Another 6 in Estes Park! (Estes Park wk#7)

Hi Everyone!!! :)

Transfer day is tomorrow and somehow a miracle has occurred!! Elder Schenk and I made a pie chart about what we thought would happen in Estes Park. 40% we both go. 30% I go. 25% he goes. 5% we both stay. I think the problem with my logic was that I have been training him for the last 6 weeks and he is now done with being trained and I didn't expect that it is very often that a trainer and trainee stay together after training! Yet here we are and it happened. We are both going to be here through the end of the year. We are excited for sure!

The baptism happened! Exciting. It's been a while since someone I have personally taught was baptized when I was there. It was fun to be there for the baptism of Aidyn and Owen Scott. Their brother Jayson will be baptized some other time as he is not yet ready. But ya! It was the best. They were both quite excited to be baptized. It was definitely a trek to help them join the church and the baptism went well (other than not remembering to tell them they need a towel and extra underwear…).

The best part of this week was definitely Wednesday Night. We had a Youth Activity that was AWESOME! 2.5 weeks ago we were at an MTC night put on by the Long's Peak Ward (the ward that the Estes Park Branch split off from, we still do some things together). Basically, the youth got into groups and attempted to teach people the Gospel as missionaries do. They taught for a couple minutes different people who pretended to have different backgrounds (other religions or people who haven't come to church for a while, etc). Then this Wednesday night we split up into 4 groups in Estes Park and went out visiting real people! 3 of them were less-active and 1 was our Branch Mission Leader. There were 2-3 youth in each group that taught our first missionary lesson - the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I loved it! The coolest part is that 4 of the 10 youth there weren't even members of the church (2 were just baptized and 2 will be in the next month or two). I had a chance to be with Owen Scott. He was asked, "how do we learn about the Gosepl?" The answer we were looking for was "from a prophet," but he proceeded to talk about how he learned the Gospel. He said that missionaries had been coming over 1-2 times a week for the last 2 months, that he was reading from the Book of Mormon, and that he prayed asking God if the 'Church of Latter-Day Saints' was true. He received an answer for himself that it is true, and he doesn't even know the full name of the church! He is awesome. It was so powerful for me to hear his testimony shared to a nice lady who hasn't been at church for a long time. He wants to go out teaching more and he is only 13!

I hope all of you have an AMAZING THANKSGIVING! It will definitely be weird to not be home with my family; I miss them and will be missing them more over the holidays for sure. But I love being a missionary and am excited to spend another transfer with Elder Schenk out here preaching the Gospel in Estes Park!!

Elder Jeff Campbell

--> a picture from the baptism, me riding a dinosaur thing from Transformers movie, and the District! They are awesome missionaries too. :)

Winter has arrived! (Estes Park wk#6)

Hi Everyone!!

Every week is a great week being a missionary! But I am a little sad... this is the last week of the transfer and it's almost guaranteed that Elder Schenk and I won't be companions anymore. It's been a good time for sure! He is one of my best friends now. We have handled it whenever we have had struggles together. It's been awesome. This week was also the coldest week of my life! It hit a low of -21 F that I saw. I've even had the opportunity to drive in the snow! It's been exciting since I had driven less than 5 times in the snow until now. And we haven't gotten in an accident or anything! The awesome guy I mentioned last week about giving us mixed signals has come back! He even made it to church this weekend after last week saying how he doesn't want to be Mormon anymore. I had hope and am excited it has turned around; we once again talk to him and see him regularly.

One of the nicest things about being a missionary is that the counsel the Savior gives to us really is true! The counsel he gives in the latter part of Matthew 6 and towards the start of Matthew 10 is true! He talks about not considering what we shall eat or drink tomorrow, but to seek first the kingdom of God. Additionally when sending out his disciples, he tells them not to take a second coat or second pair of shoes (fortunately we can do that, but we don't have much stuff for sure!) and to stay and be fed where people accept us and that message. I know that counsel was for missionaries specifically and that it has proven true! There are so many amazing families that we meet all over the place. This one family has fed us 2 lunches and they were unreal - the first was an epic rack of ribs on Elder Schenk's birthday and this last week was deep fried Halibut. Wow. This week they are getting us hooked up with another great meal. And that's just part of it. I'm so humbled to have the opportunity to seriously just focus on serving God and have everything else work itself out! It really does when you give your all to Preach the Gospel!

Top miracle of the week was a new person (Chris) we were referred to and have begun teaching the Gospel to. We taught him 4 times this week and he is seriously progressing. It is wonderful teaching someone who is humble. He readily admits he was compelled to be humble - doctors have told him he should be dead because of alcohol abuse. But he isn't and is ready to change his life and turn it over to the Lord. It feels so great to be teaching someone who is really engaged, asking questions, and desiring what we have. He reconnected with his friend Dan (our branch mission leader) at the gym in Longmont 4 months ago and has now accepted Dan's invitation to learn more about the Gospel. Last night when we taught him the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ he told us at the end that he felt peace. He hasn't felt at peace for decades. He could truly feel the Spirit of God coming into His heart. He said he also felt that at church. He can barely ever sit still, but was able to sit and be present for all 3 parts of church!

Lastly, we reset the three Scott boys for baptism on this coming Saturday. It seems like it'll come together nicely. We have a little more to teach them, but they are pretty ready. It'll be exciting for sure! It's going to be interesting... this Wednesday night we have a youth activity where they are going out with us as missionaries! There was a prep activity 2 weeks ago and the Scott boys came, we are hoping/anticipating them coming out with us to teach some families from church about the Gospel! That will be awesome.

In terms of spiritual learning stuff, we had a Mission Tour on Saturday meaning a member of the Church General Authority (Elder Baxter) came and spoke to us. For the bulk of his time talking he talked about 1 thing, the Atonement of Jesus Christ. He went into depth about how God REALLY does love us. One of the most powerful things was he invited us to read scriptures with our name in it to feel that Christ is talking to us (because He is). I had a chance to read a sentence out loud with my name in it from our missionary manual. "Jeffrey Campbell. All that is unfair about your life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ." He had me read that about 10x out loud in front of the 70+ missionaries and a few others that were there. It was powerful. And I really do know that the sentence I read is true. The atonement (Jesus Christ's perfect life; suffering in Gethsemane for all our pains, sicknesses, temptations, trials, and sins; sacrifice on the cross at Calvary; and Resurrection) is the great equalizer of life. He invites all men to come unto Him. There are no restrictions on past sins, on current issues, on gender, on age, on ethnicity, on anything. He invites all of us, no matter if we had a abusive past, if we are alcoholic, if we have a terribly bad back, or anything. He just wants us to come to Him. He is inviting us to be exalted - to have eternal joy with Him and His Father in the Celestial Kingdom. He loves us. He really does. It says in a variety of places in the scriptures that even through all of our sins and mistakes "His hand is outstretched still." I testify that it is. I have seen the act of coming to Jesus and relying wholly upon his merits, mercies, and grace change lives out here and my own life. If you have not yet, I invite you to!

Have an amazing week!

Sincerely,

Elder Jeff Campbell

Ups, Downs, Miracles, and Lessons (Estes Park wk#5)

Hi Everyone!

Once again it is 20 degrees colder on Monday than the rest of the week, except today it is snowing pretty solidly right now too. Looks like Winter has finally come to Estes Park after holding off a good amount of time (it was in the mid 50s most of the week).

This week I had an opportunity to go on exchanges with the Zone Leaders for a day. It was pretty interesting. I was not looking forward to it as much because the Zone Leaders have had a third companion who was sent there in the middle of the transfer basically so they could babysit him before he finishes his mission. I heard not the best reviews about him, but when I was with them, he was AWESOME! I decided to ask him why he had such a bad reputation. He said that he makes a lot of really terrible decisions... haha. And he also has a sense of humor that some people don't appreciate very much. And I share this to illustrate a point that it is so easy to judge people. I am always surprised how much that happens - that I negatively judge others. Usually (not 100% of the time), after getting to know them better I am pleasantly surprised by how awesome they are! After the exchange I took a picture with him since I might never see him again as he finishes his mission tomorrow. But ya, that was a great experience this week. Even the zone leader I got to spend time with told me he loves him a lot. He did mention a couple of the bad decisions (and they definitely were bad decisions), but he still is a good guy that I like and respect a lot more now than before I even spent time with him!

Other exciting things... one of the most awesome people we are working with (he joined the church over the summer) is going through some hard times. We found out on Friday that he had been trying to tell us he doesn't want to be a part of the church anymore. AND his mom called us telling us that if we tried anything that she'd call the cops. So that was extremely disheartening. However, the next day he spent time with a guy from church that he really likes and then yesterday he went again with him to have dinner. We later saw him visiting a less-active guy from church too with his friend. Today while on the computer, my companion talked to him on the phone and he apologized. So I have no idea what is happening with him right now. Haha. He does have seasonal depression type stuff so maybe it was just mental issues. But ya, it is an adventure working with people sometimes because at the drop of a hat they can disappear or cancel everything! (And now... he is here in the library with us and everything seems to be going well).

Lastly, we had an awesome experience last week on Monday night. The couple we met last Sunday, Camden and Amanda, came with us to dinner at the Hartzog's house! It is awesome because they are all about the same age (my age actually - 22, 23, 23, and 24). Both couples have a young child and are living in Estes with primarily older friends. The best part was talking about "small and simple things bring to pass that which is great." Amanda shared part of her story of how she ended up in Estes and end up with her son (it's actually her younger brother's son). And how she has seen the hand of God in her life. She talked about being in the flood last year and all the miracles that happened to help her and her family make it through. They didn't have any way of communicating with the outside world during the flood since there was no service at their house. The day of the flood she was in pajamas, with her son, and Camden going to his work. On their way, roads were closed and they were driving through roads covered in water still not realizing anything. They weren't able to get back to their house for 3 months. Miraculously Camden brought his wallet with him and they were able to get a place to stay and some clothes. But they didn't have enough money. Miraculously money came through and so much more. She didn't really care at all about religion when she moved to Estes a few years ago because her family wasn't the best and were "Christian." She thought, if this is what it means to be Christian, I don't want to be a part of it! But now, she has a testimony of God in her life. That He knows her and cares about her personally.

One last thing that I learned this week... I have been thinking about my testimony of the Book of Mormon and the Bible. I have been thinking about it because I read the other day some extremely persuasive stuff a historian wrote about the likelihood of stuff in the Bible happening. One thing that I came to the conclusion about is that no one can disprove or prove in a way that is satisfying to everyone that Jesus is the Christ or that the New Testament is the Word of God. Similarly no one can do that for the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. There is no way to REALLY prove without a shadow of a doubt either of those. People can write or say whatever they feel can be proved or studied or whatever, but no one alive now can really know what actually happened, they can only speculate from the best resources available. In order to know satisfactorily, we can't rely solely on physical researched proof. The only proof is from God. And I do know that we can know things from God. I have a testimony of a lot of things - I can feel the Spirit as I share that testimony with people and I know in my heart that it is true. I really do. And that's the truth that we can rely on.

Have an awesome week!

Elder Jeff Campbell

Epic Miracle Week (Estes Park wk#4)

This week was pretty awesome again. So many great things going on! We had miracles, a virtual day off, and the hardest working day I've had as a missionary!

Friday this week was our virtual day off. We had a breakfast in Longmont (~45 mins away) at 7am in the morning. Then had our studies and went to a meeting in Fort Collins from 1:30-3:30pm only getting back to Estes at 6pm when we were supposed to go home for Halloween. At that meeting (trainer's meeting) we wore matching ties that our Mission President pointed out during the meeting. We are a unified companionship!!! It's awesome.

Next day (Saturday) we decide we have to STEP IT UP. So we planned to teach 10 lessons in 1 day and DID IT!!! That was pretty awesome. AND we didn't even teach a lesson during lunch and had one appt take 1.5-2 hrs, but the rest of the day we put in work! My favorite part is that all of the lessons we taught actually related to our key indicators. So we taught 6 lessons to less-active or recent converts and 3 other lessons and got 2 referrals from dinner with members. We were SUPER tired at the end of the day! But it felt really great to go from appt to appt the whole day! We even met a new nonmember at one of our appts. So that was a lot of fun!

Next day (Sunday) we drove around to last minute re-invite people to church. We stop at one of our investigators home (12 yr old Sabrina). She hasn't come to church yet because she wants her dad to come with her. But after visiting for about 15 minutes, she decided she would come to church even though her dad would only be dropping her off! AND she actually came. So that was a miracle! She is progressing now towards being baptized.

THEN we dropped by another house only to have them not home. While we were walking to our car, a car stopped and the guy (24 yrs old) got out and said he is an inactive member and that we should come over to his house 1 block away! How miraculous! We visited with them for 45 mins or so and taught a little about Heavenly Father and prayer to him and girlfriend. Super awesome! They are planning to come eat dinner with us tonight at a young couple's house in Estes from church. We are super excited!

THEN at church a random kid named James showed up and said his friend Alyssa invited him (we have never met Alyssa). She ends up coming. Both of them end up bearing their testimonies at Testimony meeting. Alyssa joined the church in Texas a year and a half ago and James hasn't been to church before. It was amazing that people we haven't even met and aren't currently coming to church are bringing people!

Lots of awesome experiences this week. I've even been trying to pick up more Spanish since a lot of people speak Spanish that we have met. It's really fulfilling to be a missionary!

I studied/pondered about the scriptures showing that we have a loving Heavenly Father this week. So many are really good. One of my favorites is 3 Nephi 14:9-11 (also Mat 7:9-11 is the same). It is actually right after the part I shared last week:
"9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?"
The reason why I love this scripture is because it really helps me understand how much God loves us and wants to answer our prayers. If we asked our earthly father for something, he will probably give it to us! And we are imperfect people who make mistakes all the time and aren't always nice. When we ask Heavenly Father who loves us more than we can know, OF COURSE He will hear and answer and help us!

And about the hike last week... so it snowed the night before. We kinda got lost on the last 0.7 miles to the top as you can see with my companion and no actual trail. But we made it to the top! I took a lot of videos, but don't have any good picture of myself at the top of the mountain. It was a nice view! And the last picture is of us and Richard - he sadly is moving to Rawlins so he will have to be taught by the missionaries there (we will also miss his pit bull).

Have a great week!

Sincerely,
Elder Jeff Campbell