could feel it. She told us that everything we shared is something that she has been looking for and that it also made her day hearing it. Wahoo!!

I would like you all to know that I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I have been able to gain a witness for myself by the power of the Holy Ghost. Not only by asking God but continually seeking for more understanding. As a representative of Jesus Christ, I can promise all of you that if you read the Book of Mormon and pray to ask God if it true and come to church he will give you an answer. You will only be able to get that answer if you do these things. Why would God not want us to know these things? He does want us to know, but we have to seek him out in order for him to help us to know.

I love you all and have a great week!!!

Elder Pearson
Florida Orlando Mission

Elder Meyers and I 

I got to see Elder Lawson and Elder Richards at Zone Conference. 

Week #33 - The heat is upon us!!

Hello Everybody!!

Hope you all had a wonderful week.  The heat is upon us!! It is now summer time in Florida and I'm not a big fan of it so far. Throughout the week I have been caring a rag with me everywhere to wipe my face cause it's covered in sweat. Even today as I was wiping my face with it at church members would ask me if this is my first summer in Florida. I would tell them yes and then they would have this worried look on there face and then tell me that they feel sorry for me cause it's only going to get hotter.

Anyway, this week was a pretty good and we are seeing some progression is some investigators. One in particular has been taught by the missionaries in the past and hasn't been able to progress towards baptism. Well she is now!! We have a baptismal date set for June 18!!! She is super excited and is really putting everything into learning the gospel. We are so excited for her.

On Saturday, I had the wonderful time to be on exchanges with Elder Jensen. He's such an awesome missionary and we had a blast of a time finding people to teach even though it was really hot. We biked half of the day and then headed to the bottom part of the area and saw a handful of less active members in the ward. We were able to find a lot of really cool people that we will be able to start teaching.

The thought I would like to share with all of you is a scripture in the Book of Mormon. It is in the book of Enos. To give a little back ground, Enos was a prophet and his father, Jacob, is about to pass away. Jacob gave the record to Enos; this record they kept way back then to write about there lineage and also the challenges they went through in their life. Enos didn't write a lot but he did have some powerful words. I love what Enos first talks about.  He talks about how the words that his father spoke "sunk deep" into his heart. He wanted to know if what his father spoke was true. I love what it says in verse 4. It says.....

"And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for my own soul; and all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens".

In this verse, it really shows the desire that Enos had to know if what his father said was true. He wanted to know so badly that he did pray all day even when the night came he still prayed. As I have read this it has made me want to have more of a desire to learn and to know of the truths that come from the Book of Mormon and the bible and from our prophets. I can promise all of you as you gain more of the desire to know if these things are true God will answer your prayer just like he has answered mine. He loves all of us and wants to help us all we need to do is ask.

I love you all hope you have a fantastic week.

Elder Pearson
Florida Orlando Mission

Week #32 - Ups and downs

Hello Everybody!!

Hope y'all had a wonderful week that was filled with the spirit. Throughout this week there was a lot of happy times and sad times but that's missionary work. The one thing that I have learned this past week is patience. I figured being the oldest of 6 would have allowed me to have a good understanding of patience but even then I still need to work on it. Not saying that my companion Elder Meyers is the cause for me to have more patience but it is the work here in Apopka.

I have mentioned last week that we dropped a lot of our investigators and we're going to do a lot of finding this week especially on Tuesday and Wednesday. They will be our two big finding days. Sadly we didn't find to many people that were interested in learning more or even talk with us. Thursday was a little bit better but still was hard. Once we got to the apartment Thursday night I immediately when to our room got on my knees and prayed. With not having much success the past 3 days as well as being the only one who knows where everyone is and who to see was a little overwhelming. Once I was done I had a feeling that I just needed to go to bed. Once we did our planning for the next day I went to bed. The next morning I felt totally different. I didn't have any stress or worries and knew that today was going to be a great day. It was a great day! Saturday was a great day as well. My prayer was answered. The Lord was able to help me and give me the comfort that I needed.

While I have been pondering on this I have realized that I needed to have more patience. Missionary work goes up and down and never in a straight line. By understanding this has helped me to know that this isn't my work but the Lords work and he knows when it's the right time for those to hear the work and then make the choice whether to accept it or not. This work is amazing and it can be a great blessing to anyone's life and help them get through anything that they are struggling with. I know this work is true and that this gospel changes lives and helps us become who God wants us to be if we choose to follow.

To keep y'all updated on the people we are meeting with regularly; there are two people. Both of them are really awesome people and really are just soaking up the gospel. Both are really understanding and asking questions. Really searching for themselves if it's true. They both haven't come to church yet. Hopefully that will change this week.  We do have a date set for one of them to be baptized on June 18th. We don't have a date set for the other person yet but hopefully will this week!!

Hope you all have a wonderful week and I love you all so much and thank you all of you for all that you do for me.

Elder Pearson
Florida Orlando Mission

Week #31 - Happy Mother's Day

Hello Everybody!!

What a crazy week!! This past week has been crazy with dropping almost all of our investigators, having transfer calls, and then getting to Skype for Mother's Day.

First, happy Mother's Day to all the mothers. I would love to take this time to share my gratitude for my mother. She is the best mother ever and has taught me so much. She is the most amazing mother ever. She has been a great example for me and has always been there for me when I have struggled. The most favorite thing about my mom is her faith in Jesus Christ. There has been a handful of tough trials we have gone through as a family and even though things were tough she still put her trust in the Lord knowing he would help and things would be all right. Thank you mom for all you have done for me. I love you!!

For this past week we have been finding a lot. I'm not saying we don't do some sort of finding but we did more than we normally do. At times it was great and other times not so great. The reason we have been doing a lot of finding is cause we have had to drop a lot of our investigators like I have mentioned. The people we have been working with recently just having acting upon the things we have invited them to do. As missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saint we invite others to come unto Christ through faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, being baptized, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end. It's interesting that the first thing we invite others to do is have a faith in Jesus Christ. We know that faith is hoping for things to happen and also believing without seeing but faith is also an action word.  Having faith is great but if your not willing to act upon that faith you can't come closer to Christ or your Heavenly Father. You have to constantly have to be acting upon your faith in order to make it stronger. These investigators weren't willing to act so we needed to move on cause there are more people that the Lord knows are ready to act we just haven't found them yet.

Also we got transfer news!!! Drum roll!! I am staying in Apopka! Elder Isaacson is leaving Apopka😢. He will be heading to Clermont area which is still in our Zone so I will still get to see him. My new companion is Elder Myers!  I'll send pics next week so you all know.

Hope you all have a wonderful week. I love you all!!

Elder Pearson
Florida Orlando Mission

Elder Issacson took me an awesome Taco Truck for lunch. 

It was so yummy!

Elder Issacson and I at a ward Fiesta. It was a lot of fun as you can see.

Week #30 - Exchange miracles

Hello Everybody!!

First off I can't believe that this transfer is almost over. To explain what a transfer is; a transfer is 6 weeks long and you are assigned to a companion in that specific area. After those 6 weeks are over you will find out if you will go to a new area or stay in the area your in. My personal opinion, I would love to stay in Apopka with Elder Isaacson. I have been having such an amazing time with Elder Isaacson. He's such a great missionary and a hard worker. You can just tell when he teaches that he really loves the people.

The past week has been a little difficult for us. Not because we aren't teaching anyone but its because the people we are teaching aren't progressing. Which means coming to church, reading the scriptures, and doing other things that we ask them to do. By them following these commitments it helps them gain a closer relationship with there Savior, Jesus Christ, and their Heavenly Father. The couple people we have been teaching have been learning but haven't been keeping some of the commitments that we have given them. It's hard cause if there not keeping there commitments then we aren't using our time wisely. Elder Isaacson has been having a harder time with it cause he's been working with the investigator family for 3 months and he has see a lot of progression with them and it's sad that we will have to drop them this week if they don't start committing.

As we were talking about this, I remember something that I had learned about 2 months ago and it was about agency. There is a reason God gave us agency. If we didn't have agency then we wouldn't be able to know right from wrong or good from bad.  Agency allows us to make choices, whether they are good or bad choices. The choices we make will determine our destiny. In this past General Conference, President Monson gave a great talk about choices. He talks about a part in the classic novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland where Alice comes to a split in the road and she asks the Cheshire Cat, "Which path should I take?" The Cheshire Cat replies, "That depends where you want to go. If you do not know where you want to go, it doesn’t matter which path you take". As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints we know where we are going and which path to take. As a missionary, I want these people so badly to receive the same blessing that I have been able to receive and know which path to take but I can only take them so far then they need to choose for themselves. I know as I continue to have faith and put my trust in God he will help these people and help Elder Isaacson and I to know what we need to do for these people.

Even though we are struggling with some investigators we are seeing miracles. Crazy experience that happened on Tuesday but first backstory. A couple weeks ago we were walking and saw this one guy just sitting in his truck, so we went over and started talking to him. We had to head to another appointment so we didn't talk to him for long but gave him a card with our number on it. Now fast forward to this last Tuesday. I'm on exchanges with Elder Christensen in Apopka. While we were seeing some former investigators there was one that we put down to see but didn't have any information besides a address. We went to it anyway and saw a lady sitting outside and started talking to her. Then while we were talking her husband walks around and sits down next to her so we introduce ourselves. When he came over he looked familiar to us but couldn't put my finger on where I remembered him from. He then told us that we had talked to him a couple weeks ago!!  It was the same guy that was sitting in his truck that we talked to. That is definitely evidence that the Lords hand is in this great work.

I love you all so much and enjoy the emails I get from you. You all are in my prayers and hope that you all have a wonderful week. Always remember you ARE A SON/DAUGHTER OF GOD. You have purpose in this life, ask him for help and understanding of it.

Elder Pearson
Florida Orlando Mission

Thought you guys might like this video. 
This is while I was on exchanges with Elder Christensen.