My Mission Adventures: There are STILL miracles out here! (Windsor wk#18)

Hi everyone! Hope you are doing well after this first full week in 2016!

I don't know what people are supposed to be feeling like going in to their last week as a missionary. I feel stressed. Lol. Essentially, I have no idea how I will be able to fit everything into these last 7ish days. Right now I really wish I was going home on Thursday or Friday of next week so that I would have an extra day or two to get organized and do random errand things... But enough of that. Turns out there are still miracles to be seen and had when you have less than 2 weeks left! :)

This week was one of my best weeks as a missionary! It was awesome. There were a myriad of awesome experiences! Last Monday night I was pretty stressed wondering, "how in the world are we going to have 4 effective exchanges in a row?" I barely had any plans set at the time, but prayed for that to happen. I guess because I was only thinking of myself, I prayed for 3 effective exchanges in Windsor instead of 4. That was answered! Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday's exchanges were great! Friday was just OK. I was reminded on Sunday that God truly did hear and answer my prayer. It is so AWESOME to have yet another experience telling me God hears and answers my prayers. I bet it happens all the time, I just forget what I prayed about! How can God clearly answer my prayers when I forget what I even asked Him!? Haha.

On Tuesday, the man Elder Klain came to be my companion for the day. It was sweet! We showed up for a lesson, but the member who was coming wasn't there yet! When he showed up, it turned out that the person we were to teach wasn't there either! Lol. I had no back up plan. As we were driving away, a car pulled up next to us- it was who we had the appt with! Richard is awesome. We taught the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and invited him to be baptized. He said yes and is set for Jan 23rd! We are pumped! The member (Brother Jensen) shared some experiences in his life that have humbled him and turned him to the Savior. It was a great lesson. We even took a sweet picture after! Next we had a great dinner with the Layman's. We visited Chantelle and Hot Rod last. Elder Klain was super grateful. They were baptized about 1.5 yrs ago. Chantelle, like Elder Klain, is from Canada. They had a great time talking about how awesome Canada is. It was sweet.

On Wednesday, I was with Elder Farnes in Windsor! Pretty epic. We made it to Windsor just in time for an appointment with Sister Merrell. We planned to share Moroni 6 to talk about baptism and the importance of church. Ronnette joined in for only about 1 minute at the beginning. We were a little sad since we wanted to invite her to be baptized! The lesson went well with Sister Merrell. After 20 minutes with about 10 minutes until our next appt, Ronnette came back in. Elder Farnes decided to reread the first part of the chapter. We talked about baptism. Her whole countenance changed as she said how she really wants to be baptized to experience God's grace and forgiveness more in her life. So we set her to be baptized on Feb 6th! It was awesome! (Sadly something again came up on Sunday and she hasn't made it to church yet. Soon!). After we read scriptures with Richard. He said a beautiful prayer at the end of the lesson. Elder Farnes said he almost started to cry. It is one of the best feelings ever to teach people about the Gospel of Jesus Christ when they actually want to grow and change! Richard is the best! After dinner we visited Sister Bates. We finally powerfully emphasized the importance of reading a chapter in the Book of Mormon every day and she committed to doing that! We promised her that as she prayed beforehand, she could come to know that this is true! She is so close to being baptized. She did come to church on Sunday with her family. It was sweet. We have heard from her fellowshipper that she is keeping the commitment! We are excited for her!

Thursday I went off to Laramie for exchanges with Elder Palmer. We kicked on two doors and taught a sweet lesson to this lady. She seemed a little crazy, so we aren't sure if she is really interested. But that was sweet. We had dinner with a guy named Todd who somehow remembered my name, where I am from, what college I went to, and what degree I have even though I didn't serve in his YSA Ward! That was cool. Good man! Lastly, we had a spirit-filled lesson with a girl named Sunnie (I think that's how you spell it). She was raised in the church in Utah, but now says she is agnostic or atheist. I love testifying to people exactly how to gain faith as it says in Alma 32. Plant the seed of 'Heavenly Father loves me' or 'Jesus Christ is my Savior'. Ponder about it. Go to church asking 'is this true?' Talk to friends about it. Dwell on it. I know for me that I don't frequently receive answers to prayer as I am saying them, but in random every day life. We promised her that there really is a God and that she CAN know that she loves her. I took a selfie with her after! :)

Friday exchange was cool. I was in Windsor with Elder Shawcroft. Best thing was visiting the Brinkerhoff's. The Sister Brinkerhoff's dad was paralyzed by being hit by a drunk driver in November and just passed away from complications a month ago in December though he was in his low 40s. She was asked to speak on 'God's Will versus Our Will' at church. She was pretty stressed to say the least. We read scriptures with her and did our best to give her confidence that she could do it! Her talk on Sunday was super intense. I was proud of her! I couldn't have talked on that subject if I were in her position. She humbles me a lot.

Saturday was weird... We drove to Lusk, WY and back because their car got hit and they needed a new car. We stopped in a random town of 62 people to take a picture of ourselves. :) it was a nice drive there and back. We took some highways instead of the freeway. Wyoming was actually pretty! There were nice trees and little hills through the middle of nowhere.

Lastly on Sunday I had the opportunity to speak at church about seeing God's hand in our lives (I spoke after Sister Brinkerhoff). It went pretty well. I tried to explain the difference between large and small plates and to encourage everyone to keep small plates. I used the scripture Jacob 1:1-4 which says:

"Nephi gave me, Jacob, a commandment concerning the small plates, upon which these things are engraven.

2 And he gave me, Jacob, a commandment that I should write upon these plates a few of the things which I considered to be most precious; that I should not touch, save it were lightly, concerning the history of this people which are called the people of Nephi.

3 For he said that the history of his people should be engraven upon his other plates, and that I should preserve these plates and hand them down unto my seed, from generation to generation.

4 And if there were preaching which was sacred, or revelation which was great, or prophesying, that I should engraven the heads of them upon these plates, and touch upon them as much as it were possible, for Christ’s sake, and for the sake of our people."

For me, the small plates are our testimony building experiences and miracles. For example, I wrote on my small plates that Heavenly Father answered my prayer of having 3 effective exchanges this week as I previously related to you. The large plates, on the other hand, are what history and events. I have unfortunately written a LOT more of that since I have been a missionary. That could be, "I went on exchanges with Elder Farnes. We taught Ronnette and Richard and Sister Bates. They were great lessons." They could be a lot better if I wrote, "I felt the Spirit powerfully as Elder Farnes shared Joseph Smith's First Vision. It reminded me again that it really did happen! It was so quiet when Elder Farnes spoke with the Spirit. It almost sounded like no one dared take a breath!" Does that make sense? I hope so. I know that it can be very simple to write down a little bit about each day where we saw God's hand in our life (as President Eyring invites us to do). It will help us not need a famine in our lives to remember all blessings are from Him. It will help us endure all the trials of our lives. It will help us remember Jesus Christ as we covenanted to do.

I love being a missionary and will find time to write once more next Monday. (Like I barely finished and found time today)

Elder Campbell

FYI, I am scheduled to be on Delta Airlines flight 2645 from Salt Lake City to San Jose, CA ETA 12:34pm on Jan 19th. I am speaking at least twice when I get home. On Jan 24th in Davis, CA (615 Elmwood Drive) at 1pm in the Elmwood YSA. And on Jan 31st in Saratoga, CA (19100 Allendale Ave) at 1pm in the Monte Vista YSA.