12/19/16

Hey people it's been another super fast week.

We've had some unexpected opportunities to meet some of the member's friends that like missionaries. So that is great. I remade some cool Book of Mormon Book marks that a senior missionary made. I haven't printed any but if anyone wants them for their own use let me know!

Thursday was our first day Hot Chocolating this week. When I woke up I saw the trees outside had seizures and I knew that it would be fun day. So we braved the cold for four hours. It was like 12 degrees out there without the windchill. We later came to find out that it was 8 degrees then went down to 4! It was SO cold. I was using 6 hand warmers in various places of my Popsicled body. Two gloves, two socks, two pairs of pants, two beanies, two coats, but it didn't make too much of a difference. We were cold. I think we got called crazy more than we gave out cups of hot chocolate. We gave out 2 in those four hours! Haha we pretty much were crazy! I don't have any hard feelings though.

Friday we went out again and it was like 25 degrees and to us it felt like the middle of May. We were having a great time taking off layers and we were still called crazy Hahaha. But we gave out 9 cups that day and a few Restoration pamphlets. So it even more worth it.

Then on Saturday "Decima" came and gave us a whole lot of frozen rain and not even half the ward came to the ward Christmas party. But we di,d and so did our friends the Giglio 'tos' who are friends with quite a few members and us. They are catholic but one day they'll be Mormon.

The kids wrapped me up as a snowman during the party.

So that was awesome. We were back at it giving out Hot Chocolate. And it was our most productive day. We gave out about 25 cups! 3 Restorations pamphlets and a Book of Mormon. As well as a lady whose friend just got baptized and is now curious to learn more.

This is for sure the most effective thing we can do in this area. There's no other way we'd be able to interact with hundreds of people in a non threatening way. Imagine if we tracted this many people, it would take days and days and a lot of them would not appreciate us knocking on their door. This has really been a game changer, and we've been blessed through other means besides just the stand. Life is good.

Elder Simmons

12/12/16

Hey People. The week has flown by as usual. Its been 16 months now so time flies when you try. On Monday after emailing we went over the the Health Department of Harford County. The first lady we talked to just was raining on our hot chocolate parade. I was frustrated with her just a bit because the lady who shut us down last week said she would work with us and have us back up and running. Thankfully, we talked to another guy who told us all we needed to do. So that was that and we made ourselves the hand washing station.

Tuesday we had a zone training and it could've been worse I suppose. It also rained a lot that day but Tuesday is not the point of you reading this so moving on. Wednesday I went on exchanges up in Aberdeen, we did some fun service and we got to jump around in a dumpster of foam, cardboard, and I'm sure a lot of rusty nails.

We went to mutual for the Susquehanna ward that night and I put on a home made beard like a wig and then I did an impressive limbo. That was funny.

Thursday Friday and Saturday we were out giving out hot chocolate! It was pretty awesome! Thursday and Friday we gave out a little over 30 cups of hot chocolate. Which was really good! So we were able to talk to a ton of people and do our job of offering them the Restored Gospel. We haven't had people walk up to us and ask to get baptized or anything but we are doing the best job that we can, in the most effective way we can do it. So I can't complain. But I will admit that it is crazy cold. But hey I'd be cold anyways right?

This is our friend and local competition, Timothy. Nice guy.

Saturday, however was pretty rough. We gave out like 5 cups. I was surprised I thought it would be the busiest day. So that was kind of a rough hit to the gut. I then started worrying that we might have to give it up, and a whole lot of discouragement. Because I don't know what I'd do in this place with out this idea. But luckily Sunday came and problems fixed themselves and God helped me out and I felt super comforted. I've never been helped like that through the Spirit before. Moral of the story. Sometimes -no all the time we do all we can do and it's still not enough. But God is watching over us and if we ask for help, He does help us in His own time. This week should be another good week of Hot chocolating in Bel Air. I really hope we get some investigators this week.

Elder Simmons

12/5/16

It's been a super crazy week. We got to finally do our hot chocolate stand on Wednesday and Friday. It's definitely the most productive thing we can do in this place so it's been pretty exciting. We gave out around 20 cups of hot chocolate, gave out a Book of Mormon, got three people to sign up with their names and numbers. Ones a flake but life's a flake sometimes. Either way, it has been awesome, members have visited us and seen it on facebook to get them excited about missionary work. All is great and dandy right? Well then a Health Inspector came and shut us down. There's a number of things we get to fix now. Like having a hand washing thing outside so we get hypothermia. But it's super worth it so I'm not too worried. In other news, a few other missionary companionships are starting to do it as well around the mission. I know of at least 3 companionships that want to get it started. So yay for good ideas spreading!

On Saturday I got to go, once again, back up to the land of the free, Pennsylvania. Because Ralph got baptized. Its still blowing my mind that it really happened. I'm super happy for him, and I'm sure he is really happy too. It was a highlight of my mission for sure. Elder Davis, Allen, and I got to all be there. Collectively we taught him for pretty much the time he was taught, so it was cool for us to be there.

Sunday was also an unexpected highlight. We didn't have much to do after church so we thought that I should wear the Amish hat and make a video with people's reactions. But it turned out to be a easy way to talk to people by asking them if they would like to help in making a video. I got to be a soccer goalie and I accidently smacked my watch really bad and broke it. haha. Thats not even the point of this story. We went up to Bel Air and it turned out to be the Christmas parade so that was super sweet. I snagged a pic with Santa and Misses Claus, because I'm still a believer.

Elder Simmons

11/26/16

Hey yinz. This week was was Thanksgiving which was enjoyable of course. In the morning we helped the young men rake many acre yard. It was ambitious but I left early so my blisters weren't so bad. This ward treats us well, we had two meals. We got to have a whole bunch of pies and then we played games for quite some time. Signs is always a fun game to play.

Oh my new companion and I get along quite well. We share a lot of similar views on how missionary work should be done. Work hard, be real with people, etc. Elder Peery is his name. We did raking this week. Its not the most fun when no one answers because their black friday shopping. But I came up with a Service Pass a long card that could be handy.

This week I also finished the Christmas Cup wrapper, so that's really exciting. Really that project in general has been the thing we've been working up towards. And we'll start this week! Just about everything is ready to go.

Wish us luck!

Elder Simmons

11/21/16

The week has gone by so fast. Pretty simply put we raked a good while. Some lawns the owners never came out and they'll never know who did it but that's alright.

The other part of the week has been getting ready for our Hot Chocolating. We got permission by a very nice owner of a place called Italian Sensations to go outside their store. They'll also be the ones providing the hot water. The Ward is doing a great job at supporting us by getting other materials: cups, spoons, hot chocolate packets, etc. We went to Office Depot to see if they could print the sleeve and all that. The guy who helped was really easy going and we became friends pretty quickly. It was super awesome. He asked about being a missionary and all that. He's a Christian as well. Near the end I asked him if he'd like a Book of Mormon. He asked about it and after and explanation he consented to I grabbed one from the car. It made my day, you never know how you'll be able to share the gospel with people.

This is the Book of Mormon Cup Wrapper. And I've also started making the Christmas themed one.

Oh speaking of change. Transfers are here and Elder Lewis is gone and I'll be getting a guy named Elder Peery. (I spelled it right) with new companions you never know what to expect, but I know I'll just keep working like I do.

Elder Simmons