Tons of stuff has happened since I wrote
last and we have had the craziest 2 weeks ever. I’ll start with last week cause
I didn’t get a chance to write an email. We started off the week with the last
3 zone conferences. The last one was in Columbia and we stayed up there to do
our zone leader exchange. It was cool to get to be in Columbia when school was
back in because Mizzou was packed. During the summer it’s just not quite the
same. Me and Elder Wunderli went tracting out apartments and it was great. Then
we finished up the week heading back to St Louis to go on exchanges in North
zone. We played soccer with some non-members and less actives on a turf field
in 100 degree weather. It was super fun and super not worth it. Especially
cause lunch was McDonalds. We felt awful after but it was a blast.
The reason we didn’t have a
pday last week is because Elder Godoy came to our mission. He was here for 2 days
and did two mission conferences. One on the Missouri side and one on the
Illinois side. Last time we had a general authority visit he stayed for almost
a week so trying to fit about a week’s worth of stuff into 2 days was an
adventure. We didn’t get much sleep but it was worth it to get to hear his
trainings. One thing he talked about a couple times was attributes vs
techniques. Both are good but some people focus more on Christ like attributes
and some people focus more on preach my gospel techniques. It’s ok to lean
towards one side but we have to stay balanced. That was a really good training
for me to hear so I can help myself and hopefully others too.
After the mission conferences
we had 4 zone leader exchanges. We started in Fairview Heights and it was cool
to go back there. We went to Cahokia and I miss that place so much. Everything
there is pretty much trashed and the people are crazy but they are so nice and
it’s so much fun getting to talk to all of them.
After
that we spent the day in the St Louis zone. That is one of the zones that isn’t
tracting anymore, they’re just working with members. I went with a brand new
missionary Elder Prescott for about 30 minutes and we just drove up to a
members house who was outside asked him if he would come with us to one of his
neighbors houses and he took us over there, introduced us, and we set up an
appointment. It was super easy and resulted in a way solid new investigator. My
mind was blown at how easy and productive it was. It didn’t even phase Elder
Prescott because that happens to him and his companion all the time. Missionary
work is definitely changing.
Our
next day was down in Cape Girardeau and me and Elder Furlong went and drew the
plan of salvation out in chalk on SEMO campus. One of the professors is a
member and he came out and saw us and started telling students to listen to us.
So when we finished drawing we had a line of college kids waiting to hear about
the plan of salvation from us. It was super cool and it was fun to get to spend
some time drawing even with thousands of students being super confused why 2
guys in suits were drawing on the sidewalk.
We
finished out our week in South zone and it was fun to get to go back to
Oakville. We went to a district meeting and heard a training from a southern
Baptist pastor who has been investigating for like 30 years. It was cool to get
to hear his point of view on things.
This week is hopefully going
to be a lot calmer. We have transfer planning all week and it takes fooooorever.
But we get to sleep in our own beds for a week so that will be super nice.
I’ll
close up with a random cool story about member missionary work. There are elder
and sisters working up at the University of Illinois and a girl came to church
out of nowhere and was talking to the elders. She wanted to take the lessons
but there weren’t any guys there so the elders couldn’t be alone with her so
they passed her off to the sisters. After the elders talked to her for a little
bit they asked her why she came to the church. She said her friend in Chicago
told her to go. They asked who her friend was and she just said Jabari. After
asking a few more questions the elders got it confirmed that they were handing
over a member referral from Jabari Parker to the sisters. So if the most famous
high school athlete in America can find time to do missionary work, then so can
everyone else! The miracles and changes that we are seeing in our mission are
incredible. I’m so thankful to be here and experience all of these changes. I
love my mission!
-Elder Banks
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