Best Holiday Week Ever! (Windsor wk#16)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

This was a great week. Probably one of my favorites as a missionary. Tuesday I had a great exchange in Loveland (I got to go back to the Twin Peaks YSA I served in before). Wednesday was a Christmas Devotional in Laramie followed by exchanges with Greeley til Thursday night. Christmas Day Friday and etc topped it off.

I'll start with exchanges... It was AWESOME! :) Definitely in the top 5 exchanges that I've been on (and I've probably been on 50 by now). It was a nice change of pace to start Monday night with planning. We (Elder Blackburn and myself) had a series of awesome experiences. It was so good I had to make a video journal entry - it would have taken too long to write all of the miracles. Haha. The short of it... After DLC we visited an awesome family near the Trilby building. We had a great lesson and they gave us some lunch! Then we caught a guy named David at home. He worked 7 days a week for the past 4 months with about 8 days off, but he 'happened' to be home Tuesday. Perfect Timing! Then we drove to Firestone and I got to see Amber. Elder McConeghey and I started teaching her last January (she hadn't been to church for a year or two). This month she received her patriarchal blessing and is preparing to serve a mission! Super fulfilling to know someone you served and loved and helped is moving in the right direction! I'm excited for her. Then we taught one of Elle's friends at her house (Dylan). Elle introduced Dylan to me at church my last Sunday in the ward. He hadn't been taught yet. Elle invited him over and we taught him an awesome first lesson. He gave a really sincere kneeling prayer at the end and was willing to be baptized if this is true. We scheduled a return appointment for the next day and Elder Blackburn with Elder Lete set him with a baptismal date! Pumped. After dinner we went to institute and met one of Elle's other friends named Carmen. The most fulfilling part of the day was hearing from Elle later how good she felt being an instrument in the hands of the Lord reaching out to her friends. I could go on and on about this day. Every one of these experiences were pretty miraculous in their own right. It was great seeing a handful of awesome people I served with there (like Bishop Depew, the Turners and the Seyfi's), to serve for a day with Elder Blackburn, and to really help people come closer to Christ.

The Christmas Devotional in Laramie was awesome. I have really experienced the fulfillment of a promise in the scriptures recently. It says to "treasure up in your minds continually the words of life, and it shall be given you in the very hour [what to say]." My training with Elder Snelders has been different each time. This time we spoke earlier in the meeting and my normal segue wouldn't have worked. I praying fervently to know what to say and I thought of an experience in the MTC I had... Haha. It worked our awesome. I experienced the promise being fulfilled as I bore testimony differently at each of the four as well. Each time I fervently prayed to bear testimony in a fluid way that touches people. I related different experiences each time, but they were all true! Moral, I am grateful for the confidence I am receiving in that promise. It feels GREAT! :)

On the next exchanges, the best part was an appointment with Cat. She is a member who is coming back to church. Since I expected to be teaching her, I told Elder Noh before the meeting, "We will be teaching the second half of the Plan of Salvation." When we got inside, Ronnette (Cat's nonmember roommate) joined us for the first time. We have been on-and-off working with Ronnette for the past month or two, but she hadn't joined when we taught Cat. Because of that, after the prayer I said, "Today we will talk about the Gospel of Jesus Christ." Haha. Elder Noh probably was confused, but it was awesome. :) ALSO, halfway into the lesson Ronnette's fiancé Terry joined us. It was a VERY powerful lesson of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Ronnette and Terry even allowed us to visit them again on Christmas Day (which was awesome)! I can definitely see them growing a lot in the Gospel. I am excited for them!

On Christmas Eve, I got to visit the Khans! That was sweet. They are awesome and got me a few presents. :) At the end of the day, we stayed the night with President and Sister Brown. They didn't have any family visiting on Christmas so Elder Snelders and I got to be their family! :) They even got us some pajama pants to wear to bed! Haha. It was definitely a blessing to spend Christmas morning with President and Sister Brown. They are awesome! I could definitely feel their love. Skyping my family was awesome too. I took a cool screenshot I attached. It'll be cool to see them again in about three weeks!

For the rest of Christmas, we visited a handful of people. We got to spend time with two or three families during their family Christmas gathering. I am SOOOOO grateful for their hospitality on Christmas Day! One of them was the Laymans! It was the one year anniversary. Last year on Christmas Day, the assistants tracted into them! They have been baptized for a little more than three months now. Who would have thought that you can find people on Christmas Day by Tracting!

Saturday we contacted a bunch of people while helping them shovel their walks. I really love to street contact, especially by doing service. We simply drove looking for people who just started shoveling their snow and stopped to shovel with them! I have found that most people won't accept you helping them if you ask, so we just started helping. Half of the people had friends or family that are members of the church. It was a lot of fun.

Last night, I got to wish goodbye to my amigos Elder Sell and Elder Empey. It was surreal. They were in the same District as me in the MTC and are enroute to their home right now! They are starting school at BYU and BYU-I respectively on January 4th. *sigh. It is weird to know I won't see them again as a missionary. I love them a lot! I am definitely a short-timer here now.

I love this Gospel. I love sharing it with people. I love telling people that the Atonement of Jesus Christ covers EVERYTHING in their life. No matter how far gone they are or how many tragedies they have experienced, the Atonement of Jesus Christ can heal them. It can mend broken hearts. Jesus Christ can transform us if we let Him. While I don't understand how He suffered for everything for billions and billions of people, I know it is true for me. As I have sought to be healed and changed by Christ, I have been changed. I know that I am not unique, everyone can experience this change. I have been with many people as they sought healing by Christ and seen them change too! I know that this is truly the most compelling work that there is!

Have a Happy New Year!

Love,

Elder Campbell :)

Christmas Devotionals (Windsor wk#15)

Hi everyone!

The week was a blur of meetings and cancelled meetings and teaching some people in our free time. Maybe that's what "normal life" feels like. You finish the week and wonder what just happened in that week!

Zone Conferences have been awesome (other than postponing the one in Laramie twice). I really enjoyed the comments made in this last one on Thursday in Boulder during our training. We were talking about challenges being a missionary at this time of year and then asked them what blessings their family back home has seen from them being a missionary. WOW! It was inspiring to hear the personal stories of missionaries. One missionary said 10 relatives have passed away since she has been a missionary. Her testimony of the Plan of Salvation and the Atonement of Jesus Christ have grown dramatically. She can truly testify now that families can be together forever. Another missionary's parents came back to church and starting living the Gospel in their lives. He was just transferred down to Boulder so he could be with his parents as their are sealed together and he with them in the Denver Temple tomorrow. Another's dad lost his job. He fasted and his dad got a new job! There were so many missionaries (20) who shared deeply personal testimonies of why they are glad to be serving Jesus Christ right now.

There are so many people that struggle over the holidays. One person I know hates the holidays because it reminds him of a few years ago this time of year when his daughter was taken from him. There are tons of people who don't have family or can't see their family. I know for us, we are trying to get things set up so we can visit a lot of families this week and share with them Christ's love. It is the best time of year to reach out and lend a hand to those who are struggling.

Miracles... The Torres family came to the Christmas party at church. We caught the Toroks at home and talked with them for about an hour after not seeing them for two months. One of the most memorable days was Saturday when we didn't have a lot of set plans, but dropped by at just the right time to visit people. Feeling led and guided is the best feeling!

Lastly some things I'm learning... I've been reading towards the end of Alma in the Book of Mormon, the war chapters! I was pondering about why the wars were happening. It hit me this morning that nearly all of the hatred and wars in the Book of Mormon originated in the same place. Laman and Lemuel rebelled in the beginning. They sought to kill their younger brother Nephi multiple times. Ever since the sibling issues in their family, their posterity have struggled against each other. For about 1000 years, the issues between the original siblings are brought up as a reason to fight to the death. Families are so important! The relationships are so crucial because they truly impact generations upon generations.

Constantly I am seeing the huge importance of strong families. The example in the Book of Mormon this morning was just one of them. The Prophet and Apostles today know this and has been emphasizing to keep the Sabbath Day Holy. There are many positive things that comes from that (i.e. Stronger faith in Christ, stronger testimony, etc), but growing family bonds is one of the biggest! We are reminded regularly that the world is not likely going to become a more Christ-centered place. Our families need to become strong to become a refuge from the world.

Good week. Crazy it's Christmas in only a few days and that I have less than a month left. Crazier that the last two in my MTC district are heading home in a week so they can be back in time for school. It was unique to read their last group emails!

Love you! And Have an amazing week!

Elder Campbell

Sent from my iPad

Miracles and Meetings (Windsor wk#14)

Hi Everyone!

This week I had a larger event each day. We had transfer day on Tuesday including picking up the new missionaries at the airport and going out teaching with them at night. Wednesday we had trainer's meeting and I moved to a new house (we have to finish today). Thursday we had our Mission Leadership Council Meeting then drove with President Brown to Casper after. Friday we had zone conference in Casper and got back to Windsor pretty late. Saturday we had Transfer Breakfast in Windsor and Sunday was church (and I was somewhat sick for the past two days). Lots of stuff!

Tuesday night was the most missionary-eventful day of the week as I went out teaching with a new missionary for a couple hours. I was SUPER nervous because I was unable to set up any appointments! Here I am, one who should be an example missionary, and I'm unprepared!  Naturally, after I picked up Elder Underwood, we prayed. We pleaded with the Lord for miracles. More than usual, I needed the Lord's help and guidance. I still didn't really know where we should go for the evening, but had a couple people in mind we could visit. I made some "random" turns to take side roads that inspired a new plan! We dropped by the Jensons and see if we could take their 19-year-old son to visit single sisters. Since he wasn't there, I asked Sister Jenson who she has been concerned about that we could visit (she used to be the Relief Society President). Unfortunately none of the people felt like the one we should visit that night. Still unsure of what to do, we went toward our car. I remembered the Young Women's President lives across the street. Perhaps she would have some ideas! Of course, she wasn't there either! But, the miracle we were looking for happened!! As her husband let us in, we found one of our investigators at their home!! Haha. I hadn't seen Ricky Clarke for about two months. He showed up to their house unannounced earlier in the evening and we happened to show up unannounced too! It couldn't have worked out more perfectly!

I never would have considered visiting Ricky on Tuesday night. I am so grateful I started driving and deviating to find where to go and what to do. It was a great testimony builder for me to remember that God will lead us to people as we lean on Him. As far as the lesson went, Ricky continues to feel unforgivable because of his past. We testified to him of God's love. Elder Underwood was excited to have an opportunity to testify to a real person about the reality of the Restored Gospel. He'll be a good missionary! He invited Ricky to REALLY read the Book of Mormon because that is how he felt the Spirit and why he was baptized (he was baptized about four years ago). I likewise shared from personal experience. I was scared to talk with God about my sins (aka repent), but as I have done that more frequently I have felt His love more in my life. I invited Ricky to pray and really ask God for help and to apologize for mistakes he has made. In true Ricky fashion, he didn't accept any invitation I left with him. Haha. I pray that he will do it anyway! One thing I learned this week from watching the church's "A Savior Is Born" videos, is that the Atonement of Jesus Christ takes away excuses. No one is ever too far gone. Repentance and God's love is always there if we are willing to open up our heart to God.

The other things from this week... I was reminded how critical it is to use the Training Model. I have fallen into the trap of talking more than demonstrating and practicing. But as we 1: Explain 2: Demonstrate 3: Practice 4: Evaluate 5: Repractice, we can truly learn and become better. We did this in Trainer's Mtg this week and a little at MLC and Zone Conference. It was sweet. Elder Dilworth demonstrated helping a missionary overcome pride. One of the questions he asked changed the spirit of the room. It was so awesome. All of us could feel that he had asked an inspired question! That wouldn't have happened if we had talked about theoretical ways of helping the missionary. We just need to practice/demonstrate doing it!

Lastly, I am super grateful for the opportunity to spend so much time with President and Sister Brown. We were in the car with them for about 4 hours on Thursday and 5 hours of Friday. We will travel with them more this upcoming week too. It is amazing to see his commitment and personality first hand. As missionaries we see only a glimpse of who he is because of our limited interaction. He showed a little of his personality this week at MLC telling a joke or two. I am grateful to have received counsel and guidance from him. One little experience... We realized that I forgot a bag at the Casper Stake Center after having driven an hour towards Windsor. He didn't react negatively at all. He didn't ask, "Elder Campbell, why didn't you remember it?" Or "What's wrong with you?" Or anything like that. He didn't think twice about the extra two hours we would have to be in the car. He just immediately turned the car around!

I am grateful to be a missionary here in Windsor! Just a few weeks left now. We have a lot to do, but I am excited!

Have an amazing week!

Elder Campbell

Last Transfer Day! (Windsor wk#13)

Hi everyone!! :)

It is the beginning of my last transfer. Super weird. I'm staying in Windsor with Elder Snelders. It will be an adventure for sure, and probably will go by extremely fast.

Things from this week... Three days ago, I changed how I write in my journal. I generally use my journal to think on paper or reflect on things or vent. So I switched to addressing each entry to God (Dear Heavenly Father). It has definitely helped put things in better perspective. I am asking more questions and receiving more answers and recognizing more blessings. Asking, "How have I seen Thy hand in my life?" And saying thank your for it has been sweet! I feel a lot better about what I am writing now and it seems like it will be more valuable to reread later now.

We went to a wedding. A girl that was baptized a few months ago in Fort Collins (Elder Snelders taught her) was married at the church. It was cool. I haven't been to many weddings. I liked the advice the Bishop gave during it. That they should look back on their wedding day as the day that they loved each other the least. And that love isn't staring at each other all day, but standing side by side looking in the same direction. Lastly, that there will be disagreements that will require you to compromise (he defined compromise as when you both share your ideas and agree to stand together on the decision to follow the wife's idea). Good stuff.

We watched President Brown do transfers. I was a lot less involved than last time. He started on Wednesday and we were there with him for a few hours helping. Thursday when we came back he was entering it in online! When we prayed at the end it was interesting. We didn't ask if it was perfect or anything like that. It was, "Is something wrong on the board?" I realized that you can spend hours and hours moving missionaries around and not get that much of a gain. Instead he seeks to get something good and ask if there is something that NEEDS to change. I feel like that is good advice for life because I like things more perfect than is realistic a lot of times. There it won't be perfect, but it can be right and inspired.

Last night we watched the Christmas Devotional at President Brown's house. It was nice. I has been a pleasure getting to know President Brown better. He is full of lots of good counsel. I am super blessed for this opportunity for my last 18 weeks to closely work with him.

It won't be a walk in the park this last transfer with lots of stuff going on. But I am excited for it! We have some families we are working with (it continues to take longer than I want it to. Why can't people keep their appointments all the time and become engaged in the process of learning and becoming?). We have been constantly dropping by the same families in hopes that they will move forward! They are happy to see us, just have yet to take action. If you don't meet with them enough, they never get moving! We are going to do all that we can to help the women get to the Relief Society Christmas Party this week and the whole families to the Ward Christmas Party next week.

It is weird that this is the last group of new missionaries I will meet! And that some of my companions and favorite missionaries are going home tomorrow! And that my turn is next. *exhale. Time to make it count!

Elder Campbell :)